1. First RPG played this year: grinding old Tunnels & Trolls solos, levelling a new Elf Rogue ("really wow Mark did he also wear black and have long hair? Ever consider playing against type?") for use in other solos, but got off-track. Where's that notebook?
2. First RPG run this year: Basic Fantasy back in February. BFRPG's too Candyland for my hardcore ass, much as I respect their process. PUG player group were also meh discord randos. Help LFG.
Or if 2 is first GM for me, this college nerd David babysat me when I was 8, taught me D&D with Holmes & Monster Manual. He wasn't very good, had the map out in the open, just treated it as a boardgame. 2 of my 4 starting characters (!) died, the other 2 I've played for decades since.
Years later I talked to him again, and he'd FOUND JAYZUS (was he lost?) and renounced D&D and was so worried I was into Satanism, which to be fair I was. Jesus sucks, Satan's RPGs rule.
3. First RPG bought this year: Paid $0.00 for Cairn, and it's barely worth that. It's literally a combat system, spell list, very minimal monster list, no setting, no *game* procedures or loop. Sorry, Yochai, but no. Item tokens may be of some use playing Knave (which has everything).
First RPG paid for: Cyberpunk RED. It's relentlessly mediocre/adequate, like Mike realized what a fuckup Gen, 3.0, etc. were, and just made a CP2020+25 years. Stagnant world & design.
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4. Most RECENT game bought. Depends on what you mean.
Ironsworn: Delve is a supplement. Knave 2E hasn't shipped yet, tho I have the beta PDF. Swords & Wizardry Complete Revised, I guess? Depending on timestamp of kickstarter close vs shopping, RoleMaster Unified Core Law.
Mostly I've been buying modules & weirdo sourcebooks instead of new games, which obviously I don't need.
5. OLDEST game you've played.
Technically it's a tie, Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (ed. Eric J. Holmes) (1977), and Tunnels & Trolls 4th Ed (1977).
Most often I use later editions or remakes of both. Holmes is difficult to use as-is for longer games, you need at least OD&D books or Meepo's Companion to extend it beyond 3rd-Level. T&T 4E is a perfectly serviceable game as-is, I prefer or at least put it on par with later ones.
6. Favourite[sic] game you NEVER get to play.
Well, RoleMaster's the obvious candidate, but every new edition/decade I can usually get a group together a while.
Whispering Vault, even explaining the concept makes most players back away slowly and call police. Played it for a few years in '00s.
Underground is great game/setting, but very hard to convince players that homeless superhero veterans on the streets of shitty "future" (now past) 2021 L.A. is gonna be fun.
7. SMARTEST RPG you've played.
HERO is a min-max math optimization game, on top of Champions being a fairly complex world of many factions rather than just one hero/villain group.
Tri-Tac's games, Fringeworthy has a complex game, vastly more than anything else I've ever played, requires a lot of background knowledge of science & technology, and a really open-ended alternate realities setting. Later easy games like Beach Bunny Bimbos With Blasters are so much better.
What I don't count as "smart" are very freeform things. I can half-ass anything with my Six Word RPG!
Describe characters. Roll dice. Gamemaster decides.
Non-technical settings don't require much smarts, just some memory of folklore and how you tell stories. Nobody's gonna be upset about a dragon's mass/volume ratio, and "it's magic" is a fine answer.
OMG the gun guy whining in my old Deadlands game. I'd just "oh really" at him for half an hour and he never got the clue.
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