#RPGaDay 2024, Week Three

Here's another week of RPGaDay 2024 posts. All of these were previously posted on Mastodon and the RPG.net forums. Additional commentary exclusive to this blog are in italics.

Day 11: "RPG with well supported one-shots"

My mind went immediately to all the different flavors of D&D, but I don't like that answer. Although adapting classic modules bulks out the number of one shots available to Old School Essentials.

Mothership seems like a game made for one shots. There's an array of pamphlet adventures available. The vast majority written by third parties.

The sheer volume of adventures available for all the different versions of D&D, Pathfinder, et cetera offers the F20 community unmatched support for one shots. I acknowledge and accept that, but I don't have to like it.


Day 12: "RPG with well supported campaigns"

There's plenty of TTRPGs with iconic campaigns out there. "Masks of Nyarlathotep" for Call of Cthulhu. "The Pirates of Drinax" and "Deepnight Revelation" for Traveller. I hear any campaign touched by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan turns to gold. All kinds of stuff out there for OSR. I really only worry about the health of a game if it doesn't have at least one solid campaign published for it.

Having at least one well-regarded campaign available feels like a strong structural element for a TTRPG line. A good introductory adventure helps start groups off. A campaign sustains interest and builds up a gamemaster's confidence in creating their own campaigns.


Day 13: "Evocative environments"

Rain fits into most settings. Unless the game is set a desert. Or underwater.

Narratively, rain evokes mood. A light spring shower followed by a rainbow. Low, oppressive clouds making day into a wet, neon-lit night. A soaking storm casting lightning above a muddy battlefield.

Mechanically, rain effects tactics. Darkness and mists reduce visibility. Boots slip on slick ground. Mud imposes movement penalties.

I posted about rain awhile back. It's one of my favorite tools. Rain can make most existing environments more interesting without permanently altering them. Dark skies and rain can change the mood for a session. A storm can add drama and a little more tactical complexity to a climatic battle.


Day 14: "Compelling characters"

Having enough depth for contradictions. The brooding one who collects cute things. The cheerful one with a sense of humor that runs dark. No one note characters.

But contradictions don't equal depth. The overall type has to be established first. That takes a session or three. Or a character could appear to be a stereotype that is immediately contradicted. One takes work. The other subverts what already exists.

The underlying factor is complexity. A character that goes one way except for a few things sustains interest better than a character who just goes one way.


Day 15: "Great character gear"

As a #ForeverGM, I like gear that lets me feed information to the players. Could be a journal, a hard drive, or the Necronomicon. "Your character remembers a reference in the blog of that poor guy who disappeared a decade ago looking into the very thing y'all are investigating now."

Here's a response that I put aside in favor of the above:

There are players who scan through gear lists looking only at the damage numbers. If it can be purchased, let them buy Big Damage. If it needs to be found, put Big Damage in the game and let them seek it out. Sort out the balance issues later.


Day 16: "Quick to learn"

Most individual game mechanics are simple to grasp. It's when multiple mechanics run at the same time that games get labeled as hard to pick up. Combat rules often run into this problem. Many players want a tactical challenge, so factors like positioning and distance need to be modeled. Spaceship combat rules are particularly prone to being over-engineered to the point they become games in their own right.

Yes, I have beef with overly complicated spaceship combat rules. I can dig Star Fleet Battles out of storage if I want to spend hours crunching numbers and arguing about rules. Give me something that doesn't feel like a completely different game during spaceship fights.


Day 17: "An engaging RPG community"

I mourn the loss of Twitter's TTRPG community. "X" is a ruin lorded over by lunatics. Reddit is sliding towards the same fate. Discord is opaque to me.

Facebook groups manage to keep the flame going for their tribes. Mastodon has promise.

RPG.net is reliable. And it should be, if my "20 Year Hero!" badge has meaning. It survives due the mods enforcing the absence of conflict.

"Over the Hill Gaming" is a reference to my age. In case that wasn't clear before.

Online communities don't seem to last. Of course, I'm looking at the situation over a period of years and decades. Vibrancy fades, but those seeking fresh enthusiasm and bright ideas can find them. It does mean moving on, though.