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1: Are phones/devices permitted at your table? How do you manage distractions?
A: I don't permit them, and B: I haven't had to deal with distractions in my gaming group. If they came up, I would probably ask for a quick replay and move on or have a five-minute break.
2: Are spellcasters rare/common? How do 'normal' people feel about them?
A: I imagine that this question is for ongoing campaigns... I have only ever played short games, twelve sessions or so maximum (daily, though). I don't really care, though, if this should affect character creation at my table. In the games I've played, they have ranged from ubiquitous to non-existent.
B: I have never tried world-building superstition/fear of magic/social differences into my games, but that could make magical characters more interesting.
3: Are there secret societies or factions hiding in your world? Tell me about one!
A: Hopefully, my players won't read this (these are plans for a future Nobilis game). If you know Nobilis, you know what I'm talking about (all my past and future games will fit into the same game world when I run that). So far, I hinted at it in my running of Deep Carbon Observatory using the Electric Bastionland ruleset and also in a short Offworlders game, but that's another story.
4: Are there any interesting holidays/festivals in your world?
A: When I ran Quest RPG, I took a lot of inspiration from the Church of Doom YouTube channel (formerly QuestChests). I remember there was a hot-chocolate drinking contest and a mock dungeon obstacle course, and my players enjoyed showing off how cool their characters were and laughing at each other's catastrophic failures. There was also the time I ran Mythic Bastionland, and I had the knights' parting to find the city a festivity in itself, which included the ritual beheading of all the knights' seers, as they were not permitted to give further guidance or train other knights in my setting.
5: Are there any recurring jokes or humorous callbacks that occur in your games?
A: Yes. For example, in the Quest game I ran, a child teased the adventurers, singing, 'They are five, but one of them died' (I had four players in my game), which became incorporated into the lore of later games. Another joke I sometimes make is having the player's characters meet other characters from previous games (setting up for that Nobilis game).
6: Are there any constellations in your setting? Can you name four of them?
A: No, so let's make some! There's the ecliptic path, named The River; there are the north and south pole stars, named after their discoverer, Elias Fenwick (from Waking of Willowby Hall); and finally, the sun, moon and Venus describe the changing triangle named The Formless Diamond.
7: Are you working on your own system? What makes it stand out from others?
A: Househack is a system based on the Middle-Earth Strategy Battle Game, the Goblin Laws of Gaming, Old-School Essentials, and Vermis ;-). I'm currently looking at Wasitlikely and TaoofDND for inspiration regarding the design philosophy (which is why I'm taking very long to even decide if I want classes or not, for example). Anyway, I will post HouseHack on this blog when I finish it.
8: Can one buy magic items in your setting? Where would one go about doing this?
A: None of my players have tried to buy magic items... Part of the reason is that all my magic items are legendary artefacts, some of my own invention, some of the more famous ones from D&D history, and some from d4caltrops, who made this very list.
9: Describe 4 things that qualify for deity disfavour and cause clerics to lose powers.
A: I have never run games with deities, as I prefer the way prayer and religion are presented in The Lord of the Rings. I did run one OSE game with lighthouse-themed clerics, though. Anyway, neglecting any of these four duties incurs disfavour: presenting sacrifices, aiding the faithful, protecting places of worship and treating the infidels justly. Each deity/religion will define sacrifices, places of worship, correct treatment, etc.
10: Describe a few pieces of jewellery one might find in a dragon's hoard.
A: This dragon's hoard is solely composed of wedding rings, crowns, and medals. They are clearly trying to rid the world of heroes to prevent its own demise.
11: Describe a near-death situation or total party kill you have been a part of at the table.
A: When I ran The Black Wyrm of Brandonsford, my players found the dragon in their lair and attacked immediately. The second time, with all new characters (higher level as well, having completed The Tomb of the Serpent Kings), they repeated the same strategy and defeated the dragon. Oh well.
B: I played a secret agent in Murder Ballet once, and we were all surrounded in the villain's lair by a large quantity of bodyguards. Fortunately, through character optimisation, good rolls, and a permissive DM, we were able to dodge all the bullets, apprehend the mastermind and prevent the launch of a nuclear missile. Good times.
12: Describe an occasion where a die roll or randomiser had everyone surprised!
A: My players really enjoyed the Knave character creation system. Enough said.
13: Describe one big "mover and shaker" or local lord/lady in your world.
A: I haven't yet played that Nobilis game, but my players will fill this role. Does it count if they ruled the realm in Mythic Bastionland?
14: Do all dwarfs have beards, or only certain ones? Why?
A: Only male dwarves have beards, as is clearly shown in The Legends of Andor.
15: Do you do any "funny voices" or accents when portraying? If so, what are they?
A: Yes, but I only do it to show age, if they are a foreigner, etc. Generally, things that are non-specific to certain characters. For specific individuals, I like to describe their speech.
16: Do you have any stories from games that your players can't stop talking about?
A: I reskinned a false hydra as a group of elves (I combined it with Winter's Daughter as well). The players met an artist that made a picture of them with an added character. When they met the artist the next day and saw the extra character in the painting, and later saw the extra backpack and bedroll in their boat, that was enough for my players to congratulate me on the spot.
17: Do you take breaks during a game? Are they on a schedule or ad hoc?
A: I don't take breaks, because my game sessions are at most an hour and a half long.
18: Do you use "critical hits" or "fumbles" in your games? What have they added?
A: I don't think they are worth it, to be honest. I don't remember any 'nat 20 moments'.
19: Do you use music at the table? If so, what are some examples? If not, then why?
A: Yes! Anything by BlueTurtle, and otherwise I like to use soundtracks. Hollow Knight, any Studio Ghibli movies, the Souls games, Celeste, FTL, Journey, Abzu, Tunic, the Tron series, The Dragon Prince, Hyper Light Drifter, Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, Disco Elysium, Detroit: Become Human, etc. I also like to fill things out with some classical music, regional folk music and/or electronic stuff, like AZALI, tony, and populist47. Ferry, Venjent, Louie Zong, and Crow are cool as well. I'm probably missing a lot of cool music, but this is a good starting point.
20: Does alignment ever change? What kind of things would lead to that?
A: The only time I used alignment was when running The Tomb of Horrors. If I had to make a rule now, I would say that alignment is determined by the plane of existence you were born in (earth-law, underground-chaos, space-neutral), and changing it requires 19th-level spells. Even deities have alignment.
21: Draw or Describe a Treasure Map your Players might discover in Play
A: I just like to give my players a copy of whatever hex map I took from Dysonlogos. One day, in the future, I'll make exploration rules. In that case, all my players will get is a blank hex map or a plain piece of paper stained with tea.
22: Have you ever fudged die rolls? Do you have strong feelings about the concept?
A: Alea iacta est!
23: How are skeletons made? Or ghouls? Why haven't Wraiths/Vampires taken over?
A: Skeletons are animated by magic (and thus are not the original owner of the bones). I've never run ghouls.
B: When I get to running Ravenloft, that will no longer be the case.
24: How big does a dungeon have to be to qualify for the "Mega" appellation?
A: Big enough for the entire game to be about the dungeon.
25: How common are adventurers? How are they treated generally by normal folk?
A: I have always assumed that adventurers are as common as entrepreneurs nowadays, seeing as they are just people in a dangerous but also very lucrative business. People will treat you as they do the police: with slight fear and strong opinions.
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I think that's enough for now. Part 2 next month, maybe?
