15 Questions

Matt Snyder (of 20by20room.com fame) recently posted a RPG meme topic to his blog. In it, he poses 15 questions about people’s gaming experiences. Here are my answers. 1. What is the first RPG you ever played? Some weird combination of 1st Edition AD&D and the basic set. At the time I was in 4th … Read more

WISH 98: What’s New?

In WISH 98, Ginger asks (Internet Archive): What are three games or settings that you’ve bought or seen recently (in stores or previews) that you’d really like to try? What interests you about them and why? Eberron: At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this campaign setting, but it’s grown on me … Read more

WISH 97: Bitch Bitch Bitch

In WISH 97, Ginger asked (Internet Archive): What’s your take on player bitching/venting: complaints intended to relieve player stress and not to actually change things in the game? When and where and to whom is it appropriate? How should players and GMs handle it? Most of the player bitching I see in my game has centered … Read more

WISH 96: When a Game Clicks…

In WISH #96, Ginger asked (Internet Archive): Describe one or more occasions when a game went click for you and things fell together. Why do you think this happened? What factors made it possible? What were the consequences? It just happened this past Saturday. It was in the Scarred Lands campaign where I’m a player, … Read more

WISH #95: How Many Colors?

WISH 95 question is (Internet Archive): How many colors do you like in your gaming? Do you prefer four-color games? Or should game morality be black and white or shades of grey, and if the latter, how many? Are “evil” characters acceptable? Does your preference depend on genre? Do your preferences affect the genres you … Read more

WISH #94: Obnoxious Characters

The WISH #94 question (Internet Archive): How do you handle an obnoxious character who has habits that annoy other PCs? What do you do as a fellow player/GM? What has worked and not worked for you? As other respondents to this particular WISH noted, we need to differentiate between obnoxious characters and obnoxious characters. Obnoxious characters … Read more

WISH 93: Enough and Too Much

Wish 93 (Internet Archive) delves into an interesting subject: how do you deal with a campaign that has a long-running and detailed history? Here’s what Ginger asked: “Does joining a game with a lot of background thrill or intimidate you? What do you do to try to learn the background, or to compensate for not … Read more

WISH 91: Appropriating From Fiction

In Wish 91: Appropriating From Fiction (Internet Archive), Ginger asks: How often do you appropriate bits from books, movies, comics, and other sources as a player or GM? Do you like to steal names or flavor or go more whole-hog? Is there a difference between stealing for background and stealing for in-game use? I remember … Read more

Wish 90: System Updates

In Wish 90 (Internet Archive), Ginger asks: What do you think about system updates (Paranoia XP, Amber 2.0, DnD 3.0/3.5) and conversions (d20 Silver Age Sentinels, GURPS Traveller)? What about world/setting updates that result in system reboots (the end of the Age of Darkness)? Do you buy them, run them, or use them for resources? … Read more