Sidequest: Every TTRPG played 11-20

Well, it's been one of those months again. In such a funk, and kinda down, that I can't really think of anything exciting to add to my blog. It's a good job I've got these ridiculous posts listing things to keep me moderately occupied, rather than just staring into the void. 

So, to continue from the previous post, Kieron Gillen inspired me to list every tabletop roleplaying game I've played. I did the first ten in sort-of chronological order starting with those first games I ever played. Lets see how bad my memory is as continuing the list from 11-20...

#11 - The Adventures of Indiana Jones RPG

Cover of TSR's Adventures of Indiana Jones game

I know, the much maligned Adventures of Indiana Jones RPG from TSR. I freakin' loved this game. Not as free and easy as you may think, involving lots of tables and weird slide-rule thingy, along with lots of cool cardstock miniatures and 3D models. I bought everything you could get for Indiana Jones, and I loved it. I even made a video about it last year. 

Loved it. Wish there was a new version so we can explore, adventure, and punch more Nazis. 

#12 - Warhammer Fantasy (1st Edition)

Cover of the old white box Warhammer RPG

Another game bought by one of our regular players wanting to run something different to AD&D. We should have realised it was going to be very different by the name - Warhammer: The Mass Combat Fantasy Role-Playing Game. It really was quick, brutal, and our characters died very, very quickly. I don't think we got many games in, but after the GM moved to the other side of the world, that boxed set now sits on my shelves.

#13 - Golden Heroes

Cover of the Golden Heroes RPG

Next on the list is possibly our first foray into superhero gaming. We didn't do an awful lot of supers stuff, and when we played Golden Heroes it was just after I'd read Watchmen so we played with powerless vigilante characters rather than having proper 'super powers'. It was pretty cool, but the superhero Odyssey game we played later was better - not because of the game, Golden Heroes is still great, but just because someone else was GMing rather than me and they did a better job. I'm sure it'll come up in a later post...

#14 - Paranoia

Cover of the West End Games Paranoia RPG, 
published as a hardcover in the UK by Games Workshop!

Next is something a little different. Wasn't sure what I was getting into when I started running Paranoia, but it was madness and we loved it. Played all the weird adventures from the time, like HIL-Sector Blues, and Clones in Space. Heck, I even bought those Citadel miniatures and did an awful job of painting them.

#15 - Twilight: 2000

Cover of the original edition of Twilight: 2000

It was the Eighties, and (as you'll see by another later entry) things were a bit tense when it came to international relations. Good thing we sorted that out after all these years! (sarcasm) But, yes, we had a go at Twilight:2000. I don't remember much of it, just creating some characters and wandering around the roads near Krakow. I don't think we played very much of it. 

#16 - Doctor Who The Roleplaying Game (FASA)

Cover of the FASA 2nd edition of the Doctor Who Roleplaying Game

Much like the old FASA Star Trek, we also played the FASA edition of the Doctor Who RPG. We were lucky to have a GM who was not only our Call of Cthulhu keeper, but also a massive Doctor Who fan who knew his stuff. Being a fan of the creepy Hinchcliffe and Holmes era of Tom Baker's run, he ensured the game played like a spooky Cthulhu adventure, with our resident Time Lord, the Collector, strangely absent most of the time (the player hardly ever turned up). 

#17 - Judge Dredd the Roleplaying Game (GW)

Cover of the original Dredd RPG

As mentioned in an earlier post, I'd been reading 2000AD since issue #2, the first appearance of Judge Dredd, and most of us in the gaming group read it to some extent. It was inevitable that we'd play the Dredd RPG. We played a handful of games, engaged in a Block War or two. I'd love to see a new edition soon - I must admit, I'd love to see a TV series done like The Rookie but only with MegaCity Judges...

#18 - Odyssey

Image from the movie ALIENS

Okay, home-brew time. This wasn't just your average home-brew, this was Pete's most epic RPG, taking up a chunky ring-binder of rules. Taking elements from RuneQuest and turning the volume up, Odyssey was Pete's generic RPG to work in any time and any genre. I remember he said "I've a murder mystery RPG to test" and we all joined in on this simple game of regular people who had won a prize to go on a cruise. We thought it was going to be a murder mystery, and then *RUG PULL* the ship sank and we were washed up on a desert island, with superpowers. Inspired by the old Elementals comic, we played the heck out of that. 

