#RPGADAY2020 3. Thread

#Thread.

This one is tough. It has to be. Every campaign, no matter the system or rules starts with an idea. How that idea changes over time is the thread. 

Rather than suggest any number of things, I would rather remember some of the epic games that would have gone off the rails if I didn't have hold of that thread. 

I started a campaign without any real idea of where things were going. I pulled out B2 The Keep on the Borderlands and let things go where they would. 

I didn't see where it was all going, but it was a hell of a lot fun. First the player bailed on searching the Caves of Chaos. They did a bit of reconnaissance and returned to the Keep for a few NPC or different characters. They picked up a dwarf and cleric, to round out a party of a thief, a wizard and two fighters. Good call, I thought. 

These two new characters didn't do much fighting, which is odd for a party not to risk their NPCs over their own characters. Well, of course somehow two of my players started playing the NPCs as PCs. I didn't expect that, but I was fine with it. 

The next surprise was the PC negotiating with the Kobolds. That wasn't terribly surprising, but the party went back to the Keep and returned with a door. A door they stole from the keep. The dwarf installed it for a kobolds. From this secure area, they advanced on the orcs above. Once they cleared them out, they stole another door from the Keep.  

"Are you guys planning on moving in or something?" I asked. 

They were. 

I have to say this wasn't our main campaign, but it was a nice place to escape to when other things weren't working out in our main campaign. The thread in this case was humor, exploration and enjoyment. 

I still have a brick joke about the quality of doors, which creeps it's way into every campaign from this one. It's been 30 years or more, but this thread is still alive despite not being the one I meant to create. 

#RPGADAY2020 2. Change

#Change. 

Timely prompt word. I need to change my website to conform with the newest version of blogger. It's kind of annoying but has to be done if I want my gaming site to keep on keeping on. 

#RPGADAY2020 1. Beginning.

#Beginning. 

I don't know where it began, but I know how it began. It began with my parents. Way back in '77, they took me to my very first con. And then another and another. 

I recall a zillion different games. Mostly WRG, but tanks, dragons, rayguns and so many other things I hadn't seen before and perhaps some I will never see again. But I won't forget them. 

Since then, I've read a hundred different games and played more most of them. And the the process continues. 

As my son reads his copy of the Dungeons and Dragons Essentials Kit, I have two other kids that I have encouraged to enjoy their own creative ventures. Sure, they don't do games as much as their brother, but they have their creative outlets, art, music, stories, etc. Which are just as different as Wargames Research Group is from D&D, but it's a beginning. I hope I've given them a beginning as good as I had.

Thanks for the beginning, Mom and Dad.  

Striker - 1977 First Look

A while ago, I stumbled across a copy Striker by Game Designers' Workshop. Ironically, I thought it was a copy of Tractics which is very much unlike Striker. I have never played this game despite having it on my shelf for decades. I'd love to launch right into a review, but like everything else in the Traveller world, the game is complex. 

One of the nice things about this particular game is, it was published in 1979 and is right where I came into the Traveller world myself. For some demented reason, I took a liking to Star Frontiers after playing a few games. My Traveller got put aside, despite having the simplified rules. I can truly say I have nearly zero concept how Traveller works. Either 70's Traveller or today's Fifth edition. So I am looking at 40 year old Striker with fresh eyes. 

Striker is a boxed set of 3 classic looking black books. These 48 books are 5 3/4 by 9 3/4 with yellow stripes and text. The titles are: Rule Book 1 Basic Rules, Rule Book 2 Advanced Rules and Rule Book 3 Equipment. There is a fourth 16 page "booklet" called Design Sequence Tables and 3 loose leaf pages of tables, which was described as "six pages of tables". 

The game used to have a set of dice and I believe I still have them mixed with every other die I own in a jar. Since I have 100 six siders, I doubt I will ever find or identify them. I recall they were smaller than normal dice but my memory could be shot.

I wish I could say, I bought this game at such and such a store way back when but I didn't. Not only did I have my own gaming group, I also belonged to two or three other groups. I am sure that someone gave me this set. I don't have the proof of some one's name written in the books. I do like that best, but I have something better. 

Way better! 

My set has hand written notes by an unknown author. This isn't a campaign setting, a set of characters sheets or a battle plan. 

This notes are old, yellowed and I don't understand them any more that I do Traveller. But even if these papers didn't have a title, it would be incredibly clear that someone back in 1979 was writing a computer program to automate many of the instructions from Book 3. 

I love the books I have with past owner's names. These notes make this one extra special to me. 

I shall not be reviewing Striker until I have an excellent grasp on the rules. 

I couldn't bring myself to write on it.

No, no. I shall not write on this. 

It is a hint about my next old game review.