Warhammer Fantasy Roll Play 1st ed.

Lamentations of the Flame Princess

Empire of Dust

Apocalypse World

Dogs in the Vineyard
(Albedo)

I didn’t expect to beat my last year’s lifetime record of 123 sessions, but hey.

As exected though, apparently outside our Skype group there’s still barely any gaming at all in this backwater country. I guess we play games so you don’t have to or something like that.

Lesson of the year: No hobby is worth putting up with shit or, in particular, shitty internet people. Never compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon.

In terms of actual gaming, it was a year of unanticipated changes. I strayed from my indie ways, giving in to the retro fad. I ventured outside my regular group and returned to gaming with foreigners from time to time. I played some one-on-one and text-based sessions, with very mixed results. Finally, I played a wider variety of board games than usually.

The game of the year was definitely Burning Wheel: Deep Future, a science fantasy campaign inspired by Gene Wolfe works. Completed after 24 sessions and over half a year of weekly gaming, it set a new campaign length record in our Skype group and there’s still plenty of decent material for season two. It was a very satisfying game that largely overshadows most other things played this year. Totally epic!

That said, I’m also fond of our pretty successful attempts at the Polish classic Oko Yrrhedessa (using the cult Issue #7 edition, no less), our Sucker Punch-themed Labyrinths & Lycanthropes campaign and our return to Warhammer Fantasy Roll Play (1st edition). Unfortunately, for the first time since several years, no chance to play Bliss Stage.

Oh, there were a few disappointments too, but as usually I’m going to cover all that game after game.

Games Breakdown

8 x Empire of Dust [GM]

While I don’t exactly regret money spent on this one, the system suffers from some problems that weren’t all that apparent in this first run. What I regret is investing too many weeks of gaming time into learning the game, considering my long-term gains. It was very promising, but sort of broke down when we played it again later.

1 x Remember Tomorrow [player]

Continued from 2010 (two sessions total).

Not the best storygame I ever played, but a solid enough storygame. The thing is, it’s main problem is that it is a storygame in the first place. Also, for a cyberpunk game, somebody forgot to add cyberpunk.

4 x Smallville [player]

Continued from 2010 (six sessions total).

Aaand here goes the disappointment of the year. Did I say last year that the ruleset seemed solid? Well, I was wrong. I was so fucking wrong, oh boy…

Session after session, the system was causing more and more problems. It does maintain a facade of a playable product – however, the deeper you go, the more procedural holes you find. After six sessions of pain we decided to allow ourselves the luxury of dropping it and moving on to something playable.

[ANGRY RANT]

Our GM, who was doing an excellent job given the tools by the way, couldn’t help but compare Smallville to Burning Wheel. With Burning Wheel, he said, the system was easier to understand each game. With Smallville, however, just the opposite.

I’m seriously surprised how much fanboy bullshit this game generates on the internet. I’ve even seen somebody claiming it’s essentially a cleaned up, crunchier version of Dogs in the Vineyard. Well, it’s not. It simply isn’t. If anything, it plays like a cross-over between PTA and IAWA, only much less polished than both. Dogs however? Dogs is an elegant game for a more civilized age. Smallville is a cheap commercial knock-off made of phosphorescent plastic.

Also, I find their PR guy fanboy shepherd a very obnoxious and off-putting person. Again, it’s difficult to avoid comparisons with Burning Wheel. Luke Crane might be considered an asshole by many, but at least he’s clear and honest when it comes to his games.

I don’t think I’ll ever try any product from Margaret Weiss Publishing again.

[/ANGRY RANT]

Really, couldn’t get worse after that one.

3 x Beast of Limfjord [player]

I have mixed feelings about this game. Our three sessions were really fun to play, but it was all thanks to the group being inherently awesome. The system itself wasn’t very good though, setting us up for PvP without providing tools for resolving it in a functional manner.

1 x TAG: Star Wars [GM]

Continued from 2010 (six sessions total).

Just a short playtest to verify some changes introduced after our 2010 run.

