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2018 SUCKS!
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Jan 1, 2018 15:37
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Ewen Cluney posted:https://twitter.com/nekoewen/status/948265344195379200 If any of this is true, my favorite part is how these adults have been completely conditioned to actually care about these stickers. They're cooking the meals to get the stickers, and they backed off something because they threatened to take the sticker away. They are literally demonstrating the behavior of a five-year-old child in preschool.
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Jan 2, 2018 22:48
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hyphz posted:What always confuses me about PbtA games, and BitD for that matter, is how the GM fairly decides how many obstacles there should be in the way of the PCs before they achieve a goal. I propose a Counterpoint. There is very little difference between this and any other role playing game. It's not as if, when you're not using a premade Adventure, that you don't rely on the GM to come up with the obstacles. No Cosmic Force keeps the GM from making it up as they go along and it's pretty much required in every game since actions will never perfectly match up with the original intent of the rules or even the GM's plans. This is nothing you need to pbta, this is simply a reality of the medium.
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Jan 7, 2018 17:09
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hyphz posted:If you're using a classic premade adventure with a situation like that, exploring a defined and unusual area, then hopefully there's a map. If there's a map, then even if the PCs are navigating blind, they know that the lady and the tiger is fair. Ok, the PCs can still do weird stuff, but if they decide to pickaxe through a wall for some reason then you still know what's behind it. And if there's a dragon behind it then the players won't leave the table saying "he just put that dragon there to penalize us for axing through his wall". Counterpoint: most people don't use pre-made adventures in their games. And, when they do, it's only for small bits. Eventually you make your own stuff. Which means making a map becomes difficult. I still do it from time to time, but it's not uncommon to run without one if I can. There are a lot of games where I can definitely do. Hell, I know many people who play Dungeons & Dragons that way. As such, I argue that this problem is just inherent problem to the medium and not something unique to this particular game.
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Jan 7, 2018 17:34
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It's at this moment that I like to point out that the that the original PBTA game, apocalypse world, and most of its derivatives have a system of controlling pacing, be it fronts, quests, Etc, which is controlled by some form of graphic. Like the clock system in Apocalypse world. And blades in the dark uses a similar system. So this is really a discussion about having a physical map. Something that pbta games don't forbid. I mean, dungeon World actually comes with a few maps in the book.
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Jan 7, 2018 18:01
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hyphz posted:Oh god, not those rules. Yea, the ones that say the GM gets to make a hard move when the "players look to them to see what happens next", which they arguably do all the time. And which is a truly lovely thing for the players to learn they are being penalized for. And the ones that make "use up their resources" a single move when resource management is meaningless if it's determined by how often the GM picks that option from an arbitrary list. They're the single worst part of the whole PbtA idea. No, you make hard moves when they roll under 6. You make soft moves when they look to you. They're not being punished, they're asking you to advance the plot. This already happens in games. It always happens. When the players have nothing to go off of to advance things, they rely on the GM to introduce a new element. Otherwise, the game would die there. Pbta simply spells it out. It is no more punishment then running a game for them being a punishment. The point of the game is to overcome challenges, if new challenges are not introduced, there is no game. Therefore, it is not a punishment to introduce new challenges, that is simply providing a gameplay experience.
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Jan 7, 2018 23:20
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A soft move is " this happens, what do you do?" It is introducing a new challenge and you are expected to do it whenever the players run out of things to do. A hard move is " this happens" this is describing failure, but it should still move forward the plot. You should never simply stop the game. The failure should drive new challenges. But the real difference is that this is failure and you can't stop it from being a failure, even if you can do things afterwards. You failed to unlock the door and had to fight the guards, but you got a key off of them, for example. Soft moves and hard moves exist in every game. They are the backbone of GMing. They are two Core Concepts of game design put into words. They are introducing challenges for the players to solve and failure states that don't end the game so that there is risk. There must also be reward. Sometimes the reward can be mechanical like gold. Sometimes the reward can be narrative like being treated like Heroes by everyone you meet. Sometimes the reward is simply getting to do something the easy way. There must be reward to compensate for the risk. This is simply how games work. Pbta just spells it out.
