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Alien Rope Burn posted:Book piracy was a really small niche in the '90s, all things considered, and wouldn't really hit until the year 2000 (though it wasn't full-swing until the mid-2000s). The CCG craze probably did the most to damage RPG sales, as it took money and attention away from RPGs in general. I feel the videogame industry's growth after the 80's crash was also a sizable factor too. That being said, if the coming AAA gaming crash is real, this is good news for TRPGs to capitalize (lol, lmfao)
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Jan 30, 2019 15:18
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My local gaming store, mind it's just the one I go to, is a decent mix of CCG (let's be real, I mean Magic: The Gathering), wargaming, and TTRPG with some board games mixed in. The fact that it has the sheer amount of space to accommodate everything helps I imagine. They've been recently offering 3rd party D&D products, Kobold Press and the like. I'd jump to buy them... if I didn't already own them, but it is good to see. When it comes to gaming in general I've actually got a lot of good options, and overall while there are issues (such as rapid leveling and item bloat), I much prefer my local organized play compared to something like Adventure League. It lets people actually run their own games which keeps it varied. Amusingly it does mean I've not really played much in the way of official modules.
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Jan 30, 2019 15:40
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You know, the hour Justin Alexander spent on Twitter last night arguing that Numenera's intrusion mechanic is exciting GM tech that's completely unrelated to Fate compels suggests that I was dead wrong a few pages back. https://twitter.com/boymonster/status/1090430046823636992
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Jan 30, 2019 16:19
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Oh no, intrusions are much better than compels. They can be about anything, not just things the player defined as their character concepts, and there’s no scaling or guidelines for scaling of their effects. So you can screw the players about anything anytime, and social pressure them into accepting.
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Jan 30, 2019 16:27
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What was the Numenera mechanic that was like "You have this power theme, and sometimes something stupid randomly happens?"
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Jan 30, 2019 16:31
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lol Extremely reassuring for Technoir and any other game he's getting his idiotic mits on.
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Jan 30, 2019 16:39
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https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1090449214625189888 https://twitter.com/hexcrawl/status/1090452496563273728 No guys don't you see? They're a tool to answer all those disruptive things those dirty players do and allow you to break the rules without allowing your players to. Who plays games to have narrative agency anyway?
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Jan 30, 2019 16:54
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I don't know which term I hate more; "disassociated mechanics" or "empowering the GM".
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Jan 30, 2019 16:56
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He's literally saying "It's permission to screw over the PCs at random! And sure you can do that anyway, but since it's written into the book they can't complain!" A bunch of games in the 90s did this under the guise of making the GM a Master Storyteller.
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Jan 30, 2019 16:56
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Thanlis posted:You know, the hour Justin Alexander spent on Twitter last night arguing Arguing against the person who was in charge of the product lines he just took over BTW.
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Jan 30, 2019 17:00
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Halloween Jack posted:What was the Numenera mechanic that was like "You have this power theme, and sometimes something stupid randomly happens?" It’s literally just “the GM can screw you if they bribe you with an XP for them and one for another player”.
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Jan 30, 2019 17:10
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I just want to note that the GM can compel characters using any aspect that happens to be relevant in the scene. So there’s literally no advantage to intrusions. EDIT: Also, FATE SRD posted:The [GM] can always compel for free, and any player can propose a compel on his or her own character for free. Comrade Gorbash fucked around with this message at 18:00 on Jan 30, 2019 |
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Jan 30, 2019 17:40
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Like I said earlier, as long as he's not like launching a new Ars Magica line that he's got rules input on he's in charge of a bunch of properties that he can't really damage, unless Atlas Games is going to just chuck the psuedo-Auteur-driven model they've got going on and let him start cranking out Unknown Armies books or something
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Jan 30, 2019 17:46
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Halloween Jack posted:What was the Numenera mechanic that was like "You have this power theme, and sometimes something stupid randomly happens?" GM intrusons also happen every time a player rolls a 1 on a d20. This is a freebie intrusion, too, that the player doesn't get XP for. PCs in Cipher games have a Type (class), Descriptor (basically a profession/trait bonus), and a Focus (basically the D&D 4e themes). Each focus has suggestions for what kind of GM intrusons can happen. So like, if your focus is about using a bow, one of the suggested intrusions is "you shoot another character."
