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With the original version of this thread now wilting away, it feels like a good time for a clean slate.
This is a place to discuss the journey each of us has gone on and is going on throughout the hobby. Tell us how you got started in tabletop Roleplaying games, tell us what games you’ve played, tell us what games you’re excited to try next, tell us what your favorite die type is. Anything that celebrates the diversity of the hobby and your personal experience is more than welcome.
This is not a place to edition war, or to compare the systems others bring up to your preferred system. All views are welcome but I would prefer it not devolve into a constant focus on one system.
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To begin at the beginning with the system journey approach - my pathway from entry to the Paizo community is maybe a little different than some. While my first attempt at play was in 2nd Edition AD&D - that experience lasted maybe three sessions and didn't really do much to excite me about playing RPG's.
I got my real start in the hobby a year later with West End Game's D6 Star Wars - which was (at the time) a less rules heavy system than D&D that allowed more focus on character and narrative due to a more simplistic and uniform die resolution system. When I graduated high school, I figured I was done with Tabletop gaming and left the hobby behind.
In 2001/2002 I was brought back into the fold by a group of friends who were playing Exalted First Edition and needed a player to step in to replace an outgoing player. I was recruited, joined that group, and have remained an active member of the communities of gamers ever since.
White Wolf's Exalted was based on the Storyteller System used for Vampire: The Masquerade and other such games and was very narratively focused while providing a bit of crunch - and it wasn't long before the launch of Vampire: The Requiem brought along the new Storytelling System which was a much more streamlined mechanical approach to the World of Darkness games. This became a favorite system, ultimately leading to one of my absolute favorite games: Hunter: The Vigil
The groups I played with spent a lot of time playing in that system or in trying things like Cinematic Unisystem, Gurps, Deadlands, WEG Star Wars and D20 Star Wars; Decipher's Star Trek. We never circled back to D&D proper until 4th Edition and while we found it enjoyable to play for the first several months - it quickly lost its luster and we switched to Pathfinder almost immediately once it dropped.
This worked out well for some of the players in group, but not much for me. I'd spent so much time running games set in worlds, settings and systems that leant themselves so easily to a sandbox that 3.X encounter based design felt like a shackle.
The feeling of complexity and the necessity of system mastery in 3.X and PF1 I think simply comes from the wealth of options and the synergies that exist within them being so robustly presented. I know there are many like me who came to 3.X or PF in my case AFTER it was already sort of fully formed. It's easy to forget that 3.5 came out with a HOST of options from 3.0 having already been published and then caught on bigger than its prior edition had. Paizo dropped PF1 and then launched a rather quick option release to get those 3.X options back into play.
For narratively focused players less interested in created the perfect feat synergy - this could feel a bit overwhelming, and did in my case. I continued to prefer more narrative focused games like White Wolf products or Fantasy Flights Narrative Dice offerings. 5e didn't quite fit the bill for me either because it ejected a lot of the uniqueness of the game in favor of a universal simplicity.
PF2 dropped and honestly the first time I've felt a D20 system suits my needs as both a player and GM by being balanced enough from class to class while still providing options to players.
Throughout the pandemic my table played a lot of PF2 and a lot of Vampire: The Requiem. I took a six month hiatus from game when my kid was born, and while I was away Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition came out.
I rejoined my table and we dove right into Hunter.
Now we stand on the edge of Exalted: Essence coming out, a streamlined version of the 3rd edition of the game that brought me back into the hobby, more than that it is about to be the 20th anniversary of the launch of the last epic campaign we ran in that game system… so a return to Creation is already in the works
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I got into the hobby in the earliest days of 4e (when I was in middle school!) and while I struggled with combat-heavy miniatures-focused gamplay, I had a great time. Chronicles of Darkness and Delta Green really opened my eyes to other options, but Fate Core was really the transcendent shift for me as I finished up high school. There was some dabbling in the old Fantasy Flight d100 games for Warhammer 40k that went pretty poorly, and then a bad group got me out of the hobby for years.
