RPGaDay 2024 Day 1 - First RPG bought this year

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As always, I came back from GenCon only to find that I was several days behind in RPGaDay essays, but this question really caught my attention, because one of my big quests on the GenCon exhibit hall floor is seeing what's new in the RPG and Board Game space.

This particular question has three answers, depending on how I choose to interpret it.

The first is "What is the first RPG that I crowd-funded in 2024" and the answer to that appears to be the Tainted Grail RPG. Awakened Realms came out with the beautiful and compelling Tainted Grail board game a few years ago, and a beautiful computer game of the same name shortly after. So when I heard that they were collaborating with Studio Agate of Shadows of Esteren fame, I was hooked before I saw a single text block.

I'm expecting exceptional art, lore, and relatable game mechanics because that's what both companies have delivered so far.

The second interpretation would be "What is the first crowd-funded RPG that delivered this year" and I believe that would be Eat the Reich by Rowan, Rook and Decard. The premise of this relatively inexpensive game is simple: You are a group of vampires, and your goal in the 1940's and your goal is to drink all of Hitler's blood. Is it okay to punch Nazis? Apparently, some people feel that it's okay to drain them--especially during WW2. This premise, and the reasonable cost to support it, made it an insta-back for me.

The third interpretation would be "What was the first already-out game that I purchased." and this is a bit harder because I can't look at my crowd-funding records. But I'd say it was probably the Ennie-winning Blade Runner RPG, by Awaken Realms, which uses their straightforward "Year Zero" engine.  I love the lore and concept of the Blade Runner universe, and this game was very highly rated. Also, despite having received a PDF copy of "Tales from the Loop" a few years ago, I haven't gotten a chance to play a Year Zero game, yet, and this seemed a good place to start.

Alternatively, my first purchase may have been the Pathfinder: Player Core, by Paizo. While I still play D&D weekly, either playing 5e, or running 3.x (depending on the year) Wizards of the Coast really turned me off to them as a company, and this turned into a catalyst to try new games. I loved the GenCon Pathfinder 2 event, last year, and so when they came out with the fully-open new version of Pathfinder, I jumped at that, and have really liked what I've seen so far.

A one-prompt question gets 4 answers after I start 4 days late; I think I'm going to struggle to get through 31 of them at this rate.

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