In one word: fun! Allow me to elaborate further.
Puerto Rico has not always participated in Free RPG Day. Gaming Zone participated in 2014, and the Puerto Rico Role Players were there.
Free RPG Day 2014 at Gaming ZonePaladin Books and Games in Isabela participated a few years ago, though I was sadly unable to go.
Puerto Rico has seen a boom in FLGS (Friendly Local Game Stores) in recent years. There are many CCGs, but post-pandemic, we have also seen growing interest in TTRPGs. One of these stores, Titan Games, has been participating in Free RPG Day for the past few years.
I participated in 2024, running Savage Worlds. Last year, I was not in Puerto Rico for the event, but this year I was ready to participate.
Free RPG Day 2024 at Titan Games, CaguasThe gaming community in Puerto Rico really came out in force, and both Titan Games locations in Caguas and Río Piedras had several tables playing TTRPGs. There were games of:
I ran Kneel Before the Goblin King by Joseph R. Lewis, a great short adventure that will be part of a crowdfunding project for print copies in July. I printed out the map, used the random online character generator to create pre-gens, got a player cheat sheet from Etsy, and ran four friends through a deadly Shadowdark adventure.
It ended up in a TPK (Total Party Kill). Incredibly, I had never had a TPK in a session before in my 40 years of gaming. Even when I tried to create an adventure just to do that a few years ago for D&D 5e, I had never wiped out the entire party. A first time for everything, I guess! We had a lot of fun.
Allow me to share a video about the games played, the fun we had, and the loot I grabbed:
I am thrilled I got to spend the day with friends, make new ones, and meet other members of the community. I am delighted to see the Puerto Rico TTRPG community thriving. Thanks to everyone who participated, and to Titan Games for supporting the community.
I mentioned Paladin Books and Games at the beginning of the post. The store may no longer be there, but the former owner, Mario Vélez, has a very active community of gamers who share reviews and meet up for games. You can find The Gaming Dragons on Facebook and on YouTube.
I hope you had fun on Free RPG Day, in whatever form you got to celebrate the day. See you all at Free RPG Day 2027!
The system worked pretty well. Despite our unfamiliarity, it certainly went faster than 5e would have.
Besides the Nimble rules, the players used the Local Experience tables I had come up with for the various important places. These are the characters:
g'Mbalisto (Tug): A dwarf Oathsworn (a Paladin, essentially) from the Lightbearer Republic. He's also been a gladiator in Mayura in the past.
Pan(demonium) (Gina): A darkling Songweaver (bard) from the Durendine Confederation. A forrmer rabble rouser and busker.
Frea (Andrea): A human (thought changed into a more felinoid form by a curse of a wizard of Abraxad) Cheat (thief).
Tamarra (Kathy): A human Shepherd (a cleric, more or less) from the Lightbearer Republic. Her parents died in the Kakharoth Wastes.
Aelarion (Bob): Human Stormshifter (the stuff people like about the druid). He's from a small town near the Dagard Mountains.
Welcome back to my Sunday interview series, dedicated to interviewing Puerto Rican gamers and creators. Today’s post is a personal treat.
It is a great honor and a happy occasion to talk with my good friend and fellow GM, Mario. I knew who Mario was before I met him. I knew people who played with the “Cayey Game Master” (Cayey is a municipality in Puerto Rico), but I don’t think we met until 2009, when we started organizing the Puerto Rico Role Players.
2009 meeting Mario in person for the first time!He joined the Facebook group early on, and we had a lot to talk about as longtime GMs, contemporaries, and people who had played similar systems for many years.
Puerto Rico Role Players’ first GM Workshop at John Does, circa 2012.When we had our first informal gatherings to meet other members of the Puerto Rico Role Players, he was there. He’s been a staple of Geeknics and events. I even got to play in one of his mythical Mariotóns (day-long marathon gaming sessions with dozens of players!).
The Mariotón I played in back in 2010.While we don’t see each other nearly as often as I would like, I am always happy to see Mario!
When I reached out to gamers and creators for interviews, Mario was kind enough to answer my questions for this series. I am thrilled to write this and am always happy to call Mario a friend.
Let’s get to the questions.
Introduce yourself! Who are you, and what do you create for your adventures?
My name is Mario Agrait Rodríguez. I am from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. I have two kids; one is 29 years old, and the other is 9 years old. The older one is a GM and has his own group. They both started playing as soon as they learned not to put the dice in their mouths and to roll them for the first time.
Mario, circa 2009I love cinema, literature, and crafting my own game scenarios and scenery. I have been Game Mastering since 1986, when I discovered AD&D and OD&D. We have been playing in the Mystara campaign world since we started, first using 1E and then moving to 3E.
