Wednesday, June 1, 2011

My rpg alphabets

A-Z, first rpg or word related to my gaming and few words explaining it.

A for Attacks. Even though usually my games are more drama than action, fighting sequences are cool. Actually, fighting in my games is more awesome as it is rare.
B for Botch. Nothing is more annoying or more hilarious than a botch. In bad case you feel like tearing your character sheet to shreds, but sometimes you cannot stop laughing.
C for Character. Characters are as important or even more important as an adventure. You can read adventure aloud from source book for any character, but it is characters what make it unique.
D for Dice. Every roleplaying game needs some sort of dice. Otherwise it can lack the "game" part. And dice are fun. How often else I could use my favourite, 10-sided one?
E for Epic. Don't know how epic my games are, but I like to think that they are deep enough to stick out. I don't use pre-made material, but rather write adventures on the go based on player (character)'s decisions also.
F for Frenzy. Even though frenzy is only one rule in Vampire: the Masquerade, it is not that simple. Player should be able to roleplay his character's frenzy, or otherwise it's just rolling dice.
G for GURPS. GURPS, maybe best known universal system. I have played it, but decided to never again touch its core book. Still, I got few GURPS supplements, and they are great.
H for Heaven Vs Hell. My first real rpg project. But I didn't like how rules worked, so I did start working out YDIN generic rules for me to use. Forgot HvH and started to put my mind on YDIN instead.
I for Indie. At first I thought that indie games are some weird stuff with weird rules and shared storytelling and really narrow focus on possibilities. Then I found out, that "indie" can be also more traditional rpg, it's just basically that it wasn't printed by big company.
J for Jokes. There must be fun in games and gaming. You are there having good time. But if you launch a fart-joke during suspension moment in Cathulhu, I don't approve.
K for Kult. Oh why the setting is so awesome and full of terrific horror, but the system is one I don't like. And why haven't I modded it, so I could play it's awesomeness. Still, I have used elements of Kult in other games every now and then.
L for Loot. Loot is most definately for certain types of games and campaigns. But oh golly how fun it is to collect. Bonus fun, if you get to roll random chart what dire rabbits pockets contain.
M for Monsters. Monsters are great. But I'd like to run a game, where monsters are unique and not found in Monster Manual; they could be more terrifying. Maybe I should check out Lamentations of the Flame Princess.
N for Nuurori. Some weird "kid" who has this obsession with techno-playing and stuff. Posts thoughts in few forums and trolls this blog. He has project called Space-Jerusalem. Go check it out!
O for OpenOffice.org (now LibreOffice). This is my tool to save and edit also rpg documents and material. Neat free program. Had to include OOo (LibreOffice) because I do use it really a lot for rpg related things.
P for Pooka Trickster. Pooka Trickster is one type of fae included in Vampire: the Masquerade antagonists section. It sounds silly, and at the time I used to call my girlfriend that. Or just Pooka. No reason, her name doesn't even sound close that.
Q for Quarterstaff. Wizards main weapon. But why is it so lame? I mean, in Baldur's Gate it's almost better to throw sticks on enemies than use that. I want more things like Quarterstaff-Of-Doom-For-Beginner-Wizards-So-They-Don't-All-Look-Old-People-With-Leg-Or-Back-Problems.
R for Revenge. Every now and then someone close to player's character dies. There has been more than one time when player character has had revenge in his/her mind. Great drama, and it is good that player is fond enough for NPC that she wants to revenge his/her death through her character - or something.
S for Space. Science fiction is not my favorite, but Fading Suns is so cool, that I have GM'd two really long campaigns in it. Actually Fading Suns campaigns might both have been longest campaigns I've ever ran.
T for Taunt. I wish more games had a system, where you can taunt enemy and gain maybe a bonus? Or if you fail, enemy gets better attack bonuses on you. In movies they always put each other down before attacking.
U for Underdark. That's where drows live, Isn't it? I kinda like drow. Warhammer drow are badass, but Drizz't Pantsy has ruined the image of drow forever. And ever. I hate him.
V for Violence RPG. I downloaded it, I laughed at it's low humor. And the rules, they are priceless. Whole book is really fun to read, but can you actually run it? I suppose you cannot. But if you are over 25 years old and can take loads of cussing, you should read it. Bad taste of humor is huge bonus.
W for Wizard. Wizards in D&D are dull in my opinion. I like more free sorcerers, even though they might not be as powerful as wizards. And I've always found young low level wizard as a stupid weakling. Old wizards, they are too dumbledore. Can do stuffz but never do anything helpful. Except the evil ones, they do harmful.
X for Xenophobia. I think there should be more xenophobia in science fiction, what I have seen. I've blogged about it here.
Y for Yglbraghagrag. Why always orc priests, lizardman gods and Mythos monsters must be random letters in most unreadable way possible? Who remembers those? And then people wonder for silly nicknames. GM: "Orc god of doom is named Yglbraghargrag." Players: "Ok, George it is."
Z for Zombies. Almost every game has zombies, and there are games dedicated for zombies. Maybe most well-known is All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Since zombies hit popular culture, they have been here to stay. Zombies in dungeons, zombies in space, zombies in wild west. Beware, zombies.

Now, you dear reader go fill your rpg alphabets, and link them to comment section below! Remember, first thing that comes in your mind, is your first answer.

4 comments:

Nuurori said...

B for fumble ;)

Unknown said...

B for fumble?

Nuurori said...

I dont believe in botches.

Unknown said...

Oh, funny thing, for me "fumble" is a botch. :D