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clockworkjoe posted:Thanks! We really appreciate the support. It's actually west of the Mississippi river, but the setting is pretty malleable. We just posted a new podcast about structuring the Kickstarter's stretch goals and whatnot: http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2016/05/game-designer-workshop/game-designer-workshop-episode-12-dream-just-the-right-amount/ - That looks great, but I'm a little hesitant - Dec 2017 feels like a long way away and in my experience with RPG KS projects the further away the due date (i.e. the less ready-to-release it is) the lower the chance it'll come out on time (or at all). Any particular reason the timeline is so far out?
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# ? May 24, 2016 00:50 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 17:32 |
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quote:That looks great, but I'm a little hesitant - Dec 2017 feels like a long way away and in my experience with RPG KS projects the further away the due date (i.e. the less ready-to-release it is) the lower the chance it'll come out on time (or at all). Any particular reason the timeline is so far out? Hi Urban Labyrinth Here's what I wrote about this on the Risks and Challenges section of the campaign. "Hebanon Games is an independent operation run by a small crew of talented people. Realistically, illnesses and other personal issues may delay production of the book until conflicts can be resolved or replacements hired. Similarly, if this campaign is an unprecedented, unpredictable success, the fulfillment of stretch goals could further delay the distribution of all rewards to backers. The campaign has taken this into account by promising pessimistic deadlines in the campaign. It is our sincere hope to have the project complete well-before the dates listed. If for some reason that isn't possible, any delay will be clearly communicated through our updates and various social media accounts. If the campaign succeeds beyond our wildest dreams, completion of the book will remain the singular focus." So that's my rational: I would rather be early than late. I can promise you a complete set of playable rules by the end of the KS campaign. The system has already been through 10+ playtest drafts, and there is going to be over 225 pages of content ready to go. But, as I said, that's a lot of stuff to illustrate, and I'll be writing more setting material on top of that. I'm the kind of guy that things early is on time, on time is late, and late is insulting: I wanted to minimize the chances of making myself sound like a hypocrite.
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# ? May 24, 2016 01:02 |
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I've been waiting on the Red Markets kickstarter for a long time and from everything I've heard and seen it's a pretty good project to back.
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# ? May 24, 2016 02:35 |
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Hiro Protagonist posted:I see it either being an insightful, powerful game that explores the nature of crime, greed, poverty, and the economic gap that has enough of a fantastical setting to allow a respectful distance, or the most heavy handed, shallow, "greed is bad, guys" product ever. I'm pledging, because the first would be worth the risk of the second. One of the interesting things about it (to me at least) it that the game focuses on the contradictions of the first idea. Greed is absolutely necessary - not just to get yourself out of a zombie infested hell, but to get the people you care about out as well. But everyone else is trying to do the same to you. UrbanLabyrinth posted:That looks great, but I'm a little hesitant - Dec 2017 feels like a long way away and in my experience with RPG KS projects the further away the due date (i.e. the less ready-to-release it is) the lower the chance it'll come out on time (or at all). Any particular reason the timeline is so far out? I ran a couple games of the beta that ran last year. The game was definitely playable then and it's been further playtested since. Some aspects of the system were initially a bit intimidating, like keeping track of charges for gear. (Charges are the way to abstract battery life, bullets, etc without counting every single one.) But in practice it flowed very well and was worth the book-keeping. I say this as someone who doesn't much enjoy keeping track of the backpackful of items in D&D. My players (who are mostly used to Dungeon World) picked it up really quickly and enjoyed it. And managing those charges - the fact that everything has a cost - reinforces the theme crazy well and can make for very tense scenes. Overall, you have resource management and things potentially going really wrong, like a traditional horror game, but character development tools more like a storygame. I was really pleased by how well the elements meshed together. Sionak fucked around with this message at 03:01 on May 24, 2016 |
# ? May 24, 2016 02:46 |
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clockworkjoe posted:Thanks! We really appreciate the support. It's actually west of the Mississippi river, but the setting is pretty malleable. We just posted a new podcast about structuring the Kickstarter's stretch goals and whatnot: http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2016/05/game-designer-workshop/game-designer-workshop-episode-12-dream-just-the-right-amount/ - Isn't a $15/35 premium for a print copy a little ridiculous if we're paying print costs on top of that from DTRPG? I can understand some token differentiation like $15 pdf / $20 sc / $25 hc, but $15/30/50 plus printing plus shipping? That just doused my enthusiasm. (note, I did not listen to the podcast if addressed in there, sorry).
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# ? May 24, 2016 10:23 |
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Buddy of mine has a new RPG KS that's already more than half-funded, but I worked on it and it reminds of Sunless Sea so it gets a plug. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/464014331/the-driftwood-verses quote:The Driftwood Verses is a gloomy, nautical fantasy campaign setting for old-school tabletop role-playing games. It's directly compatible with Lamentations of the Flame Princess and more broadly compatible with a large selection of traditional systems.
