Tag: RPGaDay

Posted in: Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

RPGaDAY2026 Day 5: Burden or Burned

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 5 Prompt: Burden
Week 2 Prompt: Intellect
Weekday Prompt: Full of Woe

The anagram of the Day 5 prompt for the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge is Burned. We (the voices in my head) didn’t do a location for my Day 4 entry of Charm, so I’m going to return to that train of thought in this entry.

The following blog post is system agnostic. I hope it inspires any GMs running a cyberpunk game like Cyberpunk Red, Modern Necessities-Cutting Edge, Shadowrun or Cyber Generation.

The Burned Archive

:::Recording Start:::

“I’m telling you man, this data is legit. It came from the Burned Archive.”

“Skegger, what are you talking about? The Burned Archive is called that because the CorpForce found the black-web servers in the dregs and torched it. Everything was melted, every sys-op was burned alive. It even made the news-vids despite the corp-lords trying to keep it off the net.”

“Then why are new data dumps being released Rik? I mean look at this on my hand-screen, it’s the latest info on the uprising at the Martian colonies. From it I can pull up all the archived data about the past food riots.”

“Smegging Hell Skeg, are you trying to get greased by the CorpForce, why do you have that on your personal device?

“Relax man, I’m taking the nesc steps to keep my device clean if scanned. I’m not an AI-slop slinger thinking he’s really a cyber-sleuth.”

“Dude, is this real? It even has the same scan-technique and digital fingerprints from the Burned Archives. How is this info-dump still available?”

“That’s what makes my wet-circuits think. Look at the scan-technique. That’s not from a screen. Do you think it came from a hard copy?”

“Paper? Who has paper copies of stuff?”

“Grognards Rik, grognards. The old-time runners and sleuths used to do something called ‘Reading the Manual’. I looked it up; a manual was a paper book. No power use to keep the information on the book means no power use to detect the book”

“Skegger, setting up a new server wouldn’t be that difficult. Thery’re enough back-room dealers who would sell the hardware in a heartbeat for extra creds. It’s the data that the corps are trying to hide. But what if that data is printed on paper that can be quickly scanned by nano-bots which happens at lower power and in milliseconds. Boom. It’s back online like it was never gone and still getting updates.”

“But I still don’t know where the resisters would find a place to store this paper. The deadtree versions of data took up a ton of room.”

“Two words Rik. Micro. Dots.”

“That’s one word you gimboid.”

“Whatevs, my spell checker hates me anyway. But the point is, if the print is microscopic material instead of whatever the trees provide, then you could hide entire libraries in the smallest locations where the nano-bots can constantly scan them on demand.”

“We gotta find out if this idea of yours is legit man. If we can get in on this, we could sell it to other data-junkies.”

“Or put a big bullseye on our backs from the CorpForce.”

:::Recording End:::

Why did I type it up this way? Because that is what my fingers started doing when I the typing started. I wasn’t intending to type up a conversation, but the more I “heard” the more I wanted to put down. Hopefully it will inspire a GM or two. Speaking of inspiration, I’m willing to take suggestions for future RPGaDAY posts.

Have you dipped a chrome-plated toe in the cyberpunk world? 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.

Posted in: Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2026 Day 4: Charm

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 4 Prompt: Charm
Week 2 Prompt: Intellect
Weekday Prompt: Full of Grace

Eagle eyed readers may notice that I didn’t change the prompt for the Day 4 entry in the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge. The reason for this is that I’m writing these on the fly. When I saw the title “Charm”, the first thing that came into my head was the first-level Charm Person spell that always made me raise an eyebrow. First-level? It seemed like a powerful spell at this level, especially if it isn’t done right.

So I pulled out my books for Basic Fantasy, Castles and Crusades, Labyrinth Lord, Dungeon Crawl Classics and even the new Dungeons and Dragons 5.5 players handbook that I just recently obtained with a gift card. They were all variations on the same thing. The target thinks that the caster is a friend. As long as the caster or his party doesn’t attack them or do anything that wrongs them, then they can continue to be charmed with some options to make a save vs the spell effects. Perhaps the name of the spell is altered to avoid OGL license issues, but the process is similar.

I’ve never really cast this spell in all my years of gaming. I don’t recall ever seeing it cast. I asked one of my Geek Kids who has been in several D&D campaigns, and they hadn’t seen it used either. So it got me thinking, if this comes up in my current Castles and Crusades game, or at a one-shot at a convention, how would I handle this as a GM.

