@martinralya@dice.camp
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martinralya

@martinralya@dice.camp

he/him • bisexual • happily married dad • 60% coffee • lifelong avid tabletop gamer • RPG blogger and author since 2005, publisher since 2009

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martinralya, to random
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My first wargame, at around age eight, was Fighting Ships. My dad ordered it out of the back of a comic and we played it on the floor of my room.

After high school, my play became more sporadic. But in the past few years I've gone back down the rabbit hole, first with 40k and Kill Team and now with a push to play more block/counter games.

I also just picked up the book Warfare in the Medieval World, which I'm looking forward to tucking into as my bedtime reading.

martinralya,
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@SJohnRoss Do you remember your first, S. John?

martinralya,
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@nukehavoc Oh, totally! Model rocketry wasn't on my radar until my early teens. It would have been a hoot to be into that with my dad.

martinralya,
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@SJohnRoss That's a fun mix!

Car Wars is one of the wargames I've played most, mainly back in college. Such a fun system.

nukehavoc, to random
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The ABCs of model rocketry. And one step closer to actually flying all those rockets I built…

martinralya,
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@nukehavoc I have fond memories of seeing how little rocket we could get away with wrapping around a D engine as a kid.

masukomi, to productivity
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Folks, I'm working on the final (🤞) tweaks to my note card holders before putting them up for sale.

If these look like something you'd be interested in a) please let me know b) please share any initial thoughts / questions you have from these pics.

notes: there will be usage videos, tips, etc.. Also, left handed versions & other colors. ;)

a close-up of one of them showing a moveable lid, and sections for used and new cards.

martinralya,
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@masukomi Would depend on pricing/shipping/etc., but this looks like something I'd get good mileage out of in in-person games.

I like notecards, and this would support keeping NPCs, clocks, etc. near at hand and in view.

Cool product! I dig the well thought-out pen rest, too.

rivetgeek, to random
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In case you wondered where DBAs find indexes when they need more.

martinralya,
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@rivetgeek The towns near Index along U.S. 2 include Sultan, Gold Bar, and Startup. I love that quirky stretch of road.

LeviKornelsen, (edited ) to random
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Maps and writeups with import/export notes:

Have you ever incorporated these notes into actual play?

(I'm writing Guide stuff for a game, and I'm like "I love this stuff and also don't recall using it....")

martinralya,
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@LeviKornelsen A dash of it makes the world feel more real, but unless it's tied to a source of hooks I find it largely useless.

"Country X imports salt"...who cares? But "Country X has no salt, so they stole Country Y's salt mines a few years back, and now they're at war"? Now you're cooking!

If memory serves, Red Tide does a great job of making this sort of info into calls to action.

martinralya, to random
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Seventeen years ago, I wrote a novel for NaNoWriMo 2007. I was proud to have written it but I didn't think it was any good.

Until tonight, I'd never read it.

With the benefit of seventeen years of professional and personal writing experience...it's not bad at all. I'm honestly shocked.

It's a first draft, is all. Rough around the edges (dreadful in places), but with sound bones and raw creativity that still speaks to me.

LeviKornelsen, to random
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    martinralya,
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    @LeviKornelsen My Yore blog has been ticking along since 2012, and includes indie and old-school stuff.

    https://www.martinralya.com/

    LeviKornelsen, to random
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    I believe it's important to watch A Knight's Tale before playing or running Ars Magica.

    Because nothing will prime you to play a bunch of absurd, nose-picking, fart-joke-making Grog support characters like that movie, and it's very important that the focal Magus of the moment and their serious companion(s) get to sigh and say "I'm surrounded by morons".

    martinralya,
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    @LeviKornelsen Oh man that is a perfect summary. Great idea for inspiration, too.

    Pretty much every time I play a grog, my comedy hat goes on.

    martinralya,
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    @LeviKornelsen Have you every played Primetime Adventures?

    It's the only other game I've played the explicitly bakes You Are Playing A Supporting Character into it. It's not troupe play, but rather a mechanic that means PCs are in the spotlight in different sessions (like a TV show).

    Different approaches, different outcomes, but so much overlap in the joy they produce.

    nukehavoc, to random
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    Eulogy for a Dad … and a Teacher https://www.nuketown.com/eulogy-for-a-dad-and-a-teacher/

    martinralya,
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    @nukehavoc I'm so sorry for your loss, Ken. This is an absolutely lovely eulogy.