I ran some Shadowrun 3e for an ex boyfriend. Dream Askew got me back into the hobby in a big way, and led to me putting together a group that plays almost anything I want. We’re starting a Girl by Moonlight campaign in a week that closes off a three year arc that’s spanned a ton of systems: Microscope, Scum & Villainy, Armour Astir, Kingdom 2e, Songs for the Dusk, Virtuous Service, Artefact… We’ve done a ton of PbtA and Forged in the Dark stuff together, as well as a lot of Mothership.
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I know it's the official title now, but I so seldom remember to call the stuff Onyx Path is putting out by the name Chronicles. Spent too long calling it the New WoD I guess.
What was the Chronicles game that really clicked with you?
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I know it's the official title now, but I so seldom remember to call the stuff Onyx Path is putting out by the name Chronicles. Spent too long calling it the New WoD I guess.
What was the Chronicles game that really clicked with you?
Oh, it was all nWoD and oWoD when I was playing, don’t you worry - I only use the rebranding for clarity’s sake. I’ve actually kept up a boycott of OPP stuff for years now, despite how big a fan I used to be.
My introduction was playing a Changeling: the Lost character in a friend’s Geist: the Sin-Eaters chronicle (we didn’t know better at the time), but I’d eventually go on to read and run a little bit of everything. I have a Wraith: the Oblivion tattoo on my back (Silent Legion!), I’m one of what feels like four Mummy: the Curse fans on the planet, and Promethean: the Creates was huge for me figuring out some early gender feelings.
Hunter is my jam, Vampire as well. Both significant improvements on the OWoD versions in my mind. I really enjoyed Mummy 1e but never got my group interested enough to play it. The slightly more timey wimey Mummy 2e is even more amazing, but still it remains unplayed.
Why are you boycotting Onyx Path if you don't mind my asking.
I’d prefer not to get into it. There are some good folks on their staff, but I just don’t hang with the company for a bunch of reasons that added up over time.
M:tC really went in on non-linear chronology with Book of the Deceived and Sothis Ascends, two brain-bending supplements I still absolutely adore. I’ve been chasing the feeling for years - and have a new game in development that sort of scratches the itch…
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I know it's the official title now, but I so seldom remember to call the stuff Onyx Path is putting out by the name Chronicles. Spent too long calling it the New WoD I guess.
What was the Chronicles game that really clicked with you?
Oh, it was all nWoD and oWoD when I was playing, don’t you worry - I only use the rebranding for clarity’s sake. I’ve actually kept up a boycott of OPP stuff for years now, despite how big a fan I used to be.
My introduction was playing a Changeling: the Lost character in a friend’s Geist: the Sin-Eaters chronicle (we didn’t know better at the time), but I’d eventually go on to read and run a little bit of everything. I have a Wraith: the Oblivion tattoo on my back (Silent Legion!), I’m one of what feels like four Mummy: the Curse fans on the planet, and Promethean: the Creates was huge for me figuring out some early gender feelings.
CHANGELING THE LOST THE ONLY THING I OWN EVERYTHING FORRRRRRRRRRR
I’d prefer not to get into it. There are some good folks on their staff, but I just don’t hang with the company for a bunch of reasons that added up over time.
M:tC really went in on non-linear chronology with Book of the Deceived and Sothis Ascends, two brain-bending supplements I still absolutely adore. I’ve been chasing the feeling for years - and have a new game in development that sort of scratches the itch…
Been a while since I read any of the 1e supplements, but 2e just flat out establishes the non linear nature of their summoning. I explained it to my players when it came out that if 1e was Highlander where the flashback memories of your life shape who you are now - 2e is Quantum Leap and all the days of your life touch each other and you can be anywhen.
CHANGELING THE LOST THE ONLY THING I OWN EVERYTHING FORRRRRRRRRRR
I never gave Changeling a real proper try. We did a round-robin Chronicle where we all built from different splats and each player was the ST for stories involving a specific group. We had a Werewolf, two vamps, a Hunter, and a 'Ling as a group charged with keeping a very tightly controlled peace in the city.
Our 'Ling player was sort of problematic, and it sort of colored us against the splat as a whole - which is sad.
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CHANGELING THE LOST THE ONLY THING I OWN EVERYTHING FORRRRRRRRRRRI never gave Changeling a real proper try. We did a round-robin Chronicle where we all built from different splats and each player was the ST for stories involving a specific group. We had a Werewolf, two vamps, a Hunter, and a 'Ling as a group charged with keeping a very tightly controlled peace in the city.
