Because it was the 1980s, and all the cool kids were doing it. Heh. No, because it was the 1980s and all the nerdy, geeky outcasts were doing it, at least until high school. That’s when most folks I know stopped playing, perhaps as a defensive strategy. There were few things less cool than playing Dungeons … Read more
Sigil, City of Doors, because from there, you can use its myriad magical portals to go anywhere in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. I thought of Sigl because my first answer was the City of Brass, the famed effreti city on the Elemental Plane of Fire that was featured so prominently on the back of the original Dungeon Master’s … Read more
I don’t know. I have vague recollections of running (or trying to run) B2 Keep on the Borderlands in 5th or 6th grade (so … 1983? 1984?). I ran games sporadically throughout middle school and high school, but most of what I did was world-building that never turned into an actual game. It wasn’t until I … Read more
Star Frontiers by TSR. I got the original boxed set, the Alpha Dawn reprint, the Knight Hawks space combat expansion boxed set, and finally Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space (a softcover rules expansion/reboot that never went anywhere) I spent hours building out my homegrown star system of Starrior, its own megacorp (Astro Mining and Freighting … Read more
The easy answer, per Day 3, is my mom. She bought me the Moldvay boxed set for basic Dungeons & Dragons, which unlocked the potential of role-playing games for me. The actual answer is probably more complicated. Truth be told, I don’t remember when I first heard about Dungeons & Dragons. Looking back, I know … Read more
I love Bennies in Savage Worlds. Bennies, usually represented by a poker chip or some other token, allow players (and game masters) to re-roll skill checks and attacks. Players begin with a set number of bennies per session – usually 3 – and spend them throughout that session. Critically, they can earn more bennies for … Read more
In the post pandemic era, playing in the real-world’s gotten increasingly difficult. As people have moved away, we’ve stayed connected through online gaming, but I’m still itching to roll real dice in a real-world game. At the same time, I know a bunch of my friends are interested in RPGs, but don’t have the time … Read more
Why would they like my intro game? Hopefully, for the same reasons the rest of us love role-playing games – it’s a great time hanging out with friends, expanding your mind, and exercising your creativity. Also, because as a game master, I’d tailor the game to the folks I’m playing with. When my gaming group … Read more
While I have a dedicated game room / office, I think I’d hold a first game in my dining room. It’s got more room to move, easy access to the kitchen for snacks and drinks, and it’s easy to welcome in new arrivals (the front door being only two rooms over from the dining room). … Read more
My mom got me the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (the Moldvay boxed set, to be specific) sometime in 1981 or ’82. It’s hard to say exactly when; the Moldvay edition was released in 1981, and the next revision didn’t come until 1983. I got it sometime between those two dates. The exact timing doesn’t … Read more