    LeviKornelsen, to random
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    The single greatest comedy moment in OGL history was in one of the Scarred Lands books, where, in actual printed copies, the OGL was prefaced by the note:

    "Put this in the smallest type possible; they might be able to force us to put it in, but we don't have to make it readable."

    martinralya,
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    @LeviKornelsen I quite enjoyed the early AEG book where they forgot to include it, so they added the OGL as a sticker. Can't recall the title, though.

    masukomi, to random
    @masukomi@dice.camp avatar

    Gotta say, i LOVE a good hand-drawn character sheet.

    1st image below is @Runehammer 's one for ICRPG's "Ghost Mountain" setting.

    2nd one is @dysonlogos 's 5e character sheet (only showing example because I think he sells it).

    Obviously it's not appropriate for something like a sci-fi game, but Dyson's for example, makes looking at my character sheet fun instead of WotC's almost... "sterile" thing.

    A photograph of the Dyson Logos' hand drawn chararcter sheet for D&D. It has been filled in and has a d20 and some coins on it. It's got similar crosshatching and little stylistic elements that aren't necessary, but make it so much more fun to look at.

    martinralya,
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    @masukomi We've been playing SotDL on and off for months and every time I open the character sheet -- which is pretty and evocative -- I'm mildly irritated by its actual in-game utility.

    My handling time to find anything is always higher than it should be.

    martinralya,
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    @masukomi Yah it's one of those "this is what's in Roll20" situations.

    If anyone in my group is likely to grumble about a character sheet, it's me. I know I'm the squeaky wheel on this topic so I try not to grumble too much. 😅

    martinralya,
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    @SJohnRoss @masukomi Amen!

    When I'm browsing RPGs, I'm a big fan of flipping straight to the character sheet to get a sense for whether I should look any further.

    martinralya, to random
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    Damn but this is a cool project.

    "Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces new editions of public domain ebooks that are lovingly formatted, open source, free of U.S. copyright restrictions, and free of cost."

    Lots of reading options, too!

    https://standardebooks.org/

    LeviKornelsen, to random
    @LeviKornelsen@dice.camp avatar

    If you spend enough time drawing and slowly, slowly improving, there are occasional moments where you decide to try a thing that would have been hard for you before and you just... do that.

    And sometimes it's unreal enough that it's like "Shit, my hand's possessed!"

    Had one of those moments just now. I didn't even make anything impressive or interesting, just, I could not have done those particular pen-strokes like that a year ago.

    martinralya,
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    @LeviKornelsen That's awesome! I enjoy your illustrations.

    I've found the same thing to be true about painting miniatures. Those moments feel pretty magical.

    JVWest, to random
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    I have noticed a lot of images on Masto marked "sensitive" so you have to click to see them. But many (I'd say most, by a large margin) I cannot fathom why they are marked sensitive.

    I saw a sensitive image and when I clicked it I just saw a drawing of a man holding a sword. He wasn't naked, bloody, or even particularly threatening.

    WTF? Did I miss some memo?

    martinralya,
    @martinralya@dice.camp avatar

    @JVWest @Skyjester Food with a CW tends to mean looking out for folks with eating disorders and related concerns.

    Alcohol is in the same vein, for folks who struggle with sobriety.

    martinralya, to random
    @martinralya@dice.camp avatar

    YouTuber @dmtales did a lovely highlight feature on The Unlucky Isles on his channel in Skipping Lunch Episode 8. The segment starts at 8:00. (I sent him a review copy.)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W16z1G4wagQ

    This is the first time the book has been featured in a video, and it was fascinating to hear DM Tales’ take on it. The whole stream is excellent, with a gentle energy and a relaxed vibe that makes it a really fun watch.

    Thank you, DM Tales!

    The Unlucky Isles [affiliate link]: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/415705/The-Unlucky-Isles?src=MRcom&affiliate_id=259858

    rivetgeek, to MarvelSnap
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    martinralya,
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    @rivetgeek My record pulling that trick with Black Panther is 3,695,724, helped along by Ironheart and the location being Kamar-Taj.

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