Our 'Ling player was sort of problematic, and it sort of colored us against the splat as a whole - which is sad.
The game as a whole is a very elegant metaphor for living as an abuse survivor - at least in 1e. I got out during the fracas over 2e’s development, so I can’t speak to that, but the original game is a masterpiece.
An violent ex wasn’t enough to make me sour on the game. Give it another shot.
It's the only series from nWOD I liked.
I liked it so much i made it part of my Document for WOD, and that's saying something.
Everything else, quite literally, is oWOD.
I’m pretty much the opposite. I prefer most of the New WoD material to the old. I think Werewolf is the one exception where I like OWoD better.
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In Middle School there was AD&D fizzled out but I got the concept. High School there was Teenage Mutant Turtles from Palladium, also fizzled out. College Sophomore year there was the epic AD&D 2nd edition campaign that lasted both semesters that really got me into gaming and made lifelong friends from. I also read a lot of Vampire the Masquerade 2nd edition (this being 1994-1995) while waiting for my turn. And D6 Star Wars, where we accidently killed Luke Leaving the second Death Star. Junior Year there was GURPS used to play an Angels vs Demons because we were excited for In Nomine but just couldn't wait for it. There was more GURPS and a LARP while camping. Then First Senior Year I pulled back on gaming to focus on trying to graduate, notice I said first senior year.
Then 2001 and the invite to Earthdawn where I've had a weekly game pretty much ever since, small gaps weeks nothing more than 2 months I think.
Deadlands. Exalted. Decipher Star Trek. Cinematic Unisystem for a ______ the Vampire Slayer Game (we had our own slayer, not Buffy), Angel type game. a mutant hero school game (similar to but distinctly different from any Marvel X-Men). Back to Exalted after having stepped into the DM, GM, ST, Director role with the mutant game that people believed i belonged in way back in that epic 2nd edition game sophomore year of college. And this was an epic Exalted game. 2 ST's. 2 different timelines. 4+ years to an epic conclusion.
Vampire the Requiem LARP. Vampire the Requiem ttrpg. Hunter the Vigil. Revisting D6 Star Wars ("I Will Blow This Planet Up!!!!!), 4th Edition D&D, Pathfinder, Scion, 2 5th edition games, FFG Star Wars ("I Will Crash This Super Star Destroyer!!!), Kitchen Sink Chronicles of Darkness Round Robin Story Tellers, Vampire the Requiem, PF2, FFG Genesys for a weird west Deadlands game. Hunter the Vigil 2e.
By the way I hear there's a stripped down rules lighter version of 3rd edition Exalted called Exalted Essence. Epicness on the Horizon.
Trinity Adventure! for a Call of Cthulhu game coming sooon
I didn't run all of these, some played.
1988 till now. I know I've left some out.
I started in 1987 or 1988 (can't quite remember) playing the D&D red box. Then AD&D and then 2e. I've also played 3e/3.5e, Pathfinder 1, Paranoia, Mage: the Ascension, Alien, The Call of Cthulhu, Middle-Earth Role Playing, The One Ring, and of course Pathfinder 2. I have GMed most of these games and currently am running my group through book five of Age of Ashes. One of my players runs a 5e campaign that I play in, and we alternate weeks. This helps greatly with burnout since I only run games every other week. There are no doubt more RPGs that I have played and am forgetting.
I buy far more RPG rulebooks than I will ever play, but those I am pretty sure we will get to in the near-ish future are Fallout, Blade Runner, Brindlewood Bay, and Cities Without Number. RPGs I hope to play but am not confident we will get to include Delta Green, Dungeon Crawl Classic, GI Joe, Altered Carbon, and Shadow of the Demon Lord.
I spend way, way too much money on RPGs (over $12k since 2017). And this doesn't include multi-purpose things like buying a 6'x 4' RPG/wargaming table. But it does include books and supplements for systems I have yet to actually play. I own every hardcover released for Starfinder so far, and many of the adventures, and have yet to play a single game. I know this is a large amount of money when there are many games I can essentially play for free, but it is disposable income so Mrs. Fumarole can't complain. Besides, I enjoy supporting game developers/publishers who produce quality content.
