The weekend sort of got away from me, what with an event I was running going off very successfully and a few other things. But it meant not having a moment to finish up the last four days of RPGaDay, so let’s take care of that now, shall we?

Day 28: Favourite Game You No Longer Play

I really enjoyed Vampire: The Masquerade back in the day. I played in a campaign for about a year and had a great time. The mechanics of that first edition really supported role-playing, and the World of Darkness was an excellent, dark lens on our own world. Sadly, though I read all the other WoD books, I never got to play in that world beyond Vampire. Years later I did try out Scion, which used the same basic mechanic as all White Wolf games. I’d love to go back and try the 1st Edition Vampire, but I’m not as invested in the world of the current version.

Day 29: Favourite RPG Website/Blog

I really enjoy a YouTube series called The DM’s Craft, which is a great look at building unique and functional scenery for your gaming table. I don’t do enough of it for my home game, but I’m trying to get in the habit of building pieces bit by bit. Along with the video series, he also has a website and forums, filled with a great community sharing tips and tricks for building scenery, GMing, and general gaming goodness. I’m on there weekly at least and I always find something to catch my eye. Give them a look!

Day 30: Favourite RPG Playing Celebrity

Broadening the scope a little, because my favourite is actually a cast and not a person. I have fallen in love with the cast of Critical Role, and they are my new favourite gaming show to watch. If you aren’t familiar with the show, it runs on Geek & Sundry’s Twitch stream and follows the tabletop adventures of DM Matt Mercer and players Liam O’Brien, Ashley Johnson, Sam Riegel, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, Orion Acaba, Laura Bailey, and Taliesin Jaffe. Everyone involved is a voice actor and/or actor, which makes the episodes highly entertaining. What I love most about the show, however, is it’s like getting to sit in the room and watch your nerdy best friends play D&D. There is such a love of the game and each other, it makes me want to be a better GM for my players. I catch the live-stream if I can, and watch the episodes on G&S later if I have to miss it. They just uploaded episode 22 (so I know what I’m doing tonight), but trust me, you want to go back to episode 1 and watch/listen from the beginning.

Day 31: Favourite non-RPG Thing to come out of RPGing

I wrote about this in a post years ago, but one of my favourite things about the RPG hobby is everything I have studied or learned because of it. There are a whole range of topics I might never have read about or studied if it weren’t for RPGs: world mythology, archeology, non-Western/North American history, and philosophy, just to name a few. Because of running and taking part in organized play I’ve learned organizational skills, diplomacy, and interpersonal skills. Just from playing the games I’ve honed skills like problem solving and maths. Heck, RPGs have even allowed me to develop things like empathy, which I think is one of the greatest benefits the hobby can give to anyone. And while it may not be popular, I don’t think it’s playing one game or another that makes you a gamer, I think it’s developing that empathy, wherever you might be in that development, that makes a gamer.

*     *     *

That’s it, that’s all for RPGaDay! I’ve had fun, and I hope you have as well. We will now return to a more manageable 3 posts a week schedule, so look for those updates soon.