|
Tis the season for Mythos recommendations. ----- Mike Minnis The exceptional modern Mythos writer whom time forgot. Sometime in the late 90s, a German gentleman by the name of Mike Minnis took pen to paper. What flowed was a heady distillate of cosmic horror in the architecture of a fictional craftsman. He published 40-odd short stories hither and yon about the burgeoning internet, mostly at small congregations of weird fiction devotees with names like “thousandyoung.net”, “netherreal.de” and “nightscapes”. Unfortunately the internet does what it is wont to do. These sites collapsed and disappeared somewhere in the mid 2000s. I had searched for them a decade ago, and could not find hide nor hair. I read a rumor that Minnis was a casualty of the Iraq war (untrue). Perhaps there was a conspiracy against the Lovecraftian sites then? Well no, unless you consider the economics of the dot-com bust a Majestic 12 invention. However we all know the dread couplet. That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons, even death may die. I found a post on good old Ligotti's forums. Thanks to those fans of weird fiction and the Internet Wayback Machine I was able to recover the full text of ten of his stories. I have copied them to pdf, and for the sake of convenience I have posted them to a file sharing service for download. As a disclaimer, I am not benefiting financially from this in any way. I have simply consolidated the pdfs so that more fans of weird fiction can discover and enjoy this great author’s work. Let Him Rise https://www.mediafire.com/folder/t6792v35951vg/Mike_Minnis_Wayback_Machine_Archive What will you encounter therein? A range of times and fictional voices fitting the pervasive scope of Lovecraft's Mythos. I Walk the World's Black Rim is a Beowulf retelling. Knuckerhole a story of England during the blitz and good neighbors. After all, the Whateley came from somewhere. Bones of a Toad brings the harshness of Medieval life to the center stage. One caveat friend, as I stay thy hand from the dread tome: read Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Dunwitch Horror and The Thing on the Doorstep first. Necessary? No, but enlightening along the path in the dark. If you like Mike Minnis' work, just give the man $2 for the kindle edition of Your Poisoned Dreams, a collection of ten Mythos short stories. At that price it is an absurd steal. Right now it's even cheaper than that because of an Amazon sale. https://www.amazon.com/Your-Poisoned-Dreams-Horror-Stories-ebook/dp/B00JPBN0DO When I posted the above in GBS here was a response: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3789225&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=9#post464049722 Better Fred Than Dead posted:
Enjoy, dear reader. And if you like it, for the love of the Old Ones leave an Amazon review.
|
# ? Oct 2, 2016 16:20 |
|
|
# ? Jun 8, 2024 02:54 |
|
gradenko_2000 posted:On paper: if I was going to print out books (whose PDFs I legally own from DTRPG) so that I can have a dead-tree version, what should I be looking for in terms of paper quality? I know there's things like GSM and substance, what should I be aiming for? In my experience its usually just cheaper to just buy the book.
|
# ? Oct 2, 2016 22:34 |
|
Doorknob Slobber posted:In my experience its usually just cheaper to just buy the book.
|
# ? Oct 2, 2016 22:39 |
|
P.d0t posted:Alright, so I have a draft of the rules for The Next Project done up well enough that I want to share it for critique. Crossposted from the games-writing workshop thread.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 08:27 |
|
Helical Nightmares posted:Tis the season for Mythos recommendations. Good timing! I was going to post a Halloween recommendation thread when I got home, now you have a space for these. All Hallows' Eve Game Recommendation Station
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 11:33 |
|
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwXU1ZMQ7DQ
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 17:54 |
|
paradoxGentleman posted:So I hear tell that there is a TG related Discord chatroom in which goons hang out. Could someone be so kind as to share a link? I don't know if anyone's set one up, but I've been thinking of setting one up. There's a couple IRC channels, but those are pretty treehouse-y and it's 2016 and we can do better. So! SA Trad Games Discord: https://discord.gg/TNY7w Very bare-bones right now, if we get enough interest I'll flesh it out. Discord link will last for a day.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:11 |
|
Is there a dice-roller bot thingy for Discord?
