Thoughts on the @ReverbGamers Master List

I found the master list on January 3rd, so I started late. And aside from the one hiccup, I managed to post daily, even when I had other things to talk about. My goals were to: 1) increase readership of my blog, 2) be forced to post regularly, 3) reveal stuff about myself as a gamer, and 4) use the momentum to keep blogging regularly. I definitely met the first three goals. We'll see how goal 4 goes.

Most of the questions were good, but some were stinkers. My lamest post was the one about NPC creatures, but that's mostly because I thought it was a dumb question. I'm sure it was meant to be playful, but it just didn't do anything for me at all.

Posting daily was a huge pain in the rear sometimes. I mitigated some of it by answering multiple questions at once, when I could, and just scheduling them out on their respective days, but I still found myself scrambling to write a post here and there.

In addition to my goals I got to take multiple trips down memory lane and learn a bit about myself. And that was a Good Thing (TM).

Overall it was a good experience. I don't think I'd do this again, but it was fun.

We now return you to my regular ramblings on this blog. Hopefully they will be more consistent.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 31

#31: How would your life be different if you'd never gotten into gaming?

Everything would be different. I have a gamer wife (and now a gamer daughter), most of my friends game, I podcast about games, I'm designing three games... See the point here?

I might have more money. I don't even want to think about how much money I have spent on games since that fateful day in 1984 when my friend Tony showed me AD&D. Of course is the money spent indicative to gaming or just part of my personality? Would I own a couple muscle cars or a dozen high-end radio controlled cars if those hobbies had stuck? Who knows?

I don't think I'd be as socially comfortable as I am. I think I became a gamer because I'm social, but I think I've excelled at the art of talking to people because I'm a gamer.

These "what if" questions are always so weird...

Would I go back and change it if I could? Oh, hell no!

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 30

#30: What lessons have you taken from gaming that you can apply to your real life?

I think this question is worded poorly, so I am going to have to answer it twice.

Is the question meant to be: "What lessons have you learned in-game that you've applied to real life?"


To answer it this way, which is the way I think it's meant, I'd have to say sort of. Roleplaying is a very social activity for me. So I've learned how to be more social. I've learned to take chances. And as a GM, I've been semi-forced into looking closely at why people do things and how do different people think. These are all useful things in "real life".

Is the question meant to imply that people who game are not experiencing "real life" when they do so?

I hope this is just a poorly-worded question because otherwise it would be a little insulting. To imply gaming isn't part of real life would be wrong-headed and ignorant. Roleplaying is a part of my life. I roleplay with friends, typically. When I roleplay in public--stores and cons--I make friends. So for me--at least partially--gaming is an activity I take part in as a vehicle for hanging out with my friends. It's very much real life. Have I learned things about "real life" while doing it? Sure. Because I'm talking with people.

@ReverGamers Master List Number 29

#29: What does the word "gamer" mean to you? Is that different than what other people seem to think it means?

I'll answer the second question first. The meaning of the word has changed within my lifetime. So I'll give the progression here.

When I was a kid, the word typically meant a person who plays RPGs and/or, to a lesser extent in the '80s, wargames (in the '70s there was a lot more overlap, I'm told). It was used to self-identify by gamers, and it was used in a derogatory way by non-gamers. "Oh, he's a gamer." I think it was derogatory, mostly to people who didn't understand it.

Today, the word has been co-opted by video games. If you self-identify as a gamer, people typically assume you play a lot of video games. I don't think being labeled a gamer is as negative as it used to be (geek chic and all).

I've taken to calling myself a tabletop gamer or pen and paper gamer or roleplayer. Then I have to explain it. I've also found people who play primarily board games use the term among each other. So essentially, if you are a gamer, and you're not a video gamer, you probably have to explain yourself--that is assuming it matters enough to you to explain.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 28

#28: Do you have any house rules when you game? What are they, and why do you use them? If not, why not?

There are two house rules. The first one is pretty common. I believe the second one is becoming common.

