Time for an RPG self-examination.
I've been playing and Game Mastering games since I was 13. That means I've been roleplaying for 27 years.
I've played and Game Mastered #DungeonsandDragons from 1e to a single session of 4e with most of the time spent in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons and Dungeons and Dragons 3.0 and 3.5. Overall it represents about 17 years of my gaming life.
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| "Back in my day we played Dungeons and Dragons and it was Advanced!"--Pierce |
I've played and Game Mastered #SavageWorlds since 2011 in Savage Worlds Deluxe. So about eight years now.
#DramaScape has been around since May 2012, so it has been 7 years that we've been making maps, minis, posters, cards, adventures, and modules.
I played #TORG and #Shatterzone for about a year with the one session that I ran of Shatterzone.
I've also played #DCUniverse, #DragonStorm, #GURPS, #FengShui, #D20Modern, and #Shadowrun. And some more that I am forgetting.
I've read a ton of games I've never even played. #Trinity, #ICRPG, #FATE, #BareBonesFantasy, #PalladiumRIFTs, #Runequest, #CardsandQuests, #DemonWorld, #BluePlanet, #FadingSuns, #OneDice, #DemonGate, #PiratesandDragons, #ERAtheConsortium, #Mindjammer, #MutantChronicles, #Pathfinder, and probably a lot more that I am forgetting.
I've played a ton of RPG board games. #HeroQuest and #DragonStrike helped get me into the hobby. More recently I've played a lot of #DescentJourneysintheDark as the Overlord, and #Dungeons! is fun with the kids.
Video game RPGs also got me into the hobby. It all started with #DragonWarrior (DragonQuest these days), #LegendofZelda, and #FinalFantasy on the #Nintendo. If I hadn't played Dragon Warrior I don't know if I would have tried Dragon Strike. I've been playing video games for thirty years. There are too many games I've played to name them all, but I can name some of my favorite series and games.
#DestinyoftheEmperor by Capcom on Nintendo takes the Romance of the Three Kingdoms to an RPG and plays fast and loose with history to tell its own story. I was impressed with the music and the battle system especially all-out which sped up boring encounters to get to the good ones. I also liked how tactics worked like spells in the game.
#Suikoden was one of my favorites for its many minigames and 108 collectible characters. It also featured forward compatibility where your progress in a previous game could result in changed in the next game between Suikoden I and II and Suikoden IV and Tactics.
#Persona is very psychological and dark. By far the most melancholy ending was Persona 3 but some of the themes of Persona 5 especially the first boss are absolutely grotesque. I really enjoyed the demon contact system in Persona 1 and 2 where you could try to negotiate with them, something they brought back in Persona 5. The series even has Persona Arena spinoffs that are fighting games with more story than most games (I highly recommend them if you loved P3 and P4 like me).
#Disgaea is the most addicting strategy RPG I've ever played. The first two are great and the series really picked back up with Disgaea D2 and V (The story and characters of 3 and 4 didn't appeal to me as much).
#Borderlands combines first person shooting with RPG elements and the #TinyTinaAssaultonDragonKeep in Borderlands 2 is a brilliant send up of MMORPGs. I'm really psyched for the third game (Next month!). One of my dad's favorite games too.
#Fallout is like Borderlands but with the added elements of VATs to guide your aim and an actual dialogue system. I particularly liked Fallout 4 a lot because it felt like trying to fight back and rebuild the Commonwealth and therefore felt more hopeful than the previous games. It features a lot more inventory management than I would like, but that is what Strong Back is for.
#Lufia on the #SuperNintendo was only two games, but the second one is really amazing. If you like Japanese style RPGs this one features an interesting puzzle mechanic that works a lot like Legend of Zelda in dungeons and you can see encounters in dungeons. Plus it has a 99 level Rogue dungeon that my dad and I could never conquer. #SecretofMana is one of the best action-RPGs of all time and you can even have other players take control of the other characters during the action. #ChronoTrigger is one of the most innovative RPGs of all time where you move through six different time periods as you change history (and 14 endings!). #BreathofFire was a great series that featured a hero that could transform into a dragon and a character combination system where you could make Dragon Ball Z-like amalgamations.
#Lunar on #SegaCD was an introduction to a new kind of Japanese RPG at the time with an emphasis on humor and absolutely beautiful anime cut scenes.
