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Impermanent posted:Imo never back a tabletop 4x. Those things are incredibly hard to get right I think the computer game it is based on is actually pretty hit or miss as to if you will like it or not. I don't really know how to describe it, but it was hard for me to enjoy because it felt like you just kept expanding a similar blueprint/province arrangement to prop up your infrastructure to pop out just a few units. It felt really "tight", like constrained.
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Sep 2, 2020 12:48
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Impermanent posted:Imo never back a tabletop 4x. Those things are incredibly hard to get right
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Sep 2, 2020 14:08
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Just got my shipping notification for Aeon's End Outcasts 
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Sep 3, 2020 04:23
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I have been exposed to a terrible idea. Someone apparently decided to take advantage of the terrible reception of Shadowrun 6th Edition to try and kickstart their own cyberpunk fantasy RPG. Could be cool and good, but... quote:9 Attributes: Str, Dex, Con, Int, Will, Perc, Cha, Luck, Initiative. Um. quote:Low Hit Points: Averaging 10-20 hp at 1st level, up to a max of 20-30 hp at 10th level (max level). Oh. quote:Skills provide access to a level based Reroll Pool, smoothing the fickleness of d20 probability distribution. Oh no. quote:Core Mechanics Why is it always a D&D heartbreaker. gently caress's sake people, play something else and stop cribbing from bad design.
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Sep 3, 2020 04:30
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That is an aggressively low target number given the large promises of art delivery. Wow. Super boring sounding though. Also low fantasy is lame. High fantasy for life, extra high if possible.
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Sep 3, 2020 04:58
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theironjef posted:That is an aggressively low target number given the large promises of art delivery. Wow. Super boring sounding though. I don't think the goal is that bad for the structure of the rewards. The print tier gets you printing at cost, which means backers have to cover the print cost and shipping later,which in turn means that every penny raised (after the KS cut) can go directly to the artists. So for Strike!, I had a low goal too, with the idea being that if I barely scraped by on the goal, there would be a very limited amount of high-quality art, and I could sprinkle in really quick and simple stuff my artist wife could whip up in no time (e.g. silhouettes of objects and animals) to make up for the lack, and then I could do all the layout and editing poo poo myself. And if I got a ton of money I could pay for all that and lots more. In the end I exceeded my goal by enough to pay for quite a bit of art and have a bit of money to pay myself. But maybe I'm missing something? Are those artists listed super-expensive? I don't see any specific promises about the amount of art aside from "much more" - so presumably they could also have a plan for the barest bones version if they were to just scrape by at their goal.
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Sep 3, 2020 06:05
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3k seems pretty low to me for covers and interior art on a 300 page book that's showing color splash spreads and is using Known Name Artists, but I haven't run one of these from the inside. At least if they're actually paying the artists anything like a reasonable price.
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Sep 3, 2020 08:36
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My reference is that the full-colour interior art for Pigsmoke, using a professional artist who mostly does board games, set me back £2165. I'd already eaten the £525 for the cover out of profits from previous products. It's certainly possible to get quality art cheaper than that -- the woman doing the cover for TMINT has charged me $450 -- so I'd say a £3000 initial target isn't far out of whack.
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Sep 3, 2020 09:06
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theironjef posted:Also low fantasy is lame. High fantasy for life, extra high if possible. The height of a fantasy is defined by the value of Wizards divided by Fighters. Push it high enough, and it becomes obvious that fighters only exist to avoid dividing by zero. It sucks to play the denominator in those games.
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Sep 3, 2020 13:08
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theironjef posted:That is an aggressively low target number given the large promises of art delivery. Wow. Super boring sounding though. 420 smoke pipeweed every day.
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Sep 3, 2020 13:16
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moths posted:The height of a fantasy is defined by the value of Wizards divided by Fighters. Push it high enough, and it becomes obvious that fighters only exist to avoid dividing by zero. At a certain point (immediately in any game I'm running) the fighters just become magical fantasy fighters too.
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Sep 3, 2020 16:43
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moths posted:The height of a fantasy is defined by the value of Wizards divided by Fighters. Push it high enough, and it becomes obvious that fighters only exist to avoid dividing by zero. If you push it even higher, so that the fighters become indistinguishable from zero, they wrap around and become god-kings. This is how you get Exalted. High fantasy forever.