1) Floor dice don't count. If the dice hit the floor they get re-rolled. This rule is an old one for me. I think it comes from worrying about people cheating when they pick up their die. I'm not so much worried about that today--if cheating is what floats your boat, and it's not negatively affecting the other players, go for it. These days, this rule is just tradition.

2) This rule is completely non-negotiable. Those who play in my house must be kid friendly. This rule is about eight years old at the time of this writing. My wife and I have a daughter. She can be loud and obnoxious. She's been known to interrupt the game on occasion. And we don't apologize for her. If this is a problem for you, you may game elsewhere. Our current weekly game consists of mostly parents and one kid friendly non-parent. The other parents bring their kids too. The reason for this is pretty simple. We want to game. And we would like for our daughter to look at gaming positively. To encourage this, we don't ship her off to a relative or babysitter when we game. It's just something that happens in our house.

Heck, these days, we game with out daughter on occasion.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 27

#27: If you were an Ent, what kind of Ent would you be? Or, what other NPC creature would you be? Why?

If I could be a creature it would be a dragon, only I wouldn't have a compulsion for gold. I'd rule a large swath of land with benevolence. I'd fight off armies and protect my people.

And that is all.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 25

#25: If you game enough, you're bound to run into someone being an ass. What's the most asinine thing someone's done in a game with you? How did you react? Did that experience change the way you game?

A long time ago my wife (who was then my girlfriend) and I were playing in a roleplaying game (you'll see why I don't even want to name it here in a moment) with another couple we knew. The game master had a habit of doing really bad crap to his wife's character at every turn. His wife hated it, but he continued. It was kind of dickish and made my wife and I really uncomfortable, but we continued to play because we were friends. One week, this guy had his wife's character beaten and raped. After that session, we just kind of stopped playing. It was too uncomfortable and shocking to even say anything at the time. (These days I'd likely call him on it and walk away on the spot, but I care a lot less what people like that think of me.) We maybe saw the couple one or two times after that--having worked really hard to avoid them--before we moved out of state. To this day, Veronica has an unreasonable hatred for that game.

That situation was more than asinine--it was kind of sick--but there ya go.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 24

#24: Have you ever been to a game convention? What was it like to be surrounded by so many other gamers? If not, would you like to go to one? Why or why not?

I've definitely been to conventions. Here in Denver, I've been to Genghis Con and TactiCon. In Arizona I've been to the late, greats, RinCon and RandomCon. In North Carolina, I've been to MACE. And I've been to Origins.

I simply love it. Games are my favorite pastime and gamers are my favorite people. Conventions give me the opportunity to try new games and meet new people, either through playing or GMing.

I began attending game conventions after I started The Game's the Thing, so cons also give me the opportunity to meet friends I've made through the show, be they listeners or gaming professionals or both.

The bottom line is, there's no better atmosphere for me than to be surrounded by gamers. It's electric, and if I could, I'd go on a convention tour every year.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 23

#23: Have you ever experienced Total Party Kill (TPK), or been close to it? What effect did that have on you personally? On your group of players? Have you ever used retroactive continuity (retcon) to save yourself? Why or why not?

I'm not counting convention/demo games or games where that was the point (tournament modules) because there's really no emotional investment in it for me. It's just a fun time where stuff happens. I've never been on the player side of a TPK. I've always been the GM when it comes up.

In the first instance it was during my long-running Deadlands classic campaign I've often discussed. The protagonists were going up against a Native American cult who were using artifacts to drain people of their blood for power. The party split up and ran smack dab into two different encounters, each of which were designed for all of them. I decided to try them out, as is. It was pretty epic, as I  was running two combats, simultaneously. I quickly figured out they weren't going to survive either one, so I ramped up the crazy. One player was left hanging upside down from a rafter, about to be drained. Another player had his arm ripped off and was beaten with it. Finally, as they were all in the process of dying, I used one of the characters killer hindrance combo of Heavy Sleeper and Night Terrors to keep the party alive. My last sentence of the night was, "And that, my friends, is why you don't split the party."

I don't actually believe that advice anymore, but it was still an epic moment in gaming. Once everyone realized their character wasn't dead, they started laughing and admitted to having a good time. It's still talked about, semi-regularly, to this day.