However, Odyssey really came into its own when we started using the system to play Colonial Marines in the ALIEN universe. The encumbrance system was genius, and I remember this frantic run for the drop ship and shedding my smart gun to speed up so we could escape the nuclear blast of the terraforming plant exploding. He also ran a brilliant game where one of the players was a villain, working to sabotage the plans for his own benefit. Lots of note passing to the GM, and it was only when combat started and the dice rolls started matching up did they realise who was shooting at them. Decades before Free League's game of marines and hidden agendas, Pete was doing it in the 80s. Brilliant stuff.

#19 - Ghostbusters

Cover of the legendary Ghostbusters RPG by West End Games

Here we come to one of my favourite games of all time - West End Games' Ghostbusters Roleplaying Game. You wouldn't believe how much I love this game. I've written at length about how reading this game made me want to be a game writer and designer. It's just a joy to read, brilliantly simple, and based on one of my favourite movies and franchises. How could I not love it? We played so much of this, so much that the Ghost on my Ghost-Die started to wear off. 

Again, I'd love to see a new Ghostbusters RPG - especially as the D6 system that powers it has returned recently in the Carbon Grey and Planet of the Apes RPGs. If anyone at Ghostcorps is listening, you know who to call. 

Here's a link to another video I made!! 

#20 - James Bond 007 Roleplaying Game

The Victory Games RPG of James Bond 007

Finally for this batch, here's another one of my favourite RPGs of all time. Victory Games' official James Bond 007 RPG. Amazing game, with some brilliant and revolutionary mechanics, and some of the most amazing presentation (especially for the adventures). Absolutely love this game. 

I'm going to sound like a stuck record, but again I'd love to see a new version of a Bond RPG (who knows, it may happen now the Amazon deal has happened - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they honour such a legacy). And, again, here's a video I recorded if you want to check out what the game looks like. 

We played a heck of a lot of this too, and I ran a couple of the adventures multiple times for different groups, each with very different outcomes. Awesome.

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That's it for this batch. We're getting close to the 'break' I had from gaming, and I'm keeping track of games I've bought and not yet played, just in case I wanted to do a Sidequest of the Sidequest!! 

Until next time, stay multi-classy. 

Sidequest: Every TTRPG Played #1-10

Over where the sky is blue (that's Bluesky just in case you haven't been on there), much respected and loved comics creator and TTRPG writer, Kieron Gillen, posted to say that he was trying to make a list of every TTRPG he's ever played. 

Alt Text - Trying to make a list of every TTRPG I've ever played, which presently includes such classics such as 'the very complicated home-brew game made by my friend James when I lived in America' and 'The one where you're all sad people at the end of the world with a name that sounds ominous'. 

I'm really hoping that his results appear on his relatively recent blog-site that he launched https://oldmenrunningtheworld.com/ . However, it did inspire me to think... 'Can I remember every TTRPG I've played?'...

Challenge Accepted!!

I know I've been doing my "My Nerdy Life in 100 Geeky Objects" series, and there's bound to be a little crossover, but I thought I'd try and do this as well, just to keep my brain busy and so I don't spiral into the mire. Do forgive my indulgences. I'm not going to drag this out into another 100 posts... I promise.

Let's take it a chunk at a time, starting from the very beginning. The order may be a little off, but hey, it is 40+ years ago...

#1 - Traveller

The first three "Little Black Books" for the original Traveller RPG

The first tabletop roleplaying game I ever played was Traveller. I had no idea what I was doing, but I generated a character that sunny Saturday afternoon in what must have been 1983(?) up at JR's place. I remember thinking how old my character was by the time I left military service. I didn't do much, just sat in the background and took in the experience, but I was already hooked by the end of the first game. 

