August is #RPGaDay2024 and I am going to posting daily responses to the prompts. You can find more information about #RPGaDAY2024 here: https://www.autocratik.com/2024/07/announcing-rpgaday2024-for-august.html

There are two sets of prompts this year and since I have room to do so on the blog I will answer both. In episode S2E6 of my podcast titled RPGaDAY2024 Panel Discussion I assemble an esteemed panel and we go through the main prompts for the entire month’s so I will try to give different answers here on the blog but may end up repeating myself occasionally.  

On their podcast Mirke the Meek suggested using the alternate prompts to create a setting and that is a great idea so I’m going to steal that. The setting I am going to craft for this month will be a modern, conspiracy style setting. Nominally I think we’ll set it in the 1970’s to avoid the problems cell phones and the internet can cause if player characters have access to them.

Here are the main prompts:

And here are a set of alternative prompts suggested by Skala Wyzwania, look at the day on the left, pick the theme, then roll d10. 

Day 4 Main Prompt: RPG with great art. 

There are so many! I’m sure it is nostalgia but I still love the art in early TSR products. The sense of humor that comes through and the quirkiness of the implied setting really sits well with me. 

Tri Tac games also deserve a shout out for the fun art in them. Bureau 13 Stalking the Night Fantastic is probably their most famous game and it is well worth checking out, I did a hour long episode gushing over it a while back. 

In the same vein I am taken by the art in Machineguns & Magic a game from 1991 that is now available through Precis Media as part of their classic reprints line. I am not in love with the cover of the reprint but the interior art is well worth the price of admission.

Day 4 Alternate Prompt: Cosmos and my d10 roll is a 1 which is “Describe a Monster”

The Cosmos of this setting is much like our own and there is no question that a battle is being waged with humanity being mere pieces used by powers beyond our ken in their contest against each other. These great powers reach into our reality from their own to wage a war to see which will dominate. Instead of fighting directly they pick champions and pawns to represent their interests until they are killed or worn out at which time they are discarded for new ones. 

If that was all it would be enough but no, dear reader, there are other forces at work in the Cosmos, other life outside of the sphere we hurl through space on in such blissful ignorance. Other star faring civilizations and entities that on occasion take interest in the curious creatures called humans. 

One example are known as The Greys. They can take different appearances but often seem to be thin, grey skinned creatures the size of children with large, hairless heads and piercing black eyes. They are the masters of technology flying craft that do impossible feats in our atmosphere. In addition they are curious, they will kidnap and experiment on humans, on occasion even implanting devices in them, often for no discernible purpose. The Greys will use devices to try and paralyze their prey or anyone that they deem a threat. They will either leave them, if the victim is lucky, or take the victim back to their craft where they will strive to understand what makes that poor soul “tick.” They are physically weak and if one can avoid being paralyzed overcoming them in a physical fight will not be difficult. 

That’s all for today, until tomorrow be excellent to each other!