I think this is a perfect opportunity for role-playing instead of roll-playing. I’d rather have the table play more of the first than the later. I’d ask the caster how they are going to handle the charmed person. Take into account the current scenario involved (social, physical combat, bartering for goods and services?) and make adjustments to any saves vs affects from there.

Then there is the after affects. Once the spell has worn off or is resisted, how does the target(s) react? Will they know they’ve been charmed? Will they feel violated? Confused? Resentful? The response could make for an interesting roleplaying experience.

Every time there is a tactic that comes up in a magical universe like this, there is also defenses against them. Could shopkeepers, community leaders and other likely targets invest in rings, amulets or other worn items of defense against such spells? That would make for an interesting roleplaying event when a PC tries to be sneaky and suddenly finds out that the town sheriff doesn’t take too kindly to being targeted like this. And for every genuine magical item, hucksters could sell fake items that are promoted to assist with a charm resistance.

I wonder if that’s why this was a first-level spell. A good GM could see the opportunity to get some roleplaying going at the table?

What are your thoughts? Now that I’ve let my muse type this out, I think I’m glad I didn’t go with my initial idea of making a Wild West bordello with charming ladies. Still might, but not with this prompt.

Have you seen this spell in play at your table? How did it go? 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.

Posted in: Role Playing Games, Spy-Fi

RPGaDAY2026 Day 3: Poise or Poison

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 3 Prompt: Poise
Week 2 Prompt: Intellect
Weekday Prompt: Fair of Face

Another day where I take the recommended prompt for the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge and I twist it on it’s side. I’m still intending to blog about RPG vehicles or exotic locations that, I hope, inspire others. Today I’m twisting Poise into Poison.

Like the Day 2 entry for Stature/Statue, this submission is system agnostic. But it could be used with any espionage or modern day system such as White Lies, Agents of AGEIS, Modern Necessities, Everyday Heroes, Shadow Ops or Tiny Spies.

Memo for Administrator 7 eyes only. In our effort to track down the rogue agent “Dutch”, we have been following up on possible locations where he might be able to obtain an antidote to the Ticking Poison that was administered to “Dutch” in order to keep him compliant with our orders. As you know, unless “Dutch” receives regular injections once-a-week of the antidote, the Ticking Poison will slowly shut down his digestive system. This will result in his painful death by starvation as the poison prevents his body from absorbing the nutrients in food.

Unfortunately, since the untimely demise of Dr. Meredith during Dutch’s escape, we were unable to locate in his notes where the source of the Ticking Poison originated. Several documents remain encrypted in the late doctor’s personal code. Cryptography is continuing their efforts in decoding these documents.

We did find one possible lead, one that Dutch may also have. Eomma’s Hanseon. The rumored nautical home of the reclusive biochemist only known as “Mother” in the espionage underground. We strongly believe that Dutch is now searching for Mother in the south oriental seas. Attached is the report that we have on Eomma’s Hanseon.

==Start of Report==

Only known photograph of Eomma’s Hanseon.

Subject: Eomma’s Hanseon
Report reliability rating: Medium (57/100)
Last Update: 20260803
Access: All

“Eomma’s Hanseon” is the name of a luxury yacht of unknown origin that is owned by the reclusive biochemist only known as “Mother”. This biochemist has been credited in saving the lives of at least known fifteen individuals worldwide from rare poisonings or unknown illnesses.

There is no known port of registry for this vessel. Agents have spotted this vessel in territorial waters belonging to Taiwan, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, the Philippines and China. As of this last update, no known reports of governmental boarding or inspections have been discovered.

While the report on Mother states that she (gender unconfirmed), has been operating for over twenty-five years. The vessel believed to be Mother’s home base was first observed in 2012 at a port near Singapore. The last reported sighting was off the coast of Vietnam in 2025. No observations of this vessel have been made outside of the oriental region.

All agents have been alerted to report any sightings or any other gathered information immediately.

==End of Report==

On a personal note, while I can’t confirm it, I have a strong suspicion that the reason that “Mother” can cure these afflictions is that Eomma’s Hanseon is the source for these chemical poisons. I have dispatched an investigation team to the area to see if they can track down the vessel or pick up the trail for “Dutch”. I will keep you appraised.

