Author: TardisCaptain

RPGaDay2023 Day 30: Obscure RPG you’ve played

Written by TardisCaptain August 30, 2023August 28, 2023

So the theme for Day 30 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge is “Obscure RPG you’ve played.” Does it count if it’s so obscure you don’t even remember playing it?

So a little bit of a background. In 2021 I was going through some old boxes and found a three-ringed binder full of old character sheets. So one of the things I thought I’d do is scan them and post them here in this blog. In my previous character sheet entries I posted characters from Dungeons and Dragons, the FASA Doctor Who RPG, Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, Vampire: The Masquerade, WEG Star Wars the Star Trek RPG by FASA, GURPS, Marvel Superheroes and Warhammer Fantasy.

One of the character sheets that I had found in the book was for a game called Star Ace. It was a science fiction based RPG released by Pacesetter in 1984 that I remember seeing advertisements for. But I never owned a copy of it myself. So imagine my surprise when I was going through this book after many years of looking at it and finding a Star Ace character sheet with my handwriting on it. The sheet itself appears to have been hand written and then photocopied. There were no other notes found on the back or with the sheet. So I think I may have played this game at least once? But I don’t recall anything about it.

Apparently the character of Drath Staybor (where did I pull that name from?) was a starfighter pilot who was also good with a bullwhip. I know I had no kinky streaks in me at the time so I must have been combining Luke Skywalker or Starbuck with Indiana Jones and some ninja skills thrown in. I don’t know.

When I looked up to see if this game was available now, I couldn’t find it on DriveThruRPG or Amazon. It did show up on one of the online RPG second hand stores for much more than I wanted to pay for. I couldn’t justify $75 for a game I’ll probably never get a chance to play. So yea, this game definitely counts in the obscure category.

Have you ever played an obscure roleplaying game? 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 with any comments.

RPGaDay2023 Day 29: Most memorable encounter

Written by TardisCaptain August 29, 2023August 28, 2023

Day 29 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge and the topic is “Most Memorable Encounter”. While a few of them popped in my head when I read the question, I’m going to go with this one for the West End Games Star Wars RPG system.

Back in the 90’s I was regularly attending games at a place called The Clubhouse which was next to Comics Utah. There were lots of different games happening in this place. Members of my gaming circle enjoyed playing the Star Wars RPG from West End Games. We played the usual misfit of rebels just after the events of The Empire Strikes Back. We had the smuggler, the pilot, the Jedi, etc.

There was one session where we all discovered an interesting aspect added to the WEG SW RPG. We were flying to some destination when we were spotted by an Imperial patrol. Not a big Star Destroyer, just some patrol along the way.

The captain of the vessel got on the comlink with the Imperials and was starting to talk his way out of them having to board us. Unbeknownst to him, the character of one of the players had an irrational hatred of the empire and immediately ran to one of the gun ports and started firing. He ended up shooting down at least one TIE Fighter. The CO was putting the Imperials on mute, screaming to the other characters about getting him off the guns and then returning to the conversation that they were having a “slight weapons malfunction”.

When asked for the name of the vessel, the CO responded “We are the Fresh Fruit Express” (trying to come up with a name on the fly. The GM tilted his head and asked the player to make a CON roll. Now this wasn’t CON as in Constitution that we normally see in Dungeons and Dragons. This was a skill used to “persuade an NPC to do something that isn’t in the NPC’s best interests.” It could be a distraction or a logical argument. Well the CO had a decent number of dice in the CON skill and rolled very high. High enough that he had been able to fool the Imperials that there was a mechanical issue and that they were carrying fruit.

We did end up having to land on a planet and meet up with the Imperials. The player had his CO character walking down the ramp eating an apple when he stepped out to continue the bluff.

I don’t know if I conveyed how hilarious we had found it at the time, but I still giggle when I think of “This is the Fresh Fruit Express.” Seeing how successful he had been in bluffing the Imperials, a lot of players dumped advancement points into the CON skill for future encounters.

Or was this just nostalgia in my head? It was memorable to me. Do you have a memorable RPG encounter that you’ve experienced? 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 with any comments.

Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: August 28-September 3

Written by TardisCaptain August 28, 2023August 27, 2023

How it feels with everything coming at me.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of August 28th through September 3rd. The @STrekQuotes Twitter account is still active, but Twitter/X has elected to charge for the Tweetdeck tools that allowed me to automate the quotes to post on a certain date and time. I am currently exploring another option that may allow me to schedule posts in advance. If successful, the Twitter account could resume daily posts soon. I am also attempting to see if I can schedule on the BlueSky platform with an eye on creating a Daily Star Trek Quotes account there as well.

August 28
“Do you know what you get if you feed a tribble too much?” Dr. McCoy “A fat tribble.” Kirk “No. You get a bunch of hungry little tribbles.” Dr. McCoy- The Trouble with Tribbles, Stardate: 4523.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

August 29
“You have got to make use of what you have. If you need a hammer and you don’t have one use a pipe.” Kira- Return to Grace, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

August 30
“Waste nothing. That’s one of the first rules of survival.” Neelix- Basics Part II, Stardate: 50032.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

August 31
“Death and loss are an integral part of life everywhere.” Troi- The Bonding, Stardate: 43198.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

September 1
“This business of love. You have devoted much literature to it. Why do you build such a mystique around a simple biological function?” Kelinda- By Any Other Name, Stardate: 4657.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

September 2
“I’m not for sale.” T’Pol- Borderland, Date: May 17, 2154 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

September 3
“When all else fails, do it yourself.” (Lefler’s Law #17) Lefler- The Game, Stardate: 45208.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet

Horror, Role Playing Games

RPGaDay2023 Day 28: Scariest game you’ve played

Written by TardisCaptain August 28, 2023August 25, 2023

The Scariest Game You’ve Played is the topic for Day 28 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge. I had to think about this one for a moment. I really don’t get into the horror roleplaying games. When you are sitting around the table, or at a virtual table, how do you get scared? You are primarily in a safe controlled environment. Especially if you know you are going to be in a horror based game, you are expecting to experience something horrible like zombies or some unspeakable horror.

But I do recall one moment where I was “scared”, not only for one session but for multiple sessions. I’ve previously talked about a recent Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that had my favorite character (and his demise) and towards the end of that campaign the DM, Jeff Sullivan, pulled it off.

Here is how Jeff did it. He placed us in a demon controlled pocket dimension where the rules of wizard and clerical magic didn’t apply (aka His realm). The ability to rest to recover hit points wasn’t available due to the nature of the dimension. My magic-user character and our cleric couldn’t replenish our spells in the normal manner. And we would be in this dimension for a long time.

Let’s just say it worked. Not only was my character agitated, I was agitated as well and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. This made me as a player on edge and slightly (more) paranoid that usual. All it took was getting the character out of a comfort zone.

Could this be done in a game like Chill or Call of Cthulhu? I don’t know. I’m expecting horror then. I think the best way to present it is to run a game with a generic rule set where you don’t tell the players that they are going to be experiencing a zombie outbreak or an interdimentional invasion. Then you might actually get some horror elements in there to scare some players.

What do you guys think? Is it possible to scare someone in an RPG where they know that a homicidal maniac or weird beast might pop out of the shadows? What experiences have you had with horror based games? 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 with any comments.

Role Playing Games, Spy-Fi

RPGaDay2023 Day 27: Game you’d like a new edition of

Written by TardisCaptain August 27, 2023August 25, 2023

Day 27 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge and our topic is “Game you’d like to see a new edition of”. I had to think about this one. Various games such as Doctor Who Roleplaying Game, Dungeons and Dragons and others have new editions. Alien, Star Trek Adventures and Dune Adventures in the Imperium are new enough that they don’t need new editions, yet. The recent WotC OGL fiasco has inspired Basic Fantasy and White Lies to update their editions to remove OGL components.

Just as the unplayed games entry used inspiration from my collection, I decided to look that way again. As I look at my shelf full of books, one immediately jumps out.

