Casting Shadows

You may have heard that #RPGaDAY2024 almost did not happen. That is the truth, and if you are curious about why that is, you can listen to me talk about it in the episode of the Casting Shadows podcast linked below:

However, as I sit down to type this, the clock is about to tick over onto July 31st with the first day of the event almost in sight just over the horizon. Not only do we have our traditional infographic with its tight presentation of the rules for this month-long social media challenge (this year in Lime Green!), we once again have a secondary challenge which can spice up the event for repeat participants or take the load of of people who already know that not all the prompts are a good fit for their play and experience. Thanks to the creative efforts of the polish site Skala Wyzwania or ‘Challenge Rating’ we have a series of prompts that use random tables and a strong fantasy theme to produce a lot of variety and fun. You can feel free to follow one or the other or mix and match as suits you. Will there be folks who do both? You’d better believe it~

#RPGaDAY2024 Prompts

In this age of Discord and other silos of private communication the RPG community, despite its continued growth in numbers, is growing more insular and returning to the isolated pockets of play of my youth. With that in mind, I looked over the prompts from the previous decade of our #RPGaDAY events and felt a strong pull from the approach taken in the 2nd and 3rd years. These on their surface are questions that can be answered simply and publicly on widely shared social media networks, with or without images, such as via Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, TwiXter, and Mastodon. They are the sort of prompts which leave a lot of room for newcomers just entering the hobby, for people who do #RPGaDAY every year, and for folks in between. There are some tough spots for the newcomers and possibly some for regulars as well, and for that reason there is our traditional provision of a bonus prompt. This one is reusable and should be accessible to all-comers. Going deeper, if you like, these prompts are also the basic building blocks of conversation between gamers, they are the fuel of late-night talks about our games, about pitches for play, and the fun that we find in and around gaming. This year, the theme is focused on our social interactions and the things which give us pleasure in the hobby. It’s very directly aligned with the purpose of #RPGaDAY, and it feels very timely to me.

#RPGaDAY2024 Skala Wyzwania Prompts

As you can see, a set of prompts was provided to ensure that just in case David and I could not rally in our own moments of darkness to keep the flame of #RPGaDAY alight, there was still hope for an 11th year of the event. These prompts are classic gamer fun with a roll or pick mechanism which adds in an option for a variety of means of expression to the daily prompt. Roll a d10 or simply choose the form of presentation for your musings and sharings for each of the 31 fantasy prompts. You might end up creating a random table on the theme of invasion on Day 11 or drawing a picture or creating an NPC! It could be a surprise or part of your master plan.

Advice

As usual, if you cannot find a way to make a post on a prompt, for whatever reason, stick with the key point of positivity that underpins #RPGaDAY and provide your own prompt. People love to peruse the permutations of prompts which pop up each year, and they love to hear about why you have changed a prompt – providing it’s not a complaint. Positivity is the key, and learning cool stuff about games, gamers, and gaming is the point.

It is a challenge to get through all 31 prompts in 31 days. I find it is a fun challenge and I have enjoyed it much more when I have undertaken it that way than when I haven’t. That said, the more complicated or detailed you make a post, the harder it is to keep up the pace. Posting pics of play for each prompt on Instagram? A daily rate works really well. Writing epic poetry and recording new age interpretive dance sequences to back it up, complete with accompaniment by harpsichord, hurdy-gurdy, and triangle? Maybe daily rates aren’t for you. Pace yourself. You will find, if you look, that the standard prompts are split up into chunks to make weekly posting an approachable posting proposition.

The last bit of advice is to seek out blogs, forums, discord servers, and social media posts using the hashtag #RPGaDAY2024. Let people know that you have seen their posts and like them. Share the really cool ones. Build the positivity and reinforce it. The hobby is worth it. The good stuff that we all know is a core part of gaming does not get shared as much as we think, nor as far. This is an easy way to boost the signal of that message.

#RPGaDAY2024

We will see you out there~

Other Media, and Translations link:
https://www.rascal.news/rpgaday-returns-in-august/

Looking for translations of the prompts? Go HERE