Ask Me Anything: Tickettbror

1. Where does your username come from?
2. What RPG do you like but is unpopular, or vice versa?
3. What popular IP would you like to see made into an RPG? Or what RPG would you like turned into another form of media?

1. What song (if any) do you play to get yourself out of a bad mood?
2. Would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses or 1 horse sized duck? (assume they are very angry and will attack you)
2a. Why?
2b. Do you think your knowledge of martial arts would help you in such a situation?

Any advice for someone looking to learn to play piano?
What movie or TV show most accurately reflects your job?
What movie or TV show least accurately represents your culture?

The username comes from when I was living in Sweden during my second year of university. I was talking to a friend of mine and mentioned my username (that was a pun based on my real name) and he didn't know the French word and asked if it was Ticket, and from then on he called me ticket brother, which is Biljett bror in Swedish, which led to Tickettbror.
That's hard to say, because I'm not sure what's popular. If I'm talking in person; I love Legend of the Five Rings, but here in the UK no one's ever even heard of it. Otherwise, maybe Paleomythic for it's fairly original setting. As I said I have a list of more obscure titles which may also count; Never Going Home, Jiangshi and Chasing Adventure to name a few.

As for Vice Versa; well, I've never been hugely fond of the typical fantasy Europe dungeon crawl that DND (usually) ends up as, and I find the system doesn't really sit well with me compared to the customisability of the others I've mentioned. Then again, I'm entirely biased and might well be completely wrong about that. :p
Hmm, interesting question. Now I'm going to have to check if there are RPGs of somethings just in case. I think I'd say maybe Gears of War; the huge amounts of lore and backstory of that setting which isn't approached because of its reputation as a video game is a real shame. I'd love to run a campaign based on the background events mentioned in Karen Traviss' novels.

Otherwise, Fullmetal Alchemist or Last Exile would both make excellent RPGs but would need to be handled with care I think.

As for the other way around... It's hard to say because I like a lot of systems due to how open their settings are, but maybe a story from Lancer or Gubat Banwa as a TV series of graphic novel would be cool.
This changes from time to time, but I tend to go back to Studio Ghibli sountracks a lot. One of my favourite songs is "A Town with an Ocean View" which tends to work. Otherwise, "Here Comes a Thought" from Steven Universe helps a lot too. I usually find that it'll either be a movie or TV score and not a stand alone song though.
I'd say the horse sized duck, if I'm being honest. There's no way I'd be able to fight 100 of anything, and the thing about horses is they're a lot faster than I am so I'm thinking I can't outrun them. A horse sized duck though? It's still not going to be the best suited to land so I can run away more easily. I don't think I'd win either way, though.

No, I don't think my martial arts experience would help. More than my abysmal reaction speed, both are suited to the human anatomy and are arguably defensive... :')
Hmm, I guess I'd say it's a lot easier than it looks - until it's not. Basically, enjoy how quickly you'll learn the basics and your early victories and when it starts getting hard don't beat yourself up. As long as you keep rehearsing those basics you'll get there, so don't lose your momentum.
So, if I'm trying to give a direct example, I'd say nothing. My job is really specialised and rare. Given that I'm working in a hospital and the team here goof off where they can, I'd say Scrubs otherwise. Your usual hospital scene, but in a specialist department then. XD
Oh wow, there are so many that get England wrong so it's hard to pick one. Anything that shows us as posh, reserved and "intellectual" doesn't really understand how we actually work over here. Oh and teens, our schools and teenage years are very different to America or really anywhere else in the world (as far as I know). No one likes sports, everyone wants to smoke or drink cheap cider and barely know how to speak. (I'm not colouring the UK well haha).

I guess if I had to be more specific though, I'd say the Harry Potter films. I've always found bits of them inaccurate, and whenever someone hears my local accents they always think of Hagrid.

Have you ever been to the Wye Bakery? It’s about as far South and East as you can get in the UK, but if I have to tell you that, then no you haven’t been there. Just curious because I told my daughters the Tooth Fairy lives there, and… long story.

What if someday you have kids, and you decide to tell them their Tooth Fairy is from the USA? Where in the USA would the Tooth Fairy be from? (Hey, I didn’t think I’d ever have children either when I was 27. It can’t hurt to get your story straight now.)

