An admission, dear readers: I had no idea who Awkward GM Corbin was until I started writing this post. Now I’ve discovered his YouTube Channel and know exactly who created the “About Me: Tabletop” template that inspired today’s entry. It really goes to show my age that I had no idea these were so popular in online fandoms! I might have seen a few floating around online spaces, but the trend didn’t truly catch my attention until Angel (aka Enyol) posted his About Me Tabletop RPG in the Puerto Rico Role Players Facebook group.
While searching online, I saw that the original Awkward GM post was made on Reddit about 20 days ago. You can get the template here.
The idea of completing the template challenged me, and I honestly thought I’d be done with it in no time. That was not the case. A few categories were easy to fill out, but others took real time, and I went back and forth on several of my responses. Surprisingly, only one answer is repeated!
I was originally going to just post the image and be done with it. But you know me: I can’t help but add details and explanations. If you just want the quick visual, here is the image on its own. Feel free to comment away here on the blog or on my socials—I’d be happy to engage!
However, if you want the deep dive into my choices, read on.
First, a quick caveat. These are my current thoughts as of late May 2026. Some of these might have been different in the past, or they may evolve in the future. It might be obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: these are MY opinions, not the opinions of Michael (aka the titular Stargazer) or any of the other blog contributors. You may disagree with some of my takes. Good! Leave a comment, fill out your own “About Me: Tabletop RPG” form, and share it with us. I’d love to have that conversation.
Now that the housekeeping is out of the way, on to the categories!
Favorite Game: Savage Worlds
I recently posted about my two current favorite games on the blog, so this should be no surprise. The real challenge was picking which ONE to put in the top spot. This may just be a matter of what I’m currently planning and running, but it feels right.
Best Lore: Raiding the Obsidian Keep
There is a lot of fantastic lore content in TTRPGs. A LOT. Picking just one is incredibly hard. Do I go with the wonderfully convoluted and bizarre Torg? The setting I’m currently playing, Fading Suns? The brilliant Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death? The Whispering Vault? I ultimately went with Raiding the Obsidian Keep by Joseph R. Lewis.
Why? It is an incredibly succinct adventure with a highly imaginative story and setting, packed full of great details. It features engaging lore, a self-contained OSR structure, and clocks in at 72 marvelously illustrated pages in the Merry Mushmen edition (with an even shorter version, The Obsidian Keep, which is D&D 5e-compatible and self-published by Mr. Lewis). Of all the content I’ve read recently, this was just the most imaginative old-school adventure I’ve seen, and I simply could not put it down. I am usually not a big fan of pre-written adventures, but this one had it all.
- Runners-up: Fading Suns, The Whispering Vault, and Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death
Best Art: UVG 2E: Ultraviolet Grasslands and the Black City
This book is a work of art. It is a brilliant combination of rules and visuals that seamlessly tells a cohesive story. This pick might surprise some of my friends, as the art style isn’t what they typically think of as my favorite, but the book as a whole achieves something truly incredible.
- Runners-up: Symbaroum, Vaesen, Coriolis, and Dragonbane (all by Free League Publishing)
Best Mechanics: Call of Cthulhu
“But wait!” you’re saying. “Why not your favorite game?” Because I approached this category looking for the game where the mechanics perfectly mesh with the specific tone it is trying to achieve. Call of Cthulhu is an absolute masterclass in combining rules with genre. The Sanity rules and the skill system are all so seamless in bringing the feeling of Mythos to the table. It’s a classic for a reason.
- Runner-up: All variations of the d20 system. Yes, it is overdone, and no, it is not the perfect mechanical representation of varying skills or degrees of success. Regardless, it is a core mechanic common to millions of players, incredibly easy to understand, and acts as the lingua franca of TTRPGs. It is hard to beat that chassis.
Biggest Personal Impact: Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game
I am talking about the classic D6 version from West End Games. The dice pool system was entirely new to me as a young gamer. I had played other TTRPGs, but this was the first one that truly captured the cinematic feel of the movies. It pushed me to play in entirely new ways; for example, it was the first place I read about using cut-aways (jumping to action the characters aren’t even participating in) as a dramatic narrative tool. This game fundamentally changed how I run games at table.
- Runner-up: The Black Hack. It offers simple, succinct, player-facing combat. It is also where I first encountered the genius concept of the usage die.
