Day 18 Prompt: Directness
Week 4 Prompt: Instinct
Weekday Prompt: Full of Grace
So, Directness is the Day 18 prompt for the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge. One of the organizers asked on their Facebook post to be direct if we were enjoying the challenge. Enjoying the challenge is a yes. But the prompts… leave a lot to be desired. I should be leaving this for the after-action report, but when I see a prompt, my mind immediately thinks of the most common response to it. And sure enough, when I browse some of the other entries for inspiration I see “yea, guessed that one, and that, and that one as well.”
Don’t get me wrong. Having organized an event like this with the Character Creation Challenge every January, I can appreciate what the organizers go through. Setting the schedules, creating graphics, acquiring language translations, getting the word out by social media, blog posts, and message boards. It’s not a small task. I tip my hat to the organizers for pulling this off for so long. I’ve only been doing this challenge for five years and it’s been running since 2014. I admit the possibility that the organizers have seen a lot of RPG prompts and are trying to shake things up. So, I’ll give them props to try something new.
I just felt like I’m coming up with my own prompts this year. And that has added to my uncertainty about completing the challenge. It’s hard to plan for research, obtain art, confirm references, etc. I’m quite literally doing this on the fly. And while leaving this to the muse sitting on my shoulder is interesting, and had some unique entries, I don’t want to abuse my muse. (hey that rhymes) Especially when the specter of real-life duties pops it’s head up.
Wow, that was such a long “intro” that I’m not certain I want to make this a really long blog entry like I did with Day 17 IN-10-CITY, Day 12 Finding What Is Lost or Day 7 The Mercy of the Macers. I think I’ll leave you with this.
I like to order my RPG products directly from the publisher/manufacturer whenever possible. I’ve also gone into my favorite local gaming stores to ask if they can order my books directly from the publisher. Some have found it difficult to connect directly with the game companies. I’d like to encourage the publishers to make it easy for local game stores to take care of their customers. I’d like to get future books through them as well when possible. Repeating buyers mean more sales for the manufacturers.
Do you have any more feedback on this or any of my other RPGaDAY entries? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.