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Plutonis posted:Not sure if that is the point of the laugh track but the Klingon Empire (which is pretty much like the Japanese Empire in which the Emperor is just a figurehead) was pretty much an exception, all other major Trek factions were Democratic (Federation), Parliamentary (Romulans, I guess the Q?), Stratocratic (Cardassians) or Ethnocratic (Dominion). Well, I guess there is the Mirror World Terrans and uhh the Borg? Yeah that was p much the point, Star Trek isn't really a good example I just like that the Klingon Empire went hundreds of years without an emperor.
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Dec 24, 2021 03:25
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Halloween Jack posted:I assume a big part of the problem is that science fiction is, practically speaking, much broader than fantasy. Aficionados can talk for days about the differences between fantasy franchises, but I think that e.g. LOTR, the Rings, the Dying Earth, ASOIAF, The Witcher, Wheel of Time, Moorcock's Young Kingdoms, and several other franchises I could name have a lot in common. You could put a D&D style "adventuring party" in all of these settings and the players could have a certain set of expectations in place. Even within far future sci-fi, you can't go from like Dune to Foundation to the Forever War in the same way. This is EXTREMELY imo and colored by the fact that I've been working TG retail for way too long, but I think a big part of it has to do with the overlap between RPGs and Wargames and how popular sci-fi wargames like 40k/infinity/etc are where you can kind of roleplay by association with your faction in those games. Plus the scale of fantasy melee/archery/magic/etc tends to visually/thematically make more sense on a map or a grid that you can fit on your kitchen table with your 25-30mm minis or tokens instead of the super massive factories/starships/etc you'd see in sci-fi. I kind of compare D&D/fantasy RPGs continued popularity over sci-fi a bit analogous to why Space Marines are the most popular faction in 40k. They're the most popular thing in large part because of the extremely wide breadth of support and options available for you. And then, seeing that support and popularity, people use that as justification to focus on that to the exclusion of almost all else. Circular logic, but it certainly seems that way. I think that a lot of people who would otherwise prefer sci-fi products over fantasy see that the most popular sci-fi stuff tends to be over in the wargaming world rather than the RPG world and focus their efforts there for their sci-fi fix as well. I certainly did. And even that aside, D&D having such a leg up in the cultural inertia of the roleplaying world means that people are more likely to try and see and therefore copy that style, since there really isn't a sci-fi analogue for D&Ds success out there. Most decent sci-fi RPGs aren't particularly old compared to D&D and so you've got 20+ extra years of inertia by means of products, 3rd party engagement, etc going on. It's much easier to randomly find a variety useable and appealing fantasy miniatures for a halfway decent price and the correct scale than a sci-fi equivalent. As well, the big breakthroughs in RPG streaming started with 4th edition D&D's Penny Arcade stuff and mostly stuck with D&D from there. The way D&D has turned itself into a brand, first and foremost, means that the likelihood of a Sci-Fi RPG every getting into a similar space becomes less and less likely over time without a brand name to carry itself there.
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Dec 24, 2021 05:06
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Absurd Alhazred posted:First of all: how have I not heard of this before?! Regrettably I must admit that a lot of the actual stories don't hold up well. I think there is an entire anthology of stories about how doctors sometimes have to hurt people to cure them. But you won't find a better book about an alien chef tackling the ultimate cooking challenge in any other series! (The challenge is making hospital food taste good)
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Dec 24, 2021 10:36
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Strom Cuzewon posted:I think you mean 10/10 
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Dec 24, 2021 10:54
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Xiahou Dun posted:Ultimate Hinterland. Splicer fucked around with this message at 11:41 on Dec 24, 2021 |
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Dec 24, 2021 11:01
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habituallyred posted:Regrettably I must admit that a lot of the actual stories don't hold up well. I think there is an entire anthology of stories about how doctors sometimes have to hurt people to cure them. But you won't find a better book about an alien chef tackling the ultimate cooking challenge in any other series! Oh, well that's unfortunate.
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Dec 24, 2021 20:56
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S.J. posted:As well, the big breakthroughs in RPG streaming started with 4th edition D&D's Penny Arcade stuff and mostly stuck with D&D from there. Was PA's stuff every really big? I remember them doing it, but I don't remember it more than one of their side projects.
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Dec 24, 2021 22:08
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ninjoatse.cx posted:Was PA's stuff every really big? I remember them doing it, but I don't remember it more than one of their side projects. For the time? Sure. But in context today, no.
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Dec 24, 2021 22:27
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yea it was easily the first among the 'mainstream' (as mainstream as nerd stuff like this gets at least) 'actual play' things, stuff like the PAX games used to be huge events and obviously Wizards knew that since they were fast to jump in bed.
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Dec 24, 2021 23:35
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S.J. posted:For the time? Sure. But in context today, no. It was really a precursor of what we see today. They got big enough to start talking to Wizards directly, doing promotions and getting their own supplement.