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# ? May 24, 2016 12:13 |
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ravenkult posted:Buddy of mine has a new RPG KS that's already more than half-funded, but I worked on it and it reminds of Sunless Sea so it gets a plug. I've been waiting for this since hearing Clint on Drink Spin Run!
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# ? May 24, 2016 14:46 |
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thegodofchuck posted:Isn't a $15/35 premium for a print copy a little ridiculous if we're paying print costs on top of that from DTRPG? I can understand some token differentiation like $15 pdf / $20 sc / $25 hc, but $15/30/50 plus printing plus shipping? That just doused my enthusiasm. (note, I did not listen to the podcast if addressed in there, sorry). You will also be getting a lot of bonus digital rewards, like all the PDF supplements unlocked by stretch goals, an ebook/audiobook novella, actual play podcasts, and the playtest drafts. People who buy at MSRP later on won't be getting those bonuses.
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# ? May 24, 2016 17:46 |
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ravenkult posted:Buddy of mine has a new RPG KS that's already more than half-funded, but I worked on it and it reminds of Sunless Sea so it gets a plug. On the one hand this seems really cool. On the other hand LoftP plus mature campaign makes me kind of leery.i think I'll wait until more info is available.
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# ? May 24, 2016 20:11 |
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Hiro Protagonist posted:I see it either being an insightful, powerful game that explores the nature of crime, greed, poverty, and the economic gap that has enough of a fantastical setting to allow a respectful distance, or the most heavy handed, shallow, "greed is bad, guys" product ever. Like, between the poor people in this scenario literally being called Takers (uhhhhh) and the whole 'after the zombie apocalypse the poors live in a nightmarish zombieghetto BUT THE RENT'S STILL DUE EVERYONE HAS A CLEAR FINANCIAL MOTIVATION AND ZOMBIES ARE DEADLY BUT SO IS NOT HUSTLING HARD ENOUGH but see it's cool because there are drones and supercooled floating wifi servers and ZOMBIETOWN BITCOIN (zombitcoin if u will) and robot arms!!!!! and the government abandoned everyone who wasn't cishet white ppl but even The Queers and The Minorities can survive bc the horrifying zombieghetto is a meritocracy! ~the turbocapitalist zombie apocalypse only discriminates against the unprofitable~' thing this seems kinda gross in a way that i can't fully articulate? like there were a few bits that sounded interesting but mostly i sorta get the feeling it's either going to be the kind of game that's going to have potential in spite of how it's written or it's going to end up being like.....the hc svnt dracones of zombiegames or something. Ningyou fucked around with this message at 20:40 on May 24, 2016 |
# ? May 24, 2016 20:35 |
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So I found this game called Ankur-Kingdom of the Gods and it's basic premise is Sumer during the ancient aliens conspiracy. It seems like it could be kind of pulpy fun, if it doesn't take itself too seriously. Edit: Yeah, I don't see any libertarianism in it at all. It seems to be about the dangers of capitalism as a system that people are forced to play at a disadvantage. Given that you are playing as the disadvantaged, I think it's clear we're supposed to sympathize with them. Hiro Protagonist fucked around with this message at 20:56 on May 24, 2016 |
# ? May 24, 2016 20:52 |
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Ningyou posted:Is it just me, or does Red Markets' KS blurb read a lot less like 'this is going to be an insightful game about the intersection of crime, greed, poverty, and economic inequality' and more like lovely libertarian nerd futurism? The writer Caleb is not a fan of libertarianism at all from what I heard from him on the podcasts. For the actual tone of the game- he has a few recorded sessions online http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2016/01/genre/horror/red-markets-beta-the-brutalists-episode-1/ The rules have changed since this was waaay early but the world and tone has not from what I understand.
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# ? May 24, 2016 20:53 |
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Ningyou posted:Is it just me, or does Red Markets' KS blurb read a lot less like 'this is going to be an insightful game about the intersection of crime, greed, poverty, and economic inequality' and more like lovely libertarian nerd futurism? At its core, Red Markets is a horror game. The core conflict comes the emotional/mental costs involved with work versus profit - fighting zombies is scary and most jobs involve hurting other people in some way. There are mechanics in the game to encourage players to do things like destroy medicine or other vital commodities in order to drive up demand. Every time you have to tap into your retirement fund, you have to make a self-control check to avoid taking humanity damage. In Red Markets, you can easily become the villain of the story. I see it as a critique of global capitalism - the rich turn the population against each other by offering scraps to the most ruthless who will do their bidding. It's also a critique of the murderhobo lifestyle in RPGs. You can spend profit to get new gear and improve skills and abilities, but that further delays retirement. Most gear has an upkeep cost, so you can't easily hoard tons of weapons and gadgets. The near future stuff like floating wifi servers and encrypted currency are more of framing devices to make the entire setting work. The government separated people by geography, not by race or orientation. I ran a game of Red Markets once where the PCs took cooking oil to a farmstead near their enclave. They found out that the farmers couldn't full pay them but just expected to give them a bunch of eggs to pay the balance of the bill. The players nearly got into a gunfight over that - carrying a bunch of eggs through the wasteland was pretty loving dangerous and the farmers lied about this little detail when they took the job. They were willing to threaten parents in front of their children to get more payment for the job. After that, I think they had a bit of "Are we the baddies?" thoughts going through their heads. It wasn't heroic or badass. It was desperate and serious.