24 x Burning Wheel: Deep Future [GM]

A very powerful science fantasy game inspired by Gene Wolfe and such. Hours and hours of solid fun.

2 x Albedo: Platinum Catalyst [player]

Well… I’m afraid the only thing I remember is a zee gee barf contest.

11 x Burning Wheel [GM]

One-on-one traditional fantasy game by player request. Not my favorite genre, but thankfully no elves and dwarves.

4 x TAG: Cyberfuck 2020 [player]

It’s always fun to experience my own games as a player rather than GM.

1 x Ninja Princess Usagi-chan Go! [GM]

We made an attempt at one-on-one Dogs hack, but she disliked the system.

4 x Pathfinder [player]

In 2010, my Pathfinder campaign was pretty fun thanks to good players with the right attitude. This one however didn’t work due to conflicting expectations. D&D is a very demanding game.

2 x Oko Yrrhedesa [GM]

In two looong sessions, we completed this classic Polish dungeon crawl by Andrzej Sapkowski of The Witcher fame. Couldn’t get more retro as far as locally designed games go. While it surely isn’t the best system out there, the assorted dungeon module was loads of fun. We all played or GM-ed it numerous times in the past and it was interesting to observe how one or two decades of additional gaming experience changed our approach to various challenges.

1 x Mars Colony [player]

I’m not particularly good at being Barack Obama.

1 x Universalis [player]

Now, this one was interesting. Universalis was among the first Forge games I had contact with, and if I had not read it years ago, perhaps I would have never given any attention to the indie movement. This however was the first time I actually had a chance to play it. Well, surprisingly it doesn’t do anything for me now. I recognize a solid ruleset, I recognize cool ideas, I recognize a good game… and it just doesn’t do anything I want from my gaming today. I guess I played more than enough storygames throughout the last few years.

4 x Albedo/Dogs [player]

With players who get it, Dogs in the Vineyard always delivers. Also, it remains my furry game of choice. As opposed to the licensed Albedo game we played earlier this year, Dogs system is a perfect fit for Steve Gallacci’s setting.

8 x OSRIC [player]

So, some real oldschool with real American grognards, who used to play D&D back when our local OSR dudes were still playing in diapers.

Observation #1: OSR is bullshit. The single good thing about all those retroclones is the random prostitutes generator.

Observation #2: Real life grognards don’t seem to be reading James Maliszewski or (gasp) not even Jarl’s blog. They play their own way with no pretence of historical reenactment. Frankly, I don’t find it that different from the way I used to do AD&D back in high school.

Observation #3: I find it really odd how after several decades in the hobby there doesn’t seem to be a question of “which game?” for them. The only question seems to be “which edition?”

Observation #4: When they say “the game will focus on role-playing” they don’t really mean it (thankfully).

Observation #5: No other foreigners I played with seemed so reliable in terms of consistently showing up week after week. Barring some health-related absences, there wasn’t even any need for scheduling efforts. It’s almost frightening how most foreign gamers I know come up in comparison, often finding it difficult to get any game going at all. No wonder hipster storygamers tend to gravitate towards short form games these days.

1 x Apocalypse World [player]

Random one-shots with people I don’t know are not the best thing under the sun, but I got an opportunity to try out a new game.

12 x Lamentations of the Flame Princess [GM]

LotFP is interesting in that for a “retroclone”, it’s largely free of the usual oldschool clunkiness. Quite paradoxically at that, the game almost appears as if it emerged straight from the Forge.

I largely approached this campaign as training grounds, not expecting much – and it was a very uneven campaign indeed. My learning efforts seem worth the trouble though, as I now have an elegant and efficient alternative to dungeon exploration games like Pathfinder or Dungeon World at my disposal.

The one thing that really strikes me about the game is how resilient to irregular player attendance it appears. This campaign handled like a dozen people passing through it, while normally I wouldn’t even think of having more than three or four players in the same game. I guess the trick is in shifting the focus from maintaining long-term continuity to room by room exploration, each room being pretty much a self-contained deal.