The rest of my TPKs have been related to a combination of overpowered enemies and bad party planning.

There was a Deadlands classic game where I underestimated the toughness of the walkin' dead. Shane Hensley takes his zombies very seriously.

Then in Savage Worlds, the first three times I ran it resulted in a TPK. This was mainly from the players not understanding tactics mattered in Savage Worlds. They weren't using cover well or ganging up, things like that. At one point, Veronica announced she'd never play Savage Worlds again. These days it's work getting her to play anything else.

As far as the effect of a TPK... it depends on the person. For me, I'm disappointed when it happens because I feel like I've done something wrong (and sometimes I have). Other players at my table react in different ways. Some get very emotionally invested in their characters and want to protect them; others couldn't care less because they like changing characters.

I've seen TPKs kill campaigns. One of the three Savage Worlds incidents killed an Evernight campaign we were starting--a campaign I never got to restart or go back to. These days, unless I'm running a tournament module or a crazy campaign game, I avoid them as a GM.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 22

#22: Describe the worst game you've ever played in. What made it so bad? Did your fellow players help, or make it worse?


I was playing in a Witchcraft game several years ago. A good friend was running the game. He wasn't an experienced GM, but he was not the reason the game was so bad. I was.

I'm a really convincing guy. I could sell Bill Gates an iMac if I needed to. Seriously. And my friend running the game is a really nice guy, and kind of a pushover.

Basically, I ran roughshod over him and the game with my ideas. I got him to say yes a lot, and the game stopped being a game. The other players joined in, and they ran all over him too. I felt really bad about it. The game didn't last long, and I've never seen him GM since.

Heck, I've never run or played Witchcraft since. Suckage.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 21

#21: What's the best bribe you've ever given (or received as) a GM? What did you get (give) for it?

Wow, I'm not proud of the answer coming, but it's the truth. As recently as the late nineties, I would give players extra XP or special items for their characters if they bought me supplements for the game I was running. The sad part of it is I had many takers.

Bribery isn't the sort of behavior I'd engage in anymore, but it sure was easier on my gaming budget in my younger days.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 20

#20: What was the most memorable character death you've ever experienced? What makes it stick with you?

There was a regular Mage: The Ascension game I was playing in at a coffee shop. I played a Euthanatos mage who had the delusion flaw. He thought he was an action hero. It was a lot of fun playing this guy because I had to figure out how to use Entropy in ways that I could reason would make my character look like an action hero.

Anyway, there was this huge battle with the Technocracy. All the marbles were on the line. My character used his power to essentially save the day, and to hell with the Paradox in doing it. Basically, he kind of exploded. It was spectacular--skin bulging and pulsing until BOOM!

It was one of those "holy crap!" moments in gaming I'll never forget. Best. Suicide. Ever.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 19

#19: What's the weirdest character you've ever played? How did you end up with him/her/it?

In a previous post, I mentioned my wife took a stab at GMing Deadlands. Soon after that stint it was time for a new campaign, and she agreed to back me up by sharing the GM role. One of the goals we had was to have a story reason for us to switch off. Enter "Black" Jack and "Red Hand" Jill.

Jack and Jill were huckster twins who lost a deal with the devil (heh... that even reads like a sick nursery rhyme). The result was they were both forced to occupy the same space--only one of them could exist at a time. When one was in the world, the other was off being tortured in some other dimension. The whole thing made for some interesting storytelling and allowed us to switch off when necessary. Also, the group always had a huckster.

We didn't get to play them long. The campaign died due to the curse of Canyon o' Doom--an adventure which, every time we started it, it killed our campaign. It was no fault of the adventures content; it was just cursed. Seriously.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 18

#18: Have you ever "cheated" on a die roll/random chance outcome, or looked up a quest solution on a fan site? Why or why not? If yes, was it worth it?

As a player, I'd love to say no, but it isn't technically true. When I was a teen, and into my early 20s, I did fudge the occasional die roll when the GM wasn't looking. I had a need to "win" at the time, as it was long before I understood the value of falling forward in a game or the growth that comes from failure. I also think it was at least partly a result of the "whiff factor" prevalent in so many games. It's hard to take when you're facing down the "big bad" only to roll a "2" on your d20. I don't do it any more. I let the dice fall where they may.