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| "You want the Dragon Diamond? Don't you know that is made from my s..."--Quark |
#ShiningForce was my first introduction to strategy RPGs and is still a joy to play even today. I liked the humor of the game, the music, and the art style. #PhantasyStar II/IV has some very interesting use of foreground and background parallax in dungeons. (If you want to experience this and 50 other games, the #SonicUltimateGenesisCollection on PlayStation3 and X-box 360 has them all.)
#OgreBattle (and 64, the only game I bought the #N64 to play!) and #TacticsOgre are two very different games in the same universe. They are both strategy games, but Ogre Battle is real time and TacticsOgre is turn-based. Both games have multiple endings based on your decisions. Tactics Ogre with its isometric 2.5d style led to #FinalFantasyTactics and Ivalice, one of the best tactics games of all-time and worlds, and #VagrantStory, an absolutely brilliant action-RPG set in the world of Ivalice.
#ValkyrieProfile is one of the most unique RPGs I have ever played. You play as Lenneth Valkyrie and to recruit characters you collect their souls after their deaths from Midgard. Your goal is to train souls and send them to Asgard to fight in the war. You only have so much time before Ragnarok, the end of the world, giving an element of time to the game. There are also three different endings. The 2d dungeons are filled with puzzles and some maps are absolutely gorgeous like The Lost City of Dipan. If you like Norse mythology, I highly recommend it.
#Grandia2 on #Dreamcast was just an amazing story. Elena's character development is at its core and I was enthralled from the very beginning with the mystery of what had happened to her. #SkiesofArcadia is a game where you play as sky pirates trying to save the world as you float from sky island to sky island. It had an innovative ship combat system and the VMU was actually used to play here as you could find treasure by following the VMU's signals in the game.
Another game I have been playing lately is #Wasteland2 on EAOrigins with Basic Access. This is a post-apocalyptic RPG with an #XCom-like battle system. It is a game where you are absolutely stuck with the choices you make and the actions you take. The struggle for healing supplies, water, and ammo is very real as well.
I have successfully run a ten year #Earthdawn campaign, #ShaintarRangersRidingOuttheStorm, and #NecessaryEvil to completion. I've run DnD campaigns, several Earthdawn campaigns that ended less successfully or in total party kills (TPKs), and a Shatterzone and Shadowrun session.
I am currently running 2 quests in #SagaoftheGoblinHorde and #Returnto50Fathoms and not playing in any currently. I have some ideas about future potential quests. One of them is a #SolomonKane game where Admiral Kirel and Tellah have been thrown into that world rather than Kirel's Earth. As a Kraken, Tellah wanted to become Davy Jones and the origin of that story on Earth. Another idea I had was a #Hellfrost game mixed up with Game of Thrones (my wife is a huge fan).
As a player, I've defeated Tiamat twice in two games as a Gnome and Halfling Rogue in Dan and Eric's games. We usurped Kratas in Ted's Earthdawn Kratas Campaign (There is nothing quite as satisfying as killing all the NPCs you statted up). We defeated the Sea Hags in 50 Fathoms and Admiral Kirel went home. Zachariah LaGrange flooded California in Deadlands. I played a Dwarf Paladin in a Spelljammer game who would always fail to save the planets we visited from the evil Halfling's machinations. And I couldn't kill them because we were the last survivor's of our planet and we needed them to repopulate a planet once we found a suitable world that was not inhabited. I played Jebeddo Ningel and worked towards destroying all civilization in the name of Odab-Hai. I roamed Ravenloft as Roam Trueshot. I tried to save the world as Cyan Pureblade with my sidekick Edgar Dragonslayer but ultimately died leaving the world to be destroyed by the awakening Slumber Dragon. I played as Gen Bu in Modern D20 and since all I needed was a katana I became the richest character due to the wealth system. At some point everyone else was so poor they needed to move into the apartment building that I owned and they became my tenants. In Shadowrun, I played a Dwarf Rigger who beat people up with a giant steel wrench that was as tall as he was. My ork Horror Stalker, Nero, who loved fire, died in a flood after he picked up a cursed torch that turned his hand to stone. My DCUniverse character Superior lived in a trailer down by the river and worked in construction. "Let me take off my construction gloves and put on the gloves of justice!"--Superior. In Shatterzone, Maverick was addicted to VR pornography and combat drugs and was an absolute killing machine with an Ionic Sword and a Plasma Cannon. And so many other games and player characters lost to the mists of time.
So much gaming done and so much gaming to do. #KeepGaming.
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