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A Strange Aeon posted:Last Christmas I got a bunch of his stuff, including the WWN book. It read really well, but I've never heard anyone using the actual system. It has a bit more going on than a typical osr game while keeping the spirit, and that guy's tables and world gen stuff are second to none. I think my GM just picked up CwN. what I like about it is what I've seen echoed elsewhere... it's got a lot of depth for something so light. here's a very breezy writeup from memory. stats: straight 3d6 down the page, replace one score with a 14. (or you can arrange the pregen stats however you'd like, which works out mechanically similarly). 18 gets you a +2, 14-17 is +1, 8-13 is no bonus, and so on down. skills: rolled on a 2d6 plus skill pip plus ability modifier. you get some skills for free from backgrounds, class abilities, foci. point buy -- 3 points per character level. skills start at unskilled, so you've got to spend one point to get a 0. further pips are the pip number plus 1 (so to get to 1 pip in a skill, you spend 2 points; to get a 2, you spend 3). skills are sharply limited so that you can't get 3 pips until character level 6. combat skills (punch, shoot, stab) and magic skill (magic) are cordoned off so that they're harder to get unless you've got the appropriate class. background: profession prior to adventuring. you can get a standard thing or rolls on 2 small tables to get results (ability increases, skills). class abilities: just what they sound like. wizards can cast spells (though not many... my wizard is level 6 now and can only cast 3 spells per day out of 7 prepared up to spell level 3 (spells are incredibly powerful, though)). fighters get one where they add half their level to damage rolls. they can also turn one hit per day into a miss and vice versa. experts are the thief class and I can't remember what they do other than they get an extra skill point per level. adventurer is the catchall for combinations of the above (so a cleric would be a mage/fighter with a healer spell list, eg). foci: weird or cool abilities. they have 2 levels and are all over the map. assassin makes you good at doing that. there's one that gives you a familiar. there's one that makes you really good at shooting. there's one that makes you good at crafting. there's one that means you don't need armor. demihuman stuff would take one of these, but we've all only played humans so far. combat: extremely deadly. weapons do something called shock damage, which is damage the opponent takes even on a miss (if their AC is sufficiently low -- each weapon has an amount and AC listed). a shield negates the first instance per round. so stabbing an unarmored guy with a longsword would do 3 points of damage guaranteed. (I think. I'm too lazy to look this one up.) shock damage is also the minimum damage a weapon will do. there are some extra rules but it's all pretty straightforward. ascending AC so rolls are straightforward. some sort of character death rule based on negative hit points... I can't remember the options here, but they include ignoring negative hp if the character would have been destroyed by the damage. magic: spells are extremely powerful and all have long names that are difficult to remember. example: a first-level spell causes destruction of plant material in a 10' cube per level. it's called "decree of ligneous dissolution." the spell names are the main complaint I've seen about WwN. this was all from memory and I don't have a handle on everything but I'm really enjoying the game.
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Dec 11, 2023 02:44
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Empty Sandwich posted:I think my GM just picked up CwN. Really appreciate the summary; I think of those books primarily as GM tools first so it's neat to hear about the actual game attached to the evocative tables.
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Dec 11, 2023 06:31
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I was listening to Jason Cordova on his podcast talking about how much trouble he had converting Cross Stitch to Trophy Gold. Like dude, you don't actually have to convert every OSR module to PBTA, you can just play Mork Borg. It's not complicated.
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Dec 11, 2023 17:19
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Halloween Jack posted:I was listening to Jason Cordova on his podcast talking about how much trouble he had converting Cross Stitch to Trophy Gold. Like dude, you don't actually have to convert every OSR module to PBTA, you can just play Mork Borg. It's not complicated. ... Ok
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Dec 11, 2023 19:13
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I thought Trophy was based on the Dark engine, like Cthulhu Dark.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:32
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You're right; I was confused about it based on some other conversions he's run.
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Dec 11, 2023 19:56
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mellonbread posted:I thought Trophy was based on the Dark engine, like Cthulhu Dark. quote:On the heels of Trophy Dark, developed alongside plans for a deluxe Kickstarter campaign, came Trophy Gold: “its like Trophy Dark, but if you could actually fight the monsters and win!” In other words, very little at all like Trophy Dark, save name and setting. I don't pull that quote as an argument, but merely as an excuse to link to this pretty bitter post about Trophy Gold that's fun to eat some popcorn to.
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Dec 12, 2023 00:50
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Sax Solo posted:I don't pull that quote as an argument, but merely as an excuse to link to this pretty bitter post about Trophy Gold that's fun to eat some popcorn to. This is by the person who just had her work revealed as plagiarism too, right? EDIT: Yep, it is. Melusine fucked around with this message at 01:18 on Dec 12, 2023 |
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Dec 12, 2023 01:13
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Melusine posted:This is by the person who just had her work revealed as plagiarism too, right? Oh gently caress wow, more popcorn!