As a GM, I used to fudge rolls all the time, all in the name of "story." In recent years, I've taken a "roll in front of the screen" mentality. It's improved my games because my players know there's real danger when I roll the dice. That said, I don't typically let a die roll be the sole arbiter of character death--I always involve the player when that comes up.

Since I've learned failure can have more to do with intent than the listed action, I take some liberty with that, as well. Hanging off a cliff and botch your climb roll? Rather than fall to your death, I may beat you up a bit on your way down. And if you want to get to the top of that cliff, you won't be climbing there. Find another way. This beats the heck out of: "You die. Here's a new character sheet."

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 17

#17: What was the best reward you've ever gotten in a game? What made it so great? How much do you need tangible rewards (loot, leveling, etc.) to enjoy a game?

Probably the best in-game reward was in a D&D 3.x game. Our whole party received custom magic items that leveled with us. Basically new powers and abilities were added as the game went on. The DM gave us a little control (in the form of requests) as to how they changed over time. Mine was a cloak, which was fitting for a rogue. Aside from the leveling aspect, what made it so great was these items tied in to adventurers from history, and their spirits were eventually there to help us beat the "big bad" of the campaign. So having a story tie-in was the main thing.

In general, I like characters that upgrade--new levels, abilities, etc.--but I think that has more to do with conditioning than any sort of need. I played in a FATE campaign, where it turned out I was just as happy being able to swap skills around and modifying aspects was just as gratifying. My character never actually got better. I think this means I'm less about the trappings of change and more about the change itself.

Hmm... There's something to this revelation. I think I will delve into it in a future post.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 16

#16: Who was the most memorable foe you've ever come up against in a game? How did you beat him/her/it? Or did you?

All my players. OK. Just kidding--sort of.

As a player, that would have to be the Knights of the Golden Circle.

Veronica likes to pretend it never happened, but for a brief time, she took the reigns of our long-running Deadlands (classic) game. For our campaign, I mostly ignored the canon and built the game around the characters' backgrounds. But at one point, I needed a break, and Vern volunteered (she may have been voluntold here--who remembers these things?) to take the game for a bit.

Unlike me, Veronica has not only love, but skill, when it comes to history. She came up with a fictionalized version of a real secret society, which was the Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC). She spun a killer yarn around them, from which sprang my character, Ethan, whom I would be playing for her run. Further, her character, "Black Widow" Beth Hickson--a Texas Ranger of some regard--was captured by these folk.

Ethan started out as a mole inside the KGC--he was actually there to destroy it. Beth accidentally foiled his plan by almost getting killed. Ethan made his turn early and saved her life, but stayed undercover in order to get Beth back to her band.

The scene where Beth was returned was pretty cool. I didn't initially have a character, so Veronica had me play my favorite NPC, "One Eye" Hank Ketchum, The Texas Ranger. In the scene, we were faced off with members of the KGC holding Beth. Vern had me make Ethan, but she didn't tell me when he'd be coming in. Well, during the exchange, it started to go pear-shaped, and I was handed his sheet. Veronica said "go," and I was playing Ethan, who happened to be standing over Beth. We took out the KGC goons and we had Beth.

While Beth was back, she didn't fare well in the conflict. And, after convincing Beth's band he wasn't really with the KGC, Ethan took the lead of the band to take on and destroy the KGC's foothold in the Great Maze.

I guess the reason they were so memorable is because Vern is damn good at coming up with these back stories. If she ever sheds her "natural" fear of improvising at the table--the root of her GM phobia--I may get more play time in the future.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 15

#15: People often talk about the divide between what happens "in game" and "in real life." Do you maintain that divide in your own play, or do you tend to take what happens to your character personally? Why?

I maintain a pretty stark divide between real life and game life. That said, I'm really invested in my characters. I don't get mad when things go badly for them--hell, that's half the fun--but I do take a strong interest in what happens and the characters' development.