2 x Apocalypse World [GM]

Pressed by some circumstances, I gave text-based gaming a shot for the first time since years. Doesn’t really work. It just reminded me why I abandoned IRC gaming after 2006. So damn inefficient and emotionally flat.

1 x Technoir [player]

I find the system rather boring.

1 x Searchers of the Unknown [player]

Surprisingly, sometimes random one-shots with unfamiliar people are actually fun. As for the system, I find Witches of N’Kai, which we tried out back in 2010, much more complete for a single page game, but its predecessor is not half bad either.

1 x Dramatis [player]

I find it a bit odd when someone I don’t really know invites me to a spontaneous Skype one-shot in the middle of the night – and they still didn’t decide what game they want to play or who GMs. See my OSRIC thoughts on how foreigners organise games. In the end, the system was some sort of rules light homebrew, so vestigial that there was barely anything to comment about.

3 x Apocalypse World [GM]

The game isn’t bad. It’s a bit overrated though.

1 x Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness [player]

Finally a chance to see something from Palladium in play. Too bad the GM didn’t run subsequent sessions. Too short to learn much about the system.

2 x All Flesh Must Be Eaten [player]

Apparently, this is the pinnacle of 90s-style design thought. Quite a focused game, but it appears to be designed with facilitating GM’s cheating in mind. It’s so absurd that even thinking about it makes me feel more stupid.

Character archetypes are pretty cool though.

2 x In a Wicked Age [GM]

I once said IAWA is like fast food. Good for fast one-shots that you forget fast.

I stand firm in my opinion.

1 x Misery Bubblegum [GM]

I like this game. It was nice to play it again after two years since our first try.

7 x Empire of Dust [player]

This is where the game broke down as mentioned earlier. The campaign was very promising, but it eventually became apparent that whatever didn’t work the first time was actually problem with the system itself rather than our application of it. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game, it’s just quite inefficient in what it’s trying to do. Random encounters don’t go well with the need to draw tactically interesting maps on the fly; squads are too large and their turns take too much time; issues of that sort.

9 x Warhammer Fantasy Roll Play 1st ed. [GM]

Last year, we played it “for science” and with no big expectations. The effort was worth it, as it showcased strong points of the system and resulted in developing fixes for broken bits. Thanks to the experiment, this time around we can actually play it for fun.

5 x Labyrinths & Lycanthropes [player]

We play this game less often than it deserves. Sucker Punch meets Wolfenstein flavor this time, and there was much rejoicing.

Burning Wheel
(Fantasy)

TAG
(Cyberfuck 2020)

TAG
(Star Wars)

Ninja Princess Usagi-chan Go!

Empire of Dust

Albedo: Platinum Catalyst

Games I totally want to play again

Arcade Arena; Bliss Stage; Burning Wheel; Capes; Ninja Princess Usagi-chan Go!; Labyrinths & Lycanthropes; Lamentations of the Flame Princess; TAG; Warhammer Fantasy Roll Play (1st ed.)

These titles hit my buttons and prove reliable enough with no fixes on my part or just some minor fixes.

Games I wouldn’t mind playing again

Apocalypse World; Beast Hunters; Donjon; Dogs in the Vineyard; InSpectres; Jihad; Kingdom Key; Maid; Misery Bubblegum; Mythic Game Master Emulator; Trollbabe; ZODIAC Final Fantasy RPG

Playable enough, but can’t compete with stronger alternatives. While I could play or perhaps even run them, I probably won’t propose it myself.

As for the remaining entries from my big list, they either no longer excite me, don’t seem to offer more to learn or plain suck. I could still consider playing some of those, but most likely there will always be better options available.

Games that break my heart

Exalted (1st ed.); Fading Suns; Mage: the Ascension (2nd ed., non-revised only!)

I’d like to play these again, but I’m too lazy to fix them.