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# ? May 24, 2016 21:41 |
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Ningyou posted:Is it just me, or does Red Markets' KS blurb read a lot less like 'this is going to be an insightful game about the intersection of crime, greed, poverty, and economic inequality' and more like lovely libertarian nerd futurism? You can't fully articulate your point because it's something you're projecting onto an explicit criticism the things you're worried it will become. If you liked this game, you may be interested in Upton R. R. Sinclair's The Jungle, a story about the glamor and glitz of owning a meat processing plant.
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# ? May 24, 2016 21:58 |
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clockworkjoe posted:At its core, Red Markets is a horror game. The core conflict comes the emotional/mental costs involved with work versus profit - fighting zombies is scary and most jobs involve hurting other people in some way. There are mechanics in the game to encourage players to do things like destroy medicine or other vital commodities in order to drive up demand. Every time you have to tap into your retirement fund, you have to make a self-control check to avoid taking humanity damage. In Red Markets, you can easily become the villain of the story. I see it as a critique of global capitalism - the rich turn the population against each other by offering scraps to the most ruthless who will do their bidding. *and honestly between that and the overlap between zombie apocalypse enthusiasts and weird libertarians and the stuff about drones and bitcoins and etc. it was kinda hard to give it the benefit of the doubt? but yeah. grassy gnoll posted:You can't fully articulate your point because it's something you're projecting onto an explicit criticism the things you're worried it will become.
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# ? May 24, 2016 22:43 |
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oh god it's happening
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# ? May 24, 2016 22:46 |
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grassy gnoll posted:You can't fully articulate your point because it's something you're projecting onto an explicit criticism the things you're worried it will become.
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# ? May 24, 2016 22:51 |
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Ningyou posted:Like if people actually do play it as a subversion or critique, that could be interesting, but a lot of the KS writeup read to me less like that and more like playing the turbocapitalist zombie apocalypse pretty straight*. i c o u l d b e w r o n g t h o u g h You... You do realize he wrote it, right?
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# ? May 24, 2016 23:33 |
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Hiro Protagonist posted:You... You do realize he wrote it, right? and like i'm just some rando on the internet and y'all can take or leave my opinions but if i didn't know he wrote the thing i probably would have just left it at 'wow gnoll you're being kind of a jerk' or w/e jesus christ Ningyou fucked around with this message at 23:48 on May 24, 2016 |
# ? May 24, 2016 23:37 |
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oh no
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# ? May 24, 2016 23:48 |
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Hiro Protagonist posted:You... You do realize he wrote it, right? To be fair, every lovely RPG that's actually a failed commentary on something had an author that was certain they were writing the best commentary in the world. Anyway, we can all agree that there's enough lovely libertarian zombie fans to make people side-eye Red Markets out of hand and there's already been some good posts about how Red Markets isn't trying to be a libertarian zombie fantasy, so how about we give this line of conversation a rest?
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# ? May 24, 2016 23:51 |
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I didn't write Red Markets, I just helped playtest it and I will write some of the PDF supplements and extra chapters for it. It's kind of funny, we've already seen people accuse Red Markets of being basically socialist AND libertarian propaganda. The system itself is fun and it has a very modular design. Listen to some of the podcasts or follow the Kickstarter campaign for a while - Caleb will be posting rules excerpts so you can see how the system works.
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# ? May 24, 2016 23:53 |
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Anyone want a dice tower? There's no way I'd ever buy the thing, but that goofy mechanism can't but make me smile.
