Ask Me Anything: Nezzeraj

That's a great mix of games. Do you get a chance to play all those IRL too?

1. What's the "nezzeraj" moniker from? Do you use it elsewhere, and if so, how long have you been doing that?
2. Are you playing in or running anything live? What?
3. Decision time. If you had to give up either live RPGs at the table, or all PbP RPG play... what gets thrown overboard and what gets kept?"

Hah! Ninjaed by Adam.

Who’s your favorite PBP poster that also lives in Korea?

Do you feel any responsibility for introducing me to this site, thereby sucking up all my free (and not so free) time?

LMAO!

How did you got introduced to ttrpg and at what age?

So many great questions! Except for KCC's of course, absolute rubbish ;)
I only played D&D or Pathfinder for about the first 5 years of my gaming life, and once I discovered how great other games were, I went the opposite direction and try to play anything I think I'll like. I have played or run all of those systems IRL except for Shadowrun which I've only played a little on Roll20. Once corona is gone I would like to run more IRL.
1. Nezzeraj came mostly from the World of Warcraft random name generator lol. It gave me Nezz-something but I didn't like how the ending sounded so I changed it. This was way back in 2006-7 or so and I've mostly been using the name ever since. I use it everywhere that came after that date. I think only my Steam account pre-dates that so I have a different name there.
2. I don't play anything in person at the moment. Korea is still doing poorly with their current corona plan and only now are most people vaccinated. I just wrapped up a long term CoC Orient Express campaign online, and I ran a few one shots or mini-campaigns since then. Starting up a Forbidden Lands campaign after we finish a CoC modern one shot I'm doing online.
3. I'd give up PbP easily. While I do the enjoy the extra time writing more thoughtful posts and flexing my writing muscles, nothing compares to the spontaneity and energy of in-person games. I also have terrible memory so I tend to forget things easily when a single scene stretches on for a month. (I'm notoriously bad at remembering party NPCs lol.)
You are. And no, you're welcome lol.
My youngest brother got me into it when I was 23. I had moved back home after getting my 2 year degree and my brother had a gaming group that played D&D 3.5. The DM ran a one-shot to introduce me to the game and I was hooked. I went to the local bookstore to read over their books and learn more. Little did I know 4e had just released like the week before and the books I read were a completely different game than what I had played lol. I bought the 4e set and played a little bit of it but really didn't like it. That same time Pathfinder was in alpha or beta and I downloaded the free rules and enjoyed the much closer similarity to 3.5. Bought Pathfinder when it came out and that was my first official foray into TTRPGs.

Other than your younger brother, are there any other family members that share your interest in the hobby?

Sadly no.

What's the weirdest or most unusual game setting you've ever played in (live or pbp)?

What was your (secret) guess for who would die first in the Camp Bloodbath game? :P

What's your least favorite episode of your favorite TV show?

Are there any great RPGs or RPG settings local to Korea that you have seen, or wish would occur?

What helps you recharge for another session after spending time at the gaming table?

- Do you like miniatures? Have you ever tried painting one? :D
- What do you think about LARP (Live Action Roleplaying)?
- Favorite horror book, if any?
- You mentioned WoW - do you still play any MMORPGs?
- Any great board games made in Korea (or is it USA?..) and not very well-known anywhere else?

1. Can you explain the appeal of Burning Wheel? I'm aware of its complexity, but how would you pitch it to someone?
2. Cable or wireless Shadowrun?
3. What is the best RPG you've ever read that meshes the Cthulhu Mythos with another genre?
4. What's your most treasured memory from playing a role playing game?

The Veil, a "cyberpunk" PbtA game. It calls itself cyberpunk maybe because of themes, but it's far future and very post-modern. It was a really strange game with strange playbooks that I still don't understand lol.
Declan! But I had an unfair advantage in that anyone who has played with KCC knows he has supernaturally unlucky dice rolls haha. Any game that isn't roll under, it's safe to assume KCC's character will die first lol.
The clever answer is "the last episode" lol. Recently, probably the VIPs episode of Squid Game.
TTRPGs aren't very popular here. The only game I even know is played is Call of Cthulhu here. A westerner who lives here did make a Korea-inspired campaign setting for 5e though! You can find it here if you're interested: Koryo Adventures
Player feedback. A few compliments (I'll even take white lies lol) go a long way to motivating GMs.

1. I tend not to play games that are tactical enough to need maps and minis, but I do like minis for artistic reasons. I have painted a few! The first big campaign I ran was Serpent's Skull for Pathfinder and I bought and painted a mini for each player. I think I've painted about 6 or 7 minis in total.
2. LARPs have never interested me. I know a lot of people like the fantasy of being another person, but I like RPGs for the stories that are made and joking with friends. I don't think I could stay "in character" for a LARP session lol.
3. That's a hard question. It by Stephen King is very high, as is The Troop by Nick Cutter. If you allow me to include short story collections, High Cotton and Bumper Crop by Joe Lansdale, Demiurge by Michael Shae, and Sefira by John Langan. I think "N." by Stephen King is the greatest single piece of horror fiction ever written.
4. Yes! I continue to play FFXIV since the ARR days. I played WoW for a long time, quit at the end of Legion.
5. Yut nori and baduk (Go in Japanese) are the only two I'm aware of. Baduk came from China though and is somewhat well-known. Yut nori is fun but it's just a game of luck and not skill so it's mostly played by kids.
BW is for people who don't want a power fantasy, but instead want to see a character develop organically through tough decisions. I would only pitch it to people who I already know well, and who I know like that kind of game. Many people want to create idealized forms of themselves as escapism and that's fun, but that's not what BW is about. I would pitch it as similar to method acting. If you want to play individuals and really get in their headspace and explore a complex world, then give it a try. I think of any RPG, BW needs an experienced GM who not only knows the rules, but also knows how to push on character's pressure points to get them to make tough decisions.
2. Cable! I like the late 80s/early 90s aesthetic of Shadowrun, and don't think it should necessarily reflect the advances we make in our own reality.
3. I can't really think of any that I'd call "good". CthulhuTech had a lot of promise in concept, but wasn't a fan of the execution. I like the game Tremulus which is a PbtA hack of CoC, but that's not a mix, it's just a straight up horror detective game lol. If you know of any please let me know!
4. If it's a single memory, it'd have to be the last combat of the last session of a Burning Wheel campaign. Only two characters were left alive, the other remaining character and I were escaping a seige of oni on our castle and we were fleeing on horseback. Against all odds we rolled like every die a success and fought off all the oni and escaped to ride off into the sunset. It was epic.

Well, I like to keep all my high rolls for when I’m playing Call of Cthulhu. -.-"

Achtung! Cthulhu does come to mind, though technically it's just CoC in a different time (unless you run the new 2d20 Modiphius system). As a pure crossover, I recently discovered Apocthulhu which is nice and exactly what it says on the tin: post apocalyptic stuff in a world that ended not by a nuke but by some Lovecraftian horror.

Apocthulhu sounds interesting, I'll check it out!