TG Chat Thread 2017

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > TG Chat Thread 2017

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Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Nehru the Damaja posted:

Is there any ethical consumption under late capitalism

absolutely not.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2017 05:30

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 03:19

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Rockopolis posted:

Hey Covok, your lefty Discord seems to have stalled out.
Any RPGs that would be good for playing that? Some kind of Liberal Crime Squad RPG?

based on personal experience, you're looking for Dungeons and Dragons: 4th Edition by Wizards of the Coast.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2017 03:45

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

gradenko_2000 posted:

It's a joke about how people who like to mix ideology with their gaming* like to stake out 4e as being part of some kind of pinko conspiracy to overturn the good and true D&D.

now to be fair everyone I play 4e with IS a leftist and communist, so maybe they were right after all

# ¿ Feb 19, 2017 19:33

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Ferrinus posted:

4e is the edition most in keeping with leftist ideology. That's just a fact.

it features the working class (martial) being gifted equality to the capitalists (arcane/divine) by the government (wizards of the coast)

# ¿ Feb 19, 2017 21:31

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

im proud of the martials finally developing Role Consciousness

# ¿ Feb 19, 2017 21:44

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

well first off if a board game has a lot of dice it's probably poo poo with few exceptions so that's a pretty bad metric.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2017 00:10

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

The "widely played" qualifier makes that one a toughie

# ¿ Feb 24, 2017 00:10

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I hear Zeitgeist for 4e is good

# ¿ Feb 24, 2017 05:37

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Mr.Misfit posted:

Is it just me or is something missing on that link?

Edit: Ok, I see, the lower title choices are the links. Dastardly planned!

That took me a minute too.

All Outta Bubblegum sounds like something I should look up sometime.

# ¿ Feb 24, 2017 23:45

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Kwyndig posted:

Honestly you don't need to dungeon crawl in 4e, but if you're going to properly use all the mechanics in the tool box then you still need to deplete the character's resources somehow. Dungeon crawls are just the easiest way but you could up the rate of wilderness encounters, make cities dangerous by adding roving gangs of challenging thugs, or let players blow dailies to get skill bonuses or similar.

How you do it doesn't matter, but you want them to actually think about how they expend their resources.

Right, it doesn't have to be literally going through a dungeon, it can be romping around the countryside or a metropolis. What's important is to watch the Extended Rest resources and to make sure they actually manage them.

# ¿ Feb 25, 2017 18:59

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

oriongates posted:

Who loving cares what anyone else thinks about X Edition of D&D!?

Me,

# ¿ Feb 25, 2017 20:12

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

It feels weird to have things simply being off limits to player characters, I think. Like you could eventually have your characters strong enough to kill gods, but if said god is an important NPC for shaping the next 2 splatbooks then it feels weird. It isn't the end of the world because you can just ignore it but I definitely see why it'd rub people the wrong way.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 01:19

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Ferrinus posted:

Yes, please do. Even at level 1, a Strike character can use more than one encounter power

This part is only partially true, though even if a character doesn't literally have multiple encounter powers they might have ways to modify them or choices to make.

Core book Classes with multiple Encounter powers at level 1:
Magician
Shapechanger
Summoner

Core book Roles with multiple Encounter powers at level 1:
Leader

Core book Classes with a single Encounter power that has choices associated with it, effectively making it 2+:
Martial Artist
Archer
Buddies

Core book Classes that are weird edge cases wrt how many Encounter powers they have:
Bombardier (due to choices for shape of explosions)
Duelist ("Duel" power is technically a second E-power but recharges)
Necromancer (2nd E-power is esoteric and not designed to be used every fight)

Core book Classes with nothing like that:
Warlord

It's weird, but yeah not as simple as "use this one power immediately and without thought, the end".

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 01:30

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Ferrinus posted:

I wasn't even thinking of that stuff, just the fact that everyone can and should Rally.

That's true but if the argument is that you don't make tactical decisions then "use the same power twice ASAP" doesn't really refute that.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 01:38

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

And I agree with the idea of at-wills feeling pretty brainless at times since you might have Your Good One and Your Esoteric One, which is why I pushed hard for the now-existent "3 at-will" errata. I think that opens up combat space if people are just dropping Encounter powers immediately (which I don't necessarily think is really the best strategy anyway??? but there you go).

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 01:41

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Ferrinus posted:

Ah, but that would generally be the wrong tactical decision because if you used your E1, rallied, then used your E1 again you'd be wasting the healing.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 01:42

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Here you go.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 01:58

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Evil Mastermind posted:

I came in late; what are we supposed to be arguing about now?

Got 'em.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2017 03:17

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I can't own pets anymore because the last time I dog-sat the dog died on my watch (she had contracted some disease a few days prior while at the kennel and it didn't really show itself until it was too late) and it was too traumatizing for me. The idea of having something I'm caring for die is beyond me, made worse because I know I don't make the kinds of money necessary to afford vet bills and quality food.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2017 22:18

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Plutonis posted:

I'm playing a greek mythology inspired Pokemon Tabletop United game as a Scythian mounted archer girl who rides a skiddo and an onix.