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Jan 7, 2018 23:29
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hyphz posted:It isn't. In a classic dungeon crawl say, when the players run out of things to do, they can go kick down a door. Or not. It doesn't get forced onto them. If you're using a map, then the players know what's behind that door was always there. If their PCs are tired out and they kick down a door and meet a dragon that was always there, they know they screwed up. If the dragon was only spawned there by the GM, they know they've just been screwed or penalized. If the GM knows full well, as he/she will, that their HP totals are low and their anti-dragon spells are offline, then placing the dragon there "fairly" at the moment the door is kicked down is impossible. 1) I once ran a 13th Age game using a map where I use house rules to come up with weather the next room would be an encounter or a skill challenge of some sort and then made up depending on the result. No tables, just went " oh, it's a skill thing. How about the floor gives out and that they have to run away" or something. The game went great. We had a map, but it was just there for fluff. The players never noticed. For the record, the house rule came from the Tower of the ogre Magi Adventure. Not that we use at Adventure. Just that rule. The actual Adventure centered on trying to recover the dwarf king's old crown. It ended with them stopping an ancient demon from coming back and destroying the world by treating it with an ancient ritual that they had found in a random scroll. I made all that up as I went along. The players never noticed and they loved the game. 2) the map doesn't exist. The dungeon doesn't exist. There is nothing behind the door except what you imagined. There was nothing behind the door until you invented it. Therefore, it was made up on the spot. It just was made up on the spot a little while before. And there is no difference between those two situations. The players will never know the difference unless you tell them. They will enjoy the game just as much. This is the core basis of being a GM and running a game. You are the computer that adjuncts the rules and creates the world and response the players, like a computer in a video game. It doesn't matter if you did it 3 months before or right in that moment. If you're good at what you do, they'll never notice. And even if they do, as long as they had fun, they won't care.
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Jan 8, 2018 00:02
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:I know! I signed up for a Fellowship game a while back but it was incredibly popular and my character concept honestly wasn't all that great, so I didn't make the cut. The worst thing about great Indie Games is no one ever runs them so getting into a game become super high pressure and if you don't get in you probably never get to play. What I'm saying is, I know that feel, bro. Ask me about Tenra Bansho Zero.
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Jan 8, 2018 02:48
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Jimbozig, both of those games have resource mechanic. I don't want to come off as rude, but you made a game that claimed to be inspired by powered by the Apocalypse. It wasn't its main inspiration, but it was one according to your ludography. This just seems off.
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Jan 8, 2018 08:03
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hyphz posted:More like "I can't imagine my friends thinking that a story that ends with their characters getting shot is fun." (Thinking they might be shot is fine, though.) Form user JordanPro ran a game for me and another form user where, by the end, my character blew his own brains out because he had become a cyborg ruling in army but his opponent, another player character, successfully convinced him he was a slave in machines and since he always sought freedom he killed himself. I thought it was a loving great game and I really liked how it all turned out.
