One Shot

Trust me, the above quote is much more hilarious as a comic panel. It's a good idea to go meta once in a while, to examine why you do what you do. Our experiences make us what we are, after all, and the games we play influence how we play our games. If the only game you played was, say, Amber, then it might be an "a-ha" moment to realize that you could use dice to add randomness to your games. Or if you haven't played Castle Falkenstein or Savage World, that you could use cards to the same effect. So, here are the games that influenced me.

Star Frontiers: Most gamers I know started roleplaying with D&D in some incarnation or another. For me, it started when my cousin arrived from the Friendly Local Gaming Store with a copy of Star Frontiers and said, "why don't we try this?" We had already been sketching out stories and make-believe, so it was a small jump to actual roleplaying. We got some friends together, I was nominated GM, and I took our friends on the sample module from Volturnus. I had no idea what I was doing, and let the players take the story from me. The players successfully defeated the pirates with the help of automated security systems and sleeping gas, and instead of "Crash on Volturnus", it was "Gently Touch Down on Volturnus". From there, it was short work to blast the Quickdeaths with the ship's laser turrets. Whole swaths of the adventure were skipped as they just flew over them. We were all hooked, and I started writing stories to take them on further adventures.

Influences: A distrust of store-bought modules, the desire to tell stories, the love of percentage dice, the tendency to GM.

Mechwarriors: I did go to D&D and Traveller and a few other systems, but my next really big game was Mechwarrior. We focused a lot on the RPG aspect of it, with lots of NPCs warriors, rival mercenary groups, payment schedules, and betrayal, all against the backdrop of the Five Houses. At this point, I was co-GM with my cousin, and we had a few players. The Mechwarrior books had a ton of detail on the battlemechs, the houses, everything. I added to it by typing up NPC rosters and mech battalions.

Influences: Telling epic stories with a backdrop of intrigue and disaster, a love of hex grids, big set pieces of grand combat against lots of foes, lots of fleshed-out NPCs, the love of props.

GURPS: I didn't get into GURPS until college, and through friends of friends, I learned of a GURPS group. I picked up the rules, and it was love at first sight. I started out as a player in a world where the GM allowed anything, and it was great. I loved Skye, my amnesiac demon lawyer character, and I loved the idea that you could create anything and skip the stereotypes of "classes". And the worldbooks were both plentiful and chock full of information. Furthermore, the concept of "disadvantages" as something to strive for was one of those eureka moments for me; I could build characters with foibles and that is encouraged by the rule system. Most of my GURPS games thrived in the in-between land where multiple genres coexisted (time-travel, Illuminati University, dimension hopping, etc.), and I still believe that GURPS invites that type of exploration. As a side note, my then-girlfriend, now-wife and I started gaming in the same group.

Influences: Disadvantages as something good, a continued fascination with hex grids, gonzo stories that merged multiple genres ("so, you want to be an alien sociologist in my fantasy campaign, sure, go ahead"), character creation should not be randomized, idea that non-combat skills are just as important as combat skills, the idea that I needed to be a player for a while.

Serenity: The college group disbanded for the most part, I found other groups and introduced them to GURPS, and then things stagnated a bit with me. Frankly, I was getting a little bit burned out with GURPS. The transition to 4th edition was especially rough for me and my wife, and I started feeling constrained by the ultra-realism that the GURPS system suggested (Author's note: I know GURPS has cinematic rule sets and scaled-back rules for single-genre campaigns, so this is my limitation, not GURPS). So, I picked up the Serenity game. My wife and I are both Whedon fans from BTVS, so we started watching Firefly from the very beginning. When we saw that Serenity was a role-playing game, I jumped at the chance. The game was an eye-opener in many ways: rounds were fluid and not six-second intervals, action points could be awarded and spent like poker chips, a character could be shot up and be present in the next scene. I still run a yearly Firefly game (using the new improved rules) at our local convention, and I love the system.

Influences: More player-focused gaming, idea of action points to let players tweak the story, less detail-oriented rules, more cinematic playing, the idea that my tastes can change over time. Roll GM dice in the open. Plot points.

Dungeonworld: I first encountered this at GenCon with the Indie Games on Demand group. The GM there ran everything perfectly, and in four hours, we came up with characters that felt alive. I started out with a paladin that I was envisioning being Lawful Stupid, and then my wife (playing a rogue) gave me a bond that said I looked out for her. Suddenly I turned into a nice paladin, focused on good and looking at the potential for all human beings. It was a transformative gaming experience. I ended up sacrificing a hand to save an innocent, and the whole scenario felt epic.

Influences: Let the players tell the story, let the players roll the dice, treat the NPCs like the side characters they are, make sure the characters all know each other before the story starts, have those bonds influence the story.

And, of course, Chekhov.

These factors influence me no matter what system I'm running or playing. In a D&D 5e, I still have the concept of plot points and bonds and roll dice in the open and the occasional "roll percentage dice to see if something interesting happens." So, what's your story? Who or what do you see in your characters, your stories, your games, that come from other sources? Let me know in the forums.