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Jan 30, 2019 17:54
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Oh, right, the Connections play into the Intrusions. And it's all dumb as hell.
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Jan 30, 2019 17:55
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Someone turn "mechanical lubricant" into the new pop game philosophy term
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Jan 30, 2019 18:03
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long-rear end nips Diane posted:Like I said earlier, as long as he's not like launching a new Ars Magica line that he's got rules input on he's in charge of a bunch of properties that he can't really damage, unless Atlas Games is going to just chuck the psuedo-Auteur-driven model they've got going on and let him start cranking out Unknown Armies books or something I'm not sure what exactly it is he'll be working on. OTE modules and adventures?
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Jan 30, 2019 18:11
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The GM's screen is the mechanical lubricant because you can lie about your dice rolls if you actually needed an excuse for controlling what happens in a game
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Jan 30, 2019 18:18
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Comrade Gorbash posted:I just want to note that the GM can compel characters using any aspect that happens to be relevant in the scene. So there’s literally no advantage to intrusions.
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Jan 30, 2019 18:21
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Can the GM use a Compel of "Rocks fall: everyone dies"?
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Jan 30, 2019 19:44
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Leperflesh posted:Can the GM use a Compel of "Rocks fall: everyone dies"? Only in a game where death isn't the end of play.
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Jan 30, 2019 19:45
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So then this system, with Compels, is actually more restrictive of GM power than, say, old-school D&D. At least, old-school D&D how she was played, not sure if the rules made the GM's absolute power explicit.
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Jan 30, 2019 19:48
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DalaranJ posted:Arguing against the person who was in charge of the product lines he just took over BTW. Yeah, you can almost hear the incredulity in Banks' voice. Nuns with Guns posted:Someone turn "mechanical lubricant" into the new pop game philosophy term Does "mechanical lubricant" beget "mechanical santorum"?
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Jan 30, 2019 20:56
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Nuns with Guns posted:GM intrusons also happen every time a player rolls a 1 on a d20. This is a freebie intrusion, too, that the player doesn't get XP for. PCs in Cipher games have a Type (class), Descriptor (basically a profession/trait bonus), and a Focus (basically the D&D 4e themes). Each focus has suggestions for what kind of GM intrusons can happen. So like, if your focus is about using a bow, one of the suggested intrusions is "you shoot another character." Ah, one of my favorites, the "I don't understand why critical failures are bad in a system where people can trigger failures at radically different rates,'' pitfall
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Jan 30, 2019 23:08
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Darwinism posted:Ah, one of my favorites, the "I don't understand why critical failures are bad in a system where people can trigger failures at radically different rates,'' pitfall "That's the thing about chaos...it's fair."
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Jan 31, 2019 02:25
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Arthil posted:My local gaming store, mind it's just the one I go to, is a decent mix of CCG (let's be real, I mean Magic: The Gathering), wargaming, and TTRPG with some board games mixed in. The fact that it has the sheer amount of space to accommodate everything helps I imagine.
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Jan 31, 2019 07:26
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Terrible Opinions posted:Do you have a gaming store that doesn't rely on yu-gi-oh money from middle schools for a substantial portion of its operating cost? Over here it's DBZ money.
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Jan 31, 2019 08:35
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Thanlis posted:You know, the hour Justin Alexander spent on Twitter last night arguing that Numenera's intrusion mechanic is exciting GM tech that's completely unrelated to Fate compels suggests that I was dead wrong a few pages back. Man Justin Alexander is dumber than I remembered.
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Jan 31, 2019 08:44
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"GM intrusion! You drop your sword." "What? No I don't. I pay XP to keep a hold on it." "Very well. GM intrusion! You drop your sword. I cannot help but notice that you are currently out of XP."