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Jan 8, 2018 23:25
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hyphz posted:"Honestly" means based on the truth, but if there is no map there is no truth. All right, let me answer that for you. I run a ton of powered by the apocalypse games in person. I normally play off of what the players are giving me. If you want to know when I don't have an idea, I will usually make an excuse for two or more players to just chat and use that to come up with something interesting from there. It works pretty often as a lot of scenes and shows and stories involve two characters interacting, growing, and then that leading to a development. When I am doing things, I try to gauge my players interest. I also use my own interest. If the party is split, I also try to give consideration to time. Making sure to go back and forth between the scenes with no more lag than 5 minutes to make sure no one gets bored. I try to play off the energy my players give me, the enthusiasm they're portraying, and use that to tell when we're reaching the end of the scene. It's an art, not a science. I can usually tell when we reach the end. I'm no expert, and I will admit that my Urban Shadows game had a lot of problems in this regard, as I'm sure Quantum ninja would be quick to point out. But, it usually works. Masks the Next Generation is the game that I've run the best campaign I've ever run and that all came from just playing off my players, The energy they were giving, and sometimes just being direct with them behind the scenes and asking what they wanted. Like, one of my players in the mask game wanted their character to die in a blaze of glory. I tried to find ways to avoid it, but he wanted to die in a blaze of glory so I let him use his Moment of Truth to take out the main villain, The Lex Luthor-expy, by using his curse that he would one day be dragged to hell to drag both of them to hell. It led to the great twist that the team, after never being able to make a name, was finally able to come up with a team name by making a name in memoriam and allowing character to be reunited with her family because she actually was brought to Heaven because of her good Deeds. Everyone left that game feeling super satisfied. No one had a ton of loot. I gave everyone what they wanted. Outside of that one character, I allowed the outsider to finally reconcile their differences with their home planet. I allowed the Nova to be the Big drat hero and finally prove himself. I allow the Protege to get the respect of his mentor and finally be treated like an adult. And on and on. I worked with the energy my players were giving me scene-by-scene in between sessions, gauging what they wanted and trying to provide it. I'm no God among and I'm not trying to brag, but I just tried to figure out where they want the game to go and what I thought would be fun and we reached a lot of interesting places with the game. You don't need loot, you don't need levels, you don't need material benefits. You don't need the game to spell these things out when it comes to how long a scene should go or how many obstacles to throw. Just playoff the energy your players are giving you, the vibe of the room, the feeling of what the players want to experience. I mean, I ran chuubos once and that's a game where everyone is just living life day by day in a tiny little town and most advantageous involved two people talking about their relationships and having strange dreams and Wacky Adventures with the gravekeeper. Not every game is DND, there are a lot of games that provide difference experiences. Loot, levels, Etc are just numbers. There is no difference between that and something narrative as a reward as long as the player feels like they accomplish something and rewarded. Work with what they feel is rewarding and play all that energy and information. Because, in regards to ladder, you can always just ask in between sessions what they want for the character and you can work with them, but always keep the reality that they could fail or could twist. Like any story that still being written, even if the writer knows where they want to end up, they can reach that point and realize it entirely different ending is perfect and I've had that happen a lot and games so even when we discuss these things we still find amazing conclusions from the emergence nature of the conversation. Just work of your players, workr with the mood, and you'll go far.
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Jan 8, 2018 23:44
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gradenko_2000 posted:To be fair, there's a smidgen of a real issue with what hyphz is describing with his Shadowrun story. Wow, that really sucks dude. I wish I could help but I don't know anything about that country set of tax laws, only America's.
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Jan 10, 2018 05:12
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DalaranJ posted:I want to play Hyphz’s nightmare game. A theoretical game where the fiction doesn’t follow. Some sort of surrealist masterpiece, where I try to attack the goblin and flowers sprout up everywhere, and the goblin wasn’t even actually there. David Lynch presents D&D
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Jan 10, 2018 19:03
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Serf posted:how do they get the laserbeam to stop at sword length The official explanation is there is a line of plasma that surrounds it. Basically, and energy field is generated around the surface. Lightsabers actually have an edged side and a blunt side because of this. If they didn't do that, the weapon would disperse so much that it be too unfocused to actually cut anything.
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Jan 11, 2018 20:10
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Lightning Lord posted:I thought the answer was the Force No, that'd defeat the whole point. They use lightsabers because it take too long and they leave themselves to open they only use the force to fight. Having to use the force to maintain the blade would defeat the purpose and they wouldn't be able to use any other powers.
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Jan 11, 2018 20:23
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Serf posted:lightsabers are just magic swords for space sorcerers. the blastersaber is what happens when an apprentice sorcerer thinks to himself "what if my sword could hit people all the way over there?" and set out to make that a reality It's also destroyed by Darth Vader in the moment we're Ezra supposed to realize that actions have consequences, that he can very easily die, and this is very serious business where his friends can be seriously hurt and killed. This is not a coincidence, it's a deliberate storytelling thing where the silliness and happiness vanishes under the iron boot of facsim and war as embodied by the loving Specter of death, Darth Vader.
