RPG a Day 11 Favorite RPG writer:

The toughest question so far, there are so many great writers over the years.  Gary Gygax , Dave Arneson, David Cook, Tom Moldvay, Frank Mentzer, Tracy and Laura Hickman, Mark Acres, Lawrence Schick, Jim Ward, Joseph Goodman, Jon Mar, Harley Stroh, Greg Gillespie, Michael Curtis, Jobe Bittman, Daniel J Bishop, Zach Glazar, Stephen Newton, Mark Bishop....the list goes on.
There are plenty more writers that I just can not recall at the moment, and this list is only of D&D and DCC RPG authors!  There are even more writers for other games.

By far the most prolific in his time was Gary Gygax.  He left a lot up to the DM in running his adventures, but the bare bones were there to make the adventures fun and exciting.  He was great, but there were a large number of even better writers that wrote for his company, and the many other companies that formed afterwards, that were almost as influential on gaming.

I honestly can not say that I have a favorite writer, or even a group of writers.  Every one of the above listed writers has a unique style of writing.  All of them create material to inspire your own campaigns and adventures.  Ultimately, it comes down to what you find useful for your table.

I guess you might say that my "favorite writer" is you, because it is what you take from the past and current writing to create for your own gaming groups that matters.  Loot, plunder, and outright steal if you have to, for material to keep your friends having fun around the table.  You never know it may turn into a marketable adventure or campaign setting some day, that will inspire some other gamer's table.

Villainous Slayers July 25th session part 2

Our adventurers pressed further into the cavern system wading through waist deep ocean water, eventually walking into an ambush from above. The Nevodari and Orkril began by dumping lit barrels of oil down from an overhead sinkhole in the chamber above them. It eventually turned into a running battle spread over a few chambers.
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The party found their way the upper level and defeated most of their foes, before the last few of the Nevodari fled deeper into the caves. The victory came at a great cost with most of the party badly injured, and with the loss of P___head the warrior. (Failed luck roll on turning the body.)

Torgud the Unlucky was not having a good day with his lay on hands. By the time combat was done he was at an eight disapproval, had lost all but one of his spells for the day, was making spell checks at a -2, and needed to start praying to his god for the next hour.

RPG A Day days 7-10

It's been a busy few days...

Day 7 Favorite Free RPG:  Being a fan Classic D&D and AD&D 1e, my choice would be Labyrinth Lord.  The art free versions of Labyrinth Lord and the Labyrinth Lord Advanced Edition Companion are not a straight up retro-clone of those versions of those games.  Instead they are a version designed to be the way that most people actually played classic and 1e.

Day 8 Favorite appearance of RPGs in the media:  My favorite would be from Freaks & Geeks. It just seemed way too reminiscent of the games and players of my early gaming days. The DM in the game reminded me a little too much of one our rotating DMs.

Day 9 Favorite Media you wish was an RPG:  The 1981 film Outland with Sean Connery would be a great game. Gumshoe in a brutal space environment with conspiracies, corruption and drug problems... sounds like it would be a fun setting for all kinds of adventuring.

Day 10 Favorite RPG Publisher:  There are so many great publishers out there.  I have a number of favorites Goodman Games, Goblinoid / Pacesetter, Frog God, Troll Lord, Green Ronin... all of which put out consistent and useful products.  I do think that Goodman Games stands out a quite a bit for their giving back to the community by making a lot of the old Judges Guild and Flying Buffalo available again.

RPG A Day 2015 Day 4 most surprising game.

I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here, but Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG is the most surprising game I have both run and played. Some people say, "It's swingy, and can't hold up to a long campaign." I have found that the mechanics are surprisingly stable. Yes, TPKs and character deaths can happen, but I have had no problems running a regular campaign.

I don't run your standard campaign, however. There is no big story arch with a fully detailed setting. It's more of an extended hex crawl, with only key places and NPCs being mapped out ahead of time. We build the world as we go and let the story build organically from the results of the sessions.

RPG A Day Challenge 2015 Day one

For those that know me, it is no secret what my most anticipated forthcoming RPG is, but there are some great ones either just coming out or soon to be released.  Honorable mentions go to the A.G.E. fantasy system by Green Ronin, and to Victorious by Troll Lord Games.

My real love is for futurist sci-fi and fantasy mash ups. I love the freedom of DCC RPG and I have always loved the post apocalypse style of Gamma World. When I heard that there would be a set of optional rules to mix my favorite styles and genres of game, a tear came to my eye. I loved crossing back and forth from AD&D 1e and Gamma World  as a kid.  So by far, my most anticipated game will be Goodman Games Mutant Crawl Classics!

http://www.goodman-games.com/6200preview.html

Villainous Slayers session July 25th, 2015 part 1

After surviving their second raid on the mysterious sea cave, P___head and Albert sold off their spoils and returned to meet up with Roan and Torgud the Unlucky at the Speckled Sculpin Tavern.
They then announced that they were looking for some brave townsfolk or adventurers to join them in rooting out whatever the problem is at the cave. They managed to recruit Murgen (Dwarf mercenary), Locket ( a local thief and fool of some renown), Dargo, Vodu (Elven way warden), Garblek (the Dwarven smith), Henry (the potato farmer), and Sven (the woodcutter).

The party made their way to the secret entrance to the mushroom cavern and began moving into the cave network. They were quickly discovered, but the octopoid humanoids (Nevod) they saw quickly fled to warn the others. They made their way to the jail cells only to find the gate locked. Locket tried to unlock the gate unsuccessfully, not noticing the  two Orkril (7 ft. tall humanoids with lamprey like mouths) guards on the otherside.

