@malin@dice.camp
@malin@dice.camp avatar

malin

@malin@dice.camp

Working on an open-source RPG, so anyone can make any changes, and pass their ideas on.

Download: https://bindrpg.itch.io

If you'd like to collaborate on an RPG project, come and say 'hi' on Matrix:

https://matrix.to/#/#bindrpg:matrix.org

#rpg #ttrpgs #gemini #foss #TeXLaTeX

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alex, to random
@alex@dads.cool avatar

The “great” thing about England is that when these articles come out and you google the person who wrote them it’s not something boring like “their dad is a trust fund manager” it’s “their dad is a baron, their grandfather edited the newspaper this appears in, and their family founded the private Bank of England”

*all true of this writer

malin,
@malin@dice.camp avatar

@mxtthxw @vfrmedia @onepict @alex I demand a link.

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

@malin linked me to their idea for calculating "faff" in games. It's a way to generate a numeric rating for how much work the player has to go through to accomplish a task. https://ttrpgs.com/post/faff/

I tackle this problem with flow charts. I find them to be an incredible way to expose hidden complexity. Most folks think D&D combat could be simplified, but isn't too bad, but then you see this. 1 rounds worth of decisions & actions for 1 player. Ignore the text. Focus on HOW MANY STEPS there are

malin,
@malin@dice.camp avatar

@masukomi @pteryx
If the faff-metric gets used, I'd love to see how people tackle different things.

Mostly it's just 'list steps, assign them numbers 1 to 3', so I think you could broadly do this with any system.

One could probably do a similar thing for how 'fine-grained' something is, but just listing factors in, and factors out.

malin,
@malin@dice.camp avatar

@masukomi
Do you have a link to the high rez version? This is crazy-big!

I'm just re-reading the faff metric article, and realising it could be substantially more clear.

...still not as bad as D&D combat apparently.

LeviKornelsen, to random
@LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

deleted_by_author

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    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    Drugs, entering or leaving in large quantities.

    Plagues.

    Writing.

    Lakes drying up.

    (check out Lake Chad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Megachad_en_disappearance_of_lake_chad.jpg)

    Redefining what 'property means', e.g. copyright law, or a few indigenous people who have/ had different ways to have property (I've not heard of a single culture that has none, but the details vary quite a bit).

    masukomi, to random
    @masukomi@dice.camp avatar

    I think i may have come up with a mental framing for taking games with problems, and using that as a starting point for discussions without absolutely trashing the game or its creator. Any 👍 / 👎 or thoughts you may have on this idea would be greatly appreciated.

    Approach, and analyze the game like an Archaeologist...
    🧵

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @masukomi
    A,D&D has a few kinks which could stand a charitable archeological explanation.

    Restricting classes by Attributes meant nobody could play a paladin without getting really lucky (which works with massive numbers of players constantly generating characters).

    The one minute game-time rounds are insane, but sound more natural once you're thinking in terms of real-world time passing between sessions.

    masukomi, to random
    @masukomi@dice.camp avatar

    I've been planning on putting together a YouTube series deep diving on various TTRPG game mechanics. The idea is to help game designers and GMs to learn from all the various ways that different games handle a given problem, like "stress" or facilitate extra player agency with things like "meta currencies".

    Daggerheart feels like a jumping off point, for SO many of these, because so much of it seems "ok" but REALLY isn't if you have more mechanics understanding.

    1/2

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @masukomi

    On a related note, I had trouble expressing how some systems were a total faff, while others were shorter. We won't see any proofs of 'mucking about', but I had a go at an estimator - something like 'Big O notation but for RPG faff'.

    Looking back, the methodology and presentation needs work and editing, but there it is, in case that sounds useful:

    https://ttrpgs.com/post/faff/

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @masukomi @RogerBW
    I demand graphs!

    > research & planning

    YouTube professionals let Patreons review their work. If you start with an article, and request feedback, that my be enough to nerd-snipe a few people, especially if the problem's interesting.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    I think calling the multitude of playable human-likes in an RPG "species" is POTENTIALLY much better than calling them "races".

    But as soon as you do that, you're saying overtly that this is a biological grouping, and therefore that traits assigned to them are biological in nature, and you should know that.

    If you then assign cultural traits to a species without calling them out as such, you have made... Let's call it... an error.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    Why not both?

    D&D mostly did the culture bit. Elves' +1 with bows and swords was explained through their hunting practices, dwarves' 'notice sloping corridors' comes from their living underground, and so on.

    It sounds like you might decouple race and background at this juncture, but there's only so much detail and RPG can take before you're accidentally playing Shadow Run.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    When you fully accept that gamers are largely fundamentally competent at having a good time roleplaying, you realize that most design objectives OTHER THAN "save people work" and "get them excited" can be managed with a box of parts and a discussion of how to assemble them.

    But those two, hoo boy.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    The fastest system is a coin flip.

    zozo, to random
    @zozo@dice.camp avatar

    It's a shame the four hour PbtA critique video was such a shitshow, because I think the underlying thesis of "Apocalypse World was very prescriptive in its One True Way of DMing, and that OTW is a style of play which can leave a lot of neurodivergent players out in the cold" is a fairly salient critique of PbtA games

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @zozo @Tim_Eagon Ah, the YouTube 3 hour ramble that might have been two sentences. When I was younger, you want down to the local pub with your family to get those rants in person.

    pteryx, to random
    @pteryx@dice.camp avatar

    So, there are licenses for driving a car, which call for a test and can be revoked if someone commits (most) crimes related to misuse or dangerous use of a car.