The way I like to work is by keeping my campaigns moving forward, well-documented, and feeding them with players’ ideas and contributions. Each new campaign has all the previous campaigns as background. They can even cross paths with old characters. For that, I have been using Obsidian Portal, a wiki-type service, since 2011. All my campaigns are there.
The other side of gaming that I love is crafting terrain and props. We use miniatures and crafted scenery to play large battles. I love painting and crafting my own scenery. My players also love miniatures and help with my crafts.
How would you describe your art or creative endeavors as a GM?
I allow myself to be inspired by everything: poetry, literature, popular culture, current events, history, comics, TV series, movies, and even dreams. I follow an organized path to assemble all ideas into something coherent that works inside the campaign or as a new campaign. They know everything they think can and will be used against them.
When I tackle an idea, I ask simple questions like: “Will this fit my campaign?” “How can I use this idea?” “How can I make this interesting to the players?” “How can I tie this idea to previous material?” Then I move to bigger questions. I feed from my players’ brains like a Mind Flayer!
Mario and his players. Artist rendition.Another trick is to study the material you are using and try to fill in the blanks before the players ask for something you haven’t prepared. Whenever I can, I review what I have created and add information. I complete missing data such as genealogy trees, character descriptions, gear stats, new spells, and much more.
How did you discover TTRPGs?
This is possibly one of the weirdest RPG stories I know:
Do you actively play TTRPGs? What are you playing right now?
My group and I played OD&D for more than 20 years, and around 2002, we switched to 3.0. We have adapted some rules from 3.5 and Pathfinder and added our own house rules into the mix. We found the 3.0 system good for customizing characters, especially for experienced players (some members of my group have been playing with me for 30+ years).
We also play other games: Space: 1889, d20 Modern, d20 Future, d20 Shadowrun, DC Heroes 3rd Edition, and Gamma World 4th Edition. I’m the GM on these campaigns. Some of our players are GMs on their own campaigns, playing d20 Modern, D&D 3.0, 3.5, and 5E. I also used to play Star Trek by FASA and Shadowrun 2nd Edition, and I still have the manuals.
We are currently playing d20 Shadowrun, but it is very possible that we will move back to D&D 3E shortly (depending on the feedback from players, as they are having tons of fun with SWR), and I’m already working on the material for the next D&D campaign.
What projects are you currently working on?
Painting like a hundred minis. That is a story that never ends. Crafting different terrain and new buildings, an inn with removable floors and furniture. There is a telescope and a planetarium to add to the old wizard’s library and laboratory. And there is a small tree house for gnomes. I also just finished crafting a scabbard for my younger one’s plastic sword.
Where can people see your projects and learn more about your games?
On Facebook, our group is called “Stray Dogs Role Playing Gamers”.
Here are the Obsidian Portal links for my campaigns:
Any closing thoughts?
My players are the biggest highlight of my campaigns. I am very honored to play with them. I think that, on my part, the biggest achievement of my games is still having the capacity to surprise players after all these years. Something that makes them come back for more. It is either that, or they have some secret desire to get new psychological scars each week!
Some of my best GMing advice: Concentrate on the story over the rules, and on the players over the rest. Once you commit to a gaming date, don’t change it; be consistent. Take the time to hear your players’ ideas and to incorporate them into the world. And take time to rest your mind, by playing other games or by taking a vacation from gaming.
Playing with Mario, December 2025 at El Gremio in Cayey.And finally: Keep rolling those dice until the day you die!
My friend Joe the Lawyer and I are having a live discussion about the Northern Marches, along with other OSR and RPG topics, tomorrow, Sunday at 5 pm Eastern Daylight Time.
I hope you will join us. Feel free to ask Joe and me questions during the livestream. If you are unable to make it, post your questions in the comments on the post or video, and I will try to answer them.
Into the Majestic Fantasy Realms the Northern MarchesThe world is shattered, the wizards are gone, and the sea swallows the ruins of their age. Scattered across the waves lie the broken islands of a forgotten empire places of fire, frost, and ancient magic. Among them stands the Isle of Ruk, a frontier of black sands, steaming jungles, and secrets buried beneath volcanic stone. […] The wizards are dead. Their secrets are not.
This 64 page adventure uses about seven pages to describe about fifty encounters in two dungeon on an island, with all of the supporting pages being abstracted worldbuilding. There’s a whole lot of generalizations and could be’s in here with actual encounters and locations that don’t come close to realizing the designers vision, I suspect.
This is an island with a couple of towns on it, a barrow field with sixteen locations, and a three level dungeon with about 45 or so rooms. With got this world where WIZARDS fucked up, they are all gone now but the world is blanketed in ice except for these volcanos around that keep things warm. A pretty decent number of pages is used to describe all of this, although it plays little to no import on the adventure. It’s just an island with a couple of towns and a couple of adventuring locations. The ice and volcano doesn’t really come through much. There is a volcano/volcano cultists/fire spirits, especially in the main dungeon, but that theming is still not really present at all.