Speaking of stories, perhaps one or both of your novels had a fairy character. Perhaps a character had a fey quality. Or maybe in an RPG, you played a Pathfinder sprite or something. Whatever the case, who is the most fey character you have ever created in your entire life?

I haven't. It's on the other side of the country to me, but maybe one day I'll have to go and check it out. Before I got my current job I didn't really get the chance to travel, training in Neurology is pretty time consuming and expensive as you might imagine. I'm trying to explore more nowadays.
Well, its true that I can't see myself having kids, but under the hypothetical I'll have to expose my lack of USA geography. I think probably somewhere in the North, somewhere with big trees and forests. When I think of the tooth fairy I think of forests, but I'm not sure why. It's probably because I associate fey with forests.

So really, if I had to say the tooth fairy came from anywhere I'd say Bavaria.
So this is a hard question, but I suppose it's all dependant on how you define fey. If we define them as mythical and potentially folkloric creatures then one of my novels is full of them. Among them I'd argue the guide (for want of a better name) is potentially the most fey, being a girl that appears in many different ages with no obvious chronology. (Eg. appearing first as a young child, then as an aging women, then a teen and so on).

The other novel doesn't feature so much, but given that it involves magic girls (30 years old and retired, but still) and a typical magic girl mascot though it could be argued that the latter is one.

As for RPGs, it's hard to remember specifically. I once ran an L5R campaign based on collecting seven relics from seven demons to undo a curse, which was deep into Japanese folklore, so I think any of those demons make the list. Take your pick!

Favourite Warhammer faction and why? Have you played any Warhammer RPGs?

I think if I had to give a favourite faction it would depend on if it's 40k or the Old World.

For 40k it used to be Chaos Space Marines, when I was younger and edgy. Well, not that 40k isn't still like that but these days. I liked them because I felt I could customise my characters a lot and really build an army with my theme. I ended up making an unusual Slaaneshi themed warband, and I still have all of my homebrew content for them which I use whenever I can.

As for my current favourite 40k faction; its definitely the Adepta Sororitas. The fanaticism, relevance and willingness to make hard choices really works in the narrative. Even if I wouldn't even begin to agree with their methods and faith in real life, as a narrative device I can't get enough. Not only do I love their lore but their plastic sculpts are fantastic. The Sisters of Battle novels take up most of the 40k section on my bookshelf. (The parts not dominated by the Horus Heresy.)

As for The Old World, my favourite isn't technically in the old word but the Tomb Kings. They were the first team I settled on in Fantasy, back when it existed, and I've loved them since. I was attracted to their fairly original designs, along with being in an Egyptian Mythology mood in my youth. When they got added to Total War Warhammer I disappeared for a long time as I invested many hours into my campaigns.
Yes.

I started with Rogue Trader, which is by far my least favourite of the 40k Rps. I went on to play Dark Heresy and Only War soon after. From there I GM'd Only War for ages (it's my favourite) until I decided to test Deathwatch and Black Crusade. In both cases, I think Space Marines are too complicated to use with detailed rules (except as bosses). If I wanted to do space marine PCs I'd use Cypher.

My first experience with Wrath & Glory is here on GP. It's an interesting system, and I like it's fluidity. I'm not sure if I'd say I prefer it to the other 40k Rps, but in terms of being beginner friendly I think it wins there.

I've also dabbled in multiple editions of WFRP, and am currently playing in a WFRP 1st Ed campaign here on GP. I'm enjoying it a lot!

Ooooh, Slaaneshi warband (squeees like a girl). I tend to like Malice / Malal because I am edgy like that. Sororitas are a solid choice too.

If a Genie appeared in front of you what would your three wishes be? (Normal Wishes that are not allowed rules stand.)

had my eye on that setting too. Lovely book. Maybe one day I will try to run it here!

Q-any interesting legends from the area you grew up in? Creatures or strange places?

Hopefully this isn't one of those genies that like to be roundabout in their methods, since I'll answer simply. To live a comfortable life where I don't need to work, to give my friends and family enough money to achieve their dreams, to make sure everyone I interact with also has a good life.

I know it's not world saving or anything, but if a genie existed and the world hadn't been saved yet I'd assume there's some kind of loophole to stop that happening. :p
Many, many. We're famous for it, since a lot of King Arthur events happen around us.