    There are licenses to practice law, which call for a test and can be revoked if someone commits (most) crimes related to twisting, abusing, or violating one's legal position.

    I have never heard of a business license being revoked for reasons like this... and reasons are multiplying like mold on our economy and society.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @ramsey @pteryx @Xenograg
    Why not? What about business which don't pay their taxes?

    kyonshi, to linux
    @kyonshi@dice.camp avatar

    Despite working in IT I am quite ignorant when it comes hardware/electronics.
    Today's project: trying to figure out why that sbc I put batocera Linux on doesn't want to run it's fan.

    I still haven't actually come to a conclusion. The Le Potato sbc has a different gpio layout than the raspberry, and batocera is weirdly different from anything I am used to.

    In the end I learned that not connecting one of the cables to its pin lets the fan spin on full power. And that's OK for now.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @kyonshi
    I feel you. Everything should have a man page.

    I've transformed my Linux notes into a knowledge base, and I've been thinking of making them into man pages.

    We have various categories for 'config files', but nothing for setting something up for the first time. I want a walkthrough of the software, which works like a well-commented script to start using the software, so I'll make one, if I ever get the time.

    bedirthan, to random
    @bedirthan@dice.camp avatar

    Tired: Don't split the party
    Inspired: Designing a campaign around an ever fracturing and reassembling party because scheduling is hard

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @bedirthan just end the session in civilisation. Start a new short-term objective each game.

    kyonshi, to Discord
    @kyonshi@dice.camp avatar

    Just found that allows to bridge various chat services as well. So right now my private gets connected with my local server.

    One sobering thought is that I looked at the list of chat services and noticed that I don't actually use more than that.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @kyonshi I am jealouse. Sometimes I have 5 chat apps open at the same time. It's a ridiculous way to engage with the world.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @kyonshi got that lot too at work. I'm somehow now using...literally every FOSS chat app/ protocol, and three proprietary ones.

    I am caught in a giant web of stupid.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    I imagine that the venn intersection of 'people who know your game + read the language section' and 'people who know IPA' is close enough to a circle.

    Then again, the cards' space is limited.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen is the 'the' is Mawag like in English? Or two sounds? What is the 'kh' sound?

    masukomi, to 3DPrinting
    @masukomi@connectified.com avatar

    Thinking thoughts again (quelle suprise! 🤦‍♀️) and wondering WTF to do about my Bento Box. https://www.printables.com/model/272525-bentobox-v20-carbon-filter-for-bambu-lab-x1c-enclo

    I refuse to put it in my printer because it's ~1.5m from my head & its fans sound like a freaking jet engine.

    I went down a 🐇 🕳 searching for 4020(ish) fans, & I didn't even find ones that lied about being notably quieter.

    Looking for suggestions on how to make this quiet.

    Maybe replace the dinky fans with a large, but slower spinning one?

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @masukomi
    If the loud things are consistent enough, most people tune them out.

    Road works are awful because they're intermittent. But fans are often 'silent' after a couple of hours.

    I once thought that people who described nature as quiet were crazy, but now I think that consistent noises aren't really noise.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    Saw a "They/Them is bad English" in the wild and attempted the approach of just entirely casual "Nah, it's proper English, and old as fuck [William the werewolf example]; you're just not used to how utterly fucking wild English actually is and always has been", and dumping a few examples of that.

    Which appeared to actually make a good impact. So: That was interesting.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    I don't find this surprising. Polarising posts saying 'they are not reasonable', while mocking 'facts and logic nerds' try to turn a few bad encounters into a rule.

    It shouldn't be surprising that someone thinks and reasons, but hasn't encountered this topic.

    juliancday, to random
    @juliancday@writing.exchange avatar

    Just purchased all of Richard Skelton's albums that are available on iTunes.

    Fuck streaming, pay artists.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @juliancday
    There's something to be said for all the crypto stuff. Namely, if we could get a sensible default (proof of stake, simple app, ...) people could just send artists cash directly.

    I'm a big believer in the notion that people generally want to pay, they just don't want techno-faff.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen when I watch SciFi, I play a silent game if figuring out how something could work.

    Saying 'this isn't realistic' is always true, and far too easy.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    The main difficulty with Free Speech Absolutism as a position is that I don't believe anyone who says that's their position. Like, even a little.

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    Nobody believes that. Nobody's generally against free speech (whatever that means).

    I find people get confused when they try to speak in terms of general rules, without any examples, which means there's no concrete topics.

    Others are just using 'free speech' as a code word of course, which just muddies the water far worse.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    Put some gold in the ruling class's blood and make them learn geometry. This 100% works according to this guy who knew for definite that it'd work.

    juergen_hubert, to poland
    @juergen_hubert@thefolklore.cafe avatar

    Do not offend a witch, for their revenge can be terrible.

    @poland @folklore
    https://www.patreon.com/posts/implanted-hares-65565859

    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @juergen_hubert @poland @folklore

    Polish phrase: "when the devil fails, send in a woman".

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    deleted_by_author

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    malin,
    @malin@dice.camp avatar

    @LeviKornelsen
    No me. I'm very much crude matter.

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