Free RPG Day 2023
Free RPG Day 2023
You might remember last years post on Free RPG Day. This year, without the disruptions from Covid, Free RPG Day was on 24th June 2023, and you can find out more about Free RPG Day here.
I had such a great time last year, I was the one asking if my local gaming store, OnTableTop, was going to host games this year... and to my delight they said yes!
The plan this year was to have three tables for RPGs, with three two hour slots across the day. The local gaming store were a little more coordinated this year and had several posts on various social media outlets to drum up support.
In the end up, there were two full tables for the first session, Vaesen and Meddling Kids; two full tables for the middle session, Call of Cthulhu and The Witch is Dead; and two full table for the third session, Blades in the Dark and Dungeons and Dragons. All in all a great turnout for both showcasing games and having players attend.
I ran two games this year, Meddling Kids and The Witch is Dead, and I played in the Blades in the Dark game in the last session.
Turning up on the morning of Free RPG Day I was dreading a repeat of last year with no-one enrolled to play my game, being that I was running another unknown game - Meddling Kids RPG; a 1970s / 1908s cartoon caper style adventure (for example Scooby-Doo or Captain Caveman). Lucky for me I had five players wanting to play. Woohoo!
All the Fun of the Fair
Bart's Fun Fair arrived in town a few days ago and everyone was excited to go. Towards the end of the first evening, a Ghoul Clown appeared and terrorised both the visitors and the staff scaring everyone away.
Both Bart, the fun fair owner, and the town council are desperate to get the fun fair back up and running but every time the fun fair opens the Ghoul Clown reappears scaring people away.
We all had a blast, and the players managed to catch and uncover the villain by the end of the session.
I ran The Witch is Dead for the next session after grabbing a quick ibte of lunch, and to my delight I had five players for this game as well, two of whom had never played an RPG before.
The Witch is Dead is a rules light one shot game by Grant Howitt where you play the animal familiars of a Witch who has recently been killed by a Witch-Hunter. gshowitt.itch.io/the-witch-is-dead
We all had a blast playing this one. I had two Hares, a Dog, a Magpie and a Crow all swearing bloody revenge for the death of their beloved witch.
I played Blades in the Dark in the afternoon. I enjoyed this game and would definitely like to play more of this, although I think I struggled in the game. Maybe it was fatigue from running all the games earlier, or maybe I didn't get into the pre-generated character enough, or maybe it was the one-shot that felt flat. Whatever it was I have a desire to play this again.
One of the boons of running games at Free RPG Day is the swag you can get to take home for donating your time. This year I got a few quick start guides, a few scenarios, a kickstarter party adventure game and some dice. Towards the end of the day, as I was the only person to have run multiple games, I was handed a dice bag. Nice!
During Free RPG Day 2022 there was a discussion about regular role playing slots at the club, the difficulty being GM availability. It was mooted that a once a month RPG day might work and we all agreed. Sadly nothing actually happened after Free RPG Day 2022.
I raised the question again this year and everyone was again in agreement, so I pushed a little harder this year and committed to the third Saturday of the month, booking myself in for the 15th July and 19th August to try and get the Monthly RPG Saturday off the ground. We have had the first one (which didn't turn out so great as there were a lot of people off on holidays then – but hey ho I turned up and ran a game with the folks who managed to attend to keep things going), and I am looking forward to the next RPG Saturday. I am also pleased to say that there is a bit more chatter on the socials about the next RPG Saturday due in August so here is hoping!
J