What ROLE-PLAYING have you been doing?

Been RPG'ing since 1979, when I discovered 1ed D&D at a mother's friend's house (mother's friend's child had it and never played it). That was like giving a beer to an alcoholic. Been RP'ing ever since.

I've played 2nd and 3.5 Ed AD&D, 1ed Gamma World, Star Frontiers, GW Judge Dredd, Vampire: the Masquerade, Bushido, Villains & Vigilantes, Mutant Chronicles, and a SHIT TON of Feng Shui.

However, as of late, my players have been scattered to the four winds and haven't done any GM'ing in over a year. Sad, really. I was getting burned out on FS, so I was going to start them on Mutant Chronicles. Just start them as Capitolians in the armed forces, and then after a few stints, they could muster out and become freelancers.

I need to check around here (i.e. comic book stores that cater to RP'ers) to see if there's a need for my GM skills outside of 4e.

I've been playing all my stuff online using Skype and Google Drawing as I'd rather game with my closest friends or people I know are going to be cool. It's been working great. Maybe we should get a F:AT game going.

It's been about 2 years since I GMed Masks of Nyarlathotep for my students. The year before that I schooled 'em with Steading of the Hill Giant Chief, since Gygax had just died and I wanted them to feel the love.

It's such a labor-intensive pastime for the GM if you want to do a decent job of it, and I just don't have time any more. Now I look to boardgames to scratch some of the same narrative itch. I'm one of the guys that makes some gamers ask, "Why don't you just play an RPG instead of some complicated pseudo-RPG boardgame?" And the answer is that I can play a boardgame right out of the box, within a reasonable time frame, and I actually get to PLAY it, instead of GMing.

Some good games being mentioned here.

Savage Worlds. Tons of fun. The most boardgame-like of any rpg (have yet to play 4e) with it's cards, tokens, minis, etc. More a Toolkit though so any new player getting into RPGs needs to know they'll want one of the Plot Point (setting) books or they'll have a lot of work ahead of them.

Speaking of Savage Worlds, I see that there are a new pair of Deadlands rulebooks out. I never feel like I gave that setting it's due. I should pick those books up...

Feng Shui? Hells yes! That was my college game, and even though I haven't played it in over 15 years it's shadow looms over every game I've ever run since then. Mook rules, player authored environment, stunts, etc. I still use them all.

Can anyone speak about the FATE system? I see it praised a lot, but not sure what it's about.

On another note, I'm also a bit perplexed by the folks who don't seem to have time to run a game. I can see if it's something one isn't into, but I wing a lot of stuff as GM with little prep time and find that just as fun as being a player. Surprises for everyone. I scribble down some loose notes and stats based on a module or story I've read and see what the players do. I found trying to put forth some lavish storyline fruitless as the players usually don't cover half the stuff a GM comes up with anyway. The way I see it, I provide the plot and the character's actions provide the story. If that made any sense. Anyway, the memorable bits of sessions are always what some PC or NPC does and hardly ever the plot of a game itself.


(Chapel, I'm in for the 5th. PM me your address and phone number.
Do I need to prep anything ahead of time? Do I need to provide a six or some snacks?)

Currently running a Dragon Warriors campaign (bought the re-issue even though I have original books), great fun, nice light system which lets players concentrate on having fun. Got a mate who's about to kick of a Classic Traveller game which I'm looking forward to.

My son tried to interest me in D&D 4e - what a fucking abortion of a system, far too complicated and fiddly it just sucks the fun out of the whole undertaking, I'd probably get more enjoyment beating myself over the head with rulebook(s) at least it would be nice when it stopped.

Xerxes wrote:

Currently running a Dragon Warriors campaign (bought the re-issue even though I have original books), great fun, nice light system which lets players concentrate on having fun.

I've really enjoyed the DW re-launch as well. Never played it when it was originally released.

There's news that a different publisher may pick up Dragon Warriors and the highly anticipated Player's Guide will get a release. I keep hearing that we'll hear something shortly...

Jeff White wrote:

On another note, I'm also a bit perplexed by the folks who don't seem to have time to run a game. I can see if it's something one isn't into, but I wing a lot of stuff as GM with little prep time and find that just as fun as being a player. Surprises for everyone. I scribble down some loose notes and stats based on a module or story I've read and see what the players do. I found trying to put forth some lavish storyline fruitless as the players usually don't cover half the stuff a GM comes up with anyway. The way I see it, I provide the plot and the character's actions provide the story. If that made any sense. Anyway, the memorable bits of sessions are always what some PC or NPC does and hardly ever the plot of a game itself.