Games I plan to play someday (for science)

Bunnies & Burrows; Final Fantasy 2d6; Gamma World (classic 4th ed.); Nobilis (3rd ed.); Rifts; Stars Without Number; The Blossoms Are Falling; The Mountain Witch; The World of Synnibarr

Science!

Games I can’t wait to see released

*** insert sound of crickets ***

123 sessions. This makes it my lifetime record. Won’t get any better, I guess.

Also, it’s the third year in a row when I hit the 100+ mark. Achievement unlocked and so on.

All games via Skype, as usual. Obviously, regular online gaming wouldn’t be possible without a solid group of involved players. Some promising newcomers this year, despite the regular ebb and flow of acute brain damage cases at our site.

A pretty fun year overall. Plenty of routine gaming, yes. Still, my ratio of great games to bad games seems to be steadily improving year after year. Less long-term play than in 2009, but those few campaigns lasted longer in general. At the same time less one-shots, with short/medium-term forms prevailing.

I notice I’m getting increasingly tired of trying out new titles. I’ve been doing a lot of that throughout the last few years. A precious few of those titles proved worth returning, the majority did not. At this point, most of my gaming niches are either filled or probably never will (unless I design those missing games myself).

On the other hand, I’m pretty fond of the increasing variation among board games we play, courtesy to Vassal Engine. The classic Avalon Hill’s Dune was a blast, in particular.

As a sidenote, I also tried some MMOs this year, but still can’t quite understand the appeal of those to the gaming world at large.

Games Breakdown

2 x Kingdom Key [GM]

Continued from 2009 (five sessions total). As I was never particularly commited to this project, in retrospect I find it surprising we played it again.

13 x Pathfinder [GM]

As an experiment, I returned to running D&D after some years. Pathfinder is a fine enough ruleset and a good exploration/skirmish game, given good players with the right attitude.

Curiously, gathering those proved the most challenging part of this campaign. While the apparent popularity of D&D attracted a relatively high number of new players to our existing group, they mostly included people with no particular interest in using D&D rules. Some plain weirdos cropped among the newcomers as well. In the end, none of them stayed to join our other games.

5 x Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 1st ed. [GM]

Another experiment. Our local version of that whole oldschool revival deal; actually, it seems like the closest equivalent we can get here in Poland.

Basically, none of us had played this game since the previous decade or expected to try it ever again. It was interesting to open the manual we once knew by heart and – to our surprise – discover some rules that pretty much everyone always kept ignoring in actual play. We decided to give the system another whirl, this time remaining as true to the ruleset as possible, keeping hacks to minimum.

Well, all the bugs and issues of yore were still there. However, this was no longer the game we used to play as teenagers. Stuff that used to be fun back in high school, like combat, proved bland compared to modern designs. Stuff we previously used to ignore, however – now it all worked just beautifully.

2 x The Mighty Rule! [GM]

So, being in a mood for a fighty game, I dusted off the old good Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game and made a retro-hack out of it. Playtested it. Dropped it.

1 x Burning Wheel [player]

An extended Fight! training session essentially, using pre-made characters from some Arturian scenario. A surprisingly playable ruleset. Strange how I find it appealing after my disappointment with Burning Empires in the previous year.

12 x TAG: Malevolent Skies [GM]

At last, a complete playtest campaign of what was formerly called Catgirl Pirates.

At last, an opportunity to run Last Exile too.

2 x Mouse Guard [GM]

Tried GM-ing it. Good to GM, but hell, do I hate compromises…

2 x HeroQuest [player]

HQ suxxorz. Do not want.

2 x Polaris [player]

Polaris is a prime example of a solid game with a very meh setting. Anyway, we have bad luck finishing our campaigns. This attempt ended abruptly with player’s accident.

7 x Mouse Guard [player]

Good campaign, free of the few issues from our first attempt back in 2009.

16 x Burning Wheel [player]

Quite a long campaign of Jihad. Very satisfying, even though the system reminds me of a frickin’ puzzle.

2 x BESM 3e + GME [player]

The new BESM seems more playable then the old BESM, but I’m afraid it’s still BESM.

