#RPGaDay2026 - Day 7 - "Mercy"

 

Day 7 of #RPGaDay is "Mercy" and to be honest, it's a slam dunk. 

Half the players forgot that there was a TPK.  Others forget being transported across space and time at the behest of a goddess.  A few barely remember how that all turned out (and that's for another prompt!)

Everyone remembers Dag the Kobold. 

My 2nd edition AD&D college campaign, nowadays referred to as The Ballad of the Pigeon-God was an eclectic one, with over a dozen players moving in and out of the game during its lifetime.  

The group had begun playing B3 - Palace of the Silver Princess, using the "not cool" plot device place in B1-9 - In Search of Adventure:  a TPK and getting saved at the last minute by the goddess.

The group was appreciative of the second chance, and was maneuvering through the palace quite handily, when they came upon the ruined library.  

Velandro was the cool, collected cleric of Akana (the state religion), who usually let the warriors take the lead in dungeon clearing.  But upon hearing scuttering amongst the collapsed bookshelves and shattered tables, followed by an audible shushing, Velandro took the lead, forcing the fighters back and he tried to lure whatever creature out. 

After much coaxing, a lone kobold peaked his head out.  Velandro offered food and show of dominance against his fellow adventurers, forcing them further back.   

After a half-hour of pure role-playing throwing a small monkey wrench into a night of dungeon crawling, it appeared that the kobold, Dag, not only swore allegiance to Velandro, but that of his wife and two young children hiding in the rubble.  Although a bit of a worrisome nuisance, Dag & Company helped the party clear out the palace.  

And, as one might suspect.  Dag's family became part of greater party's family, earning their keep, and ultimately leaving with Velandro to study religion, before returning to take part in the big apocalyptic finale.  Dag di Velandro, his wife Daschelle, his daughter Groata, and his son Scrag are all considered heroes of Crosedes, but more importantly, they are the founders of a kobold monastery in Ispatlia dedicated to creating kobold paladins.  

Alternative Question:  A moment of mercy received or given?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 6 - "Reach"

 Day 6 of RPGaDay and we move to "Reach."

I will again push back the stories of a four-armed, ten-foot tall mutant sunflower, and work towards the alternative question: Who would you like to be able to share RPGs with? 

Between a decade in retail and 35 years of going to conventions, I'm all about introducing new folks to the hobby.  Even in the days where open gaming space wasn't a regular commodity, I'd spend my well earned time off to run a few sessions for kids (under the required watchful eyes of the parentals) to teach them the game and ensure a half-dozen Player's Handbooks would go off the shelf.   I've run all types of games for companies to promote new games. I've even actively offered to run games for folks with an interest, from family friends to my kids' own teammates. 

RPGs are difficult to share.  The time commitment, and the fact that even with minis and terrain, most of what's going on is immersive into the participants'' minds.

Too be honest, for a better showing, one might want to reflect what's being done with the the Father of RPGs: Wargaming.  

I've been active in the historical side of wargaming for thirty years.  The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society, Inc (HMGS) runs three quality shows in the Mid-Atlantic each year.  However, one constant complaint, perhaps the nature of the beast of this branch, is the "graying of the hobby."   It will always be easier to paint up and play 40K, even if one desperately wants to play historicals, because the figures requires are usually less for 40K versus a traditional battle of any era.  

In 2020, HMGS Next Gen, Inc., was founded as an offshoot of HMGS "with the goal to seed and fund the growth of game clubs in the United States and around the globe. By facilitating game-design thinking along with game-based professional development, HMGS Next Gen will grow the hobby and the critical thinking that it fosters."

"Currently, HMGS Next Gen is working with libraries, public and private universities, secondary schools, and corporate organizations. We are composed of facilitators who have seen, first hand, the value of games as a learning tool. Games provide participants with an opportunity to explore diversity, teamwork and camaraderie. This is done through analytical thinking, leadership and stress management."

All that has been occurring, and I know this, because I'm a member of Next Gen, albeit one who focuses on new gamers at conventions.  

