The NFC Title Game

So, most every place I look and listen this week, everybody seems to be firmly of the opinion that the New York Giants will do a little stomp dance on the face of the San Francisco 49ers. Or at least that seems to be the general public sentiment. The Vegas line favors San Fran, but in that Vegas-zoney way that seems to be based on making money off the rubes, and not on the actually abilities of the teams.

The New York Giants, as awesome as they looked last weekend, are a team built to beat the New England Patriots, the Green Bay Packers, the New Orleans Saints, or the Dallas Cowboys. (We'll also take Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Detriot Lions as answers here.) The Giants are built to bring too much pressure up front with their base defense, while blanketing the other teams leading receivers - this forces high flying, high octane offenses into mistakes, and makes them rely on steady ball advancement, reducing possesions an offensive opportunity. At the same time, the Giants offense is built to exploit weak defenses, not overcome strong ones.

Look at the games the Giants lost this year - almost all of them were against teams playing the way the Giants play, disruptive pressure defense and opportunistic offense. Most of those teams do not have playmakers the quality of Eli Manning or JPP, and they still beat the Giants. I know the Giants are healthy for the first time all year, and if the Saints has beaten the 49ers last weekend, I would say they are the Super Bowl Favorite. But the Giants have to beat the 49ers, a team whose offense is used to taking what it can get and relying on the run, also a team whose defense is probably the best defense in the NFL this year. I dont see how that is a matchup that favors the Giants.

DM Questionnaire, via Playing D&D with Pornstars

Another Survey via Zak @ http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

A one-handed injection dagger for delivering swift action potions and poisons. Or a dark elder god revived in the format of a herd of cattle.

2. When was the last time you GMed?
September 2011

3. When was the last time you played?
January 2012

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

The party follows a criminal/murderer/villian into an underground cave complex that holds an entire village of hideous mutants and outcasts who the villian aids and assists as a spiritual leader.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

Plan or tweak upcoming encounters, actions and moments to fuck with them as best as possible. If they take a REALLY long time, I'll get a snack, or hunt some extra forbidding music or pictures.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

Depends, but usually one meal, plus many sugary or salty snacks.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

No.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?
Trailing another PC and guiding him away from the knowledge that my PC had murdered his father.

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Both, really. The players are respectful of the setting in some sense, but it takes a serious second place to whatever their moods or desires are at the time of the game. Funny day for the players makes for a funny game, a serious day for a serious game.

10. What do you do with goblins?

Give them class levels and kills PCs with them, if I can.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

Giant city catacombs beneath Montreal.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

Legend, an OGL derivative. I was looking at it for design ideas for my homebrew campaign, specifically some role-playing mechancis.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

High Energy, Very Unusual, A Little Dark.
This: http://www.circusfare.com/ or this: http://toxoplasm.org/

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

Aside from a few attempts at true horror adventures, no.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

I had an amazing time running the original Temple of Elemental Evil module with a group I played with in high school. Mostly the creative party solutions to navigating a dungeon of that size with all the personalities involved made the campaign oodles and oodles of fun.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

Big screen behind me for pictures of the gameworld and npcs, a large table with battlemap and easily adjusted terrain pieces, small side tables next to each player for character sheet, dice, books or laptop. Warm, good natural light that is not overwhelming. Comfy, sinky chairs.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

Savage Worlds and Palladium (FRP, TMNT, Rifts)

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?
Viola Spolin (Theater Games and Improvisation) and The Legend of Zelda (dungeon crawling traps and puzzly goodness)

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

Someone who is ready to try anything once.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

Losing camping gear, food, and extra clothing and setting up a camp in the dark woods at night.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

Eh. There are so many great RPG products. A really good desktop/tablet app that allows a DM to easily fill in campagin/game content for players to create digital character records and campaign journals would be pretty awesome.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?
I know some game designers who do not play RPG's, but are interested in them. Those conversations are interesting because of how torn the designers are between the freedom and excitement of a tabletop RPG game and the fear of someone breaking their systems.