In 2005, AEG released SpyCraft version 2.0. I even remember playing it at a friends house with one of the authors of the game. Later the license would transfer over to Crafty Games along with FantasyCraft. However it’s been a long time since 2005. I’m wondering if an RPG year is like a dog year? I know it’s that way for computers. A newer version with streamlined rules (SpyCraft 2.0 is a D20 system, but it’s a bit on the crunchy side) would probably sell like hotcakes. Plus I’m a sucker for picking up espionage roleplaying games.

What game would you like to see a new edition of? 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 with any comments.

Humor, Role Playing Games, Top Secret

RPGaDay2023 Day 26: Favorite Character Sheet

Written by TardisCaptain August 26, 2023August 23, 2023

I initially had an answer in mind when I read that Day 26 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge was “Favorite Character Sheet”. I had seen a lot of them recently after three years of participating in the Character Creation Challenge. However just to be on the safe side, I did a quick run through the scanned character sheets that I had presented. I then decided that I would present a favorite for each year of the Character Creation Challenge. Primarily because I couldn’t pick just one sheet to be my favorite.

Favorite Character Sheet from the 2021 Challenge:

This is the character sheet for Top Secret: New World Order that was written by Merle M. Rasmussen, the original author of the 80’s Top Secret RPG. What made me like this character sheet was the design. It looked like a folder that the dossier of a secret agent would have been found in. And I don’t know why, but the image of the match book made it stand out.

Favorite Character Sheet from the 2022 Challenge:

Like the Top Secret New World Order sheet above, the sheet for the Star Trek inspired Boldly Go! RPG has an aesthetic that fits the science fiction theme of the game. I also like that it has some gaming rule information on the sheet itself to assist players during the game. Quite a few other sheets had this as well, but the aesthetic made this one stand out. The players “roll up” the starship first which is why there is a sheet for the vessel.

Favorite Character Sheet from the 2023 Challenge:

I had a blast putting together the character of Grukk for the Ork! 2nd Edition RPG. This game sounds like it would be set up on the fly when real-life prevented all of the players from attending a session. Let’s whip up some silly Ork characters and laugh at the scenario as we still play. Oh, and since most of the players probably don’t know all of the rules, there are some simple guidelines on the sheet itself. Perfect for a quick pick-up game.

Do you have a favorite character sheet from any roleplaying game? 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 with any comments.

Doctor Who, Horror, Role Playing Games

RPGaDay2023 Day 25: Unplayed RPG you own

Written by TardisCaptain August 25, 2023August 25, 2023 1 Comment

What Unplayed RPG do you own is the topic for Day 25 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge. Are you kidding me? I’ve got a good collection of dead-tree books and a LOT of PDF copies of different games. OK, I think I’m going to pick one of each (physical book and PDF copy) that I wish I could play. However, I’m not going to talk about some of the games that I’ve already talked about previously.

Dead-Tree Version:

So I walked over to one of my bookshelves and the first book that jumped out and attacked me was the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game by Cubicle 7. I only own the 1st edition of the game, so I haven’t had a chance to check out the 2nd edition yet. Not only am I a huge Doctor Who fan (duh, look at the URL for this blog) but I loved how this game was presented. They made it very simple to try to explain the system to friends in an attempt to get them to play. (see photo below)

Not only was the basic rule easy to present, but so was the character creation process as I discovered in a past Character Creation Challenge. I liked how the attributes was explained (this score equals this type of human for each attribute). It made me really want to see how the system ran.

PDF Version:

Isolation Games put out an RPG called When The Moon Hangs Low. This is a gothic action RPG set in a fantasy Victorian inspired world where characters are tragic monster hunters in the capital city of Harrowmire. Each character has some connection (or deep secret) to the monsters they hunt. Think Supernatural in a Victorian Age. I had picked up this game in a charity bundle on DriveThruRPG to support Doctors Without Borders just after the illegal Russian invasion of Ukraine. The system sounds interesting and the Character Creation process was pretty simple. The company even has their own discord server for players to check out and ask questions.

Again there were a ton of options I could have selected from, but these two jumped out at me when I was looking over the collection.

