It’s August and that means that the annual #RPGaDAY ‘question a day’ is here to celebrate “everything cool, memorable and amazing about our hobby.” This year we’ve decided to join in the fun and will be canvassing answers from the ENWorld crew, columnists and friends in the industry to bring you some of our answers. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too… So, without further ado, here’s Day 22 of #RPGaDAY 2017!
#RPGaDAY Question 22: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
Angus Abranson: The systems and genres you feel most comfortable with. That said even the system doesn’t matter sometimes if the game is concentrating more on the story with minimal ‘system’ impact on the proceedings. Many games over the years have been easy to run as the setting, story and players all come together to help make it so. I, as a GM, get caught up in the story and things just seem to flow. Of course there are times when things don’t ‘gel’ and the game can feel a bit awkward. I guess the ones I’ve found easiest to run over the years include various Amber, Marvel Super Heroes, the World of Darkness games, Torg, and a host of games/settings that I’ve created myself.
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): I find storytelling games with simpler systems easier to run since there is usually fewer rules to remember. Games like Numenera and those Powered by the Apocalypse.
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): Call of Cthulhu. I know the rules really well after 30 years.
Eran Aviram (Up to Four Players; City of Mist): D&D 5 comes to me like flowing water, because it's so very simple and malleable. I can run Warhammer Fantasy RPG 3rd edition with my eyes closed (just tell me the results of the roll), because I ran it for several years now. The same is true for D&D 4th edition - it's amazing how much a system burns itself into you while you translate its books - just give me a moment to refamiliarize myself with it, since it's been a few years.
Darren Pearce (EN Publishing; Savage Mojo): Shadow of the Demon Lord, it’s easy to kick off and easy to run.
Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who, Victoriana, Cabal): Well essentially I find it’s whatever you know best. I’ve known a GM run Rolemaster without any problem because he knew it so well. So for me the answer is once again 7th Sea, with a nod to Vampire the Masquerade. But Doctor Who is another one I can run off the cuff. I proved this at Origins this year when a mix up left 6 players without a GM for out demo games, so I stepped in with a 7th player and ran Doctor Who with no characters or adventure ready. Had a lot of fun with that as my Iron GM moment.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): Nibiru, as well as Warhammer Fantasy, are two RPGs that I find quite easy to run. The first one is, obviously, because I've made it and have a lot of practise running it. The second one, most interestingly, is that in a way I feel really "at home" when storytelling the Warhammer world. I've played and read so much about it that it's really easy to come up with interesting consequences for the players' actions, as well as with engaging events based on the lore of the world. The brooding atmosphere of both games is also one I feel really compelled to narrate, too.
Laura Hoffman (Black Book Editions; Polaris RPG): The RPG’s that came most easily for me to GM are Pathfinder and Feng Shui, 1st edition. I don’t know why for Feng Shui, but I just picked it up and ran it, maybe not with all the rules as written, but I had a lot of fun and improvisation came super easily!
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): I have the easiest time running games with light to medium rules, a setting that is either easily conveyed or fairly sketchy, and a mechanic that takes care of business with as few moving parts as possible. Then again, there are more elaborate and complex systems I enjoy running, but I am so familiar with them that they are second nature. The first category sees Savage Worlds, most iterations of D&D, BRP, and Barbarians of Lemuria. The second is where something like Pathfinder or Traveller come in.
Simon Burley (Golden Heroes, The Super Hack): I'm a blatant cheat here. I write the games I want to play so, of course, I find them easy. I just hope everyone else does to. Especially my "Code" books eg. "The Code of Steam and Steel". But, obviously, commendation also goes to "The Black Hack". It does everything you NEED D&D to do without any unnecessary frippery. Bronze medal goes to "The Actual Cannibal Shia LeBouef RPG". I was demoing RPGs at an Anime convention - as part of a team. It was lying on the table, having been brought by another referee. Some newbies scanned the table and wanted to play it. One quick - 20 second - read through and I ran a great game. No scenario, no prior experience.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Monsterhearts. The character interaction keeps the flow going and the GM never needs to roll dice, allowing them to concentrate entirely on creating story elements and mood pieces around the players. The players have most of the rules in front of them, so there’s very little flicking through rule books. And it’s a two dice system. A game that requires rolling just one or two dice at the table runs quicker than one where you need to roll a handful.