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:15 |
|
Man I wish there was a Dragon Quest like TRPG. Like have the whimsy of Ryuutama but with a solid combat and job classes thst has stuff like shepherd and sailor and taming monsters. DQ7 is really pween. E: Also several slime subspecies.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:18 |
|
gradenko_2000 posted:Is there a dice-roller bot thingy for Discord? I'm not sure! There's a ton of bots, but I'm not sure which ones have dice rolling functionality or how much (just d6s, just common dice, special system dice, so on). I'll look at it soon if this catches on.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:23 |
|
Arivia posted:I don't know if anyone's set one up, but I've been thinking of setting one up. There's a couple IRC channels, but those are pretty treehouse-y and it's 2016 and we can do better. Double-posting because I forgot to mention something important. If you don't know what Discord is, it's basically a contemporary chatroom/voice chat service designed for gaming in 2016, so it doesn't have a lot of the cruft and poo poo that exists with IRC. Notably, it has mobile, web, and desktop clients and runs well on all of them, instead of Mibbit's mess. You can also join and chat without registering for Discord at all; just click on that link to join the web server and you can register later if you want to.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:34 |
|
TheLovablePlutonis posted:Man I wish there was a Dragon Quest like TRPG. Like have the whimsy of Ryuutama but with a solid combat and job classes thst has stuff like shepherd and sailor and taming monsters. DQ7 is really pween. I ... think there is a rogue-like that is approaching this as a goal? Let me check. Edit: there is! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3563643&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=448#post464799776 Edit 2: vvvvv Oh. Yeah no idea. Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Oct 3, 2016 |
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:40 |
|
Helical Nightmares posted:I ... think there is a rogue-like that is approaching this as a goal? Let me check. I meant tabletop RPG!
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 18:41 |
|
Wasn't there something called Meikyuu Kingdom which was kind of like that?
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 19:31 |
|
gradenko_2000 posted:To be absolutely clear, I'm not talking about a printing service, I'm asking about what paper I should get if I'm going to print on my own paper and using my own printer. I don't even live in the States. I have literal binders of Traveller material printed out on regular laser printed paper and it's worked fine so far. If it's something you want to travel or have bound I'd look into getting mid or heavyweight paper.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 21:37 |
|
What type of binding would you recommend?
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 21:43 |
|
Yeah the rule of thumb with personal printing is to use heavier/thicker paper for things you expect to see a lot of use. Avoid high gloss if it's text heavy, that's only good for photographs, otherwise the sheen can make it hard to read. For reference materials a simple 3 ring binder works great. Edit: if you have the time and patience (or the equipment to automate) a spiral or wire binding is also a good choice. Don't use comb or glue binding, they're too much work and wear out too easily under tabletop use. Kwyndig fucked around with this message at 21:51 on Oct 3, 2016 |
# ? Oct 3, 2016 21:44 |
|
Binders are the best option for books but prefer the metal rings on their own for adventures and the like. You can print out your adventure, punch it, pop a ring or three in and it will lay flat in any configuration.
|
# ? Oct 3, 2016 22:05 |
|
potatocubed posted:Wasn't there something called Meikyuu Kingdom which was kind of like that? !!! Yeah! That one. Was it ever translated from JP?
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 05:06 |
|
paradoxGentleman posted:So I hear tell that there is a TG related Discord chatroom in which goons hang out. Could someone be so kind as to share a link?
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 08:12 |
|
TheLovablePlutonis posted:!!! Yeah! That one. Was it ever translated from JP? There's an unofficial text-only version kicking around the internet, but I don't think it ever saw an official translation and release (booo).
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 08:19 |
|
gradenko_2000 posted:Is there a dice-roller bot thingy for Discord? https://www.carbonitex.net/discord/bots I've used the RoboNitori bot, it's solidly functional.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 08:28 |
|
potatocubed posted:There's an unofficial text-only version kicking around the internet, but I don't think it ever saw an official translation and release (booo). That's because apparently at least one of the original Japanese creators stonewalls any attempts at English localization, and the way their IP laws work it only takes one to screw a deal.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 13:56 |
|
Kwyndig posted:That's because apparently at least one of the original Japanese creators stonewalls any attempts at English localization, and the way their IP laws work it only takes one to screw a deal. Does anyone know the story behind this, or is it just a case of creator X not returning emails?
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 15:30 |
|
Just like ZUN...