Do you have an unplayed RPG that you own? 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 with any comments.

Role Playing Games, Star Trek

RPGaDay2023 Day 24: Complex/Simple RPG you play

Written by TardisCaptain August 24, 2023August 24, 2023 1 Comment

Day 24 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge and the topic is “Complex/Simple RPG you play”. I’m probably in the same boat as a lot of gamers. I want to play, but getting things scheduled and set up (aka real life) is getting in the way.

Recently I have played a few rounds of Far Trek through the Roll20 website. Far Trek is a fan made Star Trek RPG that was created using the Microlite D20 rule set. Take your standard D20 rules and boil them down even more (no feats, simplified skills, etc.) I found it an easy read, easy character creation and easy to run. I’ve even been considering some homebrewing for this system. And if you are looking for a simplistic good Star Trek game, the PDF is free.

What Complex or Simple RPG do you enjoy playing? 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 with any comments.

Collecting, Role Playing Games

RPGaDay2023 Day 23: Coolest looking RPG product/book

Written by TardisCaptain August 23, 2023August 21, 2023

Day 23 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge and it’s a hard one. Coolest looking RPG product/book. I’ve got so many to choose from.

I really liked two of the recent Modiphius Star Trek Adventures products. Earlier this year I reviewed the Star Trek Lower Decks Campaign Guide and the Utopia Planitia Starfleet Sourcebook.

I also thought that the Lynx Dice Dunce Chair that I had reviewed several years ago was pretty kewl and I could put my Jason Fox Lucky D20 in it if I wanted (but it has all 20s on each side so it would never go wrong).

But for this blog entry, I think I’ll talk about one of the recent purchases that I haven’t had a chance to review yet. The 20-in-One Card Deck by precis Intermedia. The GM of the James Bond RPG that I played at SaltCON Spring was using it during his game and I was really impressed that I had to order a set of my own.

It is a set of 60 cards and an instruction sheet. There is a standard set of playing cards (with 8 Jokers), your common single die rolls (D3 up to D20), common multiple die rolls (2D6, 3D6, 2D10, and D%), Averaging die roll, Fudge/FATE Roll (-4 to +4), D6-D6 Roll (-5 to +5), Coin flip, Yes/No with Conditionals (and/but), Directional (in degrees) and Clue (who, what, where, when, why).

While I haven’t had a chance to use these as a GM, I did get a chance to use them when I played Weird Frontiers at SaltCON-Summer. I’m looking forward to using these in the future. As a GM, the players can’t hear me draw a card as they can rolling a die. Muwahahahahahah!!!!!!

What is your coolest looking RPG product or book? 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 with any comments.

Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

RPGaDay2023 Day 22: Best Secondhand RPG purchase

Written by TardisCaptain August 22, 2023August 21, 2023

Day 22 of the #RPGaDAY2023 Challenge has us talking about our Best Secondhand RPG purchase. While I have purchased a few used books from different sources, the ones that I love the best come from thrift stores. The prices are LOW and I feel like I’ve won a treasure hunt when I stumble across them. Here is a photo of just a few of the thrift store finds that I have uncovered.

Most of these are various flavors of Dungeons and Dragons. I wasn’t really expecting the Everquest RPG when I stumbled across it. I never really played the MMORPG, but I did use it in the first year of the Character Creation Challenge. However the best purchase is the 1979 third-edition blue covered Dungeons and Dragons book edited by Eric Holmes.

This was the rulebook that was released even before everyone could get the common set of role-playing dice. So the book had to come with a set of cardboard chits that you would place into a cup and randomly draw. The chits were still attached to this book.

When I had found the book in the thrift store, I had no cash on me. But I did have my debit card. Not wanting to run the card for the low price they wanted for the book, I poured all over the thrift store just to find something else. When I couldn’t find anything else to buy, I prayed that the store would let me run the debit for just this one item. Luckily, they did and this is how much I paid.

Yea, I found the receipt still with the book when I pulled it out years later. So this was the best second hand purchase that I’ve made.

Do you have a favorite second hand purchase of an RPG product? 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 with any comments.