Originally, I thought that this is a tough one because I would equate challenging with complicated. I tend not to like complicated, so-called “crunchy” systems generally. However, then I remembered my younger gaming days and it came to me.
I suspect most people will say that the best way to learn a new game is by playing it, and I can’t disagree with that advice, but I’d add that playing it with someone who knows the game well is really the best way to learn a new game.
It’s hard to say what innovation RPG groups could most benefit from, mainly because most of the best ideas I’ve heard of are no longer innovations. Nevertheless, I really like the concept from the Apocalypse World games of having to create bonds (history or Hx in the game) between players. It’s something that went on before that game, but strong ties between the player characters [Read the article]
Alice, from Alice in Wonderland, would be a great addition. She’s a quick thinker and good at dealing with all sorts of weird situations. I think she’d do great with any of my groups. Of course, the Mad Hatter would be fun too!
I’d love to have Edgar Allan Poe in my games. I’d run some mysteries (since he invented the detective story) and some horror (since he’s so good at that genre) and then I’d ask him to start running some games. I suspect they’d be pretty awesome.
As with most people, I get my inspiration from a variety of sources, but I would say that movies are one the top sources of inspiration when I am getting ready to run a game or to get me inspired to run something. I’ll typically track down a movie or two that are set in that genre/setting to watch before running a game to help [Read the article]
I’ve played RPGs for about 34 years, so considering all the people I’ve played with over the years, it’s hard to pick and choose a few people out so many great gamers. They’ve all brought different perspectives and skills to the table. However, of people I have never played with, I would love to play with Ken Hite, who I knew back in my freelancer [Read the article]
Although there are entire books written on the subject, I’ll focus on the three keys to what I see as a successful campaign. First off, it needs to actually play out fully, in other words, end properly. Too many campaigns are started and never finished, usually through no fault of anyone, it just works out that it never really ends and there’s no satisfying conclusion, [Read the article]
Currently, I am running the Three Kings Achtung! Cthulhu adventure using my own homebrew system. This followed a lengthy campaign in the Warhammer Fantasy role-playing game universe, and prior to that we played some Trail of Cthulhu. My horror bent has been driving our games for a while, so it might be time for a change of palette.
We’ve all had strong influences at one time or another. For gaming, most of my life was spent playing with friends and family who either came into the game around the same time as I had, or on their own had come into gaming generally around the same time or much later. As a result, I usually had as much or more experience than those [Read the article]