Free RPG Day 2026 after action report

 

At the shop we had another Free RPG Day come and go. This was our first year at the new location and we saw a pretty good increase in traffic. Although our charity auction didn't go off as well as previous years it did good and the food drive also pulled in several boxes for the local food pantry. 

As for the actual products offered. I think this is the best year ever in terms of quality material that was more geared to what people want. For example Renegade Games had been doing basically folders with a QR code in them for the last few years. Nobody was really interested. This year they offered up an actual VtM adventure and that got folks attention. There seemed to be more playable material than just fluffed up advertisements. It folks here noticed.

I hope this is a trend that continues.

Myself I got the Vaesen quickstart because it's the game I'm currently running and really enjoying. And the owner gave me one of the Dispel D20s for putting in extra work that day and volunteering to run a game for strangers (something he knows I'm not to fond of anymore). 

At the charity auction I bid on a couple of things. Only got one of them. It's a hanging wall display for Mageknight from about twenty years ago. Which is one of those games I really enjoyed for a little bit. So the nostalgia bug bit me on that one. 

We have no other events of any magnitude scheduled until Black Friday and Christmas. So at least we have time to plan a bit for those. 

Jaded Gamer Diary - System XYZ

 

One thing that really gets under my skin about the broader online TTRPG community. It's that no matter what, whenever you talk about running a game and what system you will be using there will be a rush of folks coming up to tell you it would be better to run it under system XYZ. 

Want to run Cyberpunk? Don't use the actual Cyberpunk rpg use system XYZ instead, just convert everything over. Want to run The One Ring? Use XYZ instead, just convert everything over OR buy a bunch of books to do so. Want to run Dune from Modiphius? Nope don't use their mechanics use XYZ instead, just convert it all over. 

My response to this become this. First you buy the physical copy of XYZ for me, and mail it to my address. You convert everything over, print it out, mail that to me as well. Any dice necessary for XYZ you can purchase and toss in the mail as well. Any adventures that I want to run that aren't in XYZ you can convert over for me as well. I mean you want me to try XYZ for a game then put your money where your mouth is. 

Then I may give it a chance. But if I don't like it after a couple sessions I'm going to stop. Nope, not mailing anything back to you.

Don't like that? Then stop suggesting XYZ for everything.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Random Bitching 6/15/26

 

One thing I've grown to really dislike is characters that are rolled up completely random. The less choice I have in what makes the character on the sheet then the less likely I am to even try making a character. Now I do understand for some people that's their jam. 

Of course I've been told that's how you 'stretch your roleplaying ability'. No it's fucking not. Rolling up something I don't want to play and won't enjoy playing doesn't do shit about my 'roleplaying ability'. Roleplaying for me is about fun, not some amateur off the cuff theatrical training with random crap. 

I make it clear that if I'm invited to set at your table for a game and discover that when I arrive that it's all completely random generated characters I will do two things. Smile, thank you for the invite, then get up and leave. Or I will roll up a character, if I don't like it I'll wad up the sheet and ask for another one. Then repeat that process until I get something that I want. Or get bored and get up and leave.

Neither way is wrong, neither way is better than the other. If you think they are well then you're wrong. Get over it.

People have different views of what they find entertaining. What is fun for one person isn't for another. But when the I get told I have to play a rat catcher that is blind in one, deaf and has a peg leg my response will be fuck no. That's not fun to me. At all. 

I play to have fun. I don't play for some exercise in frustration that doesn't end. And yes, I absolutely know what is fun for me. 

Diecon 26 After Action Report

 

Well another fun weekend at Diecon has come and gone for me. As part of a little group I call the 'Three Amigos' we rode up together, had a lot of fun, and then rode back home together. Here's my report on some of the games I played and folks I talked to.

Battletech Classic

I haven't played Battletech since the 90's. It's always been one of those games that I wanted to get back into but never seemed to have the time, and when I did have the time I didn't have the money. Well one of my friends now runs it at the local shop I work at (Aesops Treasury) and is an official agent for Catalyst Game Labs. He was at the con so I jumped into one of his sessions.

Overall it was pretty much like I remembered. Bit stompy robots beating the hell out of each other with a very detailed damage system in a battle that usually takes a couple hours at least. While I had a lot of fun it's not a game I'll be diving into again. If I'm free and he needs a guy to help pilot some mechs for a game I'll do it. But as for investing my time and money again, I've moved past that level of obsession. 

Coriolis The Great Dark

The newest edition of this really cool scifi game from Free League Publishing. This game is set in the same setting as the original just over a vastly different corner of space. A good breath of fresh air for that world with some neat 'delving' mechanics and some rather interesting setting elements. I had a good time but I don't see myself running this game. I would absolutely jump into it as a player though.

Forbidden Lands

One of the older games from Free League Publishing that I've seen and heard a lot about, but never played. I really liked the flavor of fantasy 'grimdark' this one has. It's has some good lore about why everything is so messed up. The modifications to the Year Zero Engine are nice. Especially with the different colored D6's meaning something in a roll. Like the black dice representing bonuses from gear that can determine if your gear breaks if a roll is bad enough. It's really slick.

I'm a proven terrible fantasy gamemaster. It's not my wheelhouse of what I'm good at doing. But there is enough horror elements that I could possibly make it work. It's on my 'maybe' list when it comes to buying in. I would love to play in a game though.

Outgunned Adventure

Once there was a game called Broken Compass that came out a few years ago from Two Little Mice this has now grown into the game called Outgunned. Outgunned Adventure is the version more set up for Indiana Jones style adventure games. Before playing I was very hesitant about the dice mechanics. It's all built around matching numbers on the dice you rolled. Two of a kind, three of a kind, etc. 

After playing all of my hesitation is completely gone. I really enjoyed the way the mechanics flowed. How failure leads to you building up points in other areas to pull of stuff even better. The whole cinematic feel is actually there with adrenaline points, grit and other sorts of things. I'll be picking this book up at some point in the near future with the hope of running it at least for a little bit. Two thumbs up for that. 

Dealers Area

Now there aren't as many dealers there as other cons but the ones they have are really great and friendly. The Dicegeeks guy was really cool as were the folks from Twilight Creations. Troll Lord Games really had a Castles and Crusades presence with a table full of product and guy who very friendly talking up the product. Artist Brent Chumley was, as usual, absolutely great to talk with and he got a few of my dollars as he does every year.

In other stuff there were a few things I didn't like but I'm keeping with the positive side of things. So I won't go into what they were. My opinions were given to the staff via their messenger account. What they do with constructive criticism is up to them. 

I'm already preregistered for next year to do it all over again.