Overhated: D&D 4th Edition
I was entirely guilty of this! I was so excited when this edition came out, but ultimately disappointed when we sat down to play it. Looking back, I think it got far too much flak. It is a very tight, highly functional application of rules. With just a few tweaks, it would have been a system I’d happily keep using, but it unfortunately became the whipping boy of D&D editions. Truthfully, 5e borrows heavily from it—it just reworded and reworked the presentation.
- Runner-up: None. This was one of the easiest picks on the list for me.
Underrated: Prime Time Adventures
A TTRPG designed specifically to run games in the structural vein of a TV show? What’s not to like! In a society where television shows range from influential art forms to daily escapist entertainment, I am genuinely surprised this game isn’t wildly popular. Almost everyone inherently understands the pacing and structure of a TV episode, making this incredibly easy to learn.
- Runner-up: The original Alternity. Doomed to come out right as TSR was being sold to WotC, this game had massive potential and an interesting dice mechanic that elegantly handled degrees of failure. It has its fans, but I am amazed there isn’t a massive retro-clone for it yet.
Overrated: Vampire: The Masquerade
This is probably my most controversial take! This game was all the rage in the 90s while I was in college. It has an undeniably interesting setting, and while I’m not a super fan of the rules, you don’t really play it for the mechanics. It absolutely brought a massive wave of new gamers into the hobby, and I certainly own my fair share of World of Darkness books. However, it is often talked about as the absolute pinnacle of gaming, and for me, that’s just a bit too much. It was a good game, but way overrated in my book.
- Runner-up: Mörk Borg! This is my category for controversy, clearly. I really like the ruleset and the wave of creativity it has inspired in the indie scene—I am a huge fan of Pirate Borg, for instance. But when I ordered Mörk Borg, I saw it as a beautiful, punk-metal artifact. It is a profound piece of art and a distinct mood, but ultimately, it’s just not a game I would run at my table using that book.
Criminally Overlooked: Legacy: Life Among the Ruins
This was my introduction to Powered by the Apocalypse games, and it caused a paradigm shift for me. It offers powerful tools for players and GMs, as well as richly realized worlds. I honestly thought this game was going to explode in popularity. More people need to be playing this.
- Runner-up: Psi*Run. This is my favorite simple indie game, ideal for a quick one-shot. I’ve raved about it before, and I highly recommend checking it out.
Has Aged Well: Traveller
The venerable sci-fi original. Traveller has had so many iterations, editions, and adaptations over the decades. Yet it continues to thrive, from the official Mongoose 2nd Edition to older rule sets, all the way to Traveller5. I am a massive fan and am so happy to see it continuing to find an audience.
- Runner-up: Dungeons & Dragons. From the new 5.5 edition to the endless sea of retro-clones and hacks, the granddaddy of TTRPGs is still doing the heavy lifting of introducing new generations to the hobby.
Needs a New Edition: Rifts
Yes, we have Savage Rifts (which is great!), but I would love to see a true, ground-up modern take on the original Palladium system. I’m talking about a complete system overhaul, modernization of the mechanics, and books with a clean, contemporary layout. I was a huge fan of the system back in high school, and I’d love to see what a modern design team could do with it today.
- Runner-up: The Whispering Vault. I want a sleek, modern take on this game’s mythology so badly.
Not Usually My Thing, But…: Ten Candles
Highly experimental indie games aren’t usually in my wheelhouse, but my friend José Garcia (aka SushiBacon) is always bringing fantastic new ideas to my gaming experience. I loved playing this and would love to run it myself sometime.
- Runner-up: Alice is Missing. I haven’t played it yet, but I’ve read through it, and I am champing at the bit to get it to the table.
Current Game: Savage Worlds
We’ve been playing it consistently for three years now, and I fully expect to be playing it for the remainder of 2026. It is my favorite game, after all!
What Am I Playing Next: Not Sure! Most likely a Savage Worlds superhero campaign, or perhaps diving into Worlds Without Number. I also really want to give TinyD6 a try!
First Game: D&D (Mentzer Red Box)
Just a simple, historical fact. This was easily the fastest category for me to complete.
Game Everyone Should Play: Shadowdark
Why? Because it emulates the hobby’s origins so perfectly while applying modern sensibilities and streamlined rules. It encapsulates the dungeon-crawling roots of tabletop gaming while using common, modern mechanics in an instantly understandable way. For players who have only ever experienced D&D 5e, it can be a massive eye-opener, showing them entirely new (and old) ways to play. It teaches the pure joy of early D&D without the mechanical clunkiness. It is incredibly fun, and I think every gamer should give it a try at least once.
So, what does your “About Me: Tabletop RPG” look like? I want to see it!