The main town is described in a somewhat interesting way, at least in the keys for it. “1. Church of Foki has a large cauldron and offers free food for all.” That’s the first line for the temple location, in bold, as a kind of a location header. It’s an interesting way to embed the crux of the location in to the key title, allowing you to know immediately what the main thrust of it is. There’s a related concept with dungeon keys that I sometimes talk about, where instead of “11.” or “11. Bedroom” you put something like “11. Mildewed Victorian Bedroom.” In that instance you are framing the room encounter, preloading the DMs mind, so they interpret what is to come in the description with a “Mildewed Victorian Bedroom” mindset. It’s not exactly consistently used in the town descriptions, but it is present in places and does a great job when it is present.
The rest of the adventure is much murkier in its descriptions.
There’s this abstraction going on, a bit different than other abstractions I generally see. It’s written almost like a regional guide that introduces mysteries without explanation. This is pretty consistent in the overviews of the various areas, which do seem to take up the bulk of the adventure. It comes off with a hefty lean to the purple side of the spectrum. “Thin wisps of yellow smoke coil lazily from the darkness within, carrying the acrid tang of sulphur and old fire. The mountain air snatches them, pulling them apart and scattering their scent into the breeze, but the trace remains a lingering reminder of whatever festers in the depths beyond.” That whole last sentence, with the snatching and scattering and festering in the depths beyond. It’s clearly going for inspiration for the DM, but there is FAR too much of it, especially considering the depths beyond don’t really live up to the concepts introduced. It certainly feels like the bulk of the adventure is made of these general overarching theme writing sections that meet more novelization rather than turning in to something concrete.
This can then be contrasted with the actual location descriptions in the adventuring sites. “3.7 Firedrake (1) has made its lair here.” That’s not much of a description, eh, for a festering depth? Or, for another one “Black stone walls. In the middle of the room is an ancient ashy corpse. A Shadow (1) preys on adventurers.” A little more to this, but still not really living up, I think, to the vision the designer had in their minds when putting this down to paper.
And then there are a few out of place things present. One room on the second level has a table and two chairs and a wardrobe in it. And a sad eyed bard sitting at the table drinking. Uh … there are fire spirits. Fire cultists. Gomens. Shadows. And dude is just sitting there in his cups? A dungeon population table can help inspire us to encounters but it does needs to be placed in context. Lost his party? Just hanging out for funsies? Refuge from a cult? The framing here, or complete lack of it besides him drinking in a room with a wardrobe, just is out of place. Minimal keying would have the DM making things up, as they would if populating from a table. A word of two of context would allow the DM to riff. I’m not really sure what to make of something so seemingly out of place. “Uh, there are a bunch of civvies on level eight of the balrogs lair having a format dance? Uh …”
There’s just this disconnect. The page count is devoted to the world and generalized framing that is leaning purple while the actual dungeon keys are less than thrilling in the capacity they serve. The vision presented in the world building never really comes to pass.
This is $5 at DriveThru. The preview is four pages and doesn’t really show you anything, just a brief overview, this is what an RPG is type of things. We need some meat in a preview to understand if the product is right for us.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/568698/dungeon-module-isle-of-ruk?1892600
The Academy is entwined with the city of Abraxad, a municipality that is home to a number of former graduates, and practitioners of allied arts, as well as the typical artisans and workers found in any thriving town. Relations between the Academy and the townsfolk has never been better, owing to the unique structure of governance that unites the needs of both Academy and city under a central authority. Though historically there may have been tensions, students of the modern era are always welcome in local establishments.
Each student will join one of the Academy's seven colleges which are smaller academic communities within the larger whole where they will learn the fundamentals of magical practice and begin advancement within a particular school of magic. Each college has its distinct traditions and history of which new students will become forever a part.
No discussion of the school would be complete without mention of the Archmagus, Verraine has presided over the school longer than many of its magi have been alive. Though none would be so rude as the enquire regarding the Archmagus's actual age, the older townsfolk are fond of pointing out fading wall mural in the over 300 year-old One-Eyed Grimalkin Tavern depicts an elvish woman who broadly resembles the Archmagus assisting in driving out a Fomori raiding party at the end of the Demon War.
I have written about Psi*Run before. My most detailed description of it can be found here from 2018. It is my favorite one-session pick-up game.
I originally discovered it as an Ashcan edition that I played at Gen Con back in 2007, and it completely fascinated me. I have run it with my regular weekly group more than once and brought it to the Puerto Rico Role Players Geeknics a few times as well.
