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Gabriel

Gabriel

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Have you ever had a game in your library for years and years, never really referenced it beyond the initial browse when you first got it, but which spontaneously, inexplicably became something you were regularly playing/running?

Or, put another way, what is the real chance of that PDF buried in your 208G folder actually seeing utility be that reading joy, inspiration, or direct play? Or, if you have a mountain of physical stuff, what is the real chance of the dust coming off that forgotten book on your shelf?
 
I've had a few games that sat on the shelf for a few years before I got around to running them. But only like 2 or 3 years. Those games that go 10+ years without being played just don't seem to make it into the rotation.

Which is definitely food for thought.
 
I have found things years later that I have really enjoyed or now appreciate, when I initially just glossed over them or gave a single read and went "eh". The perspective of years.

I don't think how long it has been gathering dust or ignored.
 
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Yeah, I've mentioned it before. I had a copy of TSR Marvel Super Heroes from back when it was new. Read it, didn't think much of it and left it unplayed for decades. When I finally decided to give it go, it was sensational and led to one of my all-time best campagns.
 
I haven't actually done this. I've almost exclusively have revisited games that I DID play back in the day (OD&D, AD&D, Classic Traveller, RQ, and Cold Iron) or played recent games (Arcana Unearthed/Evolved and Burning Wheel). I'm trying to think if there are any other "old" games besides Bushido that I've played, but I didn't own Bushido until I decided to purchase the PDF and try running a campaign.

Some possible candidates for pulling out an "old" game that never really got play would be EPT, Talislanta, Stormbringer, Other Suns, Space Opera. I dunno, I have a bunch of "old" games in my collection, but mostly little desire to try them out.
 
ffilz said:
I'm trying to think if there are any other "old" games besides Bushido that I've played, but I didn't own Bushido until I decided to purchase the PDF and try running a campaign.

Some possible candidates for pulling out an "old" game that never really got play would be...Space Opera.
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It must be FGU day at the 'Pub. Bushido and Space Opera are still readily available at low, low prices. There are even some pretty new adventure modules for Bushido:
I'd love to play more Bushido and I don't think I've ever actually played Space Opera since I already had Traveller, though I'd be happy to try it, but I have stolen bits from Space Opera supplements:
And no, I don't have a financial interest in FGU. :wink:
 
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Dumarest said:
It must be FGU day at the 'Pub. Bushido and Space Opera are still readily available at low, low prices. There are even some pretty new adventure modules for Bushido:
I'd love to play more Bushido and I don't think I've ever actually played Space Opera since I already had Traveller, though I'd be happt to try it, but I have stolen bits from Space Opera supplements:
And no, I don't have a financial interest in FGU. :wink:
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Whatever you say Mr Bizar.
 
Dumarest said:
It must be FGU day at the 'Pub. Bushido and Space Opera are still readily available at low, low prices. There are even some pretty new adventure modules for Bushido:
I'd love to play more Bushido and I don't think I've ever actually played Space Opera since I already had Traveller, though I'd be happt to try it, but I have stolen bits from Space Opera supplements:
And no, I don't have a financial interest in FGU. :wink:
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I'm not sure if we have room in the remaining Bushido ninja campaign over at Unseen Servant, but you could come take a look...

Or if you wanted to run a Bushido game over there, there are folks who would join.

Or if you run one here, I'll try out PbP here... (as long as there's some hand holding of players not very familiar with the culture and genre...).

There are things about the system I would prefer be different (there's some numbers stuff that I don't think works well), but overall, it's a good game.
 
ffilz said:
I'm not sure if we have room in the remaining Bushido ninja campaign over at Unseen Servant, but you could come take a look...

Or if you wanted to run a Bushido game over there, there are folks who would join.

Or if you run one here, I'll try out PbP here... (as long as there's some hand holding of players not very familiar with the culture and genre...).

There are things about the system I would prefer be different (there's some numbers stuff that I don't think works well), but overall, it's a good game.
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I appreciate that but I haven't the free time, unfortunately.

However, if I ever get the time and masochism necessary to run a PBP or online Bushido game, I'll certainly post invitations here. Probably would be more bushi-focused. As for the culture...it's fantasy Nippon, who's to tell me I'm wrong?
ThroneOfBlood_cap3.jpg​
 
Dumarest said:
I appreciate that but I haven't the free time, unfortunately.

However, if I ever get the time and masochism necessary to run a PBP or online Bushido game, I'll certainly post invitations here. Probably would be more bushi-focused. As for the culture...it's fantasy Nippon, who's to tell me I'm wrong?
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Oh, certainly fantasy Nippon... Bushi focus is fine. The one campaign going was originally a bushi focus, but we had a TPK and there was interest in a ninja campaign. The other campaign (which actually was another GM taking over my attempt) was bushi focus. Though I played Gakusho in both... But I also played a 2nd bushi character in both also.

I also ran Cold Iron Samurai Adventures. That was going pretty good. It was more "monster hunting" focused and died mostly because trying to run two Roll20 campaigns was eating too much of my energy to sustain a play by post campaign on top of it (plus my job workload had increased).
 
ffilz said:
Oh, certainly fantasy Nippon... Bushi focus is fine. The one campaign going was originally a bushi focus, but we had a TPK and there was interest in a ninja campaign. The other campaign (which actually was another GM taking over my attempt) was bushi focus. Though I played Gakusho in both... But I also played a 2nd bushi character in both also.