–Supervisor 47

The royalty free image was found on Pixabay. I tried to find an image of a mutant bear for yesterdays post without any luck and I didn’t want to delay the post. I like having visual references when I can obtain them.

Oh, and I’m still open to suggestions from any readers on future vessels or locations to use in this challenge. They can be from any genre.

Did this inspire anything for a possible espionage or modern day RPG scenario? 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.

Posted in: Role Playing Games, Science Fiction

RPGaDAY2026 Day 2: Stature or Statue

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 2 Prompt: Stature
Week 1 Prompt: Drive
Weekday Prompt: Blessed

So I realized something after I had posted my Day 1 entry in the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge. A few weeks ago I had posted a ‘prepping for’ blog entry asking for suggestions to use in the challenge. I did get two really good questions asked of me. However, since I decided that I was going to go with the starships/locations theme, I’ll save those questions for future blog posts. So… stay tuned.

I was talking with the Geek Wife while we were driving around today. I read off the list of daily prompts that were offered for the challenge. Her brilliant mind said “You can probably change some of those prompts into anagrams. So I may do that with a few of the future entries, like the one today. Statue is kinda-sorta an anagram of Stature. And actually I wasn’t the only person to think so as I saw another entry in the challenge to show a statue.

The following entry in the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge is a system agnostic location that can be used in a post-apocalyptic game such as Gamma World, Mutant Crawl Classics, Mutant Future, Barbarians of the Ruined Earth, Other Dust or Apocaly5e.

The Numpa Pack of UNU can be found in the lands east of the toxic salty lake near the mountains. This race of ursanoid mutants were blessed to find a safe haven for their tribe when they stumbled across an artifact from the ancients. A large metal bear statue with a plaque containing the unknown language of the ancients with the name “In honor of the University of Northern Utah Grizzlies, A gift from the graduating class of 2088”.

While they could not read the ancient text, they took the metal likeness of them as a sign that this was their land. It took several years but they were able to clear out the structures around the blessed statue including the evergreen bowl where the bulk of the pack lives. It was easily defendable when feline enemies of WSU pack and the tauran herd from USU came down on raids. There were rumors of other mutant packs to the south, but they seemed to be fighting amongst themselves instead of looking north for resources within the ancient structures around the bowl. Finding ancient technology was easier in these buildings.

When ever a lost ursanoid mutant was found, they were brought to the statue of the ancients. If they were recognized with the same features, they were welcomed into the pack despite of their fur color. Thus the pack consisted of those with the fur of black, brown, white or the rare black and white combination. This has lead to significant growth.

However the pack elders are worried about recent reports of hairless simians that have been spotted. Could these be the same referred to in the oral history passed down from elders to elders? If so, are these the same destroyers who scorched the Earth once before?

As posted yesterday, I’m also looking for suggestions for future entries in the RPGaDAY challenge. If something catches your eye and you would like to get my take on it, let me know about it.

Do you have a favorite mutant world RPG universe to play in? 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.

Posted in: Character Creation Challenge, Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

#RPGaDAY2026 Day 1: Welcome to the Madness

Written by TardisCaptain

Day 1 Prompt: Discipline
Week 1 Prompt: Drive
Weekday Prompt: Works Hard

August 1st is here and it’s time for the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge. I’ve been participating in this community event for a few years now (click here for my past entries) as I’ve found it challenging and rewarding. As you can see from above, there are some… unique prompts this year with a couple of side-prompts that were recommended by the organizers. I’ll try to see if I can work them into my blog posts, but honestly I’m not really feeling inspired by them. I even waited for a few entries to hit the interwebs to see if I missed anything and… I’m seeing subjects all over the place.

Now one of the suggestions strongly recommended by the organizers is, create 31 characters to use as NPCs in this challenge. That’s a little too close to the annual Character Creation Challenge that I run every January (New Year, New You). I really have to get myself pumped up and prepped for months to get through every January (and keep up with other responsibilities in my life). Especially since I’ve added two new ones recently. I’m also getting ready for SaltCON End-of-Summer coming up on the first weekend in September.