Locket was the first casualty. He received a quick spear thrust through his leg severing his femoral artery. Unfortunately, Torgud had not caught up to the party, and Locket quickly bleed out. A skirmish ensued, eventually Murgen managed to bash in the gate and slay the last of the guards.  The party found a barrel of ale and a few useful items in the guard room. The also rescued Frank the wheat farmer, and Steve the Halfling trader from the holding cell there. Locket was not so lucky. He failed his luck roll on turning the body.

Our adventurers moved on to the sunken cavern that leads out to the main entrance to find the room is now filled most of the way with seawater and the cavern openings look like some large creature has burrowed it's way deep into the cavern complex. Roan the thief was the first to (attempt a) climb down. He fell onto the small beach bellow.

While waiting for the rest of the party to climb down he was surprised by a pseudopod arm grabbing his leg from the water and stinging his leg. He failed his fortitude save and found himself becoming paralyzed as the giant anemone. Helpless, he was pulled into the water as it began to drown and prepare to devour him.The party manged to free him, and defeat the creature, but not before he had already drowned. They turned the body, but it was too late. He failed his luck roll.

Villainous Slayers Game Session (June 27th, 2015 part 2)

After resting up for the night at the Speckled Sculpin, P---head and Albert decided to seek out Brender (one of the town elders), and ask him for help in rooting out the problem of the cave.

Brender runs the smokehouse and fish packing plant on behalf of the temple of Justicia, and is also a priest of Justicia. After a little negotiating, Brender gave the party a couple of longswords "... to smite these agents of Chaos that dare disrupt the law and commerce of our bright and fair town!" He lay hands on Albert and sent a couple of the towns spare "rif-raf" to go with them (Oliver the Orphan and Jim the Indentured Servant.)

The party then headed back out to the cave. Sneaking in the back tunnel they had found, the party fought a nasty battle with the giant yellow slug in the mushroom cavern. They defeated it by slicing off its eye stalks and pelting it with salt.

A short while later the party encountered two more humanoids, that had crab like carapaces for skin, crab like mouths, and three black eyes. They defeated them to get back to the holding pens that they had escaped from finding three new people in the pens, only one of which was alive. This was Marvin the Mendicant. Marvin quickly joined the party as they headed down to explore cave some more. They took along a keg of Obbie Stout's Golden Ale they had found.

A little while later the party came upon a partially sunken cavern. There was a salt water pod in the center of the cavern with a stream running from a small cave opening to the pond and continuing on to a larger tunnel at the other end. They saw a large row boat floating in the pond. A large wooden chest and three barrels were dragged up on the near shore. As they moved in to check it out, four purple-black skinned, three foot tall,  amphibious humanoids popped up from the water. One ran for the smaller tunnel opening. The others opened fire on the party, injuring Oliver the Orphan, but doing little else. The party quickly took out the creature heading for the exit, and soon took out the remaining ones along the shore.

Attempting to open the chest, P---head nearly was stung by a poison barb trap. The party found some loot and trade goods in the chest, and soon found out that the barrels were full of Ale as well.

They worked there way downstream, bringing the rowboat loaded with their haul. They found that it lead to the main cave entrance. They fought a short battle with the guards there and quickly launched their boat into the water. We last left them rowing their way back to town with their new found wealth.

Villainous Slayers Game Session (June 27th, 2015 part 1)

After the party had agreed to guard a trade caravan from the Surfside to the city of Brodechte, the found themselves in a fierce battle on the bridge leading to the trade town of Holblerie with as yet unidentified amphibious humanoids.

The town has been under attack and trade caravans and boats coming in and out of the harbor have been harried for weeks now. Envoys have been sent out to the capital and to a local Wizard (Yazarian), but none have returned and no aid has been received.

After arriving, the caravan has decided to stop and sell some of their wares for a few days in the market square.  Pusshead the barbarian was restless and decided to look for a way to earn some gold while in town. He met up with another adventurer, Albert the squire, an up jumped cheesemaker.

Whilst asking around they found their way to Obie Stout and son's. Obie, (owner of the Speckled Sculpin Tavern & Inn and Obie's Fine Fish), told them that his fishing boats were being harassed by the same creatures near the north end of the bay.  His men had reported seeing the creatures hanging around the mouth of a sea cave in that area.

He offered them some money to go and investigate the cave, and let him know how many of these creatures were out there, and what they were up to. He sent two of his men to row them out to.the cave. The men dropped them off near the cave and told P---head and Albert that they would return the following two mornings to pick them up.

Spotting some of the creatures near the mouth of the cave, P---head and Albert decided to charge them, but not before one of them had hurried into the cave. They quickly dispatched the creatures near the mouth of the cave, only to be taken out by the reinforcements arriving a few minutes later.

They awoke to find themselves prisoners deep somewhere in the cave complex penned in with Hendry the Halfling Haberdasher and Carl the Lumberjack. With no equipment, they combined their resources and tried to escape. They were unsuccessful at first getting Carl and Hendry killed in the process.

They attempted a second escape and were successful in finding a hidden tunnel at the back of a mushroom and filth filled cavern. Barely escaping the giant slug  in the chamber, the party found themselves out in the forest above the cliffs. They made their way back to town to lick their wounds, and report back to Obie what they had seen. He paid them and gave them a free night's stay at the inn.

The party were able to re-equip themselves somewhat with the gold they had earned.