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I've been doing RPG reviews for a while now. There's a few tricks and it's definitely a tightrope walk. First off we stick hard to two precepts. We read the core game, and we don't do any research. Those are armor that keeps every comment from being "You morons, they fixed that problem with a sourcebook or a blog post in 2005." This still happens, but at least it happens less. Second, we generally stay away from games that still have active development staff, because the non-WOTC industry is basically 50 cents away from total collapse and we don't want to be a part of that.
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Jan 7, 2021 04:12
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I mean, you could answer "why doesn't anyone really go after Monopoly" with "It's like 117 years old." It'd be like launching a scathing review of the Wright Flyer at a certain point. "A bicycle engine? Pshaw. And only 120 feet traveled? I've pissed farther than that on sober days. More like the Wright Thrown Really Hard." I guess given that it still sells that's not really a direct comparison, but I'd be way more inclined to just make fun of the dumbass cash cow licensed variants than the game itself.
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Jan 7, 2021 04:19
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I have one of those 5x5 Kallax things all filled up with books but organization is super easy since it's like 90% core books. So it's just 1. Have I read it yet > 2. Alphabetical. Though that still needs a sub shelf for boxes that are unreasonably large like Everway and DragonRaid.
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Jan 9, 2021 00:52
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And games like High Strung and Rockalypse that are expressly about playing as musicians, whether in a literal band simulator as an adventuring group.
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Jan 14, 2021 17:00
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aldantefax posted:I think this thread isn’t followed by everybody and can get/feel kinda clique-y (not saying it is at the moment) and maybe you just want to post a joke and just throw that out there. Not saying I care if there's a bunch of new threads (I don't) but aren't all the threads kinda cliquey? I can't imagine that's a good reason to make a new one.
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Jan 20, 2021 22:08
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Covok posted:System Mastery poster dudes, you really chose Interstital for your first PbtA on system mastery? That game is not good. Hah, wasn't my pick. I think Jon wanted to talk a lot about how Kingdom Hearts gets all arcane, but we (more me) really ended up butting up against some weird rule decisions and a lot of dumb fuzzies, yeah. But we aren't trying to pick good representation of specific engines, and our reviews have to occur relatively in a vacuum, because no one No True Scotsmans like RPG nerds. theironjef fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Jan 21, 2021 |
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Jan 21, 2021 06:45
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Leperflesh posted:Sweet. Can you please go back through all my posts and make them good?
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Jan 22, 2021 03:47
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Well by the Rifts Conversion Book the Wolfen has been joined by two more dog species, the Kankoran and the Coyle, but at the same time, the book has at least three playable lizardman species. I don't think there's really a strong argument that anyone there has a thing for anthro canines so much as just "As much stuff as we can fit on pages and have art for." You ever want a book that really confirms that, check out Aliens Unlimited. I think it has 11 species of anthro dog aliens. But also 10 cat, 11 bird, etc.
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Jan 26, 2021 17:03
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Yeah if he's a furry it's because it was the path of least resistance. Like, literally a furry so he could reuse that one art piece of a man turning into a wolf on his furaffinity profile.
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Jan 26, 2021 23:58
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I'm surprised we don't have a thread for discussing Lovecraft and Howard's relationship at length.
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Jan 30, 2021 18:41
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aldantefax posted:18+ DM stories: so anyway, they started blastin’ I'm nigh invulnerable when I'm 18+!
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Jan 31, 2021 20:26
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One would hope that's 20-25 per player per session.
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Jan 31, 2021 22:09
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Coolness Averted posted:lol I know someone who worked on that and when they posted about it I made the I have heard that that dwarf character has a crossbow he has dubbed "Assfuck."
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Feb 3, 2021 04:54
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drrockso20 posted:Sell me on this game people cause I've been looking for a good Superheroes system It's real good. A nice balance between crunch and narrative style (uses zone cards instead of maps and minis), and it has the best random character creation system ever in terms of generating fun stuff. Knowledge of the Sentinels setting doesn't matter in the slightest, and it's super easy to make characters out of superheroes from just about any source instead.