#2 - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook (2nd Cover)

Had to be there, didn't it? Usually everyone's first game, I leapt straight into Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. None of this Basic or Expert stuff, I was thrown into the deep end of AD&D. Admittedly, I didn't even roll a character to begin with. My first character was a Paladin called Ivanhoe that was already at 8th or maybe 9th level. One of the players in the group was bored of playing the goody-two-shoes, and it was just the sort of character I liked playing. I gave him a last name after a few years, Navarre, from watching Ladyhawke, because, let's face it, Rutger Hauer was the coolest thing around. Played him for years, never got higher than 9th level, but always liked playing Paladins ever since.

#3 - Runequest

Cover of Runequest 2nd Edition

That same gaming group seemed to alternate between AD&D and Runequest most of the time, so it was inevitable that Runequest would turn up on this list, and very early. I really liked the way that individual locations had their own armour ratings, but I remember the GM had bought the Big Rubble setting and we kept heading into the Rubble to seek our fortunes, getting a fraction of the way in, and getting our arses kicked so badly we retreated back to the inn and healed up before doing it all again. 

#4 - Star Frontiers

Front cover of the original Star Frontiers "Expanded" Rulebook

Everyone was running RPGs and I really wanted to get in on the GameMastering action, and I preferred SF to fantasy. Traveller was cool, but it just wasn't saying "Star Wars" to be enough. A trip to the local (if you can all it that) game store and that cover for Star Frontiers literally screamed "Look!! I'm like Star Wars, look at me!!" and I had to get it. Absolutely loved that game. Played so much of it, you wouldn't believe. All the way through to the Zebulon's Guide update and beyond. I'd love to see a proper revival, not the nonsense that's happened recently. 

#5 - Gamma World

Much like my desire to GM something, I remember Coop wanted to GM in our group, and his game of choice to start was TSR's other SF RPG, Gamma World. The weird, post-apocalyptic RPG of an irradiated future. I don't remember playing too much of it, but it was pretty cool. Spent most of my time worrying I was going to grow an extra arm or something from the radiation...

#6 - Call of Cthulhu

Cover of 1st Edition Call of Cthulhu

Of course, the other big classic from the early days of gaming had to be Call of Cthulhu. I hadn't read any Lovecraft, so I had no idea what was going on, but I loved seeing those weird silhouettes and wandering around in the 1920s. I ended up buying my own copy (the Games Workshop hardcover version, rather than the boxed first edition) and we played a heck of a lot of that too. Most of my characters went mad, except for the one that died when another character threw a bottle at me to get me out of their tent. 

#7 - FASA Star Trek

Cover of FASA's Star Trek Roleplaying Game

Our "Keeper" for Call of Cthulhu ran a couple of other games for us as well. One is FASA's Star Trek RPG. I used to watch classic Trek on TV as a kid, and a lot of it went way over my head. It wasn't until much later that I really *got* Star Trek and really loved it (but that's one for another story). I don't remember playing too much of it, but it was cool. I remember us playing the Star Trek III Starship Combat game more...

#8 - Space Opera

Cover of the Space Opera RPG

What the hell even is the Space Opera RPG? I have a dim recollection of this, and remember it being so darn complicated that we spent two evenings just creating characters... and then never actually got around to playing it. Does this one still count? I've cut many a game from this list that I've read but never played, but does character creation count? I think so... maybe?

#9 - Stormbringer

Cover for Chaosium's Stormbringer RPG

Another one of those "one of the players wanted to have a go at GMing" games was Chaosium's Stormbringer. I remember it being very similar to Runequest, so the learning curve was really easy as we'd been playing that for ages. The tricky thing for me was I was completely unfamiliar with Michael Moorcock's Elric stories, so I was mostly confused by what was going on. Still, the art was cool. 

#10 - Middle Earth Roleplaying (MERP)

The cover I remember the most of the old 
MERP game, with the Balrog looking like
Lobo in the background.

Finally, for this first selection of every game I've played, we'll stop at number 10 with MERP, or Middle Earth Roleplaying Game. And I think this was another of the players wanting to GM something. Again (please forgive me, I was young, and not much of a fantasy reader) I was not very familiar with Tolkien. I mean, everyone else in the gaming group had read The Lord of the Rings, but I'd just watched the 70's animated movie. I tried, and I just didn't have the attention-span until much, much later (thanks to Babylon 5 - see, I told you I was a SF nerd). We did play a lot of this as well though, and I have fond memories of the critical tables. 

