|
Spycraft is the quintessential book of crunchy poo poo that requires intimate knowledge of how it all interacts and weaves together in order to get the most out of it, yet fails to present this abundance of technical information in a format designed to facilitate ease of absorption. The crunch may in fact be extremely well realized, but even for someone who might have previous experience playing and/or running other d20 games there's hundreds of pages of poo poo to get your head around, most of which is interconnected in some fashion, some of which is counterintuitive, and none of which is really laid out in a way that helps you build upon the bits you've digested in a seamless fashion as opposed to the usual "flip back and forth looking at tables and different chapters and also the index" method most RPGs employ. I like robust games with engaging mechanical depth, but since I'm not actually in high school anymore I don't really have much interest in a game where I literally have to do my homework in order to know how to play it.
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2016 05:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 01:44 |
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:Still got that preorder for Spellbound, after all. I was going to run a Fantasycraft game for some friends, and I wanted to wait just a little bit longer because "Hey, the magic book is supposed to be out around Gencon this year." Oops. That was four or five years ago.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2016 06:08
|
|
|
Lord_Hambrose posted:I was going to run a Fantasycraft game for some friends, and I wanted to wait just a little bit longer because "Hey, the magic book is supposed to be out around Gencon this year." "See, that why I switched to GURPS. I am going to pick up the new book at my FLGS tomorrow." Looks around for a ride, can't find any Vehicles.
|
|
#
?
Sep 11, 2016 06:17
|
|
|
I actually know some people who played a GURPS campaign where GURPS vehicles was in play - and they knew how to use it. It was a 1700s Caribbean pirate game and they built a triple-hulled hydrofoil and then jetted around the Caribbean at hypersonic speeds loving people up like it was Tokyo Drift. Say what you like about crunch vs rules-lite but doing that by taking GURPS Vehicles of all things and making work for you has a bit more cachet to it than picking 'triple-hulled hydrofoil' off of a PBtA playbook.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2016 00:35
|
|
|
I ran an anime game that used GURPS Vehicles and GURPS Mecha and posted my research and designs to the web. Later, when a RPG came out for that anime, it credited my site as a reference. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2016 00:47
|
|
|
I just giggled when our GM tried to interest the group in importing some Vehicles-derived Autoduel stuff into our City of Heroes adaptation. The other guys were baffled by the idea of ditching the lemon of an RV we operated out of.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2016 01:04
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:I ran an anime game that used GURPS Vehicles and GURPS Mecha and posted my research and designs to the web. That's really cool. I actually do like GURPS quit a lot, I was just referencing the fact that 4E Vehicles has basically been "in production" since the new edition shipped in 04.
|
|
#
?
Sep 12, 2016 01:19
|
|
|
One of ENWorld's writers found to be editing and deleting his own statements regarding improper disclosure of sponsored content to make himself look better. Really glad to see someone taking the needle to the balloon.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 19:01
|
|
|
Libertad! posted:One of ENWorld's writers found to be editing and deleting his own statements regarding improper disclosure of sponsored content to make himself look better. DTRPG, by the by, does some creepy stuff with their affiliate links. If you follow one of their affiliate links, close the webpage, and then buy the product later in a different session, the affiliate relationship is nevertheless maintained for a time (2 weeks, I think). Check your cookies; you can find the affiliate relationship maintained there. I don't know if this is standard practice or not, but it feels vaguely invasive. dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Sep 13, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 19:35
|
|
|
This kind of thing is going to be more and more common. The FTC went after some video game youtubers for this http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/251650/Dead_Realm_publisher_disregards_FTC_disclosure_guidelines_for_YouTubers.php I do sponsored podcasts on RPPR every once in a while but I disclose it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 19:41
|
|
|
dwarf74 posted:I don't get what's such a big deal about properly disclosing affiliate links other than stubbornness. Morrus was snarky about it in a post about the Middle Earth 5e Guide, too.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 19:45
|
|
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Yeah, it's a bit scummy, but maybe I'm missing some context because I'm not seeing how this is that big of a deal. Is Fannon ENWorld staff or something? I think so. He's been doing a bunch of their coverage since they decided to start having a dedicated news thing recently.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 19:56
|
|
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Yeah, it's a bit scummy, but maybe I'm missing some context because I'm not seeing how this is that big of a deal. Is Fannon ENWorld staff or something? As for being a big deal ... Honestly, I think the FCC has the right of it, here. If some dude is writing about something, and they have a clear financial relationship, I think readers deserve to know it, and I don't know why they wouldn't be upfront about disclosing it. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 20:02
|
|
|
Okay, yeah, I see what you mean. I misread your original post there.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 20:06
|
|
|
Sean is a weird guy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 20:12
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:Sean is a weird guy.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 20:15
|
|
|
All you have to do, disclose it. That's it. I've occasionally gotten free review copies of things for the podcast. I mention it ahead of time and move on. It's not like you have to submit a form to the FTC.
|
|
#
?