So I’m going to use an idea I keep wanting to use for the #CharacterCreationChallenge, but never get a chance to since I usually end up with some new games I want to create characters for. Gene Roddenberry said that the USS Enterprise was just as much a character in the show as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. As much detail had to go into the ship as it does in the cast of the show. I’ve been wanting to make a Ship Creation Challenge in honor of this. Then as I thought more about it, safe houses (espionage), sailing vessels (pirates), castles and towers (fantasy) and other locations basically fit into this same category. Batman had his Bat Cave with it’s unique features. Sherlock Holmes had 221b Baker Street where he could be found playing his violin. Han Solo had the fastest hunk of junk known as the Millennium Falcon. A Starship is a unique location like these that added to the story. So my entries for 2026 will be unique locations that may or may not be mobile. Some entries may be brand new, others may be recollections of past games. I’ll try to get the prompts listed above in the entry, but that’s not always going to be a guarantee.

My loyal readers will recall my many blog entries about the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that my friend Jeff ran for several years. What they may not know is that he had ran another campaign before that one (early 2000’s) that I had the pleasure to participate in. I had introduced Tirik the Archer in an entry to the 2024 RPGaDAY challenge. What I didn’t mention then was how Jeff was having us roleplay (and plan) what would eventually be our strongholds in the game. I told him that I wanted to put together an Archery Academy. Jeff said sure, but he wanted plans before letting the construction start. I had an idea in my head and I had to get it down on paper. A paper that I just spent time going through my book of characters to see if I still had readily available. So, here is a quick re-sketch from memory.

When I showed the original to Jeff his response was “Oh Cool!!!!” Later I remembered that I could have had a basement put in for probably more room. But by the time I had remembered this, Jeff stated that the workers had already started on the construction. After it was completed, apparently a dragon flying overhead was intrigued with the landmark and had mentioned it to his fellow dragons (according to the DM, we didn’t get a chance to roleplay that out).

So I guess the students would have to work hard to get into the academy and be diligent to graduate if they had the drive? Yea, I think I forced that one a little too much.

Oh, additionally I’m open to suggestions for future unique locations or vessels that are characters in their own right.

Did you have an RPG campaign that made it to the stronghold level? 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.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

I need your help for #RPGaDAY2026

Written by TardisCaptain

So August is quickly approaching. This is the time of the year where AUOTCRATIK announces the latest #RPGaDAY challenge. There are 31 RPG topics to blog about for 31 days. You can read my past #RPGaDAY entries here.

As you can see from the graphic above, there are 31 topics, as well as modifiers and something that looks very familiar. They recommended a Character Creation Challenge. Well we all know that’s for January (new year, new you). But, they also gave us another option as seen in the graphic below.

They provided a blank graphic to come up with your own topics for the 31 days of the #RPGaDAY challenge. Suddenly I’m taping my fingers together and saying “excellent”. Because that’s where you come in.

I’m open to suggestions for 31 topics for me to blog about for the 2026 #RPGaDAY challenge. You can post them on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. Or you can email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or even hit me up on one of the Social Medias that I still seem to be lurking in.

As per the rules, I will be posting positive things about our hobby. Sure, I may post a few things with constructive criticism, but this will stick to the positive side of the issues.

So I am requesting a topic or two (or 31) and when I get enough of them, I’ll use them in August. Will you help a fellow geek out? I’d love to hear what you’d like me to blog about.

Thanks in advance.

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.

Posted in: Collecting, Role Playing Games

New RPG Miniatures For My Collection

Written by TardisCaptain

For my Day 27 entry of the 2024 RPGaDAY challenge I talked about how few RPG miniatures that I owned. In that blog post I mentioned that I wanted to obtain more miniatures for gaming use, but I didn’t want to spend too much on it. At the game swap at SaltCON, I had seen a few packs available, but again the price was just a little bit more than what I wanted to spend. I had been looking for miniatures (or smaller toy figures) at different thrift stores and continuing my bargain hunting. Well thanks to my friend Ross, I finally had a chance to get a start on a collection that I’ll be able to use in different RPG sessions.

Ross is one of my friends who has hopped on the 3D printing craze. There are opportunities now to print gaming miniatures and cosplay props that we never had access to before. A large number of artists are designing STL files that can be downloaded and used on various 3D printers using spools of plastic. Last spring while visiting him he showed me a bunch of fantasy RPG miniatures that he had printed out. I had inquired about printing some up for me and his response was, ‘buy a spool and I’ll use it for your miniatures.’ A spool (at the time) was only $18 and for that, he printed out 153 miniatures of different sizes. That’s eight and a half cents for each one.