The core idea, psychics (or supers, if you prefer) waking up after an accident with amnesia, running to escape from their captors while exploring their powers, and trying to piece together their past, is incredibly compelling. I have run it in a modern city, in a steampunk setting, right here in Puerto Rico, and even on a spaceship! I love the concept and the system. Honestly, I am sincerely surprised I haven’t run it more.
Now, there is a Kickstarter campaign for a 2nd Edition! Check out the campaign here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1179631078/psirun-second-edition
According to the campaign page, here is a breakdown of what to expect:
What’s Changing?
The focus for this edition is on refinement rather than a complete overhaul. The creator is taking 15 years of play feedback to heart, specifically focusing on:
The Stretch Goals
The campaign is also looking to expand the game’s utility, particularly for modern play. If they hit their higher funding targets, there will be a write-up for playing Psi*Run online. Specifically, it will feature an experimental format designed for social media platforms like Bluesky, where you play the Runner while others take on the role of the world around you. I would absolutely love to see this in action.
I am already a backer and wholeheartedly recommend this game. Go check it out!
The adventure starts in the rough-and-tumble port city of Warrenburg during the revels surrounding the imminent hanging of a notorious pirate. The Player characters are enlisted to explore the enigmatic cave system some locals refer to as the Caverns of the Dead god.
This 28 page adventure uses about thirteen pages to describe a cave/dungeon full of cultists who just LUV insects. It’s heart is in the right place with a decent amount of interactivity beyond stabbing, supported by a some weirdness and some good use of language in places. It’s lacking just a little in the setup vibe, but the major pitfall is layout nd the need for a HARD edit to bring the rooms in to better focus. Your highlighter is going to go a LONG way with this one.
First off, while listed as OSR, this is clearly a DCC adventure, down to Luck and other terminology. That’s not such a high hurdle, and I used to review many a DCC adventure before finding them a little linear. There’s nothing inherently linear in DCC though, and its nice to see a more traditional crawl trying to cross game system boundaries.
The setup here has some interesting qualities. We’ve got a town of 3,000 people which has swelled to 4,000 for some festivities: an infamous pirate is about to be hanged. At the same time a group of teenagers has gone missing, including the son of a local magistrate. Did I fail to mention the new priests in town who are giving out food and items to the poor? The swelling of the towns population gives a decent enough pretext to why the town isnt looking for the teens; a riff on the old “the kings armies are engaged with a neighboring kingdom” thing. The hanging and town swell offer a nice slice of life to the adventure and are great examples of specificity leading to things that the DM can riff on to add local colour. The hooks, or perhaps “quest givers”, also have a decent mix, from the magistrate to the sheriff to a do-gooder to a local worried that HE’LL be blamed if the kids show up dead. A nice mix of chaos and town “factions” I guess you could call them. Beyond the verbosity of the town/background section, my only complaint here is the lack of a few more specific situations for the DM to riff on during play. Hirelings and rumours are well covered, but a few street scenes would have gone a long way to helping reinforce the chaos of the town swell, the jubilant and chaotic atmosphere of the hanging, etc.
The caves are a relatively simple affair, in a mostly star layout on the map. Nice use of things on the map to lend information, like curtains and statues and the like, but noting lights and sounds on the map, as well as creatures, would save me the trouble of having to note them myself. Entry is through a hole with a rope, always a personal favorite of mine. Unrealistic, but fun! This also seems like a good place to note that the cultists inside don’t really have an order of battle. There is a general note that they will prepare for return expeditions and set traps, but nothing more beyond that.
Interactivity inside is decent. We’ve got status and curtains and porculii to mess with. There’s a spinning gizmo, like a gem, in one room, and a smokey archway in another. Riddles are present, which are NOT a favorite of mine; I like my riddles a little more engrained into the adventure and more subtle than the old say the answer thing. But there’s no question it’s a classical element. Also present is a gem inside of a skull … that you feel a certain compulsion to swallow. I think the last time I saw a swallowed magic gem was in, what, Dungeon of the Bear? Wonderfully non-standard! You do get your fair share of stabbing here, cultists and bugs, but this leans heavy in to the non-standard OD&D vibe. I wouldn’t want to say it goes too far down that path, but there is a sense of wonder here and there that I generally only get from those OD&D centered adventures.
