#RPGaDay2015 21: Favorite RPG Setting

Last year we celebrated 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 21, What is your favorite RPG setting?
Aser: I’m going to cheat and say the world of The Strange. Because in The Strange, you can go pretty much anywhere. My party killed Darth Vader last month… 🙂
Chuck: The Strange
John: ‘Real’ world, or BECMI Mystara setting.
Jonn: Hmm, That is a hard one. I would say Fallout, but that would be using a technicality since I never actually played the fan made Fallout Pen and Paper. I’ve gotten the most use out of Eberron. I’ve used that setting for games in at least four different rulesets.
Landan: I really like the world Pathfinder has established but Numenera’s setting is really great to.
Matt: Planescape still stands out to me. So much potential for wild adventures with no limitations on how weird things could get. I keep hoping it will get an official relaunch in some capacity, but Numenera and The Strange are excellent spiritual successors that I am enjoying.
Megan: The Ninth World, no question. It has everything I could ever want in a setting.
Patrick: Not sure if there is a Diesel punk setting, but I’d be down for that all damn day.
Rob: Shadowrun

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#RPGaDay2015 20: Favorite Horror RPG

Last year we celebrated 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 your favorite horror RPG?
Aser: My favorite horror RPG has to be Fear Itself. There are other gumshoe contenders like Trail of Cthulhu, Esoterrorists, or Night’s Black Agents, but Fear Itself makes you face all the potential horror as normal people. Now, that’s scary.
Chuck: Weird Wars Rome for Savage Worlds
John: Call of Cthulhu, duh!
Jonn: Call of Cthulhu
Landan: Generally not a fan of horror but the closest thing was a D&D 3.5 game played at Geekly Con 2015 DM’d by Michael Lane of the Cthulhu and Friends Podcast. Either V’s creepiness rubbed off on him or she may have gotten some of it from him since he DM’d for them back in the day if I remember right when they first met. Generally dolls don’t creep me out but he had an extremely creepy doll and a creepy old man NPC.
Matt: I’m not sure an RPG is the best medium for horror. I enjoy the genre for movies, video games, books, etc., but it somehow doesn’t translate well to RPGs in my experience.
Megan: I think I like the sanity/stability mechanic in Gumshoe the best, so Trail of Cthulhu and Fear Itself.
Patrick: Haven’t played one yet, maybe soon. And I can’t qualify anything that I’ve played by White Wolf as horror. It’s is the Coke Zero of horror.
Rob: Call of Cthulhu

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#RPGaDay2015 19: Favorite Supers RPG

Last year we celebrated 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 19, What is your favorite supers RPG?
Aser: I haven’t played any supers games, but the ones I’ve liked of those I’ve run into are Base Raiders and Godlike. Base Raiders is about the land rush that happens when the superheroes all disappear and people start turning the planet upside down looking for the cool stuff they left behind, a really fun concept. Godlike is pretty much on the other end of the spectrum, inserting superpowered people into a world that makes them feel as helpless as the next guy by putting them up against the horrors of WWII.
Chuck: The Cypher System
John: Marvel SAGA.
Landan: I am going to classify the Harry Dresden RPG in this category whether it fits or not.
Matt: I haven’t played in a super heroes game, and I’m not sure I have all that much interest in doing so. I’ve heard good things about Godlike, so I may be willing to give that a shot.
Megan: I haven’t played one, but I did build a character for Godlike since Aser and I were interested in finding out how easy it was. It’s on our list!
Patrick: Silver Age Sentinels

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#RPGaDay2015 18: Favorite SciFi RPG

Last year we celebrated 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 18, What is your favorite SciFi RPG?
Aser: My favorite sci-fi RPG is probably Eclipse Phase. That system and world are so meticulously put together and play off the early 21st Century zeitgeist so well that the game just feels fresh and cool every time you visit one of the strange little bubbles of transhumanity struggling to survive after the fall.
Chuck: The Cypher System
John: Eclipse Phase.
Jonn: Serenity/Firefly
Landan: Numenera fits this in my opinion
Matt: The Strange has been a lot of fun, and has been the only sci-fi RPG I’ve played in awhile.
Megan: The Strange. Though WH40k has a special place in my heart.
Patrick: Dresden Files, not sure if it is SF per se, but I’ll just put it here
Rob: Firefly RPG

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#RPGaDay2015 17: Favorite Fantasy RPG

Last year we celebrated 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 is your favorite fantasy RPG?
Aser: I think Numenéra would be my favorite fantasy setting. Though not strictly sword and sorcery, the Ninth World harkens back to a time when it was a common conceit for technology of the future to be so advanced as to belong to the realms of magic. Science Fantasy has always been a fun playground and Monte Cook has revived the qualities of weirdness and wonder that made the genre so appealing to so many for so long.
Chuck: (You are going to see a pattern) The Cypher System
John: D&D red box BECMI.
Jonn: D&D. Despite my dislike of its semi-Vancian magic system there is nothing that really comes close to what it offers across all its varies platforms.
Landan: Pathfinder
Matt: I haven’t played it as much as I would like, but the Iron Kingdoms RPG does a lot of neat things in a very cool setting.
Megan: Numenera
Patrick: 7th Sea
Rob: D&D 5e

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#RPGaDay2015 16: Longest Game Session Played