So now, when I find some bargains for smaller sets at SaltCON or other locations, I’ll probably be more inclined to pull the trigger because I can now add to the set. I’ve already shown them to a few gaming friends and one inquired if I wanted to paint these. I don’t really have the paints or brushes to do so, plus I’m not a patient person at this. That was one of the reasons I never kept up with building models. So while someday I may. But for now, I’m over the moon at just having some figures now that I can drop down in the middle of the map on the game table.

I took some photos of the miniatures that Ross put into the plastic tub for me. He had them separated into different groups which is how I photographed them here.

Here is a goblin raiding party.
Mushroom men, troglodites and kobolds.
An adventuring party.
An orc raiding party.
Barbarian warriors which may or may not be friendly.
Turtle warriors (I don’t know if they are teenagers) and rats.
Townsfolks and other adventurers.
I can use these for warriors, guardsman or militia.
This is a lively bunch of skeleton warriors.
A necromancer and his undead gorillas.
Some naga warriors and ogres.
A giant slug, adult and baby owlbears, spiders of different sizes and a rust monster.
Different minotaurs that I can throw at the party.
A Beholder, Gelatinous Cube (which is hollow to put over a figure) and rising tentacles.
More monsters to terrorize my players with.
The largest piece, a fully grown dragon.

All of the miniatures except for the dragon fit into a plastic tub that Ross picked up at the dollar store. He brought me the miniatures to a meeting we recently held at a nearby library. When I was leaving I was carrying out the tub with the dragon on top and passed a father and son who were walking in. I heard the boy, who I believe was about ten years old, whisper under his breath “Oh wow a dragon” as he saw what I was carrying. If the father hadn’t been in a hurry, I might have stopped them to talk.

So thank you Ross for taking the time to do this. He was even sending me sped-up videos of the figures being printed so I could see how it looked. Also a shout out to all of the amazing artists who put together these files and released them to the internet. Your efforts are appreciated.

Now I really need to get a campaign going. Who wants to be my victims…. err…. players?

Have you had any experience with 3D printing or 3D printed miniatures? Any tips on painting them if I ever get the chance to actually sit down and paint them? 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.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 After Action Report

Written by TardisCaptain 1 Comment on RPGaDAY2025 After Action Report

So, I’m quite proud of myself for getting 31 posts in 31 days for the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge. With the mishap that I had encountered with last January’s Character Creation Challenge, I wanted to prove to myself that I could handle a month’s worth of blog posts and keep up with my real-life duties (as well as keep my sanity).

I think a few of my posts may have gotten a little too personal. But, I also feel that I was speaking from the heart. Getting heavily back into RPG geekdom after taking some time away (other than to participate in a game) has brought me some much needed joy and relaxation in my life. And when you geek out about something, you want to share it with others.

I would like to thank all of you who sent me different forms of feedback across the various social media and internet platforms. I really appreciated interacting with all of you and finding new people to follow. I’ve also found a few new blogs that I want to check in on as well. I’m really loving the conversations on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. Even my own geek family was cheering me on when I reported that I had another blog post ready to go. And a special tip of the hat to those readers that ordered products from my Amazon and DriveThruRPG sponsored links.

Some of the posts that I think I’m most proud of are: Day 2 P.R.O.M.P.T., Day 3 Tavern, Day 10 Origin, Day 14 Mystery, Day 16 Overcome, Day 20 Enter, and Day 29 Connect. While going through the posts again, I found it hard to keep the list of my favorites from getting too big. I think I’m really proud of the fact that I’m getting better at writing these.

Thank you to those who read my posts. And thank you to David Chapman for putting this together. I’m looking forward to the #CharacterCreationChallenge in January 2026. Thank you for reading this after-action report. If you would like, you can read the same reports on my 2024 RPGaDAY, 2023 RPGaDAY, 2022 RPGaDAY and 2021 RPGaDAY submissions at the links provided.

Did you participate in the #RPGaDAY2025 Challenge? Did you have a favorite post of mine from the last 31 days? 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.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 Day 31: Reward

Written by TardisCaptain

Yay, we made it to Day 31 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge and our topic is (appropriately) ‘reward’. There is only one thing for me to talk about here.