Our main organizers are out, sometimes two, three, even four days a week, running different events for libraries, schools, and other organizations.  They are well attended, with not only a few return participants, but a number convincing their families to make trips to conventions like Historicon 

For my part of it, I'm happy I'm not trying to sell a book to them, rather focusing on the energy and enthusiasm for the hobby.  Let's been honest, I've been trying that with RPGs and my other kids since they were wee tykes.... 

2012

Both girls will still play games with their old man, but my oldest, Maja does run large games under the Next Gen banner.

You can best check out everything Next Gen is doing from their Facebook page.

Alternative Question: Who would you like to be able to share RPGs with?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 5 - The Elden Burden

 Day 5 was the first day of #RPGaDay the stopped me cold.  "Burden"

Picture this: The early 90's, 2nd Edition AD&D is in full speed, splat books firing out.   It is not surprising that min-max elves populated the table.  And too be honest, I'm not a big fan of elves to begin with, and as DM, the deluge of thinly veiled variants of the same thing was getting me pissed off. 

So when I expanded my campaign past high school, I didn't ban elves, I simply made them difficult to play at the table.  

The Elden Burden of Western Talaishia

Queue your Kipling here.  

I'm sure in the ancient times of the Empire, the elves simply signed non-aggression pacts with the barbarian hordes of the east as they overran the First Ferasean Empire.  Hundreds of years later, the elven tribes in the east simply shrank in numbers that hating them was a non-issue. 

A couple hundred years later, the barbarian incursion happens again.  Civilization is ruined, but there is hope.  The mountains of Markovia and Skyforge to difficult to traverse, leaving the wooded Elven Kingdom of Agenmoor as the portal defending the far western empire from total destruction.

For reasons left in the mind of the elven leaders, they simply LET the barbarians through their kingdom, and let a good portion of them return east with nary a trouble. 

So the Elden Burden.  Already a race deteriorating from the inside, now their greatest partner, humankind, hates them with the power of a million wizards.  

After generations of teaching, elves are hated by all people.  Full blown discrimination, slurs involving pointed ears, and heaven forbid if you area half-elf. 

All the min-maxing in the world succumbs to the dark side of human nature. 

We still had our levy of elf characters show up, and most embraced the "hard work and heroism will win them over!"

It doesn't help when your elf, Torm Touchberry, is an ass-grabbing thief, or your virtuous elven cleric, Markuus was simply obnoxious at all times, to all people.  

It's a heavily biased and rewritten history, recalled in episodes #71-80 of the Lost Dispatches of Feraso., but in the village of Eding's darkest hours, the PCs bailed on them, letting the goblins put half of the place to the torch.  The campaign broke down shortly thereafter, but the non-elf PCs stayed away from the Barony.   Torm and Markuus took the burden as members of the adventuring party, and as elves, taking the lashes, the prison time (The local Lord was feeling generous as he needed competent bodies of any sort. Torm's player kept going for awhile, taking the lashes, training with the militia, keeping out of trouble.  

But the time my next campaign started, ten years cannonically after the last one, Torm was a sergeant in the militia, finally earning some respect, but full of the racial hostility towards the elves in the new group.  

Torm Touchberry, the Early Years...

Once the new elves won Torm over, their acceptance was quicker, although they went with the "keep you nose clean, stay humble" track

My Hackmaster games were placed 70-80 in the future, and the racism of the people was tapered a bit, with more elven heroes, but also the recent fall of Agenmoor to the shadow elves...

And nobody came to help them.

When I moved that the next Hackmaster campaign to Eastern Talaishia, the rampant racism was never there. Those larger groups were either far removed from human contact, or simply shrank well prior to the second barbarian incursion.  

Of course, there are tons of elf refugees from the fall of the kingdom, and their strange dialects, differeing culutres and drain on resources might un-surface some old hostilities amongst the peasantry. 

Alternate Question: What burden is a character willing to carry until the end?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 4 - "Charm"

For Day 4 of #RPGaDay, I really wanted to look away from the magical or social intimate connotations of "Charm," I really did.  

I've watched the movie Tropic Thunder on repeat recently and went to Kirk Lazarus, as Lincoln Osiris, the classic scene, "He charmed the pants off of Nixon, and won a ping-pong competition...."

