Mysteries of Montreal

 RPG a Day 2024, day 10: RPG you'd like to see on TV ?      My relationship with RPGs is one where I see it as an interactive/active experience, and not a passive one. Since the pandemic, my TV watching has reduced to next to nothing, whereas my interactions with RPGs is more than it ever was. Indeed, that truly passive way to take in RPGs, live-streaming/actual plays, is one that I have had very little interaction with either. I see that it has a place, but it's not really for me, so no,  I have no interest in watching a TV show based on an RPG. Is there any RPG IP that I think would translate well, that hasn't already been done? Sure, give me a WFRP TV series. Go on, I dare you!

As mentioned previously , Games Workshop are re-releasing older books in their back-catalogue. I really enjoyed " Drachenfels ",  so this was a great opportnity to increase my Old World lore, get my oldhammer fix, and read some good stories. As I mentioned in my last post on the subject, there is " Drachenfels " and " Genevieve Undead ", to which I have now added " Beasts in Velvet " and " Silver Nails ". If you only read one of these four books, make it Beasts in Velvet. There is so much going on in this book in terms of plot threads and characters for you to mine for your game, you could get a whole campaign out of it. This book makes the Old World come alive in your mind. Silver Nails is a great follow up, where the author shows us other little vignettes for the characters we have come to know and love, showing their further adventures. There is also pay-off in the final book that explains what was a non-sequitous plot thread in one...

I recently read " Drachenfels ", by Jack Yeovil (aka Kim Newman). I was aware of the existence of this book back when it came out in 1989, but I never read it. I was wary of fiction lines based on games, as I still am. However on reading it now with the release of the 30 year anniversary edition I did enjoy it immensely. One thing that surprised me about was that there is something of the Discworld in this book in that the integration of the undead, and especially Vampires into the cities of the Old World smacks more of Terry Pratchett than it does of my reading of the original WFRP canon from the game books. In the book there is a monastic retreat for vampires, and the undead have their own bar that they frequent in Nuln. There is also a lighthearted tone to much of the novel that also makes me think of Pratchett, even though there is not the same level of humor. Of course WFRP is known for its humour, but in general it comes in a darker more satyrical form in the game m...

Question 14: Which RPG do you prefer for open-ended campaign play? Call of Cthulu. Next question. Okay, let me go a bit deeper here. I like Call of Cthulhu for Campaigns, as this allows you to have a slow spiral downwards in terms of character progression. I am not one for killing off characters quickly, but allowing them to breathe, and for their players to lead them down the path of madness through their own curiosity. Cthulhu is also known for its long campaigns, be it the old classics like Masks, Orient Express or Mountains of Madness, or the newer ones like the Two-Headed Serpent. Okay, I mean, this is my perfered style of game to play or to run, so I can and would do open-ended campaign sytle with most (but certainly not all) games. Other shout-outs to the WFRP Campaign, and Legend of the Five Rings for wonderfully complex worlds that allow for this type of game, that I have both played in and run.

Question 5: Which RPG cover best captures the spirit of the game? Quick answer, all the good ones! The good RPG supplements have good art, it kinda goes with getting it right. Longer answer, I have a couple in mind SLA industries , the artwork for this game was and is one of its central strengths, no surprise given the artists involved in its conception, but the grit and the rain on the front cover of the 1st edition to me sums up the spirit of the game, even better than the cover with Halloween Jack, as used on newer editions of the game. WFRP Another game where the art and the game are intertwined. There is no doubt this is a fantasy game, but grittier, and gorier, and in some ways more real than the F20 games that came from the other side of the Atlantic at the time. Again, chaos, tattoos and goblin blood front and center. The truth is, it's hard for me as a non-design guy to distinguish between art that does the job, and art that I love, o...

I know the word Oldhammer has been coined for 3rd ed WFB, but I think it works ust as well for the GW version of WFRP. In a trip to an LGS , I found a batch of first edition hard back WFRP supplements. Mostly for the Enemy Within Capaign. Commonly thought of as one of the best campaigns for any RPG. WFRP was one of the first RPGs I really got into, and I had played in, bought and run the campaign as it was sold in the early 90s in the guise of Warhammer Adventure and Warhammer City of Chaos . I had never got round to either buying or running the latter parts of the campaign. The Books I found today were Power Behind the Throne (1988), Something Rotten in Kislev (1988) from the Enemy Within, Warhammer City (1987) and The Restless Dead (1986). The only issue seems to be a missing map from Warhammer City, and from SRiK, but since either will likely be available online, I don't see that as a big issue. All the other handouts still seem to be in place. At $8 each, they were ...