Language use is generally good as well. It’s hidden, sometimes, in the verbosity of the entries, but you do really get the sense that a scene has been painted and/or situations have been brought to life. In one room, were you find captives, “The door here is barred. This darkened cavern reeks of the eye-watering smell of filth. A dozen gaunt, reeking individuals huddle here, shielding their eyes from your light as you fight back the urge to gag.” (There’s no real read-aloud here, in spite of the use of the word “you” in a couple of places. I’ll forgive it as poetic license.) The cavern REEKs. Eye-watering. Gaunt. Huddled. And then, with one of them, “wet, rattling breaths speak of imminent death.” Just a couple of words to really bring home an awful situation. The usual “captive are here” is done more with, and then a situation is introduced, tersely, and not elaborated upon. This is what specificity buys you. Not only a great mental image but also one that you can then riff on as a DM. And this is not a cherry picked example, the use of language can be startlingly good in many of the areas.
But I’m not going to recommend this. It’s because of the layout, formatting and editing. I want to give you a mental image. Imagine a full page of text that is all center justified. So you have both a wall of text issue and the center justified issue to contend with. Now, this is NOT what the adventure layout is doing, but I think it’s the closest mental image I can describe that relates to the issues. This is all a single column, which of course contributes to the issue. When a paragraph is a sentence or so long and it ends a word or three in to the newline then you get this weird effect that almost mirrors a center justify. Especially when combined with a CRIMINAL lack of blank lines to help separate thoughts and sections. Almost a complete lack of bolding, or other elements to help orient the reader and help them locate information. And then a certain verbosity. It’s not appears to be, or room histories or motivations or anything like that, except it is all of them, and more, contributing line after line in very small ways. Things that build up, word after word and sentence after sentence, combined with the lack of formatting and single column.
This needs a REALLY hard edit to focus in without losing the specificity and vibrancy hinted at, combined with some small efforts in formatting, bolding, white space and so on to call out aspects of the rooms, combined with nearly ANY other layout style. Were that done this would be a pretty decent adventure. As if, though, you’re gonna need a box of highlighters.
I am hopeful. The interactivity is decent and the language use, what I think is the hardest aspect of writing, is good. Layout and formatting and ruthless editing can be learned easily enough.
This is $9 at DriveThru. Alas, there is no preview. A good preview of a dungeon room or two gives potential buyers a chance to judge the adventure for themselves before purchasing.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/566897/caverns-of-the-dead-god?1892600
I have known Agile Monk for a long time, and we have talked a lot over the years about my work and the OSR in general. Recently, he and his team at Fantasy Companion Workshops launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund two books designed as expert-level gaming resources. The Kickstarter is due to end in two days, on June 25th at 4 pm Eastern Daylight Time.
Wonderous & Dangerous Consortiums & Xendria World/Lore Book Kickstarter
The first book, Wondrous and Dangerous Consortiums, focuses on worldbuilding and helps the referee design organizations, societies, clubs, guilds, and similar groups for their campaigns.
The second book is Xendria, a fantasy setting designed by the FCW team. The book is system-agnostic, but includes adventures and support material for Castles & Crusades, ShadowDark, D&D 5e, and Nimble 2e.
I hope you take a look at what Agile Monk and the Fantasy Companion Workshops team are doing and consider supporting their efforts to bring these projects to life for the rest of us to use and enjoy.
In May my friend and fellow contributor to this blog, Sunglar, posted about how he discovered Awkward GM Corbin‘s “About Me: Tabletop” template and also provided us with his filled out template and explanation why he chose the games that he picked. This sounds like a fun thing to do, so here comes the Stargazer Edition:
Favorite Game: Mutant Year ZeroThat was a tough one. I have played and enjoyed a lot of TTRPGs but Mutant Year Zero has a special place in my heart. I played in a long-running campaign which we unfortunately never finished but I experienced some of the best roleplaying and the most dramatic scenes in this campaign. Of course this was in no small part because of the other players and the GM, but in my opinion the mechanics and setting were crucial for this outcome. I can highly recommend all games by Free League Publishing, but Mutant Year Zero is definitely my favorite!
Best Lore: Werewolf – The ApocalypseIt didn’t take long to decide which game I would pick for this category. Even to this day I have fond memories of the original World of Darkness. One aspect of these games that I tremendously enjoyed was the deep lore. The whole mythology and history of the setting were extremely interesting to me and one reason I kept playing these games was to find out more about how this world worked. The WoD jargon we had to learn back in the day, had quickly become second nature and I still remember most of it today. I picked Werewolf and not Mage or Vampire since I especially liked the lore they came up with for the Garou and the cosmic conflict between the Wyrm, the Weaver and the Wyld. Great stuff!
Best Art: The Electric StateThis was another tough one. There are so many great-looking roleplaying game books out there. But in my opinion the roleplayng games based on the art by Simon Stålenhag are on another level. His art is realistic and otherworldly at the same time. His images evoke nostalgia but also grant a glimpse into an alternate reality. Even if you don’t intend to run or play them, the games based on his artbooks: Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood and The Electric State are worth a buy just for the art alone.