The "why" is pretty simple. I'm a creative person. I care about story and development. So the story and characters have to make sense to me.

The 800lb. gorilla in the room--and really what I think this question is about--is character death. I am OK with a character dying--any character--but I am not OK with random, pointless death. You know the kind--a goblin aces multiple times on his damage roll, and your Legendary paladin dies on his way to the final battle. Remember when I said the story and characters have to make sense? Here's an example of it--random death may be "real-life" realistic, but it makes for a crappy story if the guy in the opening montage credits gets hit by a bus and dies when he stops for coffee. In a story, when a protagonist dies, it's got to be important. Period.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 14

#14: What kinds of adventures do you enjoy most? Dungeon crawls, mysteries, freeform roleplaying, or something else? What do you think that says about you?

Really, it depends--on the group, the GM, my mood, etc.

I know GMs who run killer dungeon crawls, and that's always a pleasure. I do not like vanilla dungeon crawls--"you approach a random ruin..." I'm a fan of dungeons with a strong story or at least a unique setup.

With the right group, freeform roleplaying can be a blast, but I find--more often than not--groups want at least a little leadership at the table, a semi-obvious route to take. When freeforming happens on it's own, though--not planned--it can be pretty freakin' special.

I personally love running mysteries. I come up with a problem--a setup--and I let the group go for it. Sometimes it's all improv after that. Sometimes I have an end in mind. That depends on my time and my whims, to be honest.

Once in awhile, I just love pure actionfests. Four hours of ass-kicking can be rewarding after a hard week's work.

@ReverbGamers Master List Number 13

#13: Who's the best GM/storyteller/party leader you've ever had? What made him/her so great?

Jason Corley, the self-proclaimed best GM in Tucson, is the best GM/Storyteller I've had (don't tell him I said this--he's got a huge head). One thing that makes him so great is he's the first person I've met to be as good as me at improvisational GMing--and I'm pretty friggin' good. But Jason has more he brings to the table, particularly in the area of organization.

Jason doesn't organize his game like normal, human GMs, he does it by character. In his trusty GM book, Jason puts a page aside for each character. Whenever anything--anything--happens in game, he goes through the pages of characters and decides how the event effects them, and what their reactions are.

Jason runs a lot of public games throughout Tucson; look him up through the Tucson RPG Guild. I promise playing at his table will be a treat.

I should close by saying all the above may not be true. I might just be filling blog space. See that, Corley! You'll never really know!!

@ReverbGamers Master List Numbers 10 & 12

So I'm either crazy or Blogger ate my answer to number 10. I remember reading the question; I remember writing the question. So below is my second draft of number 10, followed by the as-scheduled number 12.

#10: Have you ever played a character originally from a book/TV/movie?
How did the character change from the original as you played? If not, who would you most like to
play?

I played a TV character, for the first time ever, at last year's TactiCon, here in Colorado. I was the 10th Doctor in Cubicle 7's Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space. I even got to give one of those classic David Tennant speeches wherein he stares down a foe, outmatched and outnumbered, and explains to them that he's the Doctor, dammit! And they backed down. It was made of awesome!!

This was a convention one-shot, so there wasn't much time for change. I worked really hard to stay dead-on with the character. Table consensus seemed to point to my success.

As fun as it was, I have to say I would not want to play a character like that for any length of time--maybe a one-shot or limited series, but that's it. Too much pressure.

#12: Do [you] prefer collaborative or competitive games? What do you think that
says about you?

Assuming this is about roleplaying games like the rest of the questions (to those unaware, there are cooperative board games), my knee-jerk reaction is to say cooperative, all the way. That said, I have never played a competitive roleplaying game. One of my favorite things about roleplaying games is the group storytelling, and in my head, playing an RPG competitively seems to be at odds with what I love.

With the above in mind, I would be open to trying it. Perhaps I'd be proven wrong...

But at the end of the day, I'm a lover, not a fighter.

I'm not completely sure what it says about me. I'm fine being (fiercely) competitive in board games, so it's not a "need to win" thing. It's likely the whole thing comes down to lack of experience. I've been roleplaying cooperatively for 27 years... tough to change.