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Jan 11, 2018 23:26
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Mikan had a contest to get free copy of Double Cross by being nice to a developer online. I complimented Mike Mearls on his work for Iron Heroes and how I felt it was under appreciated. I won the free copy. Now, consider everything about what I just said.
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Jan 13, 2018 17:37
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Tuxedo Catfish posted:There's a difference between pity and kindness, Covok. That may be true, but I still won the contest.
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Jan 13, 2018 19:50
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Ettin posted:I'm nice to devs online for free If I say nice things about you, can I get a physical copy of the original Breakfast Cult? You know, the one before the kickstarter that is objectively less playtested, has less content, and stolen art and is, overall, a worse product? Edit: judging from the response, I think people think I'm trying to be mean to Ettin. I'm just making a joke about being nice to devs for a reward. Covok fucked around with this message at 17:40 on Jan 14, 2018 |
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Jan 14, 2018 09:41
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NachtSieger posted:what I'm being funny. I have a physical copy of the new, post Kickstarter Breakfast Cult. It's a good game, and has all the content of the original contest version but with better art and support and even more content. There's no reason why anyone would ever want the original contest version in a physical format. Thus, requesting it would be funny.
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Jan 14, 2018 17:35
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Yawgmoth posted:what During the Alabama senate election between pedophile candidate Roy Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones, I said some...angry things about Alabama when I thought Moore was going to win.
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Jan 14, 2018 18:32
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Zomborgon posted:I didn't know they had a party. That explains a lot. Certainly makes American politics make more sense when you make the connection.
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Jan 14, 2018 18:38
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gradenko_2000 posted:So how long until we find out Mearls is a sex pest I mean, having seen how he looks like, I would not at all be surprised if he sexually harassed women. Not accusing nor, especially not, defending, just saying that he definitely looks like the type of guy who would pull that kind of atrocious stuff. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Jan 22, 2018 18:20
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https://bundleofholding.com/presents/WOIN?utm_source=sendy&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=289WOIN Is there any Earthly reason I should even look at this fantasy Heartbreaker? It's the old is new thing from the guy from ENworld. Its on sale on the bundle of holding.
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Mar 22, 2018 02:20
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Is Eclipse Phase 2nd Edition out yet? Is the preview material any good? Edit: Definitely isn't out yet as the Mesh chapter has just been added to playtest. Covok fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Mar 25, 2018 |
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Mar 25, 2018 01:04
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Lemon-Lime posted:I've heard good things, so it's time for someone to F&F it. Once tax season is over and I'm no longer working 60 hour weeks, I'll begin to do it and then fail immediately without announcing anything.
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Mar 30, 2018 23:05
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I actually talked to this guy and tried to ask him what he was thinking. He came off like a really under-informed individual playing as being informed. It seems like he has no idea about anything he was talking about and was very politically naive. I'm saying this is if this was a shock, of course. He is malicious, but really loving uninformed.
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Apr 4, 2018 03:57
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Nuns with Guns posted:Well, yes, improving a story is ultimately what pen and paper RPGs are for that's not really in dispute, but Dread's whole point is the visual of the Jenga tower. That'd be fine for those games hosted as Youtube videos, but wouldn't that lead to a lot of dead air on a podcast while people wait for the draw to happen? From what I've seen since I have seen a video podcast do dread, they normally play very dramatic music and make it out to be a life-or-death scenario to keep it interesting. I want to say Wil Wheaton did an episode of that.