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Jan 31, 2019 09:15
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I only just noticed that he specified "the last 20 years" and... Jesus he's so wrong it's unreal. Mechanial innovations in roleplaying since 1998 covers the d20 system, Burning Wheel, pretty much everything the Forge ever did, the X Card and its successors, PbtA, plus a bunch of other stuff that I've either forgotten or I'm not aware of. Love them or hate them, any single example from that list was a greater innovation than 'GM Intrusion', which isn't even an innovation. This is why you shouldn't listen to RPG theory from people who have never played anything but D&D or games one step removed from D&D.
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Jan 31, 2019 09:40
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Leperflesh posted:So then this system, with Compels, is actually more restrictive of GM power than, say, old-school D&D. At least, old-school D&D how she was played, not sure if the rules made the GM's absolute power explicit. The key thing with compels and situation aspects (aka "other poo poo happening in context" like Oh God, Everything's On Fire!) is that (a) the stuff that directly pulls decisions out of player hands can be refused if they're willing to give up the fate point they'd otherwise get and (b) past that they have to fit into the buff/debuff framework in a sanely describable way, so "rocks fall everybody dies" only works if it can apply as a buff/debuff kind of thing rather than inherently always controlling (or stopping) behavior over the long term (because if a new aspect is added, the player can refuse further compels on it). So, like, maybe the game's got a Death Becomes Her thing going on, and "rocks fall" leads to a new I'd Lose My Head If It Wasn't Stapled On consequence (basically an aspect-but-bad) that the GM can compel later to make you lose your head under the table when guests are over for dinner. You take the point and agree and everybody else has to Munster it up to try and keep the Smiths from noticing while you're trying to get your head on again. Roadie fucked around with this message at 10:01 on Jan 31, 2019 |
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Jan 31, 2019 09:41
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Ferrinus posted:"GM intrusion! You drop your sword."
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Jan 31, 2019 13:37
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I mean, even setting aside his misplaced admiration for INTRUSIONS, it's part of a tweet thread where he's talking about how great and innovative Numenara is. I mean Holy poo poo.
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Jan 31, 2019 13:41
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dwarf74 posted:I mean, even setting aside his misplaced admiration for INTRUSIONS, it's part of a tweet thread where he's talking about how great and innovative Numenara is. I mean Holy poo poo. Numenera's greatest invention is a title which it's even more tempting to do the Muppet "doot-doot, doo-doo-doo" after than "In Nomine".
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Jan 31, 2019 16:55
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I will admit, the idea that magic stuff all contains Weirdness and you can't go around carrying too much Weirdness or it causes problems, is not a bad way to have an in-universe limit on hauling magic items around. The way he goes about it and describes it is very on-the-nose and uninspiring, which I find to be a fair description of everything in his body of work that I'm familiar with. It's also contrary to the Clarke's Law vibe of Dying Earth fiction, because it means every magic item ultimately works according to the same underlying mechanism. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jan 31, 2019 |
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Jan 31, 2019 17:03
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Cyphers themselves are a concept derived from Monte Cook's 3e home games where he'd regularly hand out scrolls of various different spells with the intention of people using them in off-the-wall ways, like a Scroll of Jump to scale a particularly important wall. Numenera just converts them into magitech artifacts.
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Jan 31, 2019 17:09
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If Monte Cook thinks using a scroll of jump to jump over something is particularly clever or unexpected, it really says a lot about him.
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Jan 31, 2019 17:14
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Achmed Jones posted:If Monte Cook thinks using a scroll of jump to jump over something is particularly clever or unexpected, it really says a lot about him. Unless he thinks it's the act of making a scroll of jump is itself somehow the clever thing.
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Jan 31, 2019 17:18
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Achmed Jones posted:If Monte Cook thinks using a scroll of jump to jump over something is particularly clever or unexpected, it really says a lot about him. I'm not trying to go to bat for Cook here or anything, but the idea is that ... a Fighter wouldn't normally be able to do that, and maybe the default loot rules wouldn't let you get the scrolls that often, so him handing out the scrolls more often and with an eye towards "utility" effects is supposed to be special.
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Jan 31, 2019 17:30
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All of this could be avoided if the Fighter just played the game properly as a caster of some sort.
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