Sep 13, 2016 20:53
|
|
|
Kai Tave posted:I'm talking a game where there's no such thing as a Strength score or a rating in Firearms. Do you have Atlas mk.3 synthetic muscle grafts? Great, those come with the following tags which confer the following benefits and expand your assumed capabilities with regard to feats of strength thusly. Do you not have some sort of strength-enhancing cyberware? Then you probably aren't going to be punching through walls or ripping car doors off their hinges. What happens when someone with strength augs gets into a fistfight with someone who doesn't? Nothing that needs to be rolled for. It still makes me so very sad that Underground's actual game mechanics are so terrible because it seemed like the most fun game world ever to me as a dumb kid. I still have Chuck-D-Day marked on my Google Calendar 
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2016 05:58
|
|
|
dwarf74 posted:Like I just mentioned over on the post Libertad! linked to, it's not just Sean. This is true but I think my statement stands.
|
|
#
?
Sep 14, 2016 12:06
|
|
|
dwarf74 posted:I don't get what's such a big deal about properly disclosing affiliate links other than stubbornness. Amazon affiliate links are pretty similar, I think they last a day.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2016 13:19
|
|
|
Kai Tave posted:I mean sort of but even Eclipse Phase has Attributes and Skills that are independent of sleeves and the sleeves act more like equipment modifiers to your "natural" numbers, I'm talking a game where there's no such thing as a Strength score or a rating in Firearms. Do you have Atlas mk.3 synthetic muscle grafts? Great, those come with the following tags which confer the following benefits and expand your assumed capabilities with regard to feats of strength thusly. Do you not have some sort of strength-enhancing cyberware? Then you probably aren't going to be punching through walls or ripping car doors off their hinges. What happens when someone with strength augs gets into a fistfight with someone who doesn't? Nothing that needs to be rolled for. Yeah, I heard something like that from somebody at Origins, working on their own hack of PbtA cyberpunk. You roll and keep 2d6 if you're not cybered for something, and increasing amounts of d6 (still keeping 2) if you are.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2016 21:13
|
|
|
Glazius posted:Yeah, I heard something like that from somebody at Origins, working on their own hack of PbtA cyberpunk. I think the key to a game like this, at least the way I'm envisioning it, would be to make sure that the gear lists are as extensive and detailed as something you'd find in Shadowrun or CP2020, not genericized "big pistol, small pistol, big rifle" etc, but you just make it so that gear shopping is literally the beginning and end of chargen so it's actually not just a second layer of character creation on top of another layer of character creation but literally "this is how you build a character." If people love fictional gear porn shopping it seems like there's an untapped niche for a game where doing so is more than just a sideline charop exercise.
|
|
#
?
Sep 15, 2016 22:11
|
|
|
Not gonna lie, I love long lists of equipment when they actually do cool things and suggest cool stories.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2016 05:28
|
|
|
Personally I think big equipment lists are great when they're effectively the same as, like, selecting super powers in a superhero game. Things that make characters distinct from one another, provide different capabilities or hooks, and generally just kind of give fun options to play around with beyond just adding +1 to something. Most games don't work like that though, and in that case you're just better off abstracting stuff.
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2016 05:37
|
|
|
JackMann posted:Not gonna lie, I love long lists of equipment when they actually do cool things and suggest cool stories. That would be the idea, yeah. And like Asimo points out, the idea would also be to get away from gear-porn-as-number-stacking because nothing is actually interesting or evocative about simple optimization exercises, everyone who's nerdy enough to be playing tabletop RPGs regularly, especially crunchy ones, knows how to squeeze the most +X's out of a thing, writing 50 pages of gear that's nothing but a another tedious hunt through the dross for the good stuff is frankly a waste of everybody's time. And since this is the only sort of gear porn anyone making RPGs seems interested in it's the main reason why I've become less enchanted with crufty, fiddly gear lists over time. So no numbers, no +X to Y in large part because there is no Y, no attributes or skills means there's nothing for you to be adding numbers to. Go crazy with tags and aspects and permissions and such, give each piece of gear lavish backstories and product histories and poo poo, name-brand everything, character advancement is literally a matter of "you got paid for this job, so you can sink that money into more gear for yourself if you want."
|
|
#
?
