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There's one thing people haven't mentioned about Apocalypse World's sex moves. Sex sells. So does controversy. Vincent Baker was hardly an unknown when he created his weird post-apocalyptic game thanks to Dogs in the Vineyard (and to a lesser extent Poison'd and kill puppies for satin) and a whole lot of theory but he was hardly a big player in the RPG market. One of his deliberate design decisions was to deliberately over-write Apocalypse World in a way he knew about 10% of his potential audience would absolutely hate. But they'd hate it in ways they'd talk and complain about and that would effectively be his advertising budget. Apocalypse World 2e is a lot less overwritten in my experience because it didn't need it.Absurd Alhazred posted:Could you expand on how DW gets it wrong? And which of the good examples are good if I'm weaning people (including myself) off of D&D? Fellowship I got but seems way too LotR-centered. Other people have mentioned Defy Danger - but it's also a lot less visceral than a good PBTA game should be, and far too concerned with relatively ridiculous move lists, consequence free damage, and levelling up. It also doesn't have things I really appreciate in Apocalypse World like two separate moves for attacking to show your risk/reward approach and you make choices on 10+ as well as 7-9, making AW combat inherently more interesting than just picking a target, rolling a range or melee attack roll, and only actually deciding anything more than a choice of target on a 7-9. The analogy I use to describe it is it's as if someone took a car from the 1970s, took a ridiculous overpowered crotch-rocket of a motorbike from the early 2010s, and just pulled the engine and transmission out of the crotch-rocket and welded it in a car. To people used to the car it feels odd but fast because an overpowered crotch-rocket still has a lot of power and the 1970s car is pretty light because it lacks modern safety features. But it still handles like a 1970s car with weird acceleration. Honestly in terms of lightweight non-tactical D&D it was certainly preferable to AD&D, 3.X, or trying to use 4e for non-tactical purposes when it came out in 2012/13 but it's mediocre enough that I think I prefer 5e for my rules-relatively-light non-tactical D&D and I definitely prefer 13th Age.
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May 1, 2020 02:02
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 01:19 |
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hyphz posted:Fair enough on not being e/n. We just need a hot philosophical topic I guess. GNS was a useful set of critiques around the turn of the Millennium when the World of Darkness was considered to be cool about how it didn't provide what it promised and how there was actually something to be learned from D&D however musty AD&D 2e looked at the time. It doesn't need redeeming because it lead to some really good things. It doesn't want redeeming because as of 2010 (with Spirit of the Century and Apocalypse World in play - and yes Fate Core is better than SotC) almost all the good parts of GNS have been turned from theory to practice and we can refer to games doing things well rather than abstract theory. If you want player types, Robin Laws' list, which is based on the old WotC survey are better. And they don't even count the emotional engagement group.
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May 3, 2020 18:53
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Lunatic Sledge posted:incidentally, players asking for really bizarre and specific measurements was always a red flag in my group that a dumb loving plan was about to go down, to the extent that it became a running gag (asking "how high is the roof" in particular was the ill omen preceding the worst ideas) YMMV. Some of the most fun I've had DMing has involved dumb loving plans going down, generally in flames. "How high is the roof" is the time to put the popcorn on.
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May 5, 2020 01:51
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Zereth posted:On the latter, apparently the first run of Tomb of Horrors with Gygax's home group had zero deaths, because they knew exactly where he'd be putting traps and secret doors. You don't even need to know where he'd put the traps and secret doors. It's really stupidly simple to beat Tomb of Horrors. Whenever the module gives you a choice, whether this door or that door, left or right both choices are wrong. Hunt around until you find the secret third option, and that secret third option will always be the correct one even if it's e.g. a secret door in the bottom of a pit trap.
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May 30, 2020 22:16
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hyphz posted:It's an interesting example, too, since it sets off one of the most common doubts I have in GMing: whether or not I can do this anytime we're in a fight. Most modern games (including Apocalypse World) that encourage this sort of thing have a resource mechanic for this. Your Savvyhead obviously has Bonefeel for a possible 1/session. Fate has either Fate Points or 1/session stunts. Blades In The Dark has limited uses but flexible. For that matter GURPS was doing this back in the 90s.
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Jun 20, 2020 21:41
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 01:19 |
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Absurd Alhazred posted:A vegetarian recipe I could provide you would involve me telling you "so, you soak a cup of lentils overnight, then strain them and let them sit in the strainer. Then fry some onions in a pot until they're easily breakable with your spatula, then pour in the lentils, mix them up and stir them for a few minutes, then add lots of spices, I usually use curry, cumin, and paprika, I do at least two rounds of adding the spices then mixing the whole thing up until it evens out, plus one teaspoon of salt, let it hiss for a bit while stirring occasionally, then add preheated water, bring to boil then let it simmer for probably 20 minutes although check once in a while, then add rice (about two cups with two teaspoons of salt), stir, add more water, then continue to come and stir occasionally, about every 5 minutes, until the rice seems soft enough, then check if it is ready, then you're good." Except that the analogy you've provided there is the level of detail that D&D provides for combat. The level of detail for non-combat consequences is more like "Soak your lentils, then add fried onions and spices to taste, probably including paprika. Boil and simmer until cooked." And you only know to add curry because it's in the recipe title and cumin because it was in the ingredients list. Now I believe you could follow that recipe quite happily. But that doesn't make it a good recipe for a beginner or anything that the game itself has put real effort in.
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Jul 22, 2020 20:04
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, and what temperature am I aiming at exactly, you haven't given me a SYSTEM for checking when it's done because you're just telling me to test and see, you're not giving me a SYSTEM LALALALA".