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Feb 7, 2021 05:37
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quote:Okay, a slightly in-depth explanation of the Sentinels RPG: To expand on random guided character creation a little: Guided random character creation consists of a series of die rolls that produce a set of options from a list, each of which will tell you the next set of dice to roll for the next list. That happens a total of four times, like this. Background - This one you just roll 2d10 for, and take either single die value or the combination of both. Backgrounds include stuff like Entertainer, Soldier, Academic, Former Villain, or Otherworldly. They provide you with starting Qualities (as mentioned in the post above) and a Principle selection (values your character lives by, sort of alignment-adjacent). Then it gives you a set of dice to roll. Roll those dice for... Power Source (Roll whatever dice you were told in the same way as before, pick one or add any two together, and keep track of what kind of dice they were) - Why you have powers. Stuff like Accident, Robotics, Training, Mystic, Nature. Each will provide you a list of potential powers to take, and you'll assign those dice types you just rolled (not values) each to a power. Then it'll tell you to take some abilities, which are tricks you can do with your powers, and some guidelines on what powers can be used for what abilities. Then dice are provided again which leads to... Archetype (Same dice trick) - How you use your powers. Stuff like Marksman, Physical Powerhouse, Flyer, Minion Maker. Once again you'll be provided a list of powers and qualities and instructions on how to use the dice you just rolled, a list of abilities to choose and slot powers into, and this time, another Principle as well. Then it's time to roll (it's always 2D10 this time) for... Personality - Stuff like Alluring, Stoic, Wisecracking, Angry. What this stage does primarily is tell you your dice spread for the third column of dice. Some characters will get stronger as the fight gets more desperate (D6, D8, D10), others are strong early but begin to falter, and a few just stay solid all the way. Each also provides your Out ability, which is the thing you can still do when your HP hits zero and you're effectively otherwise out of the fight (you still get a turn when you're down, you decide why you're down, and you can still contribute), and will tell you to make up a Quality to fit your character at D8. Just a chance to round out there. It'll also tell you to go pick two Red Abilities (everyone gets two) which are the powerful abilities you unlock either at low health or when the fight is getting desparate. Unlike other abilities, the Red aren't assigned by archetype or anything, they're just divided up by what kind of powers or qualities they're attached to. There's a few other steps, mostly just picking your Principles, health calculation, and a retcon step where you can move a number or two around to fix little holes in the design. Balance issues can crop up. Some of the backgrounds just aren't great, like Legacy, because all they give you is D8s. D8s aren't bad, but they aren't D10s or D12s, and your character may feel a little less intense than someone carefully building around one really good power at D12. They're mostly minor though, since generally you're rolling a pool and taking the middle result, and you're never forced into one specific option and can build around trouble in one step with the next or with the Retcon step. That said in answer to the question about Marvel Heroes, it is almost assuredly more balanced in general than MSHRPG, especially after you start introducing sourcebooks like the Ultimate Powers Guide. I'm guessing CitizenKeen has houseruled the hell out of their MSHRPG game and doesn't really want to start that process all over again, which is totally fair. theironjef fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Feb 7, 2021 |
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Feb 7, 2021 17:05
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Still can't decide which is sillier between Hollyhock God and the slightly more straightforward Game Operations Director.
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Feb 11, 2021 03:49
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aldantefax posted:They're doing an anniversary Kickstarter for Everway, eh? That was my first foray into games that weren't D&D and I bought it for twenty bucks at a DunDraCon when I was 12 or 13. I imagine all the various cards in it which lacked any text (or context) were supposed to be the resolution mechanic by playing one and interpreting what that meant when you wanted to like, make a sandwich. What did the bee invasion pyramid card mean in this context? Nope, the picture cards were there predominately for character creation, you drew or chose five of them and described how they informed or inspired your character. The actual resolution model uses a tarot deck sort of thing that's also in the box.
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Feb 11, 2021 06:18
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Are we just letting "sperg" fly now? I'm not a fan of that.
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Feb 11, 2021 16:35
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 you say?
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Feb 13, 2021 01:34
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Xiahou Dun posted:They hosed up the IPA on their own banner. Zines are practically defined by the shits they don't give.
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Feb 14, 2021 05:24
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The first D&D game I ever ran was fully underwater, because I really wanted to do a story where players explored a makeshift town built in the body of a colossal zombified whale. I think the first thing I did was tell the players that enemies in the water tended to line up on a plane and fight on it because I don't want to use the 3d fight rules, and also the magic items that gave them water breathing also gave them spells that work like normal, because I didn't want to have a long argument about lightning bolts in the water. So sadly while I did run like a six session underwater D&D game, the first thing I did was toss all the hard to mess with underwater stuff.
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Feb 26, 2021 16:57
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I dunno, Trader Joes has a classy title font where the first letter is the word is larger. Carrots > D&D.
