Today, I received a package in the mail. The contents revealed the following: Yes, it’s my physical copy of The Dark Eye from the recent, highly successful, Kickstarter for the English translation of the game’s 5th edition. I figured I’d take this opportunity to kick off the “RPGs I’ve played” series I’ve been meaning to write. After all, for me it all began with The Dark Eye - or rather, with the German original, “Das Schwarze Auge” (aka DSA)....

I know not everyone likes them, but I’m a sucker for GM screens. At the same time, official GM screens usually don’t include the exact information I need. Too often, they include obscure random tables that I rarely (if ever) need, while omitting critical information that I need to reference all the time. Therefore, I like the idea of customizable screens such as this one (branded as a Savage Worlds screen, but really just a generic 3-panel screen with various inserts available online)....

I recently got back into tabletop RPGs after taking a 16+ year break from this hobby. In this post, I’ll share my experience. I first started playing RPGs in the mid-80s. Growing up in Germany, my first system was naturally Das Schwarze Auge (The Dark Eye) - the most popular German RPG, easily beating out D&D. The Dark Eye just kickstarted an English translation of the 5th edition, BTW. Two of my high school friends started playing RPGs around the same time, and over the next few years, our circle slowly kept growing....

Last weekend, I attended my first KublaCon. This was only the second gaming convention I attended in the US, the first one being last year’s DunDraCon. The Good The mix of events was great. I mainly played RPGs, but there were tons of options for board games, elaborate war games, collectible card games, LARPs, and more. They also had a dedicated kids and teens room. My home group mainly plays D&D, so conventions are a great way for me to try out some other systems....

In addition to my dormant personal blog and my music blog, I decided to start a blog centered around tabletop RPG gaming. Over the next few posts, I’ll share my childhood RPG history, as well as my journey back into this fun hobby after a 16+ year break.