Geekdo - The Way of the (RPG) Geek

During the wife's tradeshow, I kept myself amused on her "insanely great" iPhone 3Gs. I'm not even a Mac or iAnything head, and I couldn't stop being amazed by what I could do with it. I may have to give in and trade in my current phone (left).

One place I spent a lot of quality time at is the new Geekdō RPG Geek site, from the folks who brought us the wonderful BoardGameGeek. Geekdō is now the "brandname" and parent site for both BGG and its new (and looonnnnggg overdue) RPG sibling. If you're not familiar with BGG, it's basically a HUGE community-driven database of every boardgame and its variations known to humankind. Once you've registered, you can find the games you have (past and present), add them to your collection, rate and comment on them, and discuss them with others. Have a game that's not listed? Add it! See a game that's listed, but has no pictures or description? Expand the entry! Have a favorite game and want to find similar games? BGG is the place to do it.

It's been an invaluable resource for me, especially for old microgames from the 70s and 80s I love so much. And if it weren't for BGG, I never would have been able to track down some really obscure foreign games for Star Trek, Godzilla and Ultraman (and greatly expand some of those entries as well). The interface for BGG is really overwhelming, but eventually you learn to customize it and/or learn to live with its quirks.

One thing BGG has never had, though, is roleplaying games. Some slip through the cracks if they're hybrid boardgames (for example, Battlestations or some of The Fantasy Trip games like Melee and Wizard), but much of what I cover here could not be found on BGG. With Geekdō and its new RPG sub-domain, that's all changing very fast.

It's been in the works for awhile, and there are still some kinks to work out. RPGs and the variety of formats, supplements and connections between games make them very different than the boardgame industry, but I think they've done a pretty great job so far. Over the past week, RPGs that fall under the Star Trek "family" has made enormous progress, and new listings and expansions are being added nearly every day... even by a guy stuck at a tradeshow with his wife's iPhone.

There's a long way to go, though, especially with the FASA Star Trek releases, and I'm pretty sure there's more than 12 people who own the CODA Star Trek Roleplaying Game. So hop over, check it out and build and rate your collection (here's mine, under construction)! Once you're comfortable, you won't be able to resist making a contribution... or two... or three... and soon you'll wonder where your afternoon went!