My Current Gaming
I am involved in a lot of gaming right now, and I thought I’d share what I’m running and what I’m playing. I’m going to break it down by days of the week, since I have different games on the same day in alternate weeks.
I’m liking this game a lot. For the zombies, I’m shamelessly ripping off the Left 4 Dead video game franchise. (They’ve already encountered Hunters and a Tank modified with some mutations from GURPS After the End.) However, I’m leaning more on the survival resource-management side of things for campaign tension. Things are going to start falling apart very quickly, and the PCs will need to scavenge and horde to survive.
This game runs roughly every other week, and we play via the Roll20 virtual tabletop.
First, I’ve been running a mini-campaign of Star Wars Saga Edition. This is an interim game while the regular GM has been working on converting the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting to D&D 5th Edition. For the last few months, I’ve run a group of proto-Rebels through a mission to rescue a young Force-sensitive girl who had been taken by an Inquisitor. The party has reached the finale and will face off against the Dark Side in the next session.
My other Monday game is a D&D 5th Edition campaign that has been running for about a year and a half. Set in the Forgotten Realms of the original gray boxed set, the party has gotten caught up in maneuverings of the church of Shar. They’ve also just recently stumbled into the war between the Zhentarim and Hillsfar for control of the Moonsea region. The only things I’m taking as given are details that appear in the original 1st Edition box, but I’m picking and choosing elements from later Forgotten Realms material to enhance the story.
I’m enjoying both of these games, but I’ll be glad to be a player again soon. I’m a big fan of Saga Edition, and this game has allowed me to try out the space combat rules more than I ever had before. As for 5th Edition D&D, I like it, but I’m not in love with it the way I was for either of the two previous editions.
I started running Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition last September. I backed the Kickstarter for M20, and I was very impressed with the resulting product. It rolls things back toward the 2nd Edition feel while I prefer the more grounded Revised Edition, but it’s still a big, juicy pile of gaming weirdness. My group also gave me a very eclectic selection of Traditionalists, and I’m having fun watching them explore the World of Darkness I cut my teeth on decades ago.
However, that game is currently on hold for a couple months while we participate in the beta playtest of Shadows of the Century, Evil Hat Productions pulp New Wave take on 80s action movies and television. We ran the pitch session for a sequel to the adventure they had during the alpha playtest, and the first session is this week. It’s gonna be totally radical!
The other week, I’m a player in an online GURPS Traveler game run by Christian Blouin on Roll20. We’re the rag-tag crew of a free trader during the Interstellar Wars period, and I’m the ship’s almost laughably incompetent MBA. We’ve had a series of hilarious misadventures, and only about half of them are my fault! I’m really digging into the economics of interstellar commerce, and of course I love playing GURPS (something I pretty much never get to do at home).
This is more gaming than I’ve had going on at one time in years. It’s been a little overwhelming at times, and I’m brushing up against some GM burnout, so it’s good that I’ll be switching one of these slots over to the player column. Still, it feels good to be gaming this much, and I hope I can keep it up.
Sunday
A few months ago, my friend Justin moved to North Carolina for work. He asked to set up a regular online game so we could still hang out together. He’s a huge zombie fan, and I love GURPS (especially high-action GURPS), so I put together a GURPS Zombies game using the Ultimate Zombie-Fighters campaign frame in GURPS Zombies: Day One. My wife is playing two, but it’s just their two PCs and a few tag-along NPCs against the rapidly disintegrating world.I’m liking this game a lot. For the zombies, I’m shamelessly ripping off the Left 4 Dead video game franchise. (They’ve already encountered Hunters and a Tank modified with some mutations from GURPS After the End.) However, I’m leaning more on the survival resource-management side of things for campaign tension. Things are going to start falling apart very quickly, and the PCs will need to scavenge and horde to survive.
This game runs roughly every other week, and we play via the Roll20 virtual tabletop.
Monday
I have two games on alternate Mondays. Currently, I run both, though that is not the typical arrangement and will change back shortly. Both are face-to-face groups.First, I’ve been running a mini-campaign of Star Wars Saga Edition. This is an interim game while the regular GM has been working on converting the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting to D&D 5th Edition. For the last few months, I’ve run a group of proto-Rebels through a mission to rescue a young Force-sensitive girl who had been taken by an Inquisitor. The party has reached the finale and will face off against the Dark Side in the next session.
My other Monday game is a D&D 5th Edition campaign that has been running for about a year and a half. Set in the Forgotten Realms of the original gray boxed set, the party has gotten caught up in maneuverings of the church of Shar. They’ve also just recently stumbled into the war between the Zhentarim and Hillsfar for control of the Moonsea region. The only things I’m taking as given are details that appear in the original 1st Edition box, but I’m picking and choosing elements from later Forgotten Realms material to enhance the story.
I’m enjoying both of these games, but I’ll be glad to be a player again soon. I’m a big fan of Saga Edition, and this game has allowed me to try out the space combat rules more than I ever had before. As for 5th Edition D&D, I like it, but I’m not in love with it the way I was for either of the two previous editions.
Wednesday
Every Wednesday, I run D&D Encounters at a local game cafe, Victory Pointe. I have a fun group of regular players, plus the occasional drop-ins. (First timers are always welcome! Come on in!) We just started the Curse of Strahd with the free Death House adventure, which is actually quite good.Thursday
I also have two alternating games on Thursdays. One I run, and one I’m a player. One is face-to-face, and the other is online via Roll20.I started running Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition last September. I backed the Kickstarter for M20, and I was very impressed with the resulting product. It rolls things back toward the 2nd Edition feel while I prefer the more grounded Revised Edition, but it’s still a big, juicy pile of gaming weirdness. My group also gave me a very eclectic selection of Traditionalists, and I’m having fun watching them explore the World of Darkness I cut my teeth on decades ago.
However, that game is currently on hold for a couple months while we participate in the beta playtest of Shadows of the Century, Evil Hat Productions pulp New Wave take on 80s action movies and television. We ran the pitch session for a sequel to the adventure they had during the alpha playtest, and the first session is this week. It’s gonna be totally radical!
The other week, I’m a player in an online GURPS Traveler game run by Christian Blouin on Roll20. We’re the rag-tag crew of a free trader during the Interstellar Wars period, and I’m the ship’s almost laughably incompetent MBA. We’ve had a series of hilarious misadventures, and only about half of them are my fault! I’m really digging into the economics of interstellar commerce, and of course I love playing GURPS (something I pretty much never get to do at home).
Wrap-Up
On top of these regular games, there’s the occasional one-shots and an entertaining but very sporadic Morrow Project game that I play in. I’m going to have to work in time to playtest some adventures for Gen Con, as well as help a few other GMs playtest their games.This is more gaming than I’ve had going on at one time in years. It’s been a little overwhelming at times, and I’m brushing up against some GM burnout, so it’s good that I’ll be switching one of these slots over to the player column. Still, it feels good to be gaming this much, and I hope I can keep it up.
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