Meh. I don't do anything because famous people do it; but, it was an interesting section in marketing about celebrity endorsements and those that do follow them.

I bet Judy Dench would make a pretty fine GM.

Was George R R Martin on the list?  I know he played GURPS, and I'd even heard that he started Game of Thrones as an RPG campaign.

Quote from: RPGPundit;727802I bet Judy Dench would make a pretty fine GM.

Was George R R Martin on the list?  I know he played GURPS, and I'd even heard that he started Game of Thrones as an RPG campaign.

He's a gamer, but the above smacks of wishful thinking. It's the Wild Cards universe that started as a Superworld (not GURPS) campaign.

Lies of Locke Lamora was a D&D game - ScottLynch geeks off about D&D on his blog fairly often though suspect he is now a lapsed player

Likewise Joe Abercrombie though on his blog he mainly discusses computer games. I guess a side effect of writing being a solo profession.

And the two of them reference a host of other fantasy and Scifi authors

Basically if you are 30 - 50 and writing fantasy you probably played D&D as a kid.

Quote from: jibbajibba;727823Lies of Locke Lamora was a D&D game - ScottLynch geeks off about D&D on his blog fairly often though suspect he is now a lapsed player

He is.  First-hand knowledge.

Quote from: The Butcher;727819He's a gamer, but the above smacks of wishful thinking. It's the Wild Cards universe that started as a Superworld (not GURPS) campaign.

"Game of Thrones" didn't start as a roleplaying game, but it was deeply steeped in its sensibilities given that it was written by a *massive RPG geek*.

I run a small community radio station, and had the chance last year to interview Melinda Snodgrass, who was a contributor to the Wild Cards short story series. She also wrote several second and third season scripts for Star Trek: The Next Generation, and was a story editor on that show.

She only got into writing because her friend George R. R. Martin pushed her into it. George was working on TV's 'Beauty and the Beast' and rather than getting her in on that show (in case she failed) he got her to submit a spec script to Star Trek: The Next Generation. She sold them "Measure of a Man" and basically went on to be responsible for all the good Data episodes.

During this time she was playing weekly roleplaying games with George R. R. Martin as GM, along with fellow writers from that area, like (drum-roll please) Roger Zelazny, among other very impressive people (that I'd have to listen to the interview again to remember).

Anyway, I asked her what they played together, and she said:

* George was obsessed with Superworld, of all things.
* They played a lot of GURPS and Cthulhu.
* More than anything they played historical settings with home-brew systems George (and others in the group) would come up with, most notably an ancient Rome campaign that went on for something like 10 years, and a pirate/privateer campaign that, if I remember her saying correctly, went for a similar length.

In summary, George R. R. Martin is a huge roleplaying geek, and Melinda Snodgrass is a super interesting person and one of the unsung heroes of science fiction.

//Panjumanju

Quote from: Panjumanju;727995"Game of Thrones" didn't start as a roleplaying game, but it was deeply steeped in its sensibilities given that it was written by a *massive RPG geek*.

This is pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing.

Quote from: The Butcher;727819He's a gamer, but the above smacks of wishful thinking. It's the Wild Cards universe that started as a Superworld (not GURPS) campaign.

Maybe so, but at the same time pretty much with every character in Thrones you can see them as GURPS Fantasy guys complete with having seriously minmaxed on their disadvantages: "I want to be the best fucking swordsman in the world.. shit.. better take 'incestuous relationship with sister' and 'murdered the last king'"

"I want to be even better at swordplay than that other guy! Damn.. i better take "excessively tall", "social disadvantage: female", and "flaw: falls in love with idiots""

"I want to be crazy smart and really socially competent... ah well, 'midget' here I come"

"I want my character to be King!  Damn.. I'll have to take the 'complete asshole' disadvantage"

"I'm the badass strong mean knight.. fuck, well, "facial burns" and 'phobia: fire' it is.."

"I want dragons!! You're saying I'll have to take what?? Oh.. well.. ok!"

"I want to be the most awesome character in this or any other campaign ever.  I'll have to take 'little girl'?? But I did that already in the 'Kick-Ass Supers' campaign!  Well, whatever..."

And then the guy playing Littlefinger doesn't char-op at all and ends up running circles around everyone else by sheer Roleplay, because he's used to playing Amber instead of GURPS.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;728509Maybe so, but at the same time pretty much with every character in Thrones you can see them as GURPS Fantasy guys complete with having seriously minmaxed on their disadvantages: "I want to be the best fucking swordsman in the world.. shit.. better take 'incestuous relationship with sister' and 'murdered the last king'"

"I want to be even better at swordplay than that other guy! Damn.. i better take "excessively tall", "social disadvantage: female", and "flaw: falls in love with idiots""

"I want to be crazy smart and really socially competent... ah well, 'midget' here I come"

"I want my character to be King!  Damn.. I'll have to take the 'complete asshole' disadvantage"

"I'm the badass strong mean knight.. fuck, well, "facial burns" and 'phobia: fire' it is.."

"I want dragons!! You're saying I'll have to take what?? Oh.. well.. ok!"

"I want to be the most awesome character in this or any other campaign ever.  I'll have to take 'little girl'?? But I did that already in the 'Kick-Ass Supers' campaign!  Well, whatever..."

And then the guy playing Littlefinger doesn't char-op at all and ends up running circles around everyone else by sheer Roleplay, because he's used to playing Amber instead of GURPS.

RPGPundit

:rotfl:

That may be the best summary of the main characters ever.

Quote from: RPGPundit;728509Maybe so, but at the same time pretty much with every character in Thrones you can see them as GURPS Fantasy guys complete with having seriously minmaxed on their disadvantages:

If the series weren't a missing clef away from being a roman a clef for the Wars of the Roses, you might have something.

Quote from: daniel_ream;728562If the series weren't a missing clef away from being a roman a clef for the Wars of the Roses, you might have something.

Oh believe me, I know.  I was really just having a laugh.

Gave me a good laugh anyway ... cheers, Pundit.

Quote from: RPGPundit;728509Maybe so, but at the same time pretty much with every character in Thrones you can see them as GURPS Fantasy guys complete with having seriously minmaxed on their disadvantages:

Good show, sir. :hatsoff:

Thanks. The blog entry I did with that post got quite the response, for such a silly topic.  Meanwhile an SA goon selectively cut & paste part of it on grog.txt to imply I was being serious.