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Feb 27, 2021 00:26
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GimpInBlack posted:So, Sentinel Comics RPG question for those who have had it longer than me: how would you build something like Superman's vulnerability to kryptonite, or Martian Manhunter's weakness to fire, or the like? There are a couple of principles that address some kind of weakness (Principle of Dependence covers things like Cyclops needing his visor or Iron Man needing his heart implant thing), but nothing I can see that really hits that Achilles' Heel type weakness. Build those vulnerabilities as suggested twists in your principles section. The principle of invulnerability for example has a suggested twist like "who has discovered your one weakness?". You wouldn't need a principle of Vulnerability, you'd want the opposite. Superman is invincible but what if something hits him anyway? Was that magic or lead or kryptonite, what's going on? It's a twist! The weaknesses being more common than that wouldn't really feel right anyway. Twists come up pretty often in play and attaching weaknesses to abilities would be like "well Superman gotta deal with Kryptonite like seven times a fight."
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Mar 1, 2021 17:14
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hyphz posted:Neither TSR nor Paizo were giant when they started. Not that their existence as giants doesn’t make competition harder, but tactical design by small firms is totally possible. Yeah it's not like businesses and in particular the powers and protections afforded to large corporations have fundamentally changed in any way over the last fifty years.
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Mar 1, 2021 20:32
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Evil Mastermind posted:Strands of Fate was such a weird beast. Taking pre-Core Fate and trying to meld it with 3.x option-heavy design created such an insane mess of a system. It comes from the Fate era where you had 10 aspects and people still didn't really get how to write them well. So you ended up with characters like this: Gentlemen the situation is dire. I need a somewhat worse Lara Croft and a clubbin' Poser Art Vampire Indiana Jones with too big a hat on my desk by three. Give me options!
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Mar 4, 2021 20:15
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Splicer posted:If you are going to do a game where Captain America and Superman are both playable characters you either need a strict tier system so that they never end up in the same party or try to fight the same opponents or strong direct narrative impacting mechanics so that Captain America player gets as much narrative control as the Superman player even though he has far fewer raw numbers and abilities. After years of watching Justice League Unlimited and Young Justice, etc, I have come to terms that heroes just rise to the level they need to to matter. Batman slaps on electric knuckle dusters, Vigilante crashes his motorcyle into the bad guy and shoots the gas tank, whatever. Since the comics and their accompanying other sources of media rarely seem concerned with measuring who can strictly punch harder between heroes, I tend to prefer games where I don't have to do that stuff either.
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Apr 7, 2021 00:06
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Consistently the hardest problem I have with getting people into a supers game is that something seems to be broken in a lot of my friends regarding their ability to just earnestly make a superhero. You know, costume, powers, codename that references those powers. Can be a little silly, no problem. But every time it's like "Make a regular superhero" "I made an angry broken man with no powers and a terrible disease." "Make a superhero without deconstructing the genre." "I made the ubermensch but he's a terrible goblin it turns out." "Make a guy named [something] lad, where something is the kind of powers he has." I made Gangrene Lad, he died of gangrene some time ago." Maybe they're just loving with me, who knows.
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Apr 7, 2021 04:16
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BlackIronHeart posted:I think there are two main issues with superhero RPGs. The first is that you've got a table with 1 GM and two to N characters who are Main Protagonists when the superhero genre is about having 1 Main Protagonist (which would be whoever's name is on the cover of the comic book). Sure, crossovers can happen and maybe someone has a prominent sidekick but if you're reading a Batman comic, he isn't sharing equal page time with Aquaman or whoever. Except all that stuff happens all the time. Thor (Jane Foster) was a regular recurring character in Squirrel Girl, helping to rescue her from Kraven and stuff. Aunt May was a herald of Galactus. Silver Surfer dates. Batman is a member of the Justice League, he just prefers to tool darkly around Gotham. Wolverine is on every team. Generally the only time and place you actually see any of that "Adam Warlock isn't going to help Moon Knight that's crazy" sort of stuff is in theorycrafting nerd discussion and more specifically when people are talking about RPGs. Just set it aside, you'll be happier. It's why my favorite supers RPGs are ones where power level isn't really a thing. Sentinels is the one I'm using these days, and I'd happily build Silver Surfer with the exact same tools and final numbers as I'd build Punisher. Sure they're on vastly different power scales, but if the story dictates it, they're on the exact same narrative scale, and that's what the mechanics represent. theironjef fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Apr 7, 2021 |
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Apr 7, 2021 05:51
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Halloween Jack posted:Everyone gets brain damaged by the first system they play. Ask me which Vampire clans the X-Men belong to. For me it was writing out Rifts country supplements before they actually happened for years. My Japan was so much better.