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So, that's the first 10 TTRPGs I remember playing. I'm sure I'll go back to this list soon, and try to do the next little batch. When I wrote them down, I did manage to get to 100, but that included RPGs I'd bought and read but hadn't actually played. I may cut those ones from the list, or have a sublist - a side-sidequest. 

Until next time, stay multi-classy!

My Nerdy Life in 100 Geeky Objects – #4: Palitoy Chewbacca and R2D2

 #4 - Star Wars Action Figures: Chewbacca and R2-D2, Palitoy (1977)

Something big was coming in my young and impressionable life, and I had no idea how much of a massive impact it would have. 

I'd seen that double-page spread about the upcoming movie Star Wars in the 2000AD Summer Special Supercomic, and, while I thought it looked cool, I just went back to reading Judge Dredd and MACH-1. But those images of Stormtroopers, Han Solo, and Chewbacca must have stuck in my subconscious, ready for a little more fuel. 

That fuel came in the form of a pair of gifts from my dad. My dad was a nurse. I don't know how he got into that job – I'd heard stories about him doing his part during the Second World War in various positions until they realised how short-sighted he was. He ended up working in a hospital, and that's how he met my mother. They married, relocated to my hometown, and worked at a huge psychiatric hospital as a nurse. 

Once a year he'd get called away from work for something to do with work, some conference or training or something. He never really talked about his work. It never seemed to be easy, though I visited his work a few times when he needed to pop in to pick up something he'd forgotten. It was huge. I mean HUGE. They had a massive hall which they used for special occasions like Christmas parties, and I remember going with my parents and discovering that my dad could play the drums. Another of his little secrets. (I'd later discover, many years after his passing, that he had piano qualifications from some fancy school in London). 

However, it was after one of his work training conferences, and he'd had to go away for two or three days. He came home, travel bag in hand, with a few gifts. Always was the way in those days, wasn't it? You went away on a trip, you always brought something back for the family. I don't know why. I'm sure he'd bought mum something she usually liked, something like dates or coconut ice - remember that pink and white stuff? I never liked coconut... 

Palitoy Chewbacca from 1977

Anyway, my dad handed me this little bag and said that the guy in the shop had told him this was going to be "the next big thing" and that they'd just arrived. I looked inside and there were two carded figures – Chewbacca and R2-D2, from the new movie called Star Wars. 

And there was that fuel. Those characters were the coolest things I'd seen for a while, and I remembered seeing them in that 2000AD Special. It was all starting to make sense. 

My parents knew the value of things, and how valuable things could become, and my mum instantly told me to open the blister card carefully. Not just ripping it off the card, but carefully cutting the top of the blister so that the figure could slide out the top. That way, when it wasn't being played with, I could slip it back into the packaging, and it'd be safe.

So I did. I looked after those figures. They were my prized possessions for many years. But it was the start of a bit of an addiction. 

Y'see, on the back of those first two figures was an illustration of the other figures in the range. The first twelve. I had no idea who these characters were at first, but they looked so incredibly cool. 

The list of names were awesome, the pictures were cool, the vehicles at the bottom were fantastic. I needed to know more. 

It wouldn't be long before I found out. Dad came home from work one Friday night after popping in to the local newsagents and brought home the first of the two oversized comic adaptations. When I mean 'oversized', they were huge. Almost A3 rather than the usual book or comic size. And it was only the first half of the movie! But at least I knew who everyone was now, and immediately wanted to be Luke Skywalker, and I'd basically sold my soul to Star Wars.

(Like many, many others at the time)

Star Wars became a heck of an obsession for me, and eventually I managed to complete that collection of the first 12... I even cut the nameplates out of all of those backing cards to mail off for the mysterious Boba Fett figure. And I continued collecting through all of The Empire Strikes Back waves.

They were my favourite thing in the world. When I went away on holiday to those lonely self-catering bungalows in the middle of Scotland or Wales, I took a selection of Star Wars figures with me. 

Of course, when I was older, I thought I'd grown out of them and sold the lot... One of my biggest regrets. What an idiot... 

Palitoy R2-D2 from 1977. Glorious!!!