#RPGaDAY 2017, Day 3: Finding Out About New Games

The #RPGaDAY writing prompt for today is “How do you find out about new roleplaying games?” — a question I don’t have a good answer for. I mean, I used to read message forums and know about cool things that way. I also used to enter the neighborhood bookstore and stumble across something new. This is how I found out about Shadowrun, through a copy of Bug City sitting on a shelf at a Hastings in a slowly-dying mall in Bryan, Texas. It’s also how I found out about 7th Sea. (But that was at a used bookstore, a month or two after I discovered Shadowrun, so my big college era game was more cyberpunky than swashbuckly.)

I guess these days it’s social media.

Well, that and working on layout for books then getting told what’s coming out down the line but I can’t tell anyone about it until the company makes an announcement.

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#RPGaDAY 2016, Day 13: What Makes a Successful Campaign?

First, define “successful”. Also “campaign”.

Back when we played the post-college Shadowrun game, I had the whole campaign outlined ((Remember, this was back when I was still thinking of roleplaying games as primarily the GM’s story where the players enter with their characters to see what happens, rather than the collaborative play style I enjoy now.)) to create story arcs, season arcs like a television show. Each season started and ended on certain points. When we played that game, we went through the first season and had a good ending. Then we tried to do play-by-email once we started all moving away in the second season and that one didn’t have a satisfying ending.

My answer? Endings make a successful campaign.

Plan for an end point.

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#RPGaDAY 2016, Day 7: What is one of your favorite convention moments?

In Arizona, I headed an organization that eventually started up a gaming convention. That convention, RinCon ((Playfully named after the Rincon mountains on Tucson’s eastern side.)), is still going strong — this year it will be held September 30 through October 2nd ((Head to RinConGames.com for more info!)) in beautiful Tucson, Arizona.

I’m going to briefly talk about two of my favorite memories from that convention: Berin Kinsman‘s run of Sea Dracula and Jason Corley’s Ghostbusters game.

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