The Redacted Files Podcast

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 3, what is the character moment you are proudest of?

Aser – Looking back, I can’t honestly think of a character moment I’m “proud” of. The closest thing I can think of is a scenario set on an aircraft carrier when my character rode an atomic bomb as it plunged towards the spawn of an elder God. That was kind of cool…
John D. – Probably The Strange when Agent Bradley Davis was the only one to look back at the planetvore eating the enemy fortress and realized his brother’s sacrifice was worth it.
Jonn P. – I’d have to say it happened during a Hunters game. I was playing Marshall Barsoom, a retired Airforce colonel, who had volunteered at Camp Northstar in Florida. The company running the camp had drawn out a local cryptid, a skin-changer. They were using the creature to harvest fear and profit off the wealthy students by providing the leadership opportunity of rescuing the low-income campers from the skin-changer. Unbeknownst to the any of the students, the head counselor had given the wealthy students a charm to protect them from the monster. Marshall had worked out that the friendship bracelets were the protective charm and using his leadership skills he lead a group of camp kids in creating enough friendship bracelets for themselves and the other camp kids. The moment when he charged into the fray unarmed save for two fist fulls of friendship bracelets was probably one of my most memorable moments in a game ever.
Landan – The most current one I can think of is when Megan let my character Sir Eliath Guinness use his Lion’s Shield Magical Bite attack to prevent him from falling off of a cliff.
Megan – I think it might be Captain Myra Cole’s decision at the battle near Orion’s Light on Firefly Podcast.
Mike G. – This year, my Loremouse (MouseGuard) rushing the traitor with an axe and planting it right into him! Go team bookworm!
Patrick – I once had a Halfing thief that had been practice with garrotes since the beginning of the adventure and I wanted to live the dream of using a locking garrote from D&D 3.5. Our party was trying to track down a cult that was attempting to summon a demon and sent me in to infiltrate the compound and find the ritual chamber, which I did. Just after the Thorn demon had been summoned. The cultists rushed out of the room as my party made a ruckus outside in the courtyard as planned, leaving me to deal with the freshly summoned demon. Long story short after attempting to lock the garrote on the demon’s throat for six rounds I finally had done it and then promptly succumbed to the massive bleeding caused by the demon’s thorny exterior, but not before lighting his last bit of pipeweed. The rest of the party charged into the ritual chamber expecting the boss fight (I had been moved to another room for my recon job) and found a strangled demon, and a dead, smiling halfling with a lit pipe hanging from his mouth.
Phil – Jake’s poignant scenes in Firefly podcast. Or Nigel’s demise (thanks Megan!).

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 2, what has been your best game session since August 2015?

Aser – There have been so many, it’s really hard to pick one that stands out as the best. If I had to pick though, I’d have to say it would be the Delta Green game I ran at GeeklyCon, the first time I’d ever run a game in person. I am so glad it was Delta Green, that I was able to introduce the game to a whole new group of players, and that they had fun watching their whole world come apart around them. I love it when everyone around the table buys into the particular brand of crazy the GM is selling and business was good that afternoon.
John D.  – Wow, that’s tough.  Maybe the playtest for Delta Green’s ‘The Star Chamber’ as we each had two characters and the stories kept contradicting each other. Megan GM’d that real tight too.
Jonn P. – That is a hard decision because there have been a few over the past year. I narrowed it down to two sessions and but will talk about the one that doesn’t contain Rising Awakening spoilers.
My Wednesday gaming crew wrapped up a year-long campaign called Mysterious Tavern. It was mostly collaborative storytelling game—the D&D ruleset got incidental usage. The GM had presented a whimsical setting where the is a strong sense of realism, with sudden jarring shifts towards the stylized. Khyrs is good at changing the mood and tone to warp tradition themes and challenge PC way of thinking.
I was playing Captain Morgan Roberts; a merchant-rogue turn corsair who was chivalrous but suffered from alcoholism and an irrational hatred for spell casters. During the session, she revealed that the adolescent child that he’d grown attached had hidden the fact she was skilled sorceress in addition to being the younger sister of a sorceress he had been butting heads with the majority of the campaign. The conflict created by the clashing of the relationship, his beliefs, and his motivations—not to mention the present danger—made for some great drama and memorable spotlight moment for Morgan in the campaign.
Landan – In Rise of the Runelords when Megan had a Deck of Many things pop up in the loot and amazing things happened.
Megan – I think the finale of Mysteries of the Ninth World, episode 25. It was the wrap up of the first long term campaign I wrote myself, and I put a lot of planning into the whole thing. Seeing it all culminate in a really great session was very rewarding.
Mike G. – We played a Fiasco game where we all belonged to a community theater. The way we messed with each other throughout, had to go “off script” at random moments, and just how dark and sinister the  hole thing became still makes me laugh at odd moments.
Patrick – Mostly spoiler free : It involves a Wendigo, a Bronze Dragon, and a really really good good initiative roll.
Phil – There are too many to pick one, but many of them involve beheadings…

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 1, Real dice, dice app, diceless, how do you prefer to ‘roll’?

Aser – I like real dice, the feel of a tangible expression of the probabilities at work. Random number generators may offer a purer randomness than these little pieces of plastic, but feeling and hearing the dice tumble and roll imparts something special to the roll. Even if the randomness is more illusory given the nature of the game, isn’t that part of the fantasy too?
In another important sense, the dice I use are a constant reminder of the inventiveness and inclusiveness of the tabletop gaming community. I use Braille dice, designed by a woman who wanted her friend to be able to experience this iconic activity that forms such a major part of the hobby and brought to fruition through funding from hundreds of people on Kickstarter who thought the idea was worth making a reality. One of our players also bought me a full set of these dice and then some, one of the most meaningful and profoundly appreciated gifts I have ever received.
John D. – Real dice for the true randomness and sound but often online I have been using a free app.
Jonn P. – Real dice when the system is straight forward like fate, savage worlds, etc. For systems like 3.5/Pathfinder with a bunch situational modifiers and iterative attacks, dice apps to preserve what remains of my sanity.
Landan – I prefer to roll dice whenever possible, but in some instances I like digital rollers if it is a ton of dice to make the math quicker.
Megan – I prefer real dice. There’s just something satisfying about listening to them roll. But if I’m rolling more then 10 dice, I’m probably going to use a roller.
Mike G. – Real dice, and I prefer to roll.
Patrick – 100% real dice, forged in the fires of Hades, and kissed by Fortuna on my namesday.
Phil – I prefer a dice app for convenience (esp for dice-heavy games like firefly) but what RPG fan doesn’t like rattling the bones for real…