Mythic GM Emulator seems like a cure for the disease called “trad”.

2 x Labyrinths & Lycanthropes [player]

Tried the game. Loved the game.

However, lesson learned: never invite teenage mutant gamer turtles to play.

2 x Maid [GM]

Officially a dirty misogynist now.

4 x With Great Power… [GM]

I bought it years ago, but until recently there was no good opportunity to try it out. Proved a very demanding system, its learning curve pretty steep. All in all, the campaign turned out so so. While I believe we would do better on another go, I’m not really up to GM-ing this one again.

2 x Warhammer Fantasy Role Play 1st ed. [player]

So, this new GM turned up at our site and offered to run the game for us. Seemed pretty enthusiastic, if a bit annoying with his fandom culture and “unique personal GM-ing style”. It was sort of funny observing how he couldn’t keep up with us, his odd GM-ing habits conflicting with our handling of this ruleset after the earlier campaign of mine.

Really, I’m not sure what broke the guy. Was it our insistence on using every little random chart available in chargen? Our diligence in counting encumbrance up to the last single penny? Our adamant refusal to enjoy his carefully crafted railroad of a “Story”?

He gave up as soon as we started for good. Couldn’t stand the mindfuck, the poor loser.

5 x Labyrinths & Lycanthropes [player]

Excellent Hyborian Age game, with some characters recycled from our earlier attempt at HeroQuest.

Labyrinths are like 4e without all the issues and crap of 4e.

3 x InSpectres [GM]

Proved a good introductory game.

Campaign play shows some interesting properties that I didn’t encounter playing one-shots in past years.

1 x Beast Hunters [GM]

Did I mention bad luck with newcomers?

Winners don’t do drugs!

3 x Rogue Trader + GME [player]

Rogue Trader is a trad game with a cool setting and a full suite of trad issues.

A few more attempts like this and we might even learn how to cure trad with GME effectively.

1 x Dungeon World [GM]

A loose one-shot to crash test the game. Shows promise.

3 x Kingdom Key [player]

My first time playing my own game as a player. Yay.

Also, Kumquat Tattoo is a damn good setting.

6 x Bliss Stage [player]

Another first time as a player. Turns out running it was easier.

Either way, four campaigns and Bliss Stage still delivers. Roswell Resistance Cell was among the most satisfying games this year.

3 x Dungeon World [GM]

A few one page dungeons with the updated version of the game. This one had better rules, but the former was a better game. The problem is, seems like Dungeon World can’t decide between being Apocalypse World or D&D. It tries to be both at the same time and fails.

I’d just hack my own version of the ruleset, if not for being busy enough with TAG.

10 x Mouse Guard [player]

Another good campaign. However, after 30+ sesssions of Mouse Guard a longer break from the game is in place. Also, routinely having to figure out how to spend twenty or so checks per Players’ Turn is tiring.

5 x TAG: Star Wars [GM]

It was interesting to see how the focus of playtesting shifted from fixing the rules to fine tuning gameplay techniques.

Suspended due to health and scheduling problems, unfortunately.

1 x Witches of N’Kai [GM]

Finally some OSR-type stuff that seemed actually playable.

3h of gameplay, 3 x TPK.

3 x InSpectres [player]

The first GM-ing attempt of one of the players from my earlier campaign.

Sidenote:

It seems the game was recently published in Polish. It seems no one cares.

2 x Smallville [player]

X-Men via Smallville. So far, the ruleset seems solid. However, it proved much less generic than rpg.net would suggest. While I’ve never cared for the show it’s based on, the system seems to be very strongly tied to the source. With even a slightly different brand of teenage superheroes our prep required a few doses of awkward “squeezing”.

To be continued in 2011.

1 x Remember Tomorrow [player]

Apparently some guy tried to make a cyberpunk game that wouldn’t be all about mirrorshades and gun stats. To this end he removed gun stats, but still forgot to add cyberpunk. A generic story game does not a Gibson make, I’m afraid.

Already concluded in 2011, after the second session.