I like d% as they are underused in most games.
I get that. There's these things called Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Backerkit.
And I just keep backing games I'm sure I'm never going to get to play or run. Alice Is Missing. Solemn Vale. Old Gods of Appalachia. Deviant: the Renegades.
But there's always something that I can use for some other game. Some lore, some setting, some mechanic or just inspiration for something else as I read all these games I don't play.
I'm also in that boat, not Kickstarters, but I like RPG books, even if I'm not going to play them.
I think I currently have books for the following RPGs.
Pathfinder (Classic and 2nd edition)
Starfinder
D&D
Eberron (3.5 edition)
Robotech
Rifts England and Australia
Call of Cthulhu (and Pulp Cthulhu)
Things from the Flood and Tales from the Loop
Star Trek and Fallout.
Probably won't play them but they're fun to look through and read.
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One thing that has helped my group out is each spring when the kids are on spring break, we all take a week off from work and stay at an otherwise empty house (one player's parents' vacation home). I am hoping to get some out of state friends to join, but so far none have, though they have expressed interest. We play RPGs from 9 am until 9 pm for five days straight, and we play systems other than our P2 and 5e staples. So far we have done this twice, and I have run the group through the 26 Draconis Strain trilogy for the Alien RPG, and the other GM in our group has run us through The One Ring. Next spring I am sure we will play Fallout and Blade Runner, maybe Cities Without Number if it is released by then.
A big culprit is Bundle of Holding as I get many of my books from there. This article really hit home hard when I read it last year. When I shared it with my players they just laughed knowingly.
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That sounds like a fantastic tradition. I wish we were able to do that!
I'm now at that difficult point of deciding where the journey goes NEXT.
Our group has been playing together now for about 18 years, and throughout most of that I've been one of two or three rotating GM's. We're never at a loss for ideas on what we want to play next, if anything we have reached the point where we have more games than we have time for.
Even limiting ourselves to short form narratives and one shots, each of the three of us has so many campaign ideas that we might never get to them all - and great new games keep coming out.
I'm just about to wrap up an arc in our Hunter: The Vigil game, while another GM is about to come online with a Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition campaign that I'm looking forward to greatly as I've spent very little time with Masquerade and LOTS of time with Requiem.
But where to next? Bringing the current arc of Vigil to a landing has given me a plethora of ideas for that campaigns next major arc, but I was also deep into planning a return to the world of Exalted.
That said I also have ideas I want to explore in PF2, OSE, Shadowdark, Kids on Bikes, They Came From Classified, They Came From the Cyclops Cave, Trinity Adventure, Trinity Aberrant, Scion, Monster of the Week, Star Wars
Too many games, not enough time.
I was introduced to D&D by a shipmate in 1977. D&D to AD&D, with branches to (in no particular order) Chivalry And Sorcery, Empire Of The Petal Throne, Traveller, Metamorphosis Alpha, Ars Magica, Runequest, Harnmaster, Dragonquest, Legend Of The Five Rings, Call Of Cthulhu, Pathfinder, Starfinder. Currently following Pathfinder 2E, Starfinder, Legend Of The Five Rings, Harnmaster (both versions), Call Of Cthulhu, and a bit of Traveller.
I was introduced to D&D through an "activity period" at my middle school (circa 1981-82), and requested and received the Basic Set for Christmas of my 8th grade year. I played Basic & Expert and some AD&D 1E through high school, mostly as the DM because my friends insisted that I was the most creative one of the group.
AD&D 2E came out just in time for my college years, and I ran a 2E campaign my sophomore through senior years using a setting that a friend and I had homebrewed in H.S. (I've used versions of that same setting for a couple of other campaigns, in different systems, since then.)
I continued to play a lot of 2E for the next decade or so, until D&D 3E came out, then that became the new system of choice among my usual gaming groups. I also tried out several other RPGs during those years. The most noteworthy was GURPS, in which I played my first long campaign after moving to Boston for grad school, and GMed the first long campaign I ran for my future wife.
During the v.3.5 era, I started sharing some fan errata for Green Ronin's Freeport line online, which eventually landed me some freelance work as an editor and proofreader for the company. I also published a handful of articles in d20 Weekly and Pyramid.