In the valley where I grew up itself, we have our own set of creatures. We have a magical hare that lives by moonlight and has healing powers, a two headed demon goat of the devil, and a chariot that has ambiguous riders (from Celtic to Renaissance depending on who you ask) that goes up and down the high street.

Next to the house I grew up in was an abandoned old stone shed that was said to be a prison for a werewolf, and we had the Grey Lady who wondered the local houses and the velvet hand that stole things from people. I can think of a few more, but those are the major ones that I used to hear about a few times.

As for non creature related stories; we've got standing stones of power, a history of druidic magic and given how close we are to the Welsh border we get a few Welsh tradition and folklore drifting across too. (Those get really weird).

amazing snippets of folklore, thanks! glad I asked

A fellow theatre appreciator spotted! :0 Do you have a favourite stage play? And what is the stage play you have written yourself and are most fond of is about?

Do you like musicals? If yes, any obscure recommendations? :D

Does your gaming hobby include board games aside from Warhammer and TTRPGs? What's the last board game you've played that you really liked? Do you play any TCGs/LCGs?

A favourite stage play is hard to say, I do like a lot of them honestly. I'd probably go for one of the Shakespeare's but I'm not sure which, but that might be a bias because I grew up with them. I did get the wonderful chance to see the European premiere of the "Your Lie in April" stage adaptation which has been the best one I've seen in recent years.

In terms of what I've most enjoyed writing, I wrote a two person play with roughly an hours run time about the two people who invented the British Landship in World War One. The entire piece is set in one location, the hotel room they were locked in for several months so they could work on the design in secret. It was fun to figure out how to keep, and build, the tension with only one set and two actors. The pair who performed it were spectacular to work with as well.
Well, again I'm not sure what counts as obscure, but yes I like musicals. I'm not sure how well known "The Commitments" are in other countries besides the UK and Ireland, but I love the musical about their rise and fall. It's written by Roddy Doyle who has a hilarious writing style and the sets and music tend to be really creative.

Otherwise, I know a few good musical films that are slightly more obscure... I think. XD
It used to include more board games but my local gaming shop / meetup place closed down recently and it's made it a lot harder. We used to pick up and play anything we could get our hands on in terms of board games though.

AS for TCGs and LCGs; I got into L5R by extension of the TTRPG, but just as the TTRPG is unknown over here so was the card game so it didn't last long. I got into the Digimon TCG, and still have all of my decks, but I was never competitive. I themed all of my decks off the digidestined and didn't once look at meta. I haven't gotten around to having a full set from any of the generations I grew up with though!

What's an overused trope that you love in fiction? Have you tried to incorporate it into gaming?

I have never heard of it, so counts for me. :D It certainly looks interesting; I shall watch it someday!
(And do give me more of these obscure musical films please; there are never too many recommendations.)

Also, if you're interested in lesser known, somewhat historically-based musicals, maybe check out "Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812". It is a short stage musical based on a part of "War and Peace" by Tolstoy, and it does some funky things with its music!
Oh, have you tried Tabletop Simulator? I'm in somewhat the same boat with the local game shop never playing my preferred genres, so it has been a good substitute for playing with people! Also, good for trying games before buying. :V

Did you actually get to play L5R TCG with anyone while it was still in print? Did you like it? And I think they reprinted it into a full board game eventually, so did you try that?

I don't tend to be consistent with tropes over games, since I like a range of settings and genres, but if I had to pick any I'd say having the "sealed evil in a can" type big bad. A lot of my games feature a big bad, arch henchmen or something big and evil in sealed locations which I trick my players into opening. It gives them a motivation because, technically, they're responsible for everything going wrong.

Now I've said it though, you'll no what to avoid if you play in my games.
For some reason the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are anime films. "Anthem of the Heart" is a hidden gem if you ask me, and "Sing a Little Harmony" is okay and fun to watch if you want something you don't have to give much thought to. These are just my opinions though, and it's been some time since I watched them.
With a name like that I'm already interested!
I haven't tried Tabletop Simulator. I've been meaning to for a long time, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I played the L5R TCG a few times, and enjoyed it, but I'm not confident I got the rules right. So I guess I should say I enjoyed the version of it I played... I didn't know they reprinted it though, I'll have to look into that for sure!