(Chapel, I'm in for the 5th. PM me your address and phone number.
Do I need to prep anything ahead of time? Do I need to provide a six or some snacks?)

Yeah, I tend to spend time prepping for a session. But that prep will usually last for many sessions into the future. I'll scribble a bunch or characters, traps and places...then fill in the blanks on the fly.

P.S. I'll PM you. No prep required. It's super fast to roll up characters, and is part of the fun.

Frank, Walterman, myself and four non Fatties have been playing RuneQuest 2 on Sunday nights. I'm really enjoying myself but in some ways I've decided I like the old AH RQ more. Combat is pretty cumbersome and I'm not sure it is worth the payoff.

I'm a big fan of the Glorantha setting though I've needed to readjust my knowledge since the RQ2 is set during the 2nd age instead of 3rd and the main conflict in the game is generated between GodLearners and the Empire of the Wyrms Freind.

Just FYI my Fav RPGS are
Spirit of the Century
On the Edge
Feng Shui

I'd be up for some online gaming if some one wants to set it up. My plate is too full to do a good job Gming though I'm a wiz at winging it.

Steve"RPGing 34yrs solid"Avery

I buy the Tekumel stuff when it comes out. Currently, just buying some of the Dying Earth stuff that I don't have. If anyone has Turjan's Tome of Beauty and Horror, Demons of the Dying Earth, and The Compendium of Universal Knowledge hardback that they want to get rid of please send me a TrashMail. Oh, and The Excellent Prismatic Spray #1 and #4/5.

I have a been playing the new Warhammer Fantasy RPG (3rd Ed.) from FFG with a regular group of fun people. We don't talk like elves, but we like to burn shit and kill beastmen. Good times.

Coming off of a D&D 3.5/Pathfinder one-shot we dove straight into a short World of Darkness adventure (with human characters getting slapped around by the supernatural) and then a raucous Saturday night with the new Gamma World:

"Show me on the robot where the bad plant touched you."

Short-term future plans see some more Gamma World, a run-n-gun one-shot of World of Darkness and then into a months-long Call of Cthulhu campaign.

My RPGin' platter be piled high from the nerd buffet...

I picked up the Red Box when my girlfriend and I were at the game store and she said she'd never tried D&D but had always wanted to. I'm kind of thinking of trying to run the solo adventure in the Red Box as a lead-in to the larger adventure in the DM's book, since I'm not all that impressed with the choose-your-own-adventure approach to character building and because the rules between the Red Box and the other D&D Essentials items aren't fully compatible. Of course, that means I'm setting myself up for reading a lot of Heroes of the Fallen Lands and at least the DM's book in the Red Box, and it might turn out not to be worth it in the end if she and her son don't like it or I suck at DMing as bad as I did with 3.5. (Oh, shit, don't even get me started on DMing 3.5, a system designed to give the players everything and punish anyone foolish enough to want to run it.)

I finally gave up on my Call of Cthulhu online games at Yog-Sothoth.com. Both campaigns--Masks of Nyarlathotep and Beyond the Mountains of Madness--are massive undertakings face-to-face, let alone in the fickle world of online playing. We played off-and-on for maybe a year and a half or so, but the dropouts and delays just got to me. There's really something to be said about play-by-post for character development, though the pace can be atrocious.

I'm intrigued by the updated BattleTech rpg, finally coming out in DTF this winter. I've played the last version a total of one time, but I like the BT universe.

Gotta try to design a 2 player campaign for my girlfriend's 3ed Warhammer Fantasy character tonight. Wood elf on the run who has a well trained horse who is fascinated with dwarf culture. Hmmmmmm...

I actually like the preparation involved in running a role-playing game. I enjoy little gaming projects and running an RPG is basically an on-going project.

I'm kind of thinking of trying to run the solo adventure in the Red Box as a lead-in to the larger adventure in the DM's book, since I'm not all that impressed with the choose-your-own-adventure approach to character building and because the rules between the Red Box and the other D&D Essentials items aren't fully compatible.

Huh? I though the Red Box and the new Essential line were hand-in-hand companions. I thought they were 100% compatible with the Red Box being the introduction to the new Essential line.


On another note, anyone know if the new Pendragon is going to get a print release? Never played it, but have heard great things about the game. I'd like to give that Great Pendragon Campaign a try, but not into PDFs.