I was also introduced to the Buffy RPG around this time, and have been playing with the same group in a highly-alternate-Buffyverse campaign on and off ever since (in person the first few years, then moving increasingly online).
I tried but didn't much care for D&D 4E, so kept playing and running 3.5 until my group decided to try out Pathfinder. That decision was influenced by the fact that GR was planning to release their next big Freeport title using the Pathfinder rules. I ended up using a hiatus imposed by a cross-country move to convert my latest Freeport campaign from 3.5 to Pathfinder. (Fortunately, 3/4 of my home group--my wife, her coworker, and the coworker's spouse--made the move with me, which allowed for any continuity at all.)
Pathfinder (first 1E, then 2E when it released) has been my home group's system of choice for the past 10 years. My wife and I have been involved in Society play for most of that time (starting around Season 7 of 1E), and almost all of our 2E experience is through PFS. We've played the first book from a couple of 2E adventure paths, but no homebrew campaigns yet, unlike our 1E years. And I've yet to GM 2E, but my wife has done so for a few years now because she became a Venture Agent for our FLGS, and then a VL this past year.
We've also played a good deal of Starfinder, also mostly Society play (and much like 2E, we've completed one or two of the shorter APs but haven't tried any homebrew campaigns). Most of my GMing the past couple years has been Starfinder Society, and I GMed my first convention games (and first special) about a year ago in that system.
My wife and I introduced our two kids (who are now college age) to RPGs at a very young age, and they've been hooked ever since. Most of the D&D 5E that I've run or played has been with them, and that was their system of choice for several years. The OGL fiasco from a year ago soured my wife and I on D&D, and has helped push my eldest back into playing PFS more regularly. He started GMing 2E a few months ago, both for PFS and for homebrew campaigns with his friends.
It's been a few years now since I've run a homebrew campaign. That used to be a huge part of my gaming time, but I experienced some bad GM burnout after starting an overly ambitious PF 1E campaign a few years back. Pathfinder Society and Starfinder Society have filled some of that void, and will continue to be a major part of my gaming time for the foreseeable future. But I'm hoping that sometime later this year, I'll finally find the motivation to start a new campaign of my own creation. I've been itching to play more of GR's AGE system, so Fantasy AGE 2E (for a new Freeport, or Freeport-adjacent, campaign) and Cthulhu Awakens are looking like good candidates.
I was also introduced to the Buffy RPG around this time, and have been playing with the same group in a highly-alternate-Buffyverse campaign on and off ever since (in person the first few years, then moving increasingly online).
I loved the Unisystem rules for Buffy and Angel, and the group I was with before this one played in several seasons of two separate series that I ran. I also was lucky enough to get to playtest for Eden Studios.
That game was a blast
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I loved the Unisystem rules for Buffy and Angel, and the group I was with before this one played in several seasons of two separate series that I ran. I also was lucky enough to get to playtest for Eden Studios.
That game was a blast
After a long hiatus, our main GM proposed a "reunion arc" to wrap up some old loose ends (while dealing with some new threats), and we did a 10-year jump in game to move things forward to match up with the then-current real-world date. We also switched over to Fate to simplify the mechanics, because in this alternate Buffyverse, most of our heroes had acquired more experience and power than Unisystem could accommodate easily.
That was in late 2019, and sadly, our GM died a year or so into the Covid pandemic (3 years ago today, by eerie coincidence). After the initial shock, the rest of us decided to carry on and finish the campaign she had started, led by her best friend, who had been her co-GM and co-conspirator. We finally finished that arc a couple months ago, wrapping up an epic, multiverse-shattering story. It was bittersweet but glorious, and a fitting tribute to our friend.
...And because we love the setting and our characters too much to say goodbye to them forever, we are still playing through some "aftermath" threads. We're also starting to make plans for a "next gen" type game set in the same world, some (TBD) years in the future, and focusing on new, younger heroes (starting with some of the children of our current PCs, and their friends). We haven't decided yet whether to stay with Fate, go back to Unisystem, or try something else. But that's going to continue to be a big part of my gaming plate going forward.
I'm sorry your core GM passed, but finishing the campaign is a great way to honor the years together. That's awesome.
I've considered going back to our own Hellmouth, but those players are all scattered to the wind. Still, it'd be nice.