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Dec 12, 2023 01:37
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LmaoMonkey's Paw Games posted:The actual ethics of crowdsourcing worldbuilding inspiration on your publication’s forum and then scraping them for a published book aside (seems kind of crass to me)
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Dec 12, 2023 02:33
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Halloween Jack posted:I was listening to Jason Cordova on his podcast talking about how much trouble he had converting Cross Stitch to Trophy Gold. Like dude, you don't actually have to convert every OSR module to PBTA, you can just play Mork Borg. It's not complicated. You mean you don't like the OSR review podcast where every episode one of the hosts says "I didn't play it but I read most of it" and the other says "I played it hacked into a storygame" e: never mind, I also got my Trophies crossed Johnny Landmine fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Dec 12, 2023 |
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Dec 12, 2023 02:49
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Sax Solo posted:I don't pull that quote as an argument, but merely as an excuse to link to this pretty bitter post about Trophy Gold that's fun to eat some popcorn to. Her style is completely insufferable but she probably stole it so I guess maybe it's not her fault?
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Dec 12, 2023 03:22
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Sax Solo posted:I don't pull that quote as an argument, but merely as an excuse to link to this pretty bitter post about Trophy Gold that's fun to eat some popcorn to. I had to check out when they started getting pedantic about the term "mechanics" as opposed to "mechanisms, because you see blah blah blah." Jesus Christ this person comes off as a self regarding, insufferable twit
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Dec 12, 2023 08:06
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Oh yeah Noora sucks and her disappearance from the entire scene instead of facing up to the plagiarism charge is a net positive for the industry.
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Dec 12, 2023 08:15
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A few months ago I asked for advice on running a OSR game for a bunch of new players as a GM who didn't play this all the first time around and is in no way experienced - I'm just someone who wants a simple, enjoyable game. The sessions I'm hoping to run are likely to be at the pub so no figures or scaled maps, though I'm bringing grid paper for players to draw maps themselves. I have a few questions to sanity check again for this next stage of prep: My gut is to go with OSE over WB:FMAG, just because there's a bit more meat in the rules for me to rely on as I get used to the system and GM'ing. Though fighting is ineveitable, I'm going to try very hard to encourage the players to think around it, so will be using reaction/morale/etc. and permitting a good deal of free action (vs specific character skill entries). I want to start in media res and get to some kind of conclusion or breakpoint in the first session, so I've asked my players to pick a pair of names/classes and I'm going to give them some pre-rolled characters with sensible dungeon delving equipment. I'm also going to roll up some spares incase both players PC's die. I guess the last thing I'm looking for is a nice pre-written one-shot, single-session adventure to get started. I'm leaning towards the 5e adventure "A Potent Brew" but while mechanically I think it works, I'm a bit underwhelmed by the whole 'ok go down the cellar and beat up the monsters' schtick. I love the idea of using one of the (real) abandoned shops in my local village as a setting but it feels very Blizzard and not very FromSoft, if you get what I mean? Am I being too picky? I had also considered using the Mass Burial mork-borg one-pager but it seems to lack a purpose other than being a (FromSoft-style) setting? https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/344331/mass-burial On Potent Brew, if anyone has a suggestion on how to port the 5E "Giant Inferno Spider" to an OSE equivalent I'd be grateful - it would seem that a Black Widow Spider is about equivalent in abilities but is 3HD for a level 1 PC group at the end of the dungeon, is this more than likely going to TPK them?. I mean overall how much should I be worried about survivability? I know there are multiple solutions, like starting with max HP rolls automatically, starting at level 2/3, or just harden the gently caress up and get on with dying - but I don't have meaningful experience. Southern Heel fucked around with this message at 16:03 on Dec 12, 2023 |
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Dec 12, 2023 15:57
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Sax Solo posted:I don't pull that quote as an argument, but merely as an excuse to link to this pretty bitter post about Trophy Gold that's fun to eat some popcorn to. Noora Rose posted:I have ranted at length about what an abject failure of a heist game Blades in the Dark is on other mediums, but in brief: why would I want a heist game where instead of planning and executing a heist I make a series of 2d6 rolls and someone narrates the outcome? sasha_d3ath posted:Oh yeah Noora sucks and her disappearance from the entire scene instead of facing up to the plagiarism charge is a net positive for the industry. Plagiarism is bad obviously, but I'm interested in the larger question of "crowdsourced worldbuilding." I haven't thought about it a lot, but my immediate thought is that if people want to shoot the poo poo in a forum thread, and somebody wants to take those random ideas and incorporate them into a published product, I don't really care. Like, if I found out somebody did that with stuff I posted in threads, the idea that my intellectual property had been stolen would just make me feel like a jackass. (And in my experience, "Let's yes-and our way to creating a setting in this thread" tends to produce really cliche, humdrum stuff.)