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Dec 25, 2021 00:47
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Acquisition Inc. was a pretty big property within the PA media ecosystem, and that was big enough to spawn multiple conventions. It seemed like a huge deal to me.
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Dec 25, 2021 00:53
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It absolutely was at the time because it was the first time an RPG publisher had teamed up with a big nerd brand at that kind of scale. It certainly didn't start out as big as things are today but it absolutely set the tone for what those kind of media packages went on to look like in the future. Penny Arcade was hugely relevant in gaming at the time.
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Dec 25, 2021 01:12
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It also was strangled in the crib by WotC iirc. Like they just shuttered it/stopped paying for it -and long before PA lost relevance*. WotC couldn't imagine RPGs as anything but extremely niche at the time, so didn't see a point in continuing that program. The same way they killed their in store outreach. There was a brief window where they were pushing for local stores to have d&d as big a thing as magic with organized play, but they only did like 2 seasons of that.
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Dec 25, 2021 01:23
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The changeover to 5e is what killed off the original Acquisitions, Inc. They even ran that preview of 5e rules DMed by Mike Mearls that was flat. They started up a spinoff game in 5e eventually that is still going though.
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Dec 25, 2021 02:40
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Coolness Averted posted:There was a brief window where they were pushing for local stores to have d&d as big a thing as magic with organized play, but they only did like 2 seasons of that. In 5E? It's still going and was full-steam ahead on like Season 11 when COVID hit and it had to go basically full online.
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Dec 25, 2021 02:45
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Was it Mike Mearls or Chris Perkins who ran that utterly disastrous game for them in 5e where one of them started asking really basic game loop and balance questions and everything went to poo poo? My memory is very vague and I think I’m conflating multiple examples of fuckery split between them.
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Dec 25, 2021 02:45
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Xiahou Dun posted:Was it Mike Mearls or Chris Perkins who ran that utterly disastrous game for them in 5e where one of them started asking really basic game loop and balance questions and everything went to poo poo?
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Dec 25, 2021 02:59
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Xiahou Dun posted:Was it Mike Mearls or Chris Perkins who ran that utterly disastrous game for them in 5e where one of them started asking really basic game loop and balance questions and everything went to poo poo? Mearls. Basically, and truthfully, 5e almost completely killed off Acquisitions, Inc as a thing. I doubt it would still be going the way it is if it weren't for the big D&D brand push that went alongside 5e.
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Dec 25, 2021 03:25
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Xiahou Dun posted:Was it Mike Mearls or Chris Perkins who ran that utterly disastrous game for them in 5e where one of them started asking really basic game loop and balance questions and everything went to poo poo? I must've gotten bored of AI by then because I don't remember this at all. Kinda want to find it now.
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Dec 25, 2021 03:46
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PerniciousKnid posted:I must've gotten bored of AI by then because I don't remember this at all. Kinda want to find it now.  Any write ups or links?
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Dec 25, 2021 04:59
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Toshimo posted:In 5E? It's still going and was full-steam ahead on like Season 11 when COVID hit and it had to go basically full online. Nah 4e had one too, I think somewhere between 09 and 11. According to my friends who ran a nerd store at the time it was hit or miss getting the materials from your WotC rep, and it may have had weird restrictions based on product flow like MtG. Or potentially even tied to MtG stuff. I'm recalling 2nd hand stuff from a decade ago now, so take that bits about the bad supply chain how you will.
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Dec 25, 2021 05:55
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The other reason I'd still love a Sector General RPG is that the books are explicitly and angrily pacifist throughout - for a RPG that's pretty nice to see, and you could clearly treat combat as a failure situation.
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Dec 25, 2021 06:54
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If you wanna get really out there for your SF space adventures, there's always Transit: The Spaceship RPG, where every PC is an AI and their bodies are starships crewed by filthy biologicals.
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Dec 25, 2021 07:31
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Mirage posted:If you wanna get really out there for your SF space adventures, there's always Transit: The Spaceship RPG, where every PC is an AI and their bodies are starships crewed by filthy biologicals. I didn't until I read this.
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Dec 25, 2021 08:36
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Xiahou Dun posted:Was it Mike Mearls or Chris Perkins who ran that utterly disastrous game for them in 5e where one of them started asking really basic game loop and balance questions and everything went to poo poo?
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Dec 25, 2021 09:36
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Acq Inc is still going, still a big deal at PAXes, and still draws enough of an audience that they were able to do a spinoff series - Acquisitions Inc: The C-Team - which ran for several years and reached its natural conclusion only a few weeks ago. It is also cursed to have its convention games run by WotC DMs who indulge in the worst kind of D&D brain-poisoned nonsense. My favorite example: Chris Perkins ran an adventure that started with the PCs needing to fly to the location on dragonback required that each PC make skill checks to get aboard the dragon. Failure ensued, because of course it did, and momentum ground to a screeching loving halt. At no point did it occur to Perkins that they could just be competent enough to do this so that the strictly time-limited live con game could proceed. God I hate Chris Perkins. Acq Inc: The C-Team has its own issues, namely wild tonal inconsistency and a DM who admits that the campaign is his novel, with all that entails, but it's also weirdly compelling. The myconid episode is... astonishing, and is the sort of thing you can only get at a table that practically shares a mind meld already. I have a pretty low tolerance for goofs, but I happily sat through a lot of goofy nonsense for those moments of brilliance. People with a higher goof tolerance will probably get even more out of it.
