#RPGaDay: Day Twenty-Five - Favorite RPG No One Else Want to Play

Only one person in my current gaming group actively wants to play The One Ring. The rest of them aren't necessarily opposed, but they'd prefer something else at the moment. Perhaps it's the over-saturation of Peter Jackson's Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies that have set them on their course. In my opinion, TOR is so much more Tolkien than Peter Jackson's films are. While they're pretty (the sets, costume designs, and visuals are certainly top notch), the movies are likely far and beyond what Tolkien would have approved of.

I will do you a favor and avoid ranting about the movies. That's not what we're here for. Must... resist...!

Be that as it may, I will be running The One Ring again at some point. You hear me, people? You're destined to walk the byways of Wilderland eventually! And when you do, not even Gandalf will be able to save your sorry behinds!

#RPGaDay: Day Twenty-One - Favorite Licensed RPG

Use the Force, Mithrandir!

This comes down to my two favorite IPs--Star Wars and Middle Earth--and I have a lot of trouble choosing between the two of them when it comes right down to it. I've loved them both for many, many years, though I suppose my adoration of Star Wars predates my love of The Hobbit by about six whole months. You see, Star Wars was released in May, 1977. The animated film The Hobbit was broadcast on NBC in November of that same year.

Perhaps that explains the conflict that rages within me on a near-daily basis.

This is one of those "photo finish" preferences that is so close, it might as well be a tie. It's right up there with asking me if I like bacon more than I like cheesecake more than I like bacon. There is no correct answer! It's one of those Lovecraftian things that drives men mad.

(Incidentally, I love both bacon and cheesecake. I am now curious if anyone has ever made a bacon cheesecake before, and if not, for the love all that is holy, WHY NOT?)

(And here is the answer. I think I need to be medicated now.)

Since I've brought up the subjects of bacon and cheesecake, you can tell this is a really big deal for me. It's a decision no mortal man should have to make. Whoever came up with this RPGaDay thing is a sadist of the most sinister nature.

Ultimately, it's a choice between Edge of the Empire/Age of Rebellion and The One Ring, isn't it?

Fine. I'll make a choice. Have it your way.

Due to the fact that I've been running nothing else but EotE for the past few months, and given that I've contributed to AoR professionally, I suppose that Fantasy Flight's Star Wars lines are currently my favorite licensed RPGs.

But it's really, really close, people. Like, by a hair's breadth. I'm talking about as broad as a hair from the world's smallest chihuahua. Slim. Very, very slim.

I'm going to end this post now before it gets any more drawn-out, melodramatic, or silly. Please accept my humblest apologies.

#RPGaDay: Day Eighteen - Favorite Game System

When it comes to game systems, I'm either fickle or I'm poly-amorous. I like lots of them for different reasons. I suppose having a favorite for me depends a great deal on what I'm playing--or want to play--at the moment.

It's a pretty close tie at the moment, but I suppose I'd have to go with the system used for FFG's Star Wars RPGs, Edge of the Empire and Age of Rebellion. Part of it has to do with the fact that I've written for Age of Rebellion, and the other part has to do with the fact that it's what I've been running lately. It's a nice, sleek game system that does precisely what it sets out to do--allow both players and GM to contribute to a game's narrative.

It took a little getting used to, what with the custom dice and all, but it really does allow for another level of freedom when both running and playing the game. Once the players get into it, their contributions really tend to add a lot to the game and the story that you're all telling together.

My runner-up is the system used in The One Ring. I've only run a handful of games, but I really dig how the dice work and how everything feels so very right, especially in regards to running a Middle Earth-themed game.

Other systems I like quite a bit in no particular order are Hollow Earth Expedition's "Ubiquity" system, the original (Old) World of Darkness/Storyteller system, and (of course) the Interlock system used in Cyberpunk 2020 and Mekton. I still have a great fondness for Saga edition Star Wars and D&D 3.5, and I'm very comfortable with them. Fifth Edition D&D is looking good, too, but the jury's out until my new PH arrives tomorrow.

#RPGaDay: Day Four - Most Recent RPG Purchase

Did you hear me "squee"? Did you?

I'm trying not to over think this question, but I'm assuming by "Most Recent RPG Purchase," I'm supposed to tell you all about the last thing I bought for any RPG, not necessarily core rules. So here goes.

Yesterday, I went down to my FLGS and picked up a copy of The Darkening of Mirkwood supplement for The One Ring RPG. I've been waiting for this one to hit the shelves for a while, let me tell you. I was repeatedly tempted to pre-order it from Cubicle 7, but the money was always better spent on necessities... until today.

I absolutely adore The One Ring. As a long-time Tolkien fanatic, it's the first time I've seen a Middle Earth game that is so close and faithful to the source material. Iron Crown's Middle Earth Role-Playing game (MERP) was plenty flavorful, but the system was a clunky, indecipherable version of Rolemaster that Middle Earth had been grafted onto.

Don't get me wrong, I love the wealth and depth of information in the MERP supplements, but I could never get past the system mechanics, or the way magic items (and spells) we so damn prevalent. In my mind, the only magic-users in Tolkien's world were powerful being like the Istari, Sauron, or the Witch King of Angmar, and the only magical weapons were things like Glamdring, Anduril, and Sting. Why does Lobelia Sackville-Baggins need a magical umbrella, anyway?

After MERP, I picked up Decipher's The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game. Unfortunately for me, it hewed too closely to Peter Jackson's films and not closely enough to what I consider canonical Tolkien. The system wasn't all that impressive, either, and 98% of the illustrations consisted of still photographs from the films. As much as I like Jackson's adaptations (which is to say I have a love/hate relationship with them), I have a hard time considering them to be something I'd want to spend my time playing or running.

In the intervening years, I've attempted a number of times to adapt Tolkien to other game systems, from West End Games' D6 system to Chaosium's Stormbringer and Avalon Hill's Runequest. Those attempts never turned out quite right, and I never put any of them to the test. The closest I came was running a 2nd Edition AD&D game set in Middle Earth where the players portrayed orcs attempting to retrieve a bauble in a barrow for one of the Nazgul (I later adapted that adventure to Midnight and ran it for FFG at one GenCon or another).

With The One Ring, I don't have to fake it anymore. The game is marvelous and I can't say enough good things about it. The only trouble I have is when players inevitably make comparisons to Jackson's films, but even then I can smile, nod, and let it pass. If anything, Jackson got the visuals and grandeur of the setting down pretty well, and if that helps folks imagine the game better, more power to them.