Each year we celebrate Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 20, what is the most challenging but rewarding system have you learned?
Aser – I think the most challenging but rewarding system I’ve ever learned has to be Eclipse Phase. That game has so many moving parts and combat is so involved, but at the same time, it’s so dynamic and can be so incredibly devastating. There’s a lot of math but sometimes you just have these moments where everything clicks and you take out the bad guy with a perfect kill shot.
John D. – I haven’t really learned any new systems this year; first time playing Warhammer 40K and Only War is a good intro to more complex systems like Dark Heresy.
Jonn P. – I have never played a challenging system that I found rewarding. That said, I’m about to play GURPS for the first time so my opinion could change shortly.
Landan – I will say Cypher System for now.
Megan – Better Angels. There are so many things to track it can get a bit overwhelming.
Mike G. – Burning Wheel. It is very crunch, but I like a lot of the different system components, like character advancement, and how it helps move the story along.
Patrick – It is a toss up between Better Angels and Silver Age Sentinels.
Phil – Firefly RPG.

Each year we celebrate Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 17, what fictional character would best fit in your group?
Aser – I think Homer Simpson would work well. We’re a well meaning bunch, but our track record has at times been somewhat shaky.
John D. – Randolph Carter, Peter Parker and Evie Carnahan (from ‘The Mummy’) – smart but with a sense of humor.
Jonn P. – I couldn’t narrow it down to one. Indiana Jones, Scheherazade, One Thousand and One Nights, Sophie Devereaux from the TV show Leverage, and any character Morgan Freeman has played—ever.
Landan – Doctor Strange no reason other than I am hyped about that movie and he is my favorite Marvel Hero.
Megan – Everyone has better answers then me! I bet we can get Ben from Parks and Rec to play with us. He has the funny nerd thing we go for here down. He has to be dressed as Batman though.
Mike G. – I worry about this sometimes. Because I think most of them would have titles like “Destroyer of Worlds”, “Dark Lord”, or “Devourer of Souls”.
Patrick – Waldo Butters (The Dresden Files). I think that with the exception of myself that all the folks in my group are highly educated with only the slightest amount of mental quirks. Yeah, He’d fit right in.
Phil – Shaun (of the Dead).

Each year we celebrate Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 15, what is your best source of inspiration for RPGs?
Aser – I think my favorite source of inspiration is history, not so much duplicating a specific event but giving expression to that unpredictable fluidity of real life events that could elevate a single, otherwise insignificant act into the pivot around which all bends or breaks.
John D. – The rulebooks and scenarios themselves, horror and science fiction and movies, shows like ‘Mysteries of the Museum’ and ‘Forbidden History’ and music especially the worlds and images of Black Metal.
Jonn P. – I’m weird about my sources of inspiration, like using mind maps of two or more completely different concepts to look for ways to fit them together into something interesting.
Landan – Movies, Music, Taxonomical Nomenclature, Old Myths, etc.
Megan – A lot of my games have a particular piece of media as inspiration. Some are blatant, like when I ran a game based on The Wickerman. Some less so, like the Delta Green scenario Aser and I wrote based on “Hotel California”. Usually I lock on a single idea, like fear of plants or a monster, to come up with a scenario for a one shot.
Mike G. – Random thoughts that got jotted down at weird moments.
Patrick – My dreams, they are pretty graphic but the plots are solid and it helps to channel my chronic nightmares into creative things. Oh and the up-teen hundred movies and books I’ve read/watched.
Phil – The real world? Fiction? The Internet?

Each year we celebrate Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 14, what is your dream team of people you used to game with?
Aser – I think that would be Michael Lane from those first PX Poker Night a adventures, Ashleigh Shadowbrook And Shaunna from Mysteries of the Ninth World, and Brian Wille from Beyond the Threshold, good people all.
John D. – I can’t imagine a better crew than the @Trfpodcast cast; in person around a table with physical dice would be the only way to better the experience.
I can’t imagine a better crew than the @Trfpodcast cast; in person around a table with physical dice would be the only way to better the experience.
Jonn P. – I don’t really have a dream team. I have had a lot of fun gaming with a lot of different people.
Landan – I still game with them and any other I just haven’t had the schedule flexibility to do so.
Megan – I think I still play with everyone I’ve gamed with, except my original group, half of which don’t play anymore, and the other half turned out to be assholes I don’t speak to. So I just have to keep everyone on TRF playing with us!
Mike G. – I had a group in college, all either part of our associated with my fraternity. They were a great group, all with preferred character types that fit well together, and interesting ways of compelling story. We played a lot (at least every week if not more frequently), but real life has made most of us move apart.
Patrick – Chase, John, Chevon, Ben and Nick. All up in the Skagit Valley from the early 2000’s.
Phil – I’d just add David Moore my best friend from around high school era – he’s a fiction editor or agent in the UK now but has a great creative mind and excellent acting skills.

Each year we celebrate Autocratik’s #RPGaDay, where we spend a month celebrating RPGs, discussing what we love and what we love about them. Here are the responses of the TRF crew. Be sure to tweet, blog, or post your own with the #RPGaDay!

For August 13, what makes a successful campaign?
Aser – A successful campaign comes from a good story that works for the players and the characters they’ve created. The simple things are always simple: the simple things, hard. 😛
John D. – The right game system, a good hook, a solid start with a strong plan for adventures down the road yet ability to follow the path the players take, and a committed yet flexible group. For us shorter campaigns or story arcs work best, with the possibility of returning to some of our characters again.
Jonn P.  – Probably my work life bleeding in here, but running a successful campaign has quite a few similarities with managing a successful project. The initiation phase or session zero, can make or breaks the campaign. These days, I dedicate few minute to the discussion of the issue during session zero that I would have spent multiple sessions trying to resolve back when I made my first attempts at to GM.
Landan – Cooperation amongst players and GM.
Megan – Buy in from everyone. When players or the GM stop being invested it becomes hard for everyone to stay motivated and involved.
Mike G. – A cohesive group and GM who are willing to focus on challenges and fun rather than rules.
Patrick – When everyone is invested in the characters and the adventure. It may not always be sunshine and roses but there is genuine care about the campaign.
Phil – Willingness to endure – it is hard to meet week after week for a long campaign that lasts months. I guess it comes down to the GM who has to work around players being there or not, making dumb choices, building useless characters, etc. Tough job!