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Sep 3, 2020 16:55
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potatocubed posted:My reference is that the full-colour interior art for Pigsmoke, using a professional artist who mostly does board games, set me back £2165. I'd already eaten the £525 for the cover out of profits from previous products. It's certainly possible to get quality art cheaper than that -- the woman doing the cover for TMINT has charged me $450 -- so I'd say a £3000 initial target isn't far out of whack. I think the bigger issue is that the initial ask is $3,000 period. That is, they're asking 3k to cover, ostensibly, all the costs of producing a 300 page RPG which includes, conservatively, art, layout, and also creator expenses i.e. "did you remember to get paid." They say "the text is mostly done and the layout is nearly complete" which means, I guess, that this guy is just putting this out there with the aim of recouping his expenses through sales which eeesh.
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Sep 4, 2020 12:36
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Kai Tave posted:this guy is just putting this out there with the aim of recouping his expenses through sales which eeesh. Isn’t that how publishing usually works, outside of KS’s prefunding model? I think it’s how most make-and-sell professions work.
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Sep 4, 2020 14:19
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Paying artists is a stretch goal, duh
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Sep 4, 2020 18:43
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A writer can edit and layout their own stuff. It's obviously better if they get enough money in the KS to pay for that, but it's not strictly necessary. They need to raise the money to pay the artists, then they can do the rest themselves and deliver through Drivethru if they just barely make their goal. That was my plan! If Strike! had made exactly its minimum goal, I would have been able to pocket no money for all my effort, but I could have put it out in full color and with a decent amount of art.
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Sep 5, 2020 06:06
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Subjunctive posted:Isn’t that how publishing usually works, outside of KS’s prefunding model? I think it’s how most make-and-sell professions work. I mean, part of using Kickstarter is supposed to be so you can avoid doing that, but also even in traditional publishing advances exist.
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Sep 5, 2020 12:58
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Kai Tave posted:I mean, part of using Kickstarter is supposed to be so you can avoid doing that, but also even in traditional publishing advances exist. advances come out of the sales, no? if your sales don’t cover your costs, you’re going to owe your publisher the shortfall, AIUI. that’s why they’re advance payments and not bonus payments or signing bonuses.
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Sep 5, 2020 14:21
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No, if you don't cover the advance then you just don't get any royalties. If you're an author and you're sending money to your publisher then you're almost certainly getting ripped off.
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Sep 5, 2020 14:47
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Ah, my misunderstanding then!
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Sep 5, 2020 14:50
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Yeah it's assumed eventually the books will sell.
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Sep 6, 2020 00:55
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Redundant posted:I've enjoyed my plays of March of the Ants but I wouldn't be shocked if that was the exception that proves the rule. that is my one exception too! that game owns. the expansions really do add, too. but it's because it focuses on being economical and trim. Computer game 4x's often have such baroque and sprawling arrays of options over relatively simple core mechanics and board games are basically served by going in the opposite direction. When I get my copy of the 4x space game played I'll let you know if that one, also, is an exception. but Those have both been out for a while.
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Sep 6, 2020 03:14
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Tokyo Series just posted samples of their fireburnt currency and it is v-sexy https://i.imgur.com/dP8dP9b.mp4 Gladius also posted a production sample unboxing and it's a lovely little box indeed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtWaqbl1RT0
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Sep 6, 2020 10:27
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Picked up my copies of On Tour and QE yesterday. Local pickup for a Kickstarter is a bit surreal. Anyway...wow these boxes are HUGE. Maybe I've just been spoiled by Jordan Draper's design ethos. But it feels like there could have been some major space savings by not, for example, having the On Tour cards be so large.
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Sep 6, 2020 17:26
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jivjov posted:Picked up my copies of On Tour and QE yesterday. Local pickup for a Kickstarter is a bit surreal. On Tour is way too large, box-wise. And honestly I don’t find it that fun.
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Sep 6, 2020 17:37
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I haven't had time to even take my QE out of the bubble wrap yet
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Sep 7, 2020 12:42
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I thought The Grim & Deliberate Beast (wrapped up by now) has some interesting ideas. Basically an effort to give monsters some uniqueness and purpose in RPGs. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zombiecircusgoats/these-monsters-have-minds-of-their-own
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Sep 7, 2020 13:41
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The Eyes Have It posted:I thought The Grim & Deliberate Beast (wrapped up by now) has some interesting ideas. Basically an effort to give monsters some uniqueness and purpose in RPGs. Also did you check out the great jokes it comes with? 200 combat insults to hurl at your players! Let's look at the ones for dwarves!  #7, literally just a line ripped from Two Towers, is similar to the salted pork, in that it is particularly good. The elf ones are worse somehow, largely "dude looks like a lady" type bullshit. In summation, the idea of an AI system for monsters is neat. But the execution and trappings for this take on it were warmed over poo poo. Should really just be a fairly straightforward app. theironjef fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Sep 7, 2020 |
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Sep 7, 2020 17:53
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quote isn't edit!
