Ken Newquist 
Donkey Kong is one of the legendary ancient video games. It gave us the first appearance of the plucky plumber Mario and his nemesis (frenemy?) Donkey Kong. The two went on to star in very different franchises (Mario taking on the princess-stealing Bowser in various surreal mushroom-powered kingdoms, while Donkey Kong became the patriarch of a … Read more
Rather than just go with my gut instinct for “favorite RPG of all time”, I decided to run the numbers. The numbers are, admittedly, a bit skewed. D&D 3rd Edition includes a bunch of d20 supplements (at least, those who survived my 3e purge) including hardcovers and splat books. I don’t have nearly as many … Read more
The most obscure game I’ve played is Gamma World 7th Edition (2010). It was designed by Richard Baker and Bruce R. Cordell based on the D&D 4th Edition rules and saw a core box set plus two boxed-set-based expansions. That level of support by a major publisher might lead you to believe the game isn’t that obscure, … Read more
Rather than going for “Most Memorable Encounter” of all time, let’s talk about the most memorable encounter of the last year: “The Offer”. Chapter 2 of the Lair of Secret’s Cyberpunk RED actual play campaign saw the edge runners tasked with stealing black box corporate tech for the Maker Enclave. The Makers – whose motto is “We Aggressively Void … Read more
In college, way back in 1992, a friend of mine ran the scariest session of Call of Cthulhu I’ve ever played in. Heck, the scariest session of any game. My friend – his name is Adam — is the best Call of Cthulhu game master I ever had. With candles burning low, and a mix … Read more
The game I’d love to see a new edition of is Star Frontiers … but as they say, be careful what you wish for. Star Frontiers was the second role-playing game I ever owned. It was a space opera RPG set in a “frontier” region of space with a mix of settled and unexplored star systems. There … Read more
My favorite character sheets are easily the AD&D Player Character Record Sheets, also known as the “goldenrod” character sheets because they were printed on heavy, goldenrod paper. This is purely a nostalgic pick; some of my first “real” characters for Dungeons & Dragons were written up using these sheets, which came pre-printed in sheets within a folio … Read more
My favorite unplayed RPG that I enjoy (aside from ALIEN) is Modiphius’ Star Trek Adventures. I bought the core rulebook years ago, then invested further when Humble Bundle offered a 25-tome strong bundle of sourcebooks. How could I say no to that? OK, sure, I still hadn’t played it … but consider all the books! Alpha Quadrant and Beta … Read more
I struggled with this prompt because I couldn’t think of a “simple” game I own, and it seems like most of my RPGs are pretty complex. And then I thought of Fiasco. Described as a game about “powerful ambitions and power impulse control”, Fiasco is inspired by all of those movies whose characters start with great ideas and … Read more
When it comes to the coolest-looking, most innovative RPG design I’ve seen in the last decade or so, it’s gotta be MÖRK BORG. The books and folios are riots of color, unconventional fonts, unexpected use of metallic inks, and brain-hurting layouts. They basically go against everything they teach you when it comes to conventional print … Read more