Welcome to my RPGaDay 2025 week two compilation post. As I've done before, this post also includes additional commentary that's too verbose for the character limits of social media. The additional commentary is in italics. For information on RPGaDay in general, see this post. Want to get my responses to the daily prompts fresh on the day? See the dedicated RPG.net forum thread, Mastodon, and Bluesky.
Day 4: Message
Casting a hook involves sending messages to the players. Distress calls. Bounty posters. Orders from above. Notes left at taverns. "Go here for adventure" is always the meaning.
My group seems to prefer mission-based campaigns. Even when I'm running an open-world game, I send "adventure here" messages to give players a sense of direction. They don't have to take the bait in that case, but I offer it as an option. Mission-based games provide a sense of clarity. Some might criticize them as railroading, but I go with what works for our group.
Day 5: Ancient
Ancients are handy in fantasy settings for explaining where all the ruins come from. Sci-fi precursors are handy for (not) explaining how physics are being defied in the setting.
The real fun is subverting the "everything comes from ancients" thing.
Example: Technology in Mass Effect? Precursors. Subversion? There are older precursors that those precursors got their tech from. And killed them. And they're coming back to kill everybody.
I offered ancients as a reason for all the dungeons adventurers delve their way through awhile back. It makes sense and goes back to sources like Tolkien and Howard. Sci-fi precursors is something I'd like to muse about on this blog. Unfortunately, every draft thus far is too long and meandering for me to post.
Day 6: Motive
Not every villain has a "realistic" motive. Reasonable motives make a character understandable. But plenty of folks have selfish drives, petty goals, and cheerfully sacrifice the long term to get what they want. They accumulate vast wealth, maybe get into politics. Their complete lack of empathy becomes everybody's problem. A perfectly realistic villain motive.
I haven't given up on smart villains entirely. However, criticism of stupid, short-sighted, or pointlessly cruel bad guys as "unrealistic" ring hollow for me these days.
Day 7: Journey
Have an off ramp for that epic journey. Maintaining interest in a sprawling hex crawl, mega dungeon, or what Ken Hite calls a "trip up the Nile" is hard. Folks can burn out partway through. Have a way for the journey to be interrupted or take a IRL break.
I considered referencing the band Journey, but Polyhedral Nonsense took the idea for a ride and went further than I could have. Go give it a read.
I also toyed with a rant tearing down Campbell's hero's journey, but that would run longer than I have time for.
I really was going to do something with the band Journey. And I really do have issues with Campbell. Maybe that would be another good post idea.
Day 8: Explore
Going boldly is baked into many TTRPGs. Over and under. What's behind a door or beyond the stars. The familiar masking the unfamiliar. Things passing unnoticed in busy places. Stepping into these spaces is a basic part of the hobby.
It's difficult for me to think of a TTRPG that isn't fundamentally about exploration in some sense. That doesn't mean that they aren't out there. Indy TTRPG space is too big for me to keep tabs on.
Day 9: Inspire
Inspiration is hard to simulate. "Your song or speech stirs the hearts of your allies" is functional, but vague. A mechanical bonus is dry and unsatisfying. Modeling a deeply emotional response and its effects is an uncracked design challenge.
Think about times when something inspired you. Breathing and heartrate go up. The feeling of something new and exciting opens up in front of you. Evoking those emotions and how they influence a person's behavior is difficult to do in a game.
Day 10: Origin
The origin of D&D in wargaming is well established, but how modern #ttrpgs came to be is a longer story. Genre emulation, crafting games around telling stories, and developing play outside of the tactical murder hobo came later. Understanding that is important as the hobby continues to evolve in new directions.
There have been various revolutions in how TTRPGs work and what they do. Pushing miniatures around tactically is still part of things, but it's no longer the beating heart of the hobby. How those changes came to be seems as worthy of study as the early days of D&D.
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