Folks sometimes ask me if I'll ever just publish an all-in-one article describing #HTTRPG in detail.
I have long intended to. My main problem is that, every time I draft it, its ideal form seems to be a kind of mutant pick-a-path "Choose Your Own Socratic FAQ" monstrosity and I hate that. 😅
Eventually I'll just surrender to that, resign to it, and do my best to make it funny.
@mcmartin Well, that's interesting! I mean, apart from "thank you!' that you feel they're good ... I'd be very interested to dig into the challenges you've faced running them, since that's the kind of thing I should be writing more, and designing more, to help folks with.
I did an article on inhabiting distinct NPCs that might be a useful read (it's a quick one, at least). It was for an old Star Trek RPG supplement published by LUG and then purchased by WotC who buried it because they have no Trek license. 😬
The point being, if I dig it up and send it to you, nobody is left to care.
I suppose I continue wrestling with whether I would rather run a #TTRPG campaign about space pirates with a relatively trad game, like Stars Without Number, or with a narrative game, like Fate.
I favor narrative games' emphasis, but trad games can feel a bit more grounded. I tend to think of worrying about mechanics and numbers as a nuisance and distraction from narrative, but having things grounded and having practical limits up front all the time makes sense for science fiction.
My daughter’s birthday is in full effect and while the girls enjoy themselves in the pool, I finally decided to pick this up and jump into the Wayback Machine, set it to 1993, and see what all the fuss is about this game. 🤘🏻😊
@orcusdorkus Historically, the first RPG book to be full-color on every page, and thus worthy of blame for many things. 😆
It's a fun design, though. Very much Marshal Law with the serial numbers slightly smudged, but nice biting satire throughout. It lives up to its unlicensed premise. ☺️
It's on my list of 200 RPGs I'm happy to GM if asked.
One thing that bothers me an inordinate amount in a #TTRPG is example characters that break the character generation rules. Come on folks, it shouldn't be that hard to apply your own damned rules and give legal character examples.
@CatDad Ohhh, sure; I've seen it slip through as an error (often because of the changes rules go through during development). I thought you meant they did it deliberately. 😲
@Tesqovara I haven't seen it yet, but I'm looking forward to it! Moffat writing with Davies as the showrunner is my favorite #DoctorWho combo ... We tend to get the Davies energy without the Davies dumbing-down, and the Moffat cleverness without the Moffat dreary-too-clever-by-halfitude. 😅
Sandra and I were just talking about him a week or so ago (mostly in relation to my youthful crush on Geena Davis, which led us to Tootsie and, more importantly, to Buffalo Bill, where she and Coleman shared a lot of screen time)
But of course: Wargames and 9 to 5 and so much more. One of those fixtures of young GenX viewing.
92 is a good long run, but still. Hat off in respect.
Just casually leaving various old discords that have gone quiet or that I never got much out of, to make room for more and more Covid-cautious discords. Increasingly cozy and calming.
Some things I saw at this week's scifi convention in Zagreb:
people selling pretty faux-retro editions of old Victorian science fiction and adventure novels, which is neat! Except that, for some unfathomable reason, books use Comic Sans font for the text.
there are also folks selling hand-crafted D&D dice for between 70 and 140 euros per set. There might be ttrpg geeks out there with enough disposable income to spend so much money on a single dice set, but I sure as hell ain't one of them.