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Dec 25, 2021 10:35
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I could have sworn Acq Inc. got a 4E supplement, but all I can find is the 5E one. Did I imagine it?
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Dec 25, 2021 11:37
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There was a 4E character optimisation advice supplement that had a cover illustrated by the PA guys, which is probably what you're thinking about. e; 
Lemon-Lime fucked around with this message at 12:40 on Dec 25, 2021 |
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Dec 25, 2021 12:37
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Merry Christmas, ya goddamn needs!
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Dec 25, 2021 12:53
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Two gifts in and I got Avocado Smash! and Smile games
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Dec 25, 2021 15:09
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Mirage posted:If you wanna get really out there for your SF space adventures, there's always Transit: The Spaceship RPG, where every PC is an AI and their bodies are starships crewed by filthy biologicals. ninjoatse.cx posted:I didn't until I read this. I've played a Transit campaign and i think I'm one of the few. I'm very proud that I made a berserker spaceship (combat AI, corvette chassis: combat ai has an upgrade that adds your maneuverability to your armor, 4 armor is disgusting in AW, ramming attacks are 4AP damage to both combatants but if you 10+ it loses AP so I could ram safely as I got up to +4 on ramming attacks. I was very very bad at diplomacy though). It's cool but the rules are a little rough. I'd recommend pushing people to switch ships more often, maybe remove the chance of permadeath on ship destruction, that felt like a harder to use mechanic than necessary. If I played it again (I might! ) I think I'd randomize player ships each session. xiw posted:The other reason I'd still love a Sector General RPG is that the books are explicitly and angrily pacifist throughout - for a RPG that's pretty nice to see, and you could clearly treat combat as a failure situation. This sounds like such a good idea
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Dec 25, 2021 16:41
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Here's a pic of my cat Little Rough & Tumble modeling a d4 I got from a dice advent calendar  
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Dec 25, 2021 16:55
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Splicer posted:I do know it opened with one of them saying their favourite thing about 4e is how their Avenger and healers in general could kick rear end and heal at the same time and asking how they were handling that in 5e and Mearls just absolutely BSODing live on camera. By the end of it the PVP guy Scott Kurtz was so disillusioned and bored that he was just silently drawing his dwarf character without looking up.
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Dec 25, 2021 19:02
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Siivola posted:I could have sworn Acq Inc. got a 4E supplement, but all I can find is the 5E one. Did I imagine it? I believe the characters got statted up/blocks along with illustrations in Dragon or Dungeon Magazine.
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Dec 25, 2021 19:45
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Xiahou Dun posted:Was it Mike Mearls or Chris Perkins who ran that utterly disastrous game for them in 5e where one of them started asking really basic game loop and balance questions and everything went to poo poo? Splicer posted:I do know it opened with one of them saying their favourite thing about 4e is how their Avenger and healers in general could kick rear end and heal at the same time and asking how they were handling that in 5e and Mearls just absolutely BSODing live on camera. Does anyone here have the link to this video? I'm interested in watching, for research purposes.
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Dec 26, 2021 01:10
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Is that the same demo adventure Mearls hosed up by starting with a perception check to notice a hidden door that everyone failed so stuff ground to a halt immediately? I believe the stream I'm talking about was the 2nd test packet for NEXT. It'd be kinda funny if Mearls repeatedly hosed up streamed promos for the game but they kept sending him out there instead of someone who could run (or design) a good game. Coolness Averted fucked around with this message at 01:28 on Dec 26, 2021 |
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Dec 26, 2021 01:22
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Coolness Averted posted:Is that the same demo adventure Mearls hosed up by starting with a perception check to notice a hidden door that everyone failed so stuff ground to a halt immediately? I believe the stream I'm talking about was the 2nd test packet for NEXT.
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Dec 26, 2021 01:26
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iirc he also pissed his pants during that video and his parents were there and were insulting him
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Dec 26, 2021 01:29
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Libertad! posted:Does anyone here have the link to this video? I'm interested in watching, for research purposes. http://media.wizards.com/podcasts/PAPVP_Next1.mp3
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Dec 26, 2021 01:54
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Coolness Averted posted:Is that the same demo adventure Mearls hosed up by starting with a perception check to notice a hidden door that everyone failed so stuff ground to a halt immediately? I believe the stream I'm talking about was the 2nd test packet for NEXT. Splicer posted:No, that was a completely different livestreamed failure. Which IIRC has been utterly scrubbed from the internet. https://youtu.be/K_2iyvdF_qo?t=5600 He may have pissed his pants while this was happening it's hard to tell. Splicer fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Dec 26, 2021 |
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Dec 26, 2021 02:23
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