But none of my characters have done either, so I work my way back in my session to bring up a moment of charm that derailed the characters.  

Dr Robert Wintermute, Professor of History at Miskatonic University, on loan to Columbia University, was a classic CoC investigator.  All the players started playing 20's avatars versions of themselves, so and Dr Wintermute simply lived vicariously through his character while keeping the meta at a reasonable amount. 

Early on in our Call of Cthulhu campaign, there was a lengthy research montage, with most characters teaming up to finish objectives.    Dr Wintermute decided he was fine executing a little Library Use at the local library.  

Until he rolls a 99.   "You've been easily distracted by a young woman..."

"Well, if I'm going to fail, let's focus on my less savory qualities talking with her."

"Roll Persuade"

"02"

Meanwhile, the rest of the group were at their meeting place to go over their discoveries.  Dr Wintermute was no where to be scene... for hours.  

When he finally did reach the others hours later, there was no reason given for his complete incompetence in finding out anything, and certainly no mention of the consenting coed canoodling.

Details are sketchy, even with Actual Play write-ups, but in a scenario with an actual timeline of events occurring, this indiscretion was enough to significantly delay the investigators, allowing certain events to get out of their control.  

This might have also led to "Operation Hobo Justice" but I've visited that beautiful debacle more than once before.

Alternative Question: An enjoyable moment of charm gone right or wrong?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 3 - "Poise"

 Day 3 of #RPGaDay and we come to a prompt that surprises me.  Not only is "Poise" not something this activity has mentioned at all, but it's a word I rarely use in my 17 years of blogging.  Almost every time I use the word it's in reference to a potential attack, be it an RPG Actual Play or a wargaming After-Action Report. 

So let's largely avoid combat and focus on the poise and demeanor of Lathar Bracken, Enforcer, in my Monday night Gamma World campaign. 

Naming your character Lathar in a post-apocalyptic RPG obviously generates a certain image similar do a 60's TV cartoon character, and over 100 sessions in, we all still default to that image. 

In reality, he's far more nuanced.  A local boy from Riverbend, whose father abandoned him and his mother when he was 12., getting work from the Restorationists since 14, finally allowed to go on missions... as part of the De Facto explorers at 20.  

Everyone expects him to be the brute force, the firepower, but in reality, he's the face of the group, years of working with adults had honed his charisma to act like he was all things to all people.  

And not only is he the most charismatic in the group, in a group with a full-on Restorationist Examiner, he's the smartest one in the group (at least stat wise).  Strength was actually his dump stat!  

Low strength aside, he fails... a lot, and just keeps going.  

He's been ready for action for years, constantly talking about his "Combat Leadership," in and out of game. And when he finally got to use it recently?  The claims were proven true, as he took a rag-tag bunch of mutant plant militia and admirably ambushed a larger enemy force, suffering only moderate casualties. 

His greatest moment of poise comes with his new bride, Thunnelda.   While negotiating ferry passage across the Big River, Lathar agreed to a blind date with the ferryman's sister.  

Thunelda was rough around the edges, covered in face tattoos, and prone to violent outbursts. 

Most thought she was totally unhinged.  Lathar quickly learned that she was, in fact, very "hinged."  

When he walked into her room at her brother's place, Lathar discovered her hobby, addiction, fetish even was hinges, her walls covered from top to bottom with them.  

He didn't run away, rather ordering Bug Nuggets with extra Glow Saunce on an actual date, and defending her honor in front of the townsfolk when no one else ever did.  

He's the only person that's kept her from her violent outbursts, succeeding so consistently that, if he's around, he can instantly soothe her violent tendencies.  It seems pretty obvious after the fact that they would get married.  

And now he and his friends have been on an epic quest to find his father, allegedly far down river, amongst the infamous Black Reeds.  And while the mission was successful, the disappointment with this reunion is tactile.  

And even to the end, Lathar has held the same situation with poise and dignity, even if the other unfairly questioned him.

After meeting his father, and being thoroughly disappointed by it. 