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Apr 7, 2021 16:04
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Not a dig, just a point of curiosity, is the player new to RPGs?
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Apr 22, 2021 04:03
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Whybird posted:It's the near future. Every conspiracy theorist's vision of the apocalypse has come to pass at the same time and now the various apocalyptic entities are fighting it out amongst themselves over who gets to rule over whatever's left of Earth. Do you play as an apocalyptic entity? Though I guess honestly that would make it fairly hard to have a party. That would probably work better for a board game.
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May 12, 2021 04:50
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I would like an actually good game with humans alongside dinosaurs. I've read a bunch and every one fails for various crazy reasons. I don't even care much what the theme is, could be JP, could be Dinotopia, could be a mix, as long as the mechanics are good and there's no confederate apologia. Also the dinos need to be real species, I don't want one where there's an electric baryonix called a Teslasaurus.
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May 12, 2021 15:41
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tokenbrownguy posted:How dare you all forget Dinosaurs... IN SPACE! I didn't! It's fine, it's just more of a corny 50's sci-fi RPG. Not dinosaur focused enough. I gotta have more dinosaur. ...Also synapsids and pterosaurs can be there.
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May 12, 2021 17:41
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At a certain point just about any complex social mechanics just resemble combat mechanics with different nouns. All "I'll launch a probing thrust of questions against his stonewall defense method. Two points of social damage and he's stammering (save ends)." Honestly now I think that's the solution. Just reskinning 4e to a fully social game. Come and Get It is now "Debate Me!" and it's the fighter saying something controversial and loud that forces everyone within three squares to come over next to him to argue with his dumb point. They also take 1W of cringe damage. theironjef fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Jun 1, 2021 |
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Jun 1, 2021 18:01
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CitizenKeen posted:You're not wrong. Yeah, I don't deny that that's an option. It's a good one. I just think that in execution it will inevitably turn into a combat minigame with new words stuck on it, and be vaguely unsatisfying in that regard. Sure at first when you get your hands on it you'll think "Oh sweet, I can't wait to RP through social combat now that there's all this guidance" but within three sessions everyone will have reverted to "I'll just say the guidance stuff. I use Gentle Rebuke. It inflicts Shamed until the end of his next turn." Basically I'm pulling my experience here from Exalted games, where you can just hyper focus on social stuff, but it gets so abstracted and bogged down that it can be hard to both assemble a combo and then thread an RP'd statement through that makes any sense alongside the rules.
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Jun 1, 2021 18:21
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Was she also the one that really liked bald ladies with lip piercings? During 2nd edition it seemed like someone wanted to draw their personal character as each type of Exalt. Like there's a Lunar one that's going all chimera, there's an autochthonian one with a gear for a mohawk, etc.
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Jun 20, 2021 08:07
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I don't like just about any AP, not that I think the format sucks, just long-form improv storytelling isn't my jam, I can't stay focused on it. But I run a small podcast that has a little tiny bit of success, and it's about RPGs but not an AP. We don't say anything about CR on the show, since why would we, neither of us listens to it. Yet we get a small but persistent trickle of reviews on our shows that are basically 1 star reviews that say like "Every RPG show except Critical Role sucks" I'd say like one of those every few months. And that's the closest thing I have to an interaction with the show or the fanbase.
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Jul 11, 2021 16:04
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potatocubed posted:While I concede that the chat thread is a good place to casually chat about streams and/or podcasts, I would contend that a) it's not a good place to try and litigate exactly how awful the Critical Role cast are*, b) if you want to talk about podcasts and streams more generally we have a thread for that, and c) if you really have to argue about this I'd much rather you took it to an all-new Critical Role Deathmatch thread which I can delete without reading at some later date. Hey! Two threads: Non-AP RPG Podcasts That said, also keep the CR chat outta there, thanks.
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Jul 12, 2021 00:19
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This is why I maintain a constant position that my listeners are just potential creeps that need to stay the hell away from me.
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Jul 13, 2021 17:28
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Pocky In My Pocket posted:Either classic or xp. Let's play two truths and a lie.
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Jul 14, 2021 00:01
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