Curiousity

So, I've been listening to this podcast called Role-Playing public radio for a while now. They have a pretty robust selection of actual plays and regular old topic-oriented content. Their actual plays are a lot of fun for me because I don't play very often, certainly not as much as I'd like to, I mean that in general terms, not in a "I always GM" way.

Anyway, they do a lot of neat stuff that ranges from talking about building ambiance and good npcs to game sessions at Gen Con or Fear the Con or the main guy's regular at home sessions with his gaming group. What I really like is the exposure to other systems that I'm getting. They do Call of Cthulhu, Mutants and Masterminds, GURPS, 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons, Wild Talents, Monsters and Other Childish Things, and a few others I think.

What I find neat is that Monsters and Other Childish Things gaming system. At first I ignored those podcasts because I have no interest whatsoever really in playing a kid at school doing kiddly things. I only started listening to them because I was kind of having a dry spell on podcasts and I wanted to build up a buffer to run through.

I started listening to it and I'm finding the system to be a neat concept. It all seems to be based on the relationship between the child and their friends and family, and especially their monster. Kids have monsters, and they're monster monsters. The ones I've heard described so far were an enormous snake with more snakes for hands, a giant shark god thing, a swarm of giant rats, a diesel chugging thing called Truckhammerzilla (which was glorious), and a giant Cthulhlian teddy bear with claws and teeth and red eyes and a felt heart on its belly covered in unspeakable drippings.

Being a kid doing kiddly things probably isn't cool in an RPG, doing so with a fucking teddy bear birthed from the same black womb as Cthulhu, kind of cool. So cool in fact that I started thinking of an idea for a monster called Mr. Tuftyears. He's a giant black koala bear in a trenchcoat and fedora with red eyes and large fangs and claws. I kind of tried working him out with the Allies advantage or the Dependant (the kid) disadvantage in GURPS because I don't have any Monsters and Other Childish Things books.

So, in closing: Role-Playing Public Radio is kind of awesome and Monsters and Other Childish Things is a pretty nifty concept.