Best Mechanics: NumeneraFrom a game master’s standpoint Numenera had the best mechanics of any game I ran so far. What I enjoyed the most was that it makes it incredibly easy to improvise. A NPC is basically defined by its level and perhaps a special ability. The rules are extremely easy and instead of explaing rules to players or looking up stuff I could focus on what’s really important. I also love the fact that all rolls are player-facing. I found this extremely refreshing. In 2014 I wrote a post about the game called “Numenera: One of the best games I’ve ever ran!” and that still holds true.
Biggest Personal Impact: Night’s Black Agents: Solo-OpsIn 2020 my friend Ralf ran Night’s Black Agents: Solo-Ops for me and it was the most intense and rewarding roleplaying experience I ever had. Period. I just reread my post I wrote back about the experience and unfortunately it didn’t give it justice. One-on-one roleplaying can be a very intense experience. As a player you’re under constant pressure, you don’t have other players to rely on. You’re the one who has to make decisions all the time and you have to suffer the consequences alone. The mechanics are quite brilliant and really helped to support the narrative. Playing Leyla Khan, the protagonist of the game, was a very interesting experience and gave me new perspectives. I highly recommend anyone to check this game out!
Overhated: D&D 4th EditionI fully agree with Roberto here. D&D 4th Edition is still hated by a lot of D&D fans but it’s not a bad game. Personally the game didn’t click for me when I first tried it but I like many of the things the designers tried to achieve back in the day. Compared to 5th Edition I think it might even be the better game in many regards. It had a bold vision and tried to kill too many sacred cows in the process which didn’t sit well with most fans. With the right kind of players I might even run it again.
Underrated: The Fantasy TripThe Fantasy Trip is a classic roleplaying game that was held back mostly by the fact that it was out-of-print for about 40 years. In 2017 Steve Jackson – it’s author – reacquired the rights and released an updated version in 2019. The Fantasy Trip is a very easy to learn system for tactical battles between fantasy characters on a hex grid which becomes a full TTRPG with the inclusion of the rules from “Into The Labyrinth”. Much like the more well-known GURPS it just uses three stats, has a 3d6 roll under mechanic and is basically level- and classless. But unlike GURPS it’s much easier but almost as versatile. People have used TFT to run anything from high fantasy to far-future space opera. If it hadn’t been gone for so long, I am sure more people would sing its praises. But unfortunately aside from a few die-hard fans it’s mostly disregarded and overlooked by the players.
Overrated: D&D 5th EditionDon’t get me wrong: I don’t hate 5th Edition. I actually had a lot of fun playing it. But having said that it’s neither the best D&D edition ever, nor the best fantasy RPG out there. After the disastrous fan reaction of 4E it was a return to a more familiar D&D but it also reintroduced elements which should have better be buried long time ago. While 4th Edition was too bold for its time (and fan base), 5th Edition was not bold enough. 5th Edition has neither the tactical combat of 4th Edition nor is it as easy as B/X. But 5th Edition seems to have hit a nerve and for many players who left for Pathfinder during the 4E era returned, so it was probably the right game at the time, but it’s just not THE BEST fantasy roleplaying game as it is hailed by many.
Criminally Overlooked: Colonial GothicIn my opinion the games from Rogue Games are among the most criminally overlooked games out there and Colonial Gothic especially so. Colonial Gothic is a supernatural horror game set during the American Revolution. It uses an original d12-based system which is pretty easy to learn and fun to play. I would have overlooked this game myself if I hadn’t met its author Richard Iorio at GenCon in 2010 since the American Revolution is not a topic I naturally steered towards. But if you choose to overlook Colonial Gothic you miss a very well researched game with a lot of background material which is not only fun to play but also might teach you a thing or two about the American Revolution. If the subject matter is not your cup of tea I can also highly recommend Shadow, Sword & Spell, his take on Sword & Sorcery using the same system.
Has Aged Well: Alternity (TSR)Alternity is a scifi roleplaying game that was unfortunately doomed from the start. It could have been to scifi was D&D was to fantasy. But after TSR had been bought by Wizards of the Coast, the company didn’t want it to be a direct competitor to its new d20 System, so they cancelled the line way before its time. When I had another look at Alternity just a couple of weeks ago I was surprised how well everything has aged. Sure, it has its quirks, but overall Alternity held up pretty well and could easily be used to run games inspired by contemporay fiction. I love the roll-under task resolution mechanics with its detailed degrees of success which is both surprisngly easy and still offers a lot of depth. Unfortunately you can’t buy it digitally anywhere aside from a couple of sourcebooks hidden away in the d20 Modern section on DriveThruRPG.