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Dec 12, 2023 17:44
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I can't help but wonder if her work in Trophy Dark is her own.
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Dec 12, 2023 18:02
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SlimGoodbody posted:I had to check out when they started getting pedantic about the term "mechanics" as opposed to "mechanisms, because you see blah blah blah." I went and looked it up just to make sure -- mechanics in a sense that works for this usage dates back to the 1640s. somebody could make an abstruse point about not using mechanic as a noun in this context, in the same way that you wouldn't talk about one physic in a physics, but it's completely different from that example in that game mechanics can be discrete and also it's critical to remember that nobody should give a poo poo
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Dec 12, 2023 18:34
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Yeah, that's precisely the kind of thing I'm talking about. "I don't like calling them mechanics, it feels too mechanical." So precious.
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Dec 12, 2023 19:14
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The prose style irritated me so much I could not be bothered extracting her point Like is she saying that games need to be full of evocative writing or they are bad? Because... That's what you do in games, listen to people read out box text?
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Dec 12, 2023 19:33
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Tbc good writing is really important, but also she is an idiot I mean wtf is this poo poo lol https://labyrinthlesbian.substack.com/p/the-tyranny-of-rule?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2
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Dec 12, 2023 19:40
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My eyes glazed over less than a sentence into that and I can’t be arsed to figure out what her point is.
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Dec 12, 2023 19:51
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people who prefer rules over rulings are the same as cops, landlords, toddlers, phrenologists
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Dec 12, 2023 20:43
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Pollyanna posted:My eyes glazed over less than a sentence into that and I can’t be arsed to figure out what her point is. rules are fascist I can't get over her thinking Dogs in the Vineyard is the pinnacle of game design in 2018. She comes off like she's 22 and very, very convinced she's correct about everything.
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Dec 12, 2023 20:47
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It is, somehow, even more embarrassing than the last post linked here. She doesn't know how to design rules, ergo designing rules is for uncreative funhaters. Basically, she's upset that she was born too late to be the person who wrote Tradition Book: Hollow Ones.
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Dec 12, 2023 20:48
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A Strange Aeon posted:Really appreciate the summary; I think of those books primarily as GM tools first so it's neat to hear about the actual game attached to the evocative tables. I really, really like it as a player, and it works well with this GM's style. the random tables work really well for improvised adventures, even when they don't work well. two recent examples: we got a lead on a magic halberd, so the GM rolled up the weapon and then rolled up the location. it ended up being a halberd of human slaying, and was locked in a temple where a loving named demon lord (from the Monster Manual 2) had been bound by a religious sect. we did not go after the halberd. in another session, we got sent on a quest to an abandoned fort that had been taken over by orc equivalents. we aced every roll that evening, so we got there with no trouble. arrived at the gate to find 4 very friendly orcs, and when the GM rolled a d100 to see how many there were total, he rolled a 4. the total population of the fort then showed us their sea cucumber farm. absolutely nothing happened but we all loved the adventure. Worlds without Number works really well for that group... it's deadly but not unfair, and the quick scaling means that we're level 5 or 6 and are absolute demigods who also almost got TPKed by an enemy fireball. meanwhile we're running through* the 1e modules I mentioned last time. edit: proceeding through with extreme loving care
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Dec 12, 2023 21:01
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sebmojo posted:Tbc good writing is really important, but also she is an idiot This is so unbelievably sophomoric and bad faith, god this is excruciating like I have met this exact kind of fart huffer at parties and subsequently left said party because of how badly they sucked the air out of the room, all the while imagining themselves to be an enrapturing philosopher-monarch whose proclamations none in attendance could possibly get enough of. This is all the lamest parts of a person who is on too much coke at the party mixed with all the lamest parts of a person who smoked way, way too much weed to carry a normal conversation.
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Dec 12, 2023 21:15
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Trophy Gold is fascist, Blades in the Dark is fascist neo-feudal dreck, game mechanics are fascist, tabletop podcasts are fascist, D&D is generally fascist, DMing is fascist, dice are fascist. Masscult under imperialism is inherently fascistic. Sorry to spoil your 'fun'. And this extends to the idea that Gygax or any other designer should make one "cum", as if the OSR is about individual gratification.
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Dec 12, 2023 21:22
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sebmojo posted:Tbc good writing is really important, but also she is an idiot God this is doubly funny coming from a plagiarizer. "Kill the cop in your heart. However, the landlord in your heart is a-ok!"