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Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
#RPGaDAY Question 22: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?
Angus Abranson: The systems and genres you feel most comfortable with. That said even the system doesn’t matter sometimes if the game is concentrating more on the story with minimal ‘system’ impact on the proceedings. Many games over the years have been easy to run as the setting, story and players all come together to help make it so. I, as a GM, get caught up in the story and things just seem to flow. Of course there are times when things don’t ‘gel’ and the game can feel a bit awkward. I guess the ones I’ve found easiest to run over the years include various Amber, Marvel Super Heroes, the World of Darkness games, Torg, and a host of games/settings that I’ve created myself.
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): I find storytelling games with simpler systems easier to run since there is usually fewer rules to remember. Games like Numenera and those Powered by the Apocalypse.
Stephanie McAlea (Stygian Fox Publishing, The Things We Leave Behind): Call of Cthulhu. I know the rules really well after 30 years.
Eran Aviram (Up to Four Players; City of Mist): D&D 5 comes to me like flowing water, because it's so very simple and malleable. I can run Warhammer Fantasy RPG 3rd edition with my eyes closed (just tell me the results of the roll), because I ran it for several years now. The same is true for D&D 4th edition - it's amazing how much a system burns itself into you while you translate its books - just give me a moment to refamiliarize myself with it, since it's been a few years.
Darren Pearce (EN Publishing; Savage Mojo): Shadow of the Demon Lord, it’s easy to kick off and easy to run.
Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who, Victoriana, Cabal): Well essentially I find it’s whatever you know best. I’ve known a GM run Rolemaster without any problem because he knew it so well. So for me the answer is once again 7th Sea, with a nod to Vampire the Masquerade. But Doctor Who is another one I can run off the cuff. I proved this at Origins this year when a mix up left 6 players without a GM for out demo games, so I stepped in with a 7th player and ran Doctor Who with no characters or adventure ready. Had a lot of fun with that as my Iron GM moment.
Federico Sohns (Nibiru RPG): Nibiru, as well as Warhammer Fantasy, are two RPGs that I find quite easy to run. The first one is, obviously, because I've made it and have a lot of practise running it. The second one, most interestingly, is that in a way I feel really "at home" when storytelling the Warhammer world. I've played and read so much about it that it's really easy to come up with interesting consequences for the players' actions, as well as with engaging events based on the lore of the world. The brooding atmosphere of both games is also one I feel really compelled to narrate, too.
Laura Hoffman (Black Book Editions; Polaris RPG): The RPG’s that came most easily for me to GM are Pathfinder and Feng Shui, 1st edition. I don’t know why for Feng Shui, but I just picked it up and ran it, maybe not with all the rules as written, but I had a lot of fun and improvisation came super easily!
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): I have the easiest time running games with light to medium rules, a setting that is either easily conveyed or fairly sketchy, and a mechanic that takes care of business with as few moving parts as possible. Then again, there are more elaborate and complex systems I enjoy running, but I am so familiar with them that they are second nature. The first category sees Savage Worlds, most iterations of D&D, BRP, and Barbarians of Lemuria. The second is where something like Pathfinder or Traveller come in.
Simon Burley (Golden Heroes, The Super Hack): I'm a blatant cheat here. I write the games I want to play so, of course, I find them easy. I just hope everyone else does to. Especially my "Code" books eg. "The Code of Steam and Steel". But, obviously, commendation also goes to "The Black Hack". It does everything you NEED D&D to do without any unnecessary frippery. Bronze medal goes to "The Actual Cannibal Shia LeBouef RPG". I was demoing RPGs at an Anime convention - as part of a team. It was lying on the table, having been brought by another referee. Some newbies scanned the table and wanted to play it. One quick - 20 second - read through and I ran a great game. No scenario, no prior experience.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Monsterhearts. The character interaction keeps the flow going and the GM never needs to roll dice, allowing them to concentrate entirely on creating story elements and mood pieces around the players. The players have most of the rules in front of them, so there’s very little flicking through rule books. And it’s a two dice system. A game that requires rolling just one or two dice at the table runs quicker than one where you need to roll a handful.
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
