Flaming Monkey

I already posted this to my Livejournal the other day, and only later realized that this would be an appropriate place to post it too.

A gaming meme via Matt “Chimera Creative” Snyder’s LJ:

1. What is the first RPG you ever played?

For some reason I want to say it was an old edition of Runequest, but that may just have been the first RPG I actually bought. The first one I played was probably D&D (the edition in the box with the dragon on the front).

2. What RPG do you currently play most often?

That’d be AD&D 3.5.

3. What is the best system you’ve played?

Actually played? Hmmm….Feng Shui maybe.

4. What is the best system you’ve run?

I don’t GM very often, so I’m just going to go with Kill Puppies for Satan.

5. Would you consider yourself an: Elitist/ Min-Maxer/ Rules Lawyer?

None of the above, though The Forge may be turning me into an elitist game snob.

6. If you could recommend a new RPG which would you recommend? Why?

D. Vincent Baker’s Dogs in the Vineyard. No contest. Why? Because Vincent has managed to come up with an excellent mechanic that covers conflicts from talking to brawling to shooting, and then he’s put it to use in an amazing setting that, from what I’ve seen posted to the Actual Play forum of The Forge, often leads to some really great RP.

7. How often do you play?

Currently, once a month, plus Ambercons. And yes, I’d like to play more often.

8. What sort of characters do you play? Leader? Follower? Comic Relief? Roll-Player/ Role-Player?

I think follower and comic-relief cover a lot of them, though I try not to just play the same stereotype in every game. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I don’t.

9. What is your favorite Genre for RPGs?

I don’t know that I have one, but I prefer my games dark (at least to some degree), no matter what the background setting.

10. What Genres have you played in?

Fantasy, horror, cyberpunk, and wuxia occur to me off the top of my head, but there are probably a couple that I’m forgetting, and there are always those games that don’t want to fit into a genre.

11. Do you prefer to play or GM? Do you do both?

I’ll say play, but that may in large part be because I haven’t GMed all that much.

12. Do you like religion in your games?

I don’t think I really have a preference one way or the other.

13. Do you have taboo subjects in your games or is everything “fair game”?

Did I mention that I ran a Kill Puppies for Satan game? I’m sure there are boundries, but I think they’re far enough out there that I’m unlikely to have to deal with them.

14. Have you developed your own RPG before?

Nope.

15. Have you ever been published in the Gaming Industry? If so…what?

No.

So, Clinton R. Nixon, one of the head guys at The Forge and designer of fine games like The Shadow of Yesterday, Paladin, and Donjon, started this thread by posting Clinton’s Fourth Axiom of Game Design:

Any good RPG can, with a minimum of effort, be used to play Jedi.

A little ways into the thread he was challenged to play Jedi using Kill Puppies for Satan. His response?

Kill Rebels for Palpatine

You’re a Dark Jedi, one of hundreds turned out by the Sith Academy in the rising days of the Empire. Almost every one of you has minimal power, but that’s the way evil empires work: churn out a hundred expendables instead of one good soldier. Because you’re not powerful enough to actually use, you get a mid-level Empire job. Maybe you’re a Stormtrooper, or maybe an overseer of a colonized village. Either way, it blows, and being you ain’t so great either, so you use the little power you have to lord it over everyone around you.

Brilliant!

For those who haven’t seen the news elsewhere, I thought I’d mention that we’ve opened registration for The Black Road 2005.

The Black Road 2005 will be held from June 24-26, and we will once again be at the Embassy Suites Marlborough in Marlborough,MA. Registration and game submission are now both open, and you can register at http://www.theblackroad.com/registration.html — please note that early bird registration closes on Jan 31st, at which point the prices go up. There is a $5 discount for those that register as GM’s and submit a game to run (see
http://www.theblackroad.com/gamesubmission.html). The final deadline for both registration and game submission is April 22nd, but it’s never too early to send in your games.

Other details are available on our website, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We hope to see in you in Marlborough in June!