Needs a New Edition: RIFTSAgain, I am agreeing with Roberto on this: RIFTS need a new edition. RIFTS has a lot going for it: great art, an exciting setting where everything is possible, intriguing character oprions. Unfortunately the rules suck. The Palladium system is basically an AD&D heartbreaker that hasn’t really aged well. Savage RIFTS might be an option to some, but I don’t think the Savage Worlds system really works for RIFTS. If there’s a game that needs a reboot it’s RIFTS!
Not Usually My Thing, But … Pathfinder 1st EditionOver the years I have stated multiple times that I prefer rules-light to rules-medium games. Regardless I am having a blast playing in a Pathfinder 1st Edition campaign with my friends. Sure, I running it would probably make my head explode and without the help of PCGen I wouldn’t have been able to play my character all this time, but during these many months I really grew to love this game. If my current GM would offer to run another Pathfinder campaign after this one, I wouldn’t hesitate to join.
Current Game: ShadowDarkShadowDark is a game I just very recently picked up and fell in love with. I don’t think I need to sing the praises here, since everyone is already pretty much enamoured with this game already. I am kinda late to the party. So what do I love about this game? It’s OSR-ish but still includes some modern ideas. It’s rules-light and extremely light to homebrew for. It’s perfect if you want something that feels like original D&D while being much more streamlined and way less clunky. If you are even remotely interested in dungeon crawling you owe it to yourself to check it out! I am currently planning a one-on-one campaign with my wife using ShadowDark and a sandbox campaign which I plan to run for a group of friends. I haven’t actually run it, yet, but I am sure this could actually become my go-to game in the future.
First Game: TORGThe first TTRPG I ever played was actually the original TORG from West End Games. Back in the early 90’s I went to a local con interested in finally being able to try out these tabletop roleplaying games I’ve heard so much about. Back in these days RPGs weren’t really that well known in Germany even in the nerdier circles. But I was already a huge computer roleplaying game fan at this point. I don’t remember why I chose to play TORG at this day, but I had a lot of fun even though I also made my first contact with “that guy”. I don’t actually remember what the adventure was actually about other than that we fought zombies in the jungle of Borneo and that I played a private detective from the Nile Empire. But even though the rules were clunky and one of the players was a bit problematic, it didn’t deter me from becoming the huge TTRPG fan I am today.
Game Everyone Should Play:Dungeons & Dragons. Period. If you are serious about roleplaying game you should have played it at least once. Give it a try just to find out what it is about. Most people would probably recommend a recent edition but I think you shouldn’t dismiss Basic D&D. Sure it’s a bit old, but it held up pretty well. Old-School Essentials is a great choice if you want authentic rules but with a better layout and overall legibility. If you want a more “authentic” experience you can still pick up the “Red Box” on DriveThruRPG for a few bucks. D&D is such an important part of our hobby, that you owe it to yourself to at least play it once.
So what are your thoughts on my picks? Do you agree? Do you disagree? Do you think I am totally out of my mind? Please share your comments below!
It doesn’t matter if this is your first Gen Con, your last, or if you’re a veteran; there is something here for you. Lisa and I are well-seasoned veterans of not just Gen Con but many conventions, thanks to our volunteer and judging experience. I have been attending Gen Con since 2002, and Lisa hasn’t missed since 2018. Which has positioned us to be your travel advisors, well, not really, but we can certainly share a lot of information from packing to the return trip home that we have learned over the last twenty years.
One of the first things I would say you might want to look at is your budget. This is something I learned the hard way. I used to travel blindly (not just to Gen Con) with extra Magic the Gathering cards to pay for my way and hopefully not have any out of pocket expenses – that I didn’t have money for. I was foolish. I hope I can give you a lot of wisdom with this. I have learned to look at conventions the same way I was taught to look at survival – food, water, and shelter. If you take those three things to heart, your Gen Con experience will be much more enjoyable. Of the three, water and food are the two easiest to take care of, especially if you drive to the show as we do. Even if you are flying, you can pack enough snacks and protein that you can survive. Shelter is a big expense and could be difficult to obtain. With that said, I have never used the room draw, and we usually manage to stay out by the airport or within twenty minutes.