Last year we celebrated 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 16, What is the longest game session you’ve played?
Aser: I think that would still be the first Old Gods of the North, clocking in at about 4.5 hours, or one heck of a first date… 😛
Chuck: 18 hours, an AD&D game over a Labor day weekend in ’87
John: Probably first time as Call of Cthulhu Keeper for TRFpodcast: ‘The Madman’ went 5 hours!
Jonn: 11am to 11pm, but there was a two hours for food and bio breaks.
Landan: I think any session played when I was in High School was routinely over 12 hours on various weekends. Many times played from sunset to sunrise.
Matt: I’m pretty sure I’ve played in (and ran) some 12+ hour games. I recall having folks over where everyone brought over breakfast, we ran out to grab lunch, ordered in dinner, and had some drinks before everyone had to go home. Good times.
Megan: I don’t think I’ve ever gone over 5 hours. I think it’s easier to do in person then over the internet, and I don’t get many chances to play in person at the moment.
Patrick: Six hours, what a trainwreck.
Rob: 12 hours of RIFTS

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#RPGaDay2015 15: Longest Campaign Played

Last year we celebrated 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 the longest campaign you’ve played?
Aser: Our current longest running campaign is Numenéra, though Pathfinder is bound to overtake it soon due to sheer regularity.
Chuck: 3 years D&D 3.5
John: PX Poker Night was the longest coherent game with the same characters.
Jonn: Longest campaign has been about 3 years. Longest game group about 4 years.
Landan: It would be the Mysteries of the Ninth World played in Numenera for TRF actually.
Matt: I ran a 4e D&D game for some buddies that went on for a long time. It was a home-brew world I had rolling around in my head for some time that I would like to take another crack at some time, just not in 4e D&D.
Megan: Mysteries of the Ninth World. It’s been running for a year and a few months, and we haven’t been able to play as consistently as we wanted, but we’ve had a ton of fun along the way.
Patrick: Rise of the Rune Lords
Rob: Firefly RPG, for The Firefly Podcast

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#RPGaDay2015 14: Favorite RPG Accessory

Last year we celebrated 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 favorite RPG accessory?
Aser: I have this great dice rolling octagon that Megan got me. It’s sort of the centerpiece of my physical gaming space. It possesses a great deal of sentimental value as it is yet another expression of her thoughtfulness and love.
Chuck: Roll20
John: Dropbox.
Jonn: Friends
Landan: Well for Pathfinder if you don’t do too much homebrewing I am a fan of the Hero Lab program but it can get pricey. It also works with several other RPG’s if you purchase the license to unlock it.
Matt: My iPad, for sure. It can do basically anything I need it to, from referencing books, to rolling “dice”, to storing notes, to tracking initiative, etc. It’s nice to be able to grab one thing to go gaming and be sure I’m not forgetting something important.
Megan: Dice! Aser gets them for me almost every time I visit him, and I like collecting cool ones from Kickstarter.
Patrick: The mechanical Pencil. If you don’t know why, you never will.
Rob: Those Octagonal dice boxes

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#RPGaDay2015 13: Favorite RPG Podcast

Last year we celebrated 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 is your favorite RPG podcast? (Don’t worry, it wasn’t a requirement to choose TRF)
Aser: This would have to be RPPR and their actual play feed. So many of the games I love and much of what I love about gaming, I learned from Ross Payton’s gang of lovable murder hobos.
Chuck: Fandible
John: The Redacted Files! Tied for second: Miskatonic University Podcast, The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, Grim Dark Podcast.
Jonn: Cthulhu & Friends.
Landan: Omitting TRF I would have to say Firefly Podcast: Balls and Bayonets Brigade, Cthulhu and Friends, and Drunks and Dragons.
Matt: I’m going to cheat and name two (aside from TRF): One Shot and THACO. The former is another fun actual-play podcast that tends towards the silly with lots of random (and amusing) 80s and 90s pop culture references. The latter is focused on general geekery, and the crew there is fun to listen to (I’ve been listening since their Fell Calls days, totaling over 500 episodes between the two).
Megan: This is almost exclusively what I listen to. TRF of course. Firefly Podcast, Fandible, Godsfall, One Shot and Campaign, Cthulhu and Friends, and the Adventure Zone. I’ve been working to add some new ones to the list like The Leviathan Files and RPG Academy.
Patrick: Nerd Poker, Just because I’ve listened to more of it.
Rob: Cthulhu and Friends

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#RPGaDay2015 12: Favorite RPG Illustration

Last year we celebrated 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 12, What is your favorite RPG illustration?
Aser: That thing with Cthulhu in power armor count? 😛
Chuck: Anyone doing work for Monte Cook Games
John: Maybe the PCs/NPCs from Warhammer 40K Dark Heresy 2nd Edition.
Landan: I love most the art in my RPG books but I think I will just say the Pathfinder Bestiary 1,2,3, and 4. It has the most pictures in it.
Matt: I really liked the old Planescape art, especially the maps by Robert Lazzeretti.
Megan: I love the Strange and Numenera Bestiaries. I think the best image in each of them is the size comparison of the various monsters to a human.
Patrick: In the Montaigne Nation Book for 7th Sea there is a drawing of a nobleman using a servants back as a writing desk. It’s just so goddamned weird
Rob: Anything Cthulhu

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