@masukomi@dice.camp
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masukomi

@masukomi@dice.camp

👉 Senior Back-End Dev. Seeking Remote Position 👈

Autodidactic, Autistic, ADHD, Trans 🏳️‍⚧️, programmer who loves thinking about TTRPGs.

If you're interested in hearing my random thoughts about life, programming geekery, 3D printing, and cute pics of my dogs and cat, then follow my other account at https://connectified.com/@masukomi

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masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

@daniel commented that they prefer running games that don't require tons of VTT prep.

I have thoughts, specifically around the value of VTTs (or table equivalent), even in games that are GREAT for Theatre-of-the-Mind style play.
🧵1/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Even if we set aside accessibility things like aphantasia‡ describing the shared narrative space in a way that everyone "gets" all the time is essentially impossible.

You regularly end up with player saying something like "i jump in the way" and the GM going "uh, you can't. you're halfway across the room"

‡ literally no ability to visualize things in their mind.
🧵2/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Even if we have no tactical map, putting tokens out in their relative positions to each other in the scene eliminates the vast majority of these problems.

It sucks to be a player trying to do something that - in your mind - is totally plausible & possible, and then find out that the way you're visualizing the scene is COMPLETELY wrong. It just makes you feel dumb/ignorant, and that's BEFORE you realize you just said a "dumb" thing in front of a group of friends.

🧵3/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

It sucks to be the GM, and have a cool scene come to a crashing stop because you discover what your players are visualizing and what you are visualizing are radically different and incompatible things.
🧵4/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

There's also the value of imagery to set the scene. I can say "it's like walking through a Guatemalan rainforest" You hopefully know what it's like to be walking in a forest‡ but the forests of rainforests of Guatemala are nothing like those of North America (even the one in Washington).

‡ if not, please try to fix that ASAP.
🧵5/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Showing players an image from within a forest that resembles your fictional one changes everything. Here's a WELL-used forest path in northern Guatemala for example.

You see this and think "ugh i'm gonna twist my ankle" You might realize that you can't safely "run away", because the path will trip you, and everything beside the path makes you move at a snail's pace.

🧵6/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

VTTs Don't need a lot of functionality For a while I was using the Runehammer VTT (now Index Card VTT (ICVTT) requires Patreon support to use as a GM). It had support for background image, tokens, & a bunch of dice you could click on to roll, and not much else.

It was so bare bones. I had to do fog of war by dragging a bunch of cloud tokens over the areas they couldn't see yet.

WE LOVED IT. My players were actually kinda sad when we switched to Foundry VTT.
🧵7/8

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Question: Why does it seem that there is an inverse ratio between how fancy a VTTs web site is, and how easy it is to actually find out what games it supports?

Like holy shit trying to get a list of systems that Alchemy or Let's Role supports? Good luck. ugh.

You'd think they'd be like "Hey look! You can play all these awesome games!" but no. They're like "look! Pretty pictures & MAYBE whatever game we're promoting today"

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

@malin this prompted me to do something i'd normally never do. I went to bing (🙀) and used its AI response (😱‼️) to list all the games supported at alchemyrpg.com

According to AI they currently support Dragonbane & NOTHING ELSE. 🤦‍♀️

[For anyone reading this that doesn't already know, they actually support a bunch of games.]

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

In 2 days 9th Level Games is launching a crowdfunding campaign for "City of Skull"

short version: Mazes (RPG) meets West Marches in a quest to retrieve magical items in a last-ditch attempt to save the last city… your city.

➕ assorted new shiny things for Mazes itself.

https://www.backerkit.com/call_to_action/af6922b9-ca96-4a40-8855-9bfa70e7b968/landing

The problem is, I WANT IT NOW!!!!

Mazes is just a wonderful rules-light dungeon crawler with truckloads of personality that I love.

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Thinking about City of Skull reminded me that Mazes is DIRT SIMPLE to play and maybe I could convince my Wednesday night crew to play a one-shot of it (and then 🤞 that that turned into more)

So, I went hunting for VTT support. I came up with Bupkis, Nada, Nuffin'.

I did find THIS on the "Partners" page of Alchemy VTT but as far as i can tell it's either a complete lie to look like they support more games OR something work that fell through because I think this was there last time i looked.