Lathar with the rest of the De Facto Explorers, the Early Days.

.Nott bad for a player whose in his late 50s and that's only on his second RPG character EVER. 

Alternative Question:  How does one character present themselves?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 2 - "Stature"

When I first did a full review of this year's #RPGaDay, I had pall of dread overcome me, and only hit Day 2.

"Stature" 

Not wanting to go with Gnome Titans and Halflings in Hackmaster... again... I reviewed the alternative question:  What does one character’s stature in their community mean to them?

The best character for that would be Sneaky Pete, the Mutant Weasel Scout in our current Gamma World 4th Edition online game.  

Pete is a bit of a pompous ass, a lone wolf (weasel) scout well before he met the other members of the De Facto Explorers with his one burrow/treehouse, along the Big River, outside of Riverbend. With a weakness to the "Glow" (Radiation) and a strange addiction to yellow curry powder. 

And his one underlying theme he focuses on is the defense of Riverbend. 

It's a miracle in itself that a large threat hasn't levelled the entire town.  Attacks are disorganized and manageable, even with incompetent leadership. 

Pete's been active at "modernizing the town:  building a palisade around the town center, changing training methods and drills, even installing a guard post in the unused church steeple, including installing his friend Sonny Helianthus' invention the "spear thrower" into the tower. 

(And if you picture an automatic football throwing machine amped up to sending other objects flying...  you would be right.)

He does not always have tact. He is not always diplomacy.  But the weasel has passion.

Because, deep down, Pete is desperate.  He wants to be part of the community that's allowed him to exist.   Pete wants more structure.  Pete may also wants to burn the town to the ground.

The greatest theme that has developed over 140 episodes?   Outside of one other oddly deranged character who he barely shares DNA with, he hasn't encountered another weasel since his youth.

He's encountered a lot of weasel-adjacent folks, including an entire ferret community in the Sub-Levels of KIA Academy.  But he vocally and violently dissociates himself from their kind.  

We should be wrapping up an epic quest in the campaign in the next few weeks, and everyone is looking forward for a winter of recuperation back in Riverbend.  Pete's seen families betray and systems fail his friends.  Hopefully he takes that back to the taverns and meeting rooms and keeps improving the town.  

And maybe, just maybe, another weasel will make an appearance. 

Alternative Question: What does one character’s stature in their community mean to them?

#RPGaDay2026 - Day 1 - "Discipline"

We have finally made it #RPGaDay2026 !

I'm coming into #RPGaDay this year with a different perspective.  Over a dozen years of questions and prompts and certain topics are rehashed repeatedly.  I won't link any older post, rather a

Day 1's prompt starts with a serious turn, "Discipline," and I'm grateful the recent onslaught of Dungeons & Daddies ads on social media will NOT steer me in that direction. 

The suggested question is, "Share a character or fellow player who is a strong example of discipline."

He might disagree, but my paragon of discipline would be Hoyce.

Blippy, Hoyce, and Henry, at Hoyce's bachelor party.

For a guy I originally knew as "the veggie hat" guy in college,  a large burly bearded man, aged into a bald, surly older man, he might not be the obvious first choice, but in our Monday night online game, he is the glue that keeps everything together. 

We're using his Google Meet subscription to run the game, so we're already eternally grateful.  He's the first player online Monday nights.   Heck, he's the first person I talked to when this years prompts came up, and we powered through all of them efficiently.

As a player, Hoyce has always been disciplined.  He sticks with his character's structure mechanically, he knows the character background and looks for ways to further develop it.     He adheres to character personality and goals. 

Whether he's a gnome titan warrior, a womanizing bard before it went viral, a Sips'kud Bounty Hunter in Star Wars, or 10-foot tall mutant sunflower in Gamma World, I know he'll play the character concept tight.

Heck, he's the last player to create an Illuminati University character using GURPs, and if that doesn't involve a little discipline for a first time player, I don't what it does.  

I can truly say that when he mentions his own home campaign, spun off from my own campaign, his skill at GMing is such that I actively listen to his own stories... 

Alternative Question:  Share a character or fellow player who is a strong example of discipline