30 Days of GameMastering--Day 30!

And this is it!  Our final entry in Lindevi's "30 Days of GameMastering" challenge!  One last charge unto the breach, my friends!

How do we grow the hobby?

Seriously?!  How is there not an RPG of this yet?!

We live in a golden age of geekery.  The Marvel cinematic universe has brought together some of the classic comic-book icons together in a cohesive internal mythology.  Comic book movies are now among the most anticipated films each year.  The Walking Dead has become an international sensation, breaking records with each new season.  A local Halloween attraction just south of Dayton now features a "Zombie Sniper Patrol" where you can live out your wildest zombie apocalypse fantasies, to say nothing of 10K runs that have turned into zombie-survival runs.  San Diego ComicCon has become the new Mecca for all things pop-culture.

It's easier nowadays to be published than anytime in history.  Anyone with an internet connection can start a blog or put together an e-book for publication online.  Digital correspondence allows artists, designers, writers, and publishers to collaborate and create product from anywhere in the globe.  For Cold Steel Wardens?  My mapmaker is from Germany.  My publisher is British.  My artists and editors come from all over the United States.

The frustrating thing on my end right now?  For as easy as it is to be published, for as high as the general public is on nerd-culture, the role-playing games market just doesn't seem to capitalize on what's popular.  While there is a new edition of Mutants and Masterminds corresponding directly to DC universe comics characters, there was no crossover with the recent Batman or Superman movies.  There's still no true Walking Dead RPG (which I'd love to write, if I got that license).  There are so many opportunities to capitalize on already-existing properties to usher in new players that it consistently astounds me that there aren't more RPG players and that those opportunities lie fallow.

For now?  The best thing we can do is keep pushing.  Keep spreading tendrils out there amongst the 'norms' and keep one mantra in mind:  "Oh, you like comics?  How would you like to play as a superhero?  Like zombies?  How about we run a zombie-apocalypse scenario?  I've got some dice you can borrow..."

In Which The Warlock Shoots for a Straight, but Flops a Full House...

So, remember a few entries ago, when I was wondering about which game to run? I really ended up in a dead heat with the two ideas, tossed between the conspiracy-horror of Delta Green and the gritty, street-level superheroes of DC Adventures. I honestly was having a hard time deciding between the two. Friends and fellow gamers recommended both in almost equal measure, eager to roll up their FBI agent, their power-suited vigilante, or something in between.

Deadlands: Hucksters and Hexes

And so, I debated. I wrote promos for each game. I blogged, obviously. And, in the end, it came down to...none of them.

You see, in amongst the rest of the game ideas I've had, I've had a new love. It's gritty, it's pulpy, and it's got so many plot ideas built in. It has all the elements I love in a game: horror, alternate history, characterization, and deep moral intregue.

As such, I find myself with a full table, ready to run Deadlands Reloaded.

I've been slowly developing an affection for Savage Worlds for a year or two now, with its free-form character development and its speedy, creative combat. But, for whatever reason, Deadlands had always eluded me. Back when I was at Wittenberg, BLoff and his brother had tried to get us to play it, but it lost out in favor of Call of Cthulhu and D&D.

I suppose it's been building in me for a while. I adore Stephen King's Dark Tower saga, and love the creeping horror found in the Weird West. After one read-through of Will the ManMan's Deadlands: Player's Guide, I was hooked. Plot ideas were flowing through my brain like wine, and they had to get out somehow! And so, a new campaign was born.

As such, I have a full table waiting for me on Sunday afternoons: "Follow the Walkin' Man, a King-inspired tale of the Weird West, where the players will start off in Amarillo, and head out on a dark adventure to find out the secrets behind Maerlyn's Rainbow and the Man in Black known only as "The Walkin' Dude".

Stay tuned here to find out more!

One last thing before I let you go for the evening: I'll be running WEGS: Old Skool Redux demos all day at Springfield's Champion City Comic-Con. Swing by between 10am and 6pm for a run through one of two classic WEGS demos: "Dungeons OR Dragons" and "Dwarf Walks Into a Bar". Alternatively, stick around after 6pm for a run through the exclusive debut of my module "WEGS+Cthulhu=WEGSthulhu!" Catch it before it hits this year's WittCon and next year's Origins Game Fair!

Hope to see you there!

In Which The Warlock Contemplates The Next Step...

Now that our yearly convention season (and my delicous summer break!) is at an end, the WittKids and I are in a bit of convelescence. After traveling all summer, running games at Origins and the other conventions, and running our weekly games in-between, it's made for a really hectic season. I'd say I'm almost looking forward to getting back to work, but we all know that's a joke!

Rather, I'm more looking forward to the start of the new semester and the resurgence of games over at Wittenberg. With a new batch of freshmen on deck, and a really fantastic group of upperclassmen executives, this year looks to be a really positive one for the Guild.

However, I find myself in something of a quandary. Thanks to a much less hectic schedule--no wedding planning this year, and a much easier series of prep at school--I'm actually planning on running a game during the week at Wittenberg. I attempted doing one last year, if you'll recall: a 4e D&D game, set in Eberron. Unfortunately, due to my multiple engagements, it fell through. With a freer schedule, I shouldn't have as much problem with a weekly game, though I do want to avoid the idea of setting up tiles, minis, and the like. I'm not averse to them, but they're just a pain to haul over to Witt, only to pack up again a few hours later.

I've narrowed my game ideas down to two, which you can find below. What do you think, gamer nation? Which one should it be?

Delta Green: Die Karotechia, Die!
System: d20 Modern/d20 Call of Cthulhu
Genre: Cosmic Horror/Conspiracy

There are many things that man was not meant to know. Sometimes, these are the secrets of the universe. Sometimes, these are the secrets held by your government. Sometimes, these are the very things right in front of you. You know these secrets. You've watched them unfold before you like the yellow envelopes you receive every so often. You know the truth about the world around you, and you fight against it every day. You're Delta Green, and you won't go down without a fight.

A shadow ops group working outside of the government, Delta Green stands on the tiny precipice between the world we know and utter chaos and blasphemy. The remnants of Nazi Germany's occult program, the machinations of aliens from Pluto, even the corruption and naivete of your own government stand against you. But you're Delta Green, and you won't go down without a fight.

Your day job is a cover, working within the United States government. By night, you dig deep into things that 'man was not meant to know'--things that your government has lied to the public about. Things you have been lied about. You see, the War isn't over. Never will be. It's just gone rogue...and that's a war you've prepared for.

Gotham City Breakdown
System: DC Adventures/Mutants and Masterminds 3e
Genre: Bronze/Iron Age Superheroes

Years ago, the Wayne family was mugged on the way home from the theater by a small-time thug named Joe Chill. Thomas Wayne and his son, Bruce, were killed by Chill in the incident when Thomas refused to turn over his wallet. Martha Wayne killed herself 4 years later, stricken by grief. Wayne Enterprises, Thomas' company, filed for bankruptcy 15 years later, and has since been dissolved. The man known as The Batman has never come to be.

Gotham City is much as it ever has been. Crime families like the Bertinellis and the Falcones rule the streets, with the police able to do little against them. Masked and deformed criminals--the "freaks"--roam the sewers and alleyways, leading vicious gangs. Gotham teeters on the edge of chaos.

You have chosen to rise up against this scourge. As a masked adventurer, you believe in justice. You believe in law. You believe that something must be done. And you're the right person to do it. It's time to take up arms against the likes of Intergang, the Royal Flush gang, and others, and fill the void left in a world without The Dark Knight.