We are geeks to have fun with a subject. We play games of the roleplaying or video game variety, to have fun. We read our comics, watch our TV shows, go to the movies, listen to the music for fun. Fun is the reward when we are trying to relax. We have so many stresses in the real world that we have to de-stress by not thinking about it any more. Go into that dark theater and turn the phone off while your focus is glued to the movie. Put on those headphones and spin an album by an artist that you’ve always loved. Push the buttons to make the character on your computer screen move. Joke around the table with friends as you throw dice and eat pizza. Or what ever you do to have fun (as long as it’s not hurting someone else).

This way when it comes time to tackle those real world issues, you are coming at it with a fresh mind. The reward is relaxation, getting things done and having fun in the process. If you are on high alert all the time and focused on the negativity (or spreading negativity), then you are doing yourself (and others) a grave disservice. Don’t miss out on the rewards. Take a mental break.

Programming Note: This weekend I’ve been at SaltCON End-of-Summer so I may not have seen any feedback posts that were sent to me. I’ll be posting an RPGaDAY 2025 After-Action Report in a few days. I’ll try to catch up on the responses you’ve sent me. And thank you for the interaction, I’ve really appreciated it with how bad this year has been.

What rewards have you received lately? Has my blog contributed to you? 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.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

RPGaDAY2025 Day 30: Experience

Written by TardisCaptain

The light at the end of the tunnel is Day 30 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge and we have another topic that I don’t know what I’m going to blog about until I start putting my fingers to the keyboard. What can I say about “Experience” in roleplaying games? The obvious ones are popping up like how to distribute experience points, what should players get experience points for, etc. But I won’t want to take that road just yet. But now that I see those titles on the screen, I’m starting to wonder if they could be a future blog post?

I have read a few blog and social media posts within this challenge after I already had my topic posted (I try to type these in advance to keep this as fun and not a chore) and I wished that I had taken their idea. My post for “Challenge” could have been about how much I had enjoyed Challenge Magazine. This was a publication from GDW that covered other systems like FASA Star Trek, WEG D6 Star Wars and more. Something you don’t often see from a house magazine.

I guess that is part of my experience with running a geek and RPG blog. I was suddenly reminded of this quote.

“Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom.” — Terry Pratchett

As I’m writing more, I’m learning more. As I’m reading more, I’m thinking more. As I’m playing more, I’m planning more (and having fun). Playing with friends and strangers has led me to understanding how different things are viewed. All of this new wisdom is coming from experience. On my personal character sheet, as I gain more Experience Points, I’ve upped my scores in Wisdom, Intelligence and more. Sure my Dexterity and Strength might be a little bit lower, but that was the trade off that I knew was coming.

Feedback from Phil Hatfield on MeWe re: “Tactic“: Are you referring to “tactics in the operation of the game mechanics” or are you referring to tactics the players come up with, within the game, to gain ridiculously advantageous benefit against game foes? The FASA Star Trek system accentuated the nature of tactics, with its “action points” and action lists. I didn’t run games that way, nor did the GM when I was a player in college. The game Twilight 2000 was all about using tactics, and there were varying levels of tactics used by the players. If you’re not talking about “in game” tactics but instead about tactics to take advantage of a game system, I couldn’t tell you as I don’t tend to play games the “mechanically crunchy” way that allow the mechanics to be front and center and therefore the focus of thought to circumvent or manipulate.

I responded back to him (in probably a clear as mud way as I was typing on my phone): When I play a TTRPG system I want to see how it works in the simulation style. Does the random generator (dice, cards or ???) fit the type (tactical, narrative, combo, etc.) There have been some games with really good world building, but the random generator sucks badly. If I find myself thinking “I can see what they are doing and it works”, that is when my “tactical” mind engages.

Thinking about it again (20/20 hindsight) I don’t think I properly answered his question. Lately I’m more worried about texture not trivia. I want everyone at the table to have fun, but keep within the spirit of the game. The Gates of Krystalia game used playing cards, I could see where the cards gave us random results. I haven’t played it enough to get a sample size of “this works”, “this needs improvement” or “I’m not having fun at all” but my mind was starting to click with the patterns and my mind slips into “tactical mode”. I start thinking “OK, I need to do this and this in order to have my character perform the task I want him to perform.” I don’t think that’s taking “advantage of the rules” but more of “I’m working within the rules as presented”. If a player is taking advantage of the rules, a good GM can (and should) make a table ruling to keep the fun within the spirit of the game IMHO. (Am I still clear as mud? I know you are just reading standard words on the screen and not hearing the inflection in my voice)

What ways have you gained experience in RPGs, or even just real life? 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.

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