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Yes I know that I could use something simple like Owlbear Rodeo but there are a couple funky rules, like rolling the max on your die SOMETIMES is a success, but SOMETIMES isn't, based on the current level of "Darkness"

I've got way too many projects to be futzing around trying to teach some VTT's engine how to handle that.

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Update re Mazes & City of Skull:

After a fruitless search for VTTs that supported it, I reached out to 9th level Games & Heather responded saying that Roll20 currently supports Mazes & when City Of Skull is released Alchemy will also. 🎉

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

personal thoughts on that:

  1. Unless I missed some recent overhaul† using Roll20's UX is awful compared to all(?) the alternatives, but i get it... it has a HUGE number of players because it was there first.
  2. Alchemy looks great, but it's so shiny that I'm like "don't trust. too pretty. it'll disappear without warning‡, or business wonks will find some way to screw us."

--
† entirely possible
‡ disappear when VC 💸 dries up or someone decides its not profitable "enough"

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

I was able to replace my core mechanic with Spiral dice fairly easily, but I've spent hours working on the follow-on effects & it opens some cool options, but also requires changing my game in ways I don't want.

i really REALLY want to use them, but I don't think this is the right game for them.

So, back to my heavily modded Year Zero Engine that - overall - has been working really well.

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

In a way it's kind-of a relief that Spiral Dice didn't work. I don't need more faffing around. I need more "finishing" and I AM actually getting close to that.

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

My brain is abuzz with ideas for my game & after analyzing rolls from my solo playtesting I had an important revelation. I feel like it's one of those "should be obvious" things that you don't realize until someone says it out loud.

Depending on the story you're telling, different character builds will have less they can do, & thus their players too.

Or to put it another way, an "inappropriate" build can remove character & player agency.

Example & thoughts on implications in thread.
🧵1/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

I've mentioned this before, but…
I always play 2 characters: "Meg" and "Les". Meg is small, physically weak, and semi-ambulatory, but she's pretty smart and typically a magic user. Les is literally a giant mute rat who acts as her bodyguard. They are extremes who compliment each other, & they're a good test for how well a system can handle characters at extremes.

‡ they communicate with sign language.
🧵2/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

The current "story" i'm telling involves them & one other character racing though the woods to retrieve an artifact before an opposing faction does. This story is inherently physical. As a result, Les has made twice as many rolls as Meg in the first session.

Narratively Meg's either letting Les do the hard physical stuff because he's way better at it than her, or because she literally can't do the task. If this were a Forbidden Lands game her player would have WAY less to do &…
🧵3/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

… probably end up disengaging from much of the story.

Contrary-wise, if we took the exact same characters & put them in a story with a lot of social aspects Les's player would have very little they could contribute.
🧵4/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Thoughts: I LIKE unbalanced characters. I think a character with a significant shortcoming is more interesting to play. Stories are interesting when characters don't succeed at what they need to do, or when they struggle and overcome.

Supporting unbalanced characters means that as GMs we need to think about what it means to have the unbalanced character in the story you're trying to tell.
🧵5/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

PCs need to be able to contribute to the story, so that the Player has a reason to stay engaged.

If you're running a one-shot or a campaign with a somewhat predictable type of action (clearing out a dungeon for example) this may mean giving a player a heads-up that "this story is probably going to involve a lot of X, and that character isn't going to be able to contribute as much in that area."

Let them play it if they want, but make sure they know what they're getting in to.
🧵6/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

It may also mean intentionally changing the story you're telling to have more varied types of interactions, or alternating every session or two.

This also gets back to the all-to-common refrain that having a Session Zero is CRITICAL, and that we need to communicate more with each other.
🧵7/8

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

In Session Zero you need to make sure that everyone has the same expectation of the type of story you'll be telling. Partially so that it's everyone's idea of fun, but also so that they can make characters that will be fun to play in that type of story.

[See also almost literally every episode of Panda's Talking Games.]
🧵8/8

masukomi, to random
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

This is going to make rolling difficult.

masukomi,
@masukomi@dice.camp avatar

Rather than disturb the cat, I decided to go dig out another set of spiral dice. Of course, about 10 seconds after doing that she left the dice tray to go have some breakfast. 🤦‍♀️

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