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Dec 12, 2023 21:24
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Lumbermouth posted:"However, the landlord in your heart is a-ok!" Nothing lives rent free in my brain
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Dec 12, 2023 22:12
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Empty Sandwich posted:I really, really like it as a player, and it works well with this GM's style. this is neat, like the random planets in traveller. 'ok so why does this feudal planet with no atmosphere have a population of billions? and a class A starport? Hm, maybe... underground tunnels created by the forerunners, with a huge elaborate culture that is convinced the rest of the universe doesn't exist? And there's an imperial mission looking into the ruins, but they are worried about the zhodani infiltrating so they've put a naval base there?'
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Dec 12, 2023 22:13
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Empty Sandwich posted:I really, really like it as a player, and it works well with this GM's style. What great examples and exactly why I love random tables in tabletop games, it leads to things where even the GM is surprised. I love the 4 orc fort with a sea cucumber farm, just a very memorable encounter that would be really hard to design deliberately, but a few results on a table and some improvisation can make shine!
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Dec 12, 2023 22:27
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also i feel like this: quote:we got a lead on a magic halberd, so the GM rolled up the weapon and then rolled up the location. it ended up being a halberd of human slaying, and was locked in a temple where a loving named demon lord (from the Monster Manual 2) had been bound by a religious sect. could be the spur for an entire campaign.
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Dec 12, 2023 22:30
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sebmojo posted:also i feel like this: Absolutely, that demon is going to wake up and grab its halberd and then everyone is hosed
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Dec 12, 2023 22:31
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This all just supports the Kevin Crawford gospel--if you haven't heard the good news yet, they who have ears to hear should hear!
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Dec 12, 2023 22:35
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while I'm raving about OSR games, we also played one session of the Stygian Library as part of our main campaign and it absolutely kicked rear end. we popped up in a room that'd been sealed for decades, opened it to find some friendly visiting scholars, then a non-magical non-poisoned tearoom, a weird little guardian who tried to kill us for making free with the +1 hurlants we found as fist-sized bees flew back and forth making dripping black honey in their monstrous hive in the room where gravity was weird, and a series of glass tubes with ghosts inside (into which we put an angry spirit in a bottle we'd bought weeks earlier). oh... and a room full of the talking skulls of various experts that sort of made up an unliving encyclopedia. along the way we discovered the location of a magic item (the halberd I mentioned above) and a couple other useful tidbits. I didn't run it, but as I understand the mechanics, the players figure out what they want they characters to learn while they're there. the GM sets a difficulty that represents how many rooms in you have to go and also how many levels down you have to go. rooms are randomly generated on a d20 (?) with a modifier based on how far in you are (??) and you can't go back the way you came (or rather it's changed (this part might not be true)). again, in the hands of the right GM it's really good poo poo. somewhat gonzo, very funhouse. we also do lots of non-random adventures, but the random ones have all been great. e: oh poo poo! the author made a generator: https://stygian.hallsofrust.com/ Empty Sandwich fucked around with this message at 03:04 on Dec 13, 2023 |
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Dec 13, 2023 03:01
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Empty Sandwich posted:while I'm raving about OSR games, we also played one session of the Stygian Library as part of our main campaign and it absolutely kicked rear end. I love all that stuff, there's a garden one as well that's solid and of course Esoteric Enterprises is fun as well. This is far afield from OSR but Green Dawn Mall is a great game in the same spirit as Stygian Library except you're teenagers exploring a surreal mall. Highly recommend it if the concept sounds cool to you, the book is really full of cool stuff.
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Dec 13, 2023 03:59
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Halloween Jack posted:Do you think this is worth crossposting to the Industry thread? I didn't see a big furor about it on social media, but it looks like she rushed to delete her Twitter and take Unconquered off of every online retailer. I don't know anything about her, but she seems like the kind of immature scenester who yells "Sellout!" at anyone who enjoys even mild success. First things first, this whole thing came up in the Industry thread last week and immediately fizzled into nothing, so imo not really worth rehashing. Second, yes, absolutely, she and her clique (Jared "infinite_mao" Sinclair, Micah "Micaholism" Anderson, Vi Huntsman, others less prominently) were always the first ones on the draw to call successful industry people of ANY size "capitalists" and "petit boug" in addition to game designers they don't like being "fascist cops". They once called Mork Borg 3PP designers - collectively - "the Mork Bourgeois", displaying a stunning lack of awareness for a clique whose two most prominent figureheads literally own boutique indie RPG stores.
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Dec 13, 2023 10:26
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sasha_d3ath posted:First things first, this whole thing came up in the Industry thread last week and immediately fizzled into nothing, so imo not really worth rehashing. Oh hey the people that made sure I didn't make anything more for Troika.
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Dec 13, 2023 13:10
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Lumbermouth posted:Oh hey the people that made sure I didn't make anything more for Troika. Ditto. I'd add another name or two to the list, but ditto.
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Dec 13, 2023 13:28
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