Sep 16, 2016 06:28
|
|
|
Kai Tave posted:That would be the idea, yeah. And like Asimo points out, the idea would also be to get away from gear-porn-as-number-stacking because nothing is actually interesting or evocative about simple optimization exercises, everyone who's nerdy enough to be playing tabletop RPGs regularly, especially crunchy ones, knows how to squeeze the most +X's out of a thing, writing 50 pages of gear that's nothing but a another tedious hunt through the dross for the good stuff is frankly a waste of everybody's time. And since this is the only sort of gear porn anyone making RPGs seems interested in it's the main reason why I've become less enchanted with crufty, fiddly gear lists over time. Man if only we had a cool narrative system where abilities of weapons were something that was dynamic as you played so the attributes of the weapon was something that just kinda naturally evolved as you played. Maybe your gun burns through charge packs constantly or your rifle has a super low power setting but it means its way easier to be a crack shot with and shoot guns out of peoples hands. Man I wish we had that but it would probably get dismissed in a giant circle jerk for 10 pages idk.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 05:31
|
|
|
kingcom posted:Man I wish we had that but it would probably get dismissed in a giant circle jerk for 10 pages idk. If only we could do your idea without fifteen pages of charts and tables but since we only play our games in the infinite realm of imagination we can't 
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 17:11
|
|
|
Is Monte Cook Games the greatest? —an article from Monte Cook Games I mean congratulations to MCG being good at marketing and getting fans to love and presumably have fun with a product, but this looks tacky as poo poo. Also, continuing the fine tradition of claiming to be the innovatiest. That Old Tree fucked around with this message at 18:41 on Sep 22, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 18:39
|
|
|
Answer: No
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 18:41
|
|
|
What does "reinventing" mean, anyway?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 18:43
|
|
|
Wow, it'll be hard to top that article for disingenuousness. Not only is Charles Ryan patting himself and the company on the back for what is essentially noise and brand loyalty, but he's also quoting himself as if he's schizophrenic or amnesiac. Plus they're weaseling their way out of mentioning 7th Sea 2E, which raised nearly double the funding with six times the backers. MCG's being successful, but that has less to do with secret techniques and more to do with the fact that they're selling an expensive premium product to a close-knit group of whales.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 18:51
|
|
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:What does "reinventing" mean, anyway?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:07
|
|
|
One thing I kept seeing about Invisible Sun is how the people involved were convinced that the project is "the future of RPGs", which is a pretty depressing idea. e: not that anyone outside the Monte Cook Fan Club is buying into the idea, but still.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:09
|
|
|
The next monte cook game is going to be a plastic dildo. Not come with, it simply is a plastic dildo, the rest of the game you make up yourself and you will be grateful to Monte Cook for the experience.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:11
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:The next monte cook game is going to be a plastic dildo. Well this can't be true because that concept contains the potential for fun.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:12
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:The next monte cook game is going to be a plastic dildo. There are plenty of people who would part with the extra cash for Monte to tell them what to do with it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:18
|
|
|
dwarf74 posted:I think we can break it down to its literal meaning here, since we're talking about Monte Cook - "inventing again." As in, "inventing" stuff that someone else already invented, while claiming credit for innovation. Passive perception, Compels, the list goes on.... Don't forget him taking credit for inventing bluebooking. potatocubed posted:There are plenty of people who would part with the extra cash for Monte to tell them what to do with it. quote:$6000 Grasp the Obsidian Shaft
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:30
|
|
|
Kurieg posted:The next monte cook game is going to be a plastic dildo. The plastic hand is a prototype.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:30
|
|
|
I painted Monte Cook as a huckster back when I did my Pathfinder review, and every product he's released since then seems to have been designed to erase any doubts I had in making that estimation.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 19:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 01:44 |
|
|
What I find most hilarious about that article is they make such a big deal about how they've never seen anything like it, omg, the kicktraq curve is like nothing else in kickstarter! Not only is it a perfectly normal curve with occasional spikes like any other kickstarter with marketing pieces and stretch goals in the middle, but they actually provide a picture of the curve that shows that its bullshit.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2016 21:16
|
|
