Best and Worst of 2005?

[Pseudonym]

Best/worst moments in a role-playing game

Best: Single handedly saving the charmed members of my party from a nixie by summoning several octopi. Not so much the act itself, but the look on my DM, Storminator's, face at the absurdity of it all.

Worst: Surviving the perils and lack of healing of the Mournland, only to die from a random crit by a bugbear in a random encounter.

Best/worst products, d20 or otherwise

Tough one. Of all of the gaming purchases which I have made over 2005, True 20 is probably my favorite, as it has inspired me in many directions.

I can't say as there has been a worst for me for 2005. Thankfully due to EN World's reviews and the general word of mouth here I have managed to avoid a few real stinkers. I have no regrets with anything I have actually purchased.

Books/televison/movies/media/events of 2005 that shaped your game

Reading Half Blood Prince and watching Goblet of Fire, coupled with Redhurst and True 20 has inspired me to work on a Harry Potter-esque game. In general may games are a way to escape from television/media and other real world events, at least for a while.

 

[Blaque]

Hmmm, let's give this a roll:

Best Moment: The Zenith and Fire-Aspect in the Exalted game I ran the first part of the year utterly KO-ing eachtoher, tied with the Twilight in the game I'm running now selling her soul to the Yozis for Real Ultimate Power. Fun stuff.

Worst Moment: Two things come to mind. Playing in a very frustrating, three-hour long run-around BESM game last week, or the Wyld Hunt I ended up pulling the hsots on because a player was wining and I wussed out. Take your pick.

Best Products:
- Werewolf: the Forsaken, and pretty much all its sourcebooks so far. I really can't htink of any gameline that has been this solid thorugh its first five supplements.
- Spell Compendium, because as a person with a thin D&D shelf, this book helped me sitll make some kickass characters with a lot of variety. And nifty gishiness.

Worst Products:
- Legend of the Five Rings 3rd Edition, because while its a kickass and pretty book, it'd be nice if it was written for people who hadn't played the game before. Oh, and I dunno, maybe getting the layout right so we coudl have those summary charts for target numbers (unnecessary? WTF?!?!), and maybe a character creation summary chart. Just maybe.
- Heroes of Horror, for neat classes, but nothing else I'll use, resulting in me probably never getting it.

Inspirational Neatness:
- Bleach, for rekindling Exalted stuntness and weaponry ideas. Black is back and it is good
- Mai-ZHiME, for about the same reasons of Bleach. I have a soft spots for cool fights.
- Black Cat, umm.....same.
- Samurai Champloo, for generally giving me artisitc inspiration, an awesome soundtrack, and lots of plot and character ideas for nearly everything I do. And wnating to use background music more.
- Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, for mainly redoing how I see sci-fi and cyberpunk, and making things liek Shadowrun make a lot more sense to me. Sorta.
- God of War, for mainly simaller reasons to the anime above. Neat not-oriental-style ass kicking for Exalted fans.
- The Grudge, was that this year? Either way, awesome WoD fodder. Was quite happy with how this has helped fuel how I make things look in the NWoD

And stuff. Buar!

 

[NiTessine]

Best Moment in a Role-Playing Game: The three limp-wristed wizards in the party, all with serious Strength penalties duking it out unarmed, while mind-controlled by a fiend. I recall grappling and pinning the grey elf, but the high elf punched my lights out.

Worst Moment in a Role-Playing Game: This would have to be in early Summer when we had an American guest player in a Living Greyhawk metaregional adventure. A couple of players couldn't effectively communicate in English, it'd been a long day, everyone was tired and a bit stressed and the crappy mood just ended up ruining the game and the otherwise excellent adventure.

On the positive side, my wizard survived a sneak attack by an invisible rogue, a charge by an invisible fighter, and a 10d6 fireball. He was, I believe, 5th or 6th level at the time. Boccob watches over him.

Best Product: Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play. It inspires me, and I can only love a game where the insanity rules take up more room than the combat section and there's a separate price table for prosthetics in the equipment chapter. The rules work, gameplay is fluid, and I am very fond of the grim and gritty setting of the Old World.

Worst Product: Weapons of Legacy. While the idea was good, I thought the execution of the book was strongly lacking. There should've been less ready weapons and more ideas on how to make your own.

Book That Shaped My Game: Master of Chains, first novel of the Fighters series, by Jess Lebow. It's a Forgotten Realms novel, and in part inspired the scenario I wrote for my new Forgotten Realms campaign. The story will be told in full in the next few instalments of my Story Hour.

 

[Vanuslux]

Hey all,
Best/worst moments in a role-playing game

Best Moment: Finally getting a group together so I could run a face-to-face campaign again for the first time in three years.
Worst Moment: Ending said campaign after two sessions after two players broke up and the other two players started dating each other.