That's why I'm leaning toward running Exalted. One of the other players at my table is my brother, he is the only member of our old group still playing with me. We ran a nearly four year Exalted campaign that spanned both groups, with both he and I running for big stretches. It's been 20 years since that campaign began, and we're fast approaching 20 with the current group. It feels appropriate to go back to where it all started for our current players.
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I started with the legendary D&D "Pink Box" (Moldvay 1981 or so). Played some B and X series modules, then jumped to AD&D beginning with the Slaver series A1-4, S4 the Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth, then S1 Tomb of Horrors.
From there it was 2E, 3E/3.5, skipped 4E, and tried 5E.
I consider 3rd edition to be a renaissance for the hobby, especially with the 3rd party boom. Quality products from Goodman, Necromancer and Green Ronin off the top of my head. From there I fell for the Dungeon Mag APs which later transitioned into Pathfinder.
Throughout the years we also dabbled into other games like Star Frontiers (Alpha Dawn, Knight Hawks, Zebulon's. We started a mercenary corp called the Dramune Connection in a long running campaign), Gamma World, TMNT (I somehow remember playing a Weasel), Ghostbusters, and a little Star Wars.
Most of my longest running campaigns were AD&D into 2E. Like ToEE/GDQ in AD&D, Ravenloft, Planescape, and the 1991 Forgotten Realms grey box kept us busy for years. We tpk'ed halfway through the Shackled City in 3E, but it was a long running campaign regardless.
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Tomb of Horrors was the first adventure I DMed, way back in the mists of time. One guy stuck his +7 sword into a certain open mouth. 'You now hold a very blunt +7 dagger'. :-)
Tomb of Horrors was the first adventure I DMed, way back in the mists of time. One guy stuck his +7 sword into a certain open mouth. 'You now hold a very blunt +7 dagger'. :-)
We originally TPK'ed in one of the false entrances. Then we lost half the party in the tomb. I think 3 characters survived IIRC. I think my old crew liked to create new characters just as much as they liked playing.
Fun times. :)| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wrapping up Hunter: The Vigil took a little longer than planned due to some player choices.
The plan moving out of that was to sit back and let the other GM's at the table run alternating games while I did some worldbuilding in Exalted for our eventual Essence campaign.
Then there was a system shock issue with our Mythos campaign (not in CoC) and some players are focused on a cross country move so the hat got handed back very quickly and Exalted Essence is firing up this weekend.
Meanwhile playing Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition has been a blast so far. So much so that I'm wondering if this iteration of the old Storyteller system is actually smoother than the Storytelling system of Chronicles of Darkness. I would have said no before playing this.
I would have also said that Requiem has better player options until really digging into Masquerade V5.
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I GMed at my second con (and GMed my second SFS special) at a local con (LexiCon) last weekend. I got to run for some of the same fun players I did last year, and got to GM for our RVC for the first time (which was a blast, after I got past my initial nerves). I'll also be GMing at Origins this summer (my second time at that con, first as a GM).
I've decided to run the Scoured Stars AP [SF] for my home group. We've had our Session Zero for char-gen, and will play the first adventure sometime soon. I'm sharing the same weekly time slot with my eldest, who is running us through Sky King's Tomb [PF2], with our schedule largely determined by the availability of our one part-time player (SKT on weeks when he's available, SS when he's not).
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Finally did it.
Ripped the bandaid off and played out a session featuring the Exaltation of three of our characters for the Exalted campaign. It had been quite a long time since I'd stepped into the world of creation, and in the interim my expectations had grown quite high.
Exalted 1e was my favorite game of all time, and after so much time away and disappointment with the system for 2e and shock at 3e I was worried that maybe it wouldn't work
To my delight it was like slipping on a perfectly worn hoodie, going home again is possible.
Finally did it.
Ripped the bandaid off and played out a session featuring the Exaltation of three of our characters for the Exalted campaign. It had been quite a long time since I'd stepped into the world of creation, and in the interim my expectations had grown quite high.
Exalted 1e was my favorite game of all time, and after so much time away and disappointment with the system for 2e and shock at 3e I was worried that maybe it wouldn't work
To my delight it was like slipping on a perfectly worn hoodie, going home again is possible.
why shock at 3e? What happened?