If you take water with you, it will help you save money and it will make you feel much better mentally and will help with those aches and pains. Dehydration is probably a gamer’s biggest demon; it sneaks up on you, fogs your brain, makes you ache, changes your blood flow, and much more. I try to drink 20 oz. or more of water every hour when I am as active as I am at a convention. The fact is, Gen Con is as much work as it is a vacation for me. It is often hot, I drink, and I am physically. All of which help set me up to be dehydrated. So please, pack yourself one water bottle or refill one at the water stations that are all over the convention center. This also saves you space – one water bottle over a case is a lot less to pack. Bonus Drip Drop hydration packets go a long way to keep you hydrated and alert
Food is a much bigger monster to tackle because there is so much to consider. It comes down to what you are interested in: food trucks, local restaurants, or cooking in the room. I will speak a lot more on food in the future, but we think that balance is a good thing. Lisa and I really try to maintain a budget when we travel. One of the best ways we do that is with what we eat. For us, the first thing we look for is a Hotel with breakfast, preferably a hot one. I can’t tell you how important this meal is for me at a convention. If I don’t eat a good breakfast, I get tired fast. We almost always complement our hotel breakfast with a protein shake. If you can’t get a hotel with breakfast, make sure you get a microwave. You can always hit a grocery store and cook your own eggs – just make sure you pack the needed utensils. If you’re staying downtown, there is a Whole Foods a couple of blocks from the Indiana Convention Center. After that, we pack our lunches – we almost never pay for our lunch. In most of our travels, we ate out of cans, usually tuna or salmon and canned vegetables, but we are evolving, and now we do prepare everything from meat and cheese boards to chicken pesto salads. It doesn’t stop there, we reward ourselves every night with dinner. We only eat out two times over our six days at Gen Con. On the other nights, I cook us a relaxing meal in the room. This year or hotel menu is going to include Mediterranean power bowls, black bean and and corn quesadillas, and a stir fry. I know those aren’t all easy to do in a microwave, and I am not only going to use a microwave this year. I got an induction burner for Father’s Day this year, and it’s a perfect hotel cooker. There are a million things you can cook in your room if you are responsible with your time, like chilis and stews. If any of you want tips or ideas for your hotel room meals – just ask. The only thing I didn’t touch on is snacks. We pack protein bars, Epic bars, a high-protein trail mix with nuts and dried fruit, and usually some pork rinds.
It doesn’t matter if you are walking to your hotel, driving, or getting a cab, it’s important that you learn the area. I highly suggest you get a local map of the downtown area. I don’t trust GPS in the city of Indiana. I can’t tell you how many appointments I missed because my GPS couldn’t find me. If you are walking, know how much time it takes to walk from A to b and plan for extra time just in case something goes wrong. If you are traveling at night, pay attention, and if possible, use the buddy system.
When packing, before you leave for Indy, consider your comfort. A good pair of shoes is a key to success. I buy fresh socks and underwear for every show I attend. I bring a rice pack and a heating pad. If you are flying and need a special pillow, then by all means bring it, these things make your mental health well healthy. Whenever I travel, I take two extra pairs of socks and underwear, a t shirt for everyday, at least one button down shirt, and one extra pair of pants. Beyond that, I bring along all of the standard hygiene stuff. Please, make sure you shower. You may not always be alone in the space that you call yours. Besides, I find that a nice shower to end the day is often relaxing. With that said, if you are worried about germs, I find the restrooms outside of the convention center to be less crowded and therefore more likely to have less germs.
Up to this point everything has been about what to pack, but once you arrive at Gen Con, I suggest you explore. Every year I arrive on Wednesday and walk my trail. That is, I take may schedule and walk it from each event, and interview that is on my schedule so I have an idea of where I need to be. This does two things for me: one, it allows me to take in some of the surroundings before I really start, for example, I may stumble across a tournament area that I was thinking was elsewhere. Two, it allows me to scout, take notes, and pictures of things I may want to do. In other words, explore, stop and listen to one of the performers, check out some miniature terrain, participate in paint and take, and parous Authors Alley. Gen Con is so big, and it is really easy to put the blinders on. I know from experience it is really easy to miss something I wish I had seen – I do it almost every year.
A trip to Gen Con wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the Vendors Hall. Here is what every attendee should know. One, they no longer allow carts/dollies in the hall except for special needs. Two, use the map to scout your targets before the show and plan you entry points. If you come in the wrong door, it can add five or even ten minutes to your trip. Three, respect the space of others. I shouldn’t have to say this, but every year I see something happen, like cutting people off, or not paying attention, and knocking something out of a booth. Remember, everyone is there to have fun.
If you are going to try and see the entire exhibitors hall there are a few things that I think should never be over looked. Entrepreneurs Avenue is where the newest game companies can be found. And if you move through it on Sunday, you might just stumble across that crazy deal. While moving through and playing the demos, don’t forget about the coupon book – some really good deals. Keep in mind the hall is broken down into blocks like the family fun zone and the RPG aisle. If you play every demo and check out every booth, you can make the exhibitors hall a four-day trek.
I hope this brings some basic principles, like food, shelter, and water, to the forefront of not just your Gen Con travels but all of your travels. If I have given you ideas about food for your trips, I would love to hear about them. Again, if you want some ideas about lunches and/or hotel dinners, just reach out.
Matt Lemke