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 15:34 |
|
How can I encourage other players in a game to roleplay more? I joined an in-person game for the first time in years, but nobody else seems to be interested in the roleplay part, and the GM isn't doing much to encourage it.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 16:02 |
|
Sounds like you need something more fundamental like an icebreaker first. If these are strangers. Other than that, to encourage roleplaying you could start by asking questions. Investigation type questions. Questions about the game world to the GM (should get any GM worth his salt very happy and excited). General questions to the group that follow up on what the GM said; "GM said that Bilbo the foolish left the shire. My family was happy to see him go because they wanted his hobbit hole. But we got stuck in probate. How about you?" Or questions about the enemies you are killing. "What type of armor does the brigand have?" "Does this mean that they are recent army deserters or have they been doing this for some time, etc." Then again some people JUST want to roll them dice. report back so we can make fun of y--I mean see if the suggestions have any merit
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 16:09 |
|
Watching someone trying to "get" PbtA games and asking things like "wait, I can't start with an established setting att all?" or "but why do I have to follow the Agenda?" is oddly depressing in a way I can't really articulate.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 16:45 |
|
Sounds like your GM isn't wearing his mask. Have you tried starting with fixing that?
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 17:12 |
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Watching someone trying to "get" PbtA games and asking things like "wait, I can't start with an established setting att all?" or "but why do I have to follow the Agenda?" is oddly depressing in a way I can't really articulate.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 17:21 |
|
grassy gnoll posted:Sounds like your GM isn't wearing his mask. Have you tried starting with fixing that? Rockopolis posted:That would actually be pretty helpful if you could articulate it. Like, regardless of which game you're talking about, the Agenda pretty much boils down to "make the setting feel real, present the players with interesting situations for them to deal with, and don't preplan what you want to have happen." What's gained by not doing that?
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 17:40 |
|
FactsAreUseless posted:How can I encourage other players in a game to roleplay more? I joined an in-person game for the first time in years, but nobody else seems to be interested in the roleplay part, and the GM isn't doing much to encourage it. Brain: Do not say "Threaten them with a gun". Me: What about you threaten them with a knife, or maybe a pickaxe?
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 17:43 |
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Really, the best response I can come up with for the second question is "because that's how the game works. Why wouldn't want to follow the Agenda?" There's a weird amount of dms who love to write fantasy world rube Goldberg machines that fall apart if you don't kiss the right nun or whatever, but then get mad when any game tries to give the players and dms any kind of direction and guidance.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 18:07 |
|
Ominous Jazz posted:There's a weird amount of dms who love to write fantasy world rube Goldberg machines that fall apart if you don't kiss the right nun or whatever, I'm currently pre-writing a F&F of one of my most hated metaplot adventures ever (trying to get the whole thing written before I start posting since I'm already behind on two other readthroughs) and there is literally no point in any of it where the players get to make a meaningful choice. On top of that, they get to watch the major setting NPCs do everything for the first 2/3 of the adventure. quote:but then get mad when any game tries to give the players and dms any kind of direction and guidance.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 18:23 |
|
Evil Mastermind posted:Watching someone trying to "get" PbtA games and asking things like "wait, I can't start with an established setting att all?"
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 18:39 |
|
Yawgmoth posted:When I make a character for a game, I want that character to feel like a part of the world, but I also don't want to have to create an entire bloody ecosystem at the same time just to accomplish that. It's not fun for me to have an entirely blank slate or even a bare skeleton that I have to start making blanket statements about just to have a direction to go in, because at that point I'm not playing a game; I'm making a setting whole-cloth in a very cumbersome manner, and if I want to do that I can just do that in a much more complete manner without a system telling me I have to. Yeah, I can relate to this. Some DMs enjoy taking the responsibility for the story and setting, and some players are more than willing to pass it off to someone else.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 18:54 |
|
My issue isn't that the person in question wants to use a prescribed setting with a PbtA game. What's bugging me is that the person is having trouble wrapping their head around the idea that it's possible to play a game without everything defined up-front.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 18:59 |
|
FactsAreUseless posted:How can I encourage other players in a game to roleplay more? I joined an in-person game for the first time in years, but nobody else seems to be interested in the roleplay part, and the GM isn't doing much to encourage it. It's very dependent on the GM and group. A lot of groups and players really don't want to stretch that hard mentally and just want to kill orcs and whatever and that's completely fine but it's important to know what you're getting into.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 19:09 |
|
Evil Mastermind posted:I blame old 90's metaplot-heavy RPGs. I remember having to summarize that adventure for Planescape 3.5. Which meant I had to read it. Ugh. Yes, I already know which one you mean.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 19:24 |
|
|
# ? Jun 8, 2024 02:54 |
|
Alien Rope Burn posted:Yes, I already know which one you mean. I'd say it's one that's debateably worse than War's End.
|
# ? Oct 4, 2016 19:29 |