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My home group has completed Part 1 of the Scoured Stars Adventure Path. We're not sure about our next date yet; May and June will be a bit hectic. My wife's at a work conference this week, has a concert later this month, then we and out two (barely-adult) kids are going to Origins in June.
OTOH, we are finally getting Starfinder back onto our FLGS's schedule in a couple weeks. It will mostly be me running that at first, so that my wife (the VL) can focus on keeping PFS2 going (though she has recruited a 2nd regular GM now, thankfully!). It will be low-level fare at first, to cater to new players--like one or two we hooked at a local convention last month. (I had to gently discourage one of them from joining a level 5-8 game I ran on the last day of the con. Between the higher-level play, the metaplot lore, and the content warning, I could not in good conscience recommend it for a newbie.)
Other than prepping my first session for that, I've been busy helping my wife and eldest child prep for the games they'll be running at Origins. I'm GMing some, too, but fewer than they are. We have an extensive map collection, including both actual flip-mats, and drawn copies of ones we don't own. (1" gridded easel pads are the perfect size to copy all but the biggest flip-mats.) But there are always a few new ones we need to buy or draw for every con. Fortunately, I have an art degree and enjoy drawing the maps, except for the really busy ones.
My wife and son will be running enough games at the con that they will be just using basic pawns and candies (mainly Starbursts) to represent enemies, but since I'm running so few I'll either be hand-picking pawns or building LEGO minis for my games, which is what I do for my home games.
why shock at 3e? What happened?
We're a largely traditional book and printed sheet group, and 3e Exalted is a siege weapon of a text. Nearly as dense within as its size intimates.
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When I was a Kid the local game store had a regular "Game Day" that I would go to when I got started in D&D. This one time I got pulled into some game I had never heard of. Made a Lizardman, had a Spirit Node for magic in my Tail. Can't remember anything more than that and the impression that I had a lot of fun with it. Only got to play it the one time but I always wanted to try it again. I'd think about it every so often for close to 40 years now, just a casual "Oh yeah that...I wonder what that game was. Ah well" and then out of mind and on to other things.
Well turned out the game was Swordbearer, and I bought it last night off Drivethrough RPG
I doubt I'm going to ever get to play it with my group but it's nice to get my hands on it and I will probably plunder it for ideas
Having games I'm likely never going to get to play is my curse. I have so many things I'd love to play, and more on the way, but there just isn't enough interest with my table for all of it. And these are just my games, I'm sure the others have their own stack of games we'll never get around to.
Just a quick glance reveals the following list of things I've purchased and never touched :
Mummy: The Curse 1st Edition
Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition
Geist: The Sin Eaters 2nd Edition
Promethian: The Created 2nd Edition
Dungeon Crawl Classics
Mutant Crawl Classics
13th Age
Pugmire
Everyday Heroes
The One Ring/Lord of the Rings Roleplaying
Old School Essentials
Level Up A5e
Shadowdark
Doctors & Daleks
Transformers
Kids on Bikes
Kids on Brooms
Teens In Space
Blades in the Dark
Index Card RPG
Scion
Star Trek Adventures
Stargate SG1
Worlds/Stars Without Number
Werewolf: The Apocalypse (5e)
Trinity Continuum: Assassin
Trinity Continuum: Adventure!
Trinity Continuum: Aberrant
Hunter: The Reckoning (5e)
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A couple developments since my post a year back.
1: Songbirds 3e, by Snow, rewrote my brain. It's a queer, dream-like, tragic take on OSR fantasy gaming and was just an absolute feast. I wrote two supplements for it!
2: My copy of the Mothership 1e boxed set arrived, and it's just an absolute feast. It feels like a real landmark in the indie scene.
3: I've recently discovered the Carved from Brindlewood sub-family of PbtA games, where they all have very specific premises (retired old ladies solve murder mysteries, Victorian monster-hunters with dramatic pasts, analogue horror in small town New Mexico) and really clean rules.
Their core feature is having a number of pre-written Mysteries/Threats, but without predefined truths - the players declare what the monster's weakness is or who did the murder, and roll using the number of Clues they can explain to see if it's true! It's a lot of fun to find out the answer alongside the players while GMing one of these.