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Apr 7, 2018 23:47
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Jeb Bush 2012 posted:Your Own Butt attacks. Power Word: Pounded By
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Apr 8, 2018 22:13
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grassy gnoll posted:It's doubly dumb, because selling off obsolete crap for deep discounts lets you take the difference in sale and purchase prices as a tax write-off. Not really. That would not be a capital asset so it's not like you would counted against the original purchase price. So, it would only matter if they got it that year. Taxes work on a cash basis, not a accrual basis. It's still better to sell then to have poo poo lying around, that's true. But you can't take it as a tax write-off because it's not a capital asset, it's just merchandise. Thinking about it even further, you would just be marking at a sales and the purchases would have already been accounted for years ago so it's not like you would really see any benefit from it from a tax perspective. Still better to get the money, but selling old crap doesn't get you a tax benefit. If it was stocks or bonds or Capital asset then we can start talking about that. An argument could even be made for like an original copy of D&D signed by Gary gygax, but just old merchandise doesn't count. I mean, I am new to working on smaller businesses and individuals. I've only done one busy season that's about to end. Most of my experience is more with hedge funds and mutual funds were such things don't really come up often.
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Apr 12, 2018 04:23
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mllaneza posted:They're also paying property taxes on that dead inventory. Selling that crap will stop the bleeding. No...? They're cost of maintaining inventory, but there's no property taxes unless they have a warehouse or something that they are not going to have any more after selling it.
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Apr 12, 2018 18:10
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Subjunctive posted:And they own that warehouse, rather than renting it, which I think is extremely unlikely. If anything, the expense of the rent is a tax write-off as it would count against their business income.
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Apr 12, 2018 18:16
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mllaneza posted:It depends on the state; although I am technically wrong (the worst kind of wrong) because I was assuming San Francisco's Business Personal Property tax included inventory. Ah, I see. I work in New York and am unfamilar with CA business taxes.
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Apr 12, 2018 23:05
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I wanted to play a licensed setting, but couldn't decide on which one so I just farted out a setting where you can play in all of them at once. It's probably crap, but you can give it a look if you're interested.
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Apr 20, 2018 02:12
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Plutonis posted:Finally the RPO of tabletop rpgs are here. What's RPO?
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Apr 20, 2018 02:26
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Bongo Bill posted:The book and recent film adaptation "Ready Player One" which is famous for haphazardly including superficial and gratuitous cameos of many different "geek" media. Zurui posted:Porn for the nerd equivalent of the guy who can't get over his senior year.  I can't believe I made Ready Player One for TTRPG.Nah, though, I just couldn't decided to do something with Marvel or DC for my next superhero game so I thought "why not both? And do anime too!" Though, I guess I could just set it on Earth-7642 which is where Marvel and DC set all their crossovers. But, then, no anime. Or could there be? Guy Goodbody posted:the guy who wrote Ready Player One never hosed  Bonus that reminded me I should get caught up on SU now that I am no longer chained to a desk doing tax returns:  Antivehicular posted:The charitable reading: the gaps in RPO's nostalgia represent the gaps in the interests of the dead billionaire nerd dude who started the contest that drives the plot You know, I strangely got flashbacks to Black Hammer when you said that. Black Hammer is this awesome comic by Jeff Lemire where a bunch of pastiches of superheroes find themselves trapped in a midwestern town without the ability to leave and must blend in and the story is an amazing love letter/deconstruction of the history of American comics. Totally unrelated, but it's good and I couldn't put the tradebacks down the day I bought them till I read them all so I highly recommend them. Anyway, that wasn't the original intention, but that could actually be kind of awesome. And, you can play original characters. There are "billions of self-inserts." Covok fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Apr 20, 2018 |
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Apr 20, 2018 02:38
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As a bit of change, I've been feeling down lately as I lost my job. They claim it was "always a temporary position for one busy season." I frankly feel a bit used since my offer letter never mentions that. But I've been feeling better. I have a great family who is there for me and support me and, honestly, I feel like a really lucky guy despite losing my job. To relate this back to TRPGs, I got a confidence boost today because fans of Friendship, Effort, Victory found me on the internet and invited me to sit in on their online game and chatted with me about how much they like the game and just general bullshit. It was very nice to see people having fun with something I created.
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Apr 20, 2018 04:50
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Dagon posted:Its me! (and everyone that actually writes the lists which is like a third of the posters here). You do make sure to pay self-employment tax as well as take all of your applicable expenses to offset the income.
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Apr 20, 2018 18:16
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D&D 5e is a bad game.
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Apr 20, 2018 23:27
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