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Sep 7, 2020 17:56
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I got spam for that one a few hours before it ended. I wasn't impressed.
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Sep 7, 2020 18:15
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theironjef posted:Also did you check out the great jokes it comes with? I sure didn't! I'l'll be honest I mostly liked the concept and wanted to share, but the more I look the more the execution seems... spotty, at best. For example, the bits that involve stacking modifiers I think are wrongheaded. The idea is to add quick fight flavor and variety easily, and having the GM generate & track MORE modifiers over what a GM normally does seems like absolutely the wrong direction to go.
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Sep 7, 2020 19:52
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You can’t tell a good joke about Dwarves because it’s always punching down.
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Sep 7, 2020 20:31
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DalaranJ posted:You can’t tell a good joke about Dwarves because it’s always punching down. No one would ever stoop so low.
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Sep 7, 2020 20:35
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Parselings just launched, an RPG about playing people bonded with alien word entities. I'll admit, I only skimmed the description because it's gorgeous and I'm a sucker for art, but the concept seems pretty neat as well. potatocubed fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Sep 8, 2020 |
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Sep 8, 2020 17:13
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My only real issue with it is the level of “oh god I can’t tell you how my game works or you’ll steal it” they’re at. They are running actual plays on Twitch today as a launch event. Im hoping that will clear up some of the vagueness around the mechanics.
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Sep 8, 2020 22:26
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For a game about word magic, the writing on this Kickstarter page is less good than I'd have hoped.
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Sep 8, 2020 22:51
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The BOLT RPG Kickstarter just funded. I checked it out because I saw some RPG people I follow tweet about it, but I gotta say it's not as streamlined as the copy would have you believe. First of all, the KS page tells you to check out the Itch page for the beta version of the game. The Itch page in question (that, again, is linked in the first few paragraphs of the KS!) is selling the beta PDF for 9,000.01 dollars - the actual way to see the beta PDF is to back the Kickstarter. Anyway, I backed the game just to see the Beta PDF. If you're curious, it's just a remarkably self-aware heartbreaker (down to name-checking the System Mastery podcast in one section), but nothing special. Core mechanic is 1d10+bonuses with an extra 1d4 that procs bonuses or complications on a 4 or a 1. You have six core attributes - Strength+Con, Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, and Charisma (they have different names but they map very closely to the D&D standard aside from Willpower, which is just for resisting stuff and also, for some reason, the Search skill). There are a shitload of skills, including separate "use your muscles to do stuff," running/jumping, and swimming skills. Every different "type" of thing has a separate Utilize skill (Aether, Electronics, Mechanics, Medicine, etc. are all separate).There are pages of feats, some of which are just stat bonuses, some of which are roleplaying permissions (membership in an organization, e.g.), and some of which are combat powers. I guess I don't really know why I made this post, I was just annoyed about the mislead with the Itch page and the fact that all the pitch text talks about how quick and tense the game is when the actual content is an extremely bog-standard heartbreaker. Kudos to the author for getting their dream out there but man, just because you've clearly spent a long time reading about RPG design (another namecheck is for the "how do you punch someone in the face in your system" test) doesn't mean you can design an interesting RPG. edit: immediately after posting I felt bad about making GBS threads on what's clearly a one-person dream project, so I'll say the game seems eminently playable and it makes a clear effort to be inclusive and welcoming, so it's automatically better than 90% of all Kickstarter heartbreakers.
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Sep 9, 2020 17:13
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BinaryDoubts posted:Anyway, I backed the game just to see the Beta PDF. If you're curious, it's just a remarkably self-aware heartbreaker (down to name-checking the System Mastery podcast in one section), but nothing special. Well, I guess that was going to happen eventually.
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Sep 9, 2020 18:14
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I mean, I think there's a space in the market right now for a solid game that isn't D&D but can do D&D-like things, and is crunchier than Quest. Bolt could absolutely occupy that space. I personally dislike it because I have an intense and irrational distaste for d4s, but that's not the designer's fault.
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Sep 9, 2020 19:29
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I saw a d4 that was shaped like a d12 recently and I want to convert my dice bag over to those asap.
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Sep 9, 2020 19:37
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