Tuesday, August 19, 2014

#RPGaDay Part 2 - 11 through 20

Continued from #RPGaDay Part 1...

11) Weirdest RPG Owned - I don't own a "weird" RPG, per se, but I do own a few odd source books for a normal RPG, namely GURPS IOU. IOU is a little weird, but mostly satirical. I have downloaded Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but have not played it. Also, since it's really just a darker variant of D&D, I don't consider it particularly weird.

12) Old RPG You Still Play / Read - Paranoia It's still fun to peruse the rule book and old adventures longing for a GM that will run it for me.

13) Most Memorable Character Death - I was playing in a 2nd Edition AD&D campaign where we were working up to the Big Bad. My character's job was to take on the main boss/villian (an old-school Cambion who had been raised to a minor deity) while the rest of the party was working stopping his right hand peeps and minions (to prevent some major catastrophe). I had to confront him alone. We were actually well matched for each other as long as I could quickly engage in melee. All was looking good until my first three combat rolls were  a 2, 5 and 3 respectively. I'm pretty sure I even had multiple attacks, but couldn't land a blow with any roll higher than 7. Meanwhile, during the same 3 rounds, I was critically hit and took near maximum damage on his other attacks.

I was knocked down to about 25% of my hit points in 3 rounds… It was not going well, so I had to "strategically retreat". I turned invisible and then used a potion of Diminution in order to hide until I came up with a strategy. Knowing I was still in his lair, he warded the entrance to prevent my escape and then waited for my spells to expire.

I healed a little with other potions, but I didn't get that much HP back. Not having many options, I snuck underneath the couch and ask the DM if I could throw the couch at him as I re-enlarged. He allowed the tactic, so I ended up pushing the Cambion into his own wards.

We then pounded on each other as originally planned. He knocked me to 0 HP, but I had a rage power that allowed me to fight into negative HP. As I neared my inevitable death, I finally triumphed and killed the villain.

However, all of my party was elsewhere and I collapsed with negative HP when the rage wore off. No one was there to heal me and I expired a round or two later… but at least we won.

14) Best Convention Purchase - I have only been to a couple cons, so I don't have a long list of swag, but I think the board game Revolution! has gotten the most use of the various items I purchased. While it's not my favorite board game, it's accessible to a wide variety of people. It's a bit of a gateway game for people who aren't strategy gamers.

15) Favorite Convention Game - I played in +Chris Hussey's 3-team BattleTech and Savage Left 4 Dead con games a few years back at Gen Con. Both were awesome, but I think the Savage Worlds adaptation may be the winner by a nose. Neither of these were official con events, but were the most fun I've had at any con.

16) Game You Wish You Owned - I think 13th Ageis really starting to pique my interest. I missed out on the Free RPG Day offering because the store only allowed 1 item to be selected and I went with the Castles & Crusadesadventure. It's good, but I think the 13th Age intro adventure might have been a better choice.

17) Funniest Game You've Played -Paranoia, definitely. We had some insane games back in the day.  No one game stands out, but I always recall laughing hysterically at least once per session. I'm dying for someone to run this. This is one game where I hugely prefer to the a player rather than the GM. I do also enjoy Once Upon A Timewith the right group of people. It's an awesome non-gamer game which often results in laughter at the ludicrous plot turns.

18) Favorite Game System - This is a tough one as I have so many that I don't get to play, that it's hard to stack up against good old D&D (and I've already noted my fondness for Paranoia). Dragonlance 5th Age [SAGA game system] is really intriguing. I was able to GM a couple sessions with it, and really enjoyed the elegance of the system.  I don't know if it's my absolute favorite, but it ranks high. It also has a Marvel Heroes variant which I have not gotten to try. I haven't yet wrapped my mind around Mouse Guard because I don't get to play it ever, but I think once I have the opportunity, it will also rank near the top. If it weren't for D&D 5th Edition, I might be playing Castles & Crusades right now.

19) Favorite Published Adventure - Reavers of Harkenwold followed very closely by the original T1 - Village of Hommlet. Reavers of Harkenwold is the best 4th Edition D&D adventure, and one of the best D&D adventures ever. It has a nice story arc, but can be played sandbox-style with very little effort. It also feels epic despite being intended for levels 2 through 4.

20) Will Still Play In 20 Years - Likely some form of D&D… but I will be very old, so it's hard to say what my fellow retirees will be into. I may be playing Bridge at my wife's insistence.

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