I also ran Cold Iron Samurai Adventures. That was going pretty good. It was more "monster hunting" focused and died mostly because trying to run two Roll20 campaigns was eating too much of my energy to sustain a play by post campaign on top of it (plus my job workload had increased).
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Haven't given it any thought, obviously, but there would definitely be some monsters that must be eliminated.
il_570xN.1874453975_rrbs.jpg​
 
In my Cold Iron Samurai Adventures campaign, they had dealt with some Bakemono that had overrun a shrine, a ghost of a farmer, an Oni with the face of a tiger, and then I was starting them on an adventure from Imagine magazine and so far they had a duel with a Tengu and were about to have their first encounter with the "not dead" bandits from the adventure.
 
ffilz said:
In my Cold Iron Samurai Adventures campaign, they had dealt with some Bakemono that had overrun a shrine, a ghost of a farmer, an Oni with the face of a tiger, and then I was starting them on an adventure from Imagine magazine and so far they had a duel with a Tengu and were about to have their first encounter with the "not dead" bandits from the adventure.
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Sounds pretty badass. Is that adventure anywhere online? All I have is Valley of the Mists and Takishido's Debt, and I think while I was tracking down Golden Heroes articles I found an adventure in White Dwarf and printed it out a long time ago.
 
Dumarest said:
Sounds pretty badass. Is that adventure anywhere online? All I have is Valley of the Mists and Takishido's Debt, and I think while I was tracking down Golden Heroes articles I found an adventure in White Dwarf and printed it out a long time ago.
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Yes, you can find Imagine Magazine PDFs online... The bakemono, ghost, and oni were part of an adventure I cooked up myself. Basically, I found a shrine map, added some bakemono and the ghost. The ghost had run to the shrine, fleeing a tiger (actually the farmer had been killed by the oni) and the ghost frightened the priest at the shrine to death. The bakemono had opportunistically overrun the shrine, actually having also been chased by the oni. And after that I hemmed and hawed, and decided to look at adventures.

The Bushido campaign I tried to start used Valley of the Mists, and part of my problem was actually grokking that adventure well enough to turn it into something playable... The other campaign was drawing from the newer FGU module Honor Bound.

I think there are a couple Bushido adventures in White Dwarf.
 
BTW, here is the map I started to use for my campaign:

www.openstreetmap.org

OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap is a map of the world, created by people like you and free to use under an open license.
www.openstreetmap.org www.openstreetmap.org

The shrine the bakemono overran was the little "house" marker SE of Nagiso on the road. There was a smaller shrine at the top of the hill (the smaller "House" marker. The oni was down the path on the backside of the hill.

I didn't actually place the Imagine Magazine adventure other than I think I was thinking of it as North of Nagiso.
 
My current Traveller game is an example of that, as I have had Traveller stuff since the late 80's, and my current game is my first Traveller game.

I'm a bit of a hamster when it comes to RPG stuff, both when it comes to PDF:s and physical books. So I have quite a few games. Some that I just bought as a reference or idle curiosity. Some because I want to run it, but never found the time and a group for it. Some of the "reference games" haven't read at all, but maybe they will at some point. And the games I want to run, maybe I will.
 
13th Age!!!

I've had 13th Age since about 2014 or 2015, glanced at it, then shelved it.
Bought the first 13th Age Monsters Book, then shelved that as well.

A year or so ago I stumbled across a heap of 13th Age pdfs (ahem, heh heh), which fired my imagination up enough to revisit it.

I've been slowly collecting those titles by buying them in printed version - now I'm currently enjoying running 13th Age, almost eight or nine years after buying it (a decade since its intial publication).

13th Age could do with a slight revision - the Talents/Feats need to be presented less MMO-like, and the Icon Relationships mechanics could benefit from more clarity.

Despite this, 13th Age still feels more innovative than WotC D&D, despite coming out a year or so before D&D 5E.
In many ways 13th Age is really great, the rules support narrative play really well, yet it feels trad at the same time. I quite like the simple character sheet. The writing style also inspires me as a GM, as well as our players who feel they can add to the world setting quite readily during play.

(This presenter gives a much better overview of 13th Age than I can):
13th Age discussion

Easily the best version of 'D&D' I have run
So miracles do happen!
 
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Gabriel said:
Have you ever had a game in your library for years and years, never really referenced it beyond the initial browse when you first got it, but which spontaneously, inexplicably became something you were regularly playing/running?

Or, put another way, what is the real chance of that PDF buried in your 208G folder actually seeing utility be that reading joy, inspiration, or direct play? Or, if you have a mountain of physical stuff, what is the real chance of the dust coming off that forgotten book on your shelf?
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Yeah. This happens fairly often for me. But then I actively try and bring games to the table.
 
To answer the OP, no; that never did happen to me. I stick to what I know, what my players want and what I'm good at doing.

The eventual fate of all those purchases, back from my I-need-a-copy-of-everything days, was to get boxed up and sent to Noble Knight.
 
Ravenswing said:
"Call me old-fashioned, but after you're dead, I don't think you should be entitled to a Dodge any more." - my wife
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I'm not so sure. Once your dead you get to dodge taxes and family events with impunity. You generally dodge the flu and other seasonal illnesses. You can dodge jury duty and the draft, if it applies. Being dead gets you out of a lot of things!
 
Gabriel said:
Have you ever had a game in your library for years and years, never really referenced it beyond the initial browse when you first got it, but which spontaneously, inexplicably became something you were regularly playing/running?

Or, put another way, what is the real chance of that PDF buried in your 208G folder actually seeing utility be that reading joy, inspiration, or direct play? Or, if you have a mountain of physical stuff, what is the real chance of the dust coming off that forgotten book on your shelf?
Click to expand...
The best example I have is that I owned the original Savage Worlds, eventually got rid of it, and circled back around to Explorer’s Edition, where it became my main RPG.
 
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