This is ridiculous, Skiddo are much too small to ride.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 20:47

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Not canon.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 21:08

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

*in extremely monty python voice* A 31 kg baby goat could not support the weight of a human strong enough to draw a bow effectively!

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 21:10

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

The hard part of pokemon warfare is instilling a love for king and country in the pokemon

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 21:34

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

TMs are infinite use these days. Technology is truly amazing.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 23:20

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Some of my friends got into it, or tried to, but the aforementioned distribution issues made it basically impossible.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 05:29

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

S.J. posted:

That sucks. I'd take an FF CCG over the current anime tiddies poo poo people are playing.

Both are good.

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 08:35

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

FactsAreUseless posted:

I underestimated Agricola. It's a lot more fun than I remembered.

Agricola is badass

# ¿ Mar 6, 2017 18:21

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Haystack posted:

To play devil's advocate... what is particularly bad about the human tragedy of rape that it must not be engaged, compared to war/murder/tyranny ect?

Well, I think it is significantly more likely that a person at your table is a victim of or friends with victims of rape and sexual assault. There's a reason college classrooms offer (completely legit) trigger warnings when discussing those topics or let students know ahead of time and offer alternate assignments, but the same is not really true of slavery and combat.

This of course does not mean modem slavery or human trafficking does not exist obviously, but for better or worse people are more distanced from those than they are rape.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 19:27

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I like elves because I'm a contrarian.

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 19:53

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Schrodinger's Elves

# ¿ Mar 9, 2017 23:38

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Kwyndig posted:

The "monstrous" races occupy a weird headspace for me, because I tend to care more about the law-chaos axis of the alignment grid than the good-evil one these days. I think it gives a better idea of their character since the way D&D handled good-evil in 3e (the last edition I payed attention to as far as alignment) was dumb and excessively humanocentric when it was also considered to be fundamental forces of the universe.

This doesn't change them that much, but it gives you the opportunity to address certain things. Like you'd never meet an Orc slaver, since Orcs are Chaotic and slavery is a structure of Law. You'd be more likely to find a lone Orc out in the world than a whole band, since Chaotic groups splinter and reform often over differences of opinion. Hell, emphasizing Chaos in their alignment pretty much turns them into hunter-gatherers and adventurers instead of real adversaries.

That's why I dislike the Good-Evil portion, because it straightjackets groups into these dumb nationstate ideas where there's X number of Orc chieftains per Y Orcs instead of just letting them be a group of green dudes and dudettes with no real organizational structure.

This doesn't get into the whole Moorcockian Law vs Chaos thing, which if you're not running a game set in his world, why use it, instead I just view the Law-Chaos alignment to be more of a order versus freedom thing, with most people falling into a Neutral camp where they tolerate some order and some freedom.

Law vs Chaos: Epic Rap Battles of History

# ¿ Mar 10, 2017 18:53

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Actually, a rogue who steals from the rich and helps the poor is following a personal code and is thus lawful.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2017 02:09

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

it's also probably evil because like, it's unpleasant to think of your dead grandmother or husband or child walking around without any personality in eternal labor for some shmuck, irl. it's just decidedly gross.

obviously if a culture was raised from day 1 being told that life is for pleasure and luxury and service in death (where you are literally incapable of caring about being exploited) is the postmortem tax you pay for such comfortable life then it'd seem a lot less evil but i think its just people transposing irl morals on top of the game's world without really thinking about it

also the 3.5e thing

# ¿ Mar 11, 2017 19:52

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Hey, I remember "you hosed a faerie, which makes you cooler and smarter than other people, true story".

to be fair, that probably does make you cooler than other people

# ¿ Mar 12, 2017 02:00

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

If there's anything that has a good track record, it's board games based on nerd IPs.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2017 04:03

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Just imagine your favorite fictional character saying "my character kills/fucks [random npc]" while all their friends laugh or look weirded out and you've properly emulated how RPGs are portrayed in the vast majority of media.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2017 13:20

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Nuns with Guns posted:

Fashion is also vital to the courtly intrigue half of the game

Your gem-encrusted tortoise will always be there for you in hard times

I'm Occassional

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 01:56

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

Also tell them it's a bad game.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 08:34

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

The whole "magic instead of technology" question is far too setting dependent to really give a sweeping decree over how viable fantasy communist peasantry would be in a world that did not experience an industrial revolution. Marx specifically notes the usefulness of capitalism as a means to prime the pump for the inevitable socialist society since it greatly accelerated a lot of technologies that would be essential (or at least highly desirable) for that sort of future. It's a lot easier to imagine a traditional-Eladrin communist utopia than a traditional-Orc one precisely because the former already got access to the technology/spells required to make sure everyone eats and has a decent standard of living.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2017 21:14

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 03:19

Countblanc: Apr 20, 2005; _{Help a hero out!}

I feel like lethality in a modern game would need to be on a party level, not a character level. If 1-2 characters die to some bullshit trap on floor 31 in a dungeon but there's another 3 party members ready to keep truckin' your options are to either have the party spontaneously stumble across new party members on floor 32 or to let the other three continue on until they either finish the crawl at floor 50 or meet their own untimely ends. The former feels more like a cooperative board game and the latter seems like it'd be really boring for the people who have to wait around to play again.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2017 00:57

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > TG Chat Thread 2017

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