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# ? May 24, 2016 23:59 |
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Apparently GMS is now soliciting writers for Far West and 5e supplements.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:02 |
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clockworkjoe posted:I didn't write Red Markets, I just helped playtest it and I will write some of the PDF supplements and extra chapters for it. Economic theory is heavily politicized. If you make a game that implements some kind of economy in the rules, there are going to be people who are vehemently opposed to whatever "ideology" they assume you must hold, on the basis of exactly how your economy rules work. And on the other side, you will likely attract vehement defenders of the correctness of your implemented economy, whether you agree with those defenders' ideologies or not. This factor is probably amplified if the economy is a major, central part of your game. Sorry.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:08 |
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Jedit posted:Anyone want a dice tower? What in the hell is going on with their video with that voice over business Otherwise, yeah, those are pretty clever, but I've never seen a reason to have/use a dice tower. More than anything I'd use the "first player marker" for their white castle to replace the Master Builder token in Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:12 |
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Merauder posted:What in the hell is going on with their video with that voice over business Dice towers are primarily used for two purposes. The first is basically TG bling. The second is to prevent players who are good at sleight of hand from rigging their dice rolls. If you don't care about bling and you don't have cheating players, no point in a dice tower.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:15 |
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Kwyndig posted:Apparently GMS is now soliciting writers for Far West and 5e supplements. fake edit: over on RPGGeek there are people saying that GMS treats freelancers like poo poo, so big shock there. I hope word of that gets out.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:17 |
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Kwyndig posted:Dice towers are primarily used for two purposes. The first is basically TG bling. The second is to prevent players who are good at sleight of hand from rigging their dice rolls. Or if you have really limited table space and want to keep dice rolls safely contained.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:18 |
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Actually you can get a dice mat for that.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:19 |
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Merauder posted:What in the hell is going on with their video with that voice over business I've found that kind of thing useful when you've got a really small amount of play area, or there's a good chance of your dice buggering off somewhere, like if you're stuck playing from a trestle table or something. Edit: and like beaten, or something.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:23 |
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Evil Mastermind posted:I'm honestly amazed that GMS thinks he can dig his way out of the reputation hole he dug himself into. If he finally, finally ships, and then can maintain some kind of regular non-shitshow output, mostly only us gossips will remember the hilarity. Edit: Apparently there's a Far West release betting pool on RPGG, and only two dates are still in the running, one of which is in 2026. The thread is over two years old. That Old Tree fucked around with this message at 00:37 on May 25, 2016 |
# ? May 25, 2016 00:28 |
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jivjov posted:Or if you have really limited table space and want to keep dice rolls safely contained. Or you have the shittiest luck with dice rolls imaginable and you'd like to eliminate your rolling style as a factor. ...I have no idea if it'll actually help, mind you. But that's why I added one to a Kickstarter I pledged to a few months back.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:33 |
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Ningyou posted:Is it just me, or does Red Markets' KS blurb read a lot less like 'this is going to be an insightful game about the intersection of crime, greed, poverty, and economic inequality' and more like lovely libertarian nerd futurism? The banter from the playtests suggest that the players (and the author of the game as he is running it) have an opinion of libertarianism that cleaves rather closely to SA's insofar as their recognition of it being an unfeasible, unrealistic ideology, complete with making fun of Ayn Rand.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:43 |
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Leperflesh posted:Economic theory is heavily politicized. If you make a game that implements some kind of economy in the rules, there are going to be people who are vehemently opposed to whatever "ideology" they assume you must hold, on the basis of exactly how your economy rules work. Shockingly, if you build a system or setting that functions based on certain assumptions about how the world works, people will in turn conclude that those assumptions represent beliefs held by you, the author. Otherwise, you would not be going out of your way to create a fictional world or mechanical system that treats those things as fundamentally true.
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# ? May 25, 2016 00:50 |
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What're the chances this gets poo poo-stomped by Hasbro? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/333308942/socialism-the-game
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# ? May 25, 2016 02:03 |
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Merauder posted:What in the hell is going on with their video with that voice over business I'd actually be interested to see a game that used dice in a cube tower as a method of resolution or distribution.
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# ? May 25, 2016 02:04 |
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The boardgame Shogun uses a tower for resolution. Cubes get stuck in there, when you battle. Take the armies battling, toss them in the tower and pray lots of yours pop out. I could see it being used for an RPG rule set too. Hmm.
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# ? May 25, 2016 02:19 |
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Xelkelvos posted:I'd actually be interested to see a game that used dice in a cube tower as a method of resolution or distribution. Shogun sort of does that with cubes. Has ledges inside that catch them and it's for combat resolution.
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# ? May 25, 2016 02:24 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 17:32 |
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Kwyndig posted:Dice towers are primarily used for two purposes. The first is basically TG bling. The second is to prevent players who are good at sleight of hand from rigging their dice rolls. There's also reason C: Drama. Our GM has a handmade dice tower shaped like a stack of three mimics (made by his wife as a clay-and-woodworking experiment), and he likes to use it for important or dramatic public rolls. Creates a nice nonverbal build-up of suspense, all like: Here are the dice that are gonna gently caress you, I am setting them in the upper basin so you can have a good look, okay three...two...one...there they go, out of my hands, aaaaaaaand-- Makes the players stew in their panic just a second or two longer. It's very effective.
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# ? May 25, 2016 02:49 |