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Ashigaru

@Ashigaru@kbin.social

Tokyo-based American working in the video game industry. Role-playing gamer, occasional writer, and goth/industrial music fan. He/him.

What's a band that you like that was gone way too soon? (www.youtube.com)

For example, a band like Joy Division. Two masterpiece albums in the form of Unknown Pleasures and Closer, and the untimely death of Ian Curtis cut it all short. They were even heading into the direction that New Order eventually went in, and it would have been interesting to see what Ian Curtis would have done if they fully...

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Machines of Loving Grace released three really good albums from 1991-1995 (and had a good song on the soundtrack to The Crow), and then just stopped while working on their fourth. The lead singer now teaches at the California Institute of the Arts.

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Hellraiser (1987) is an excellent movie. The second one is also worth watching, but I don't particularly recommend 3+.

Withdrawing FROM Hugo Award Nominations — S.B. Divya (sbdivya.com)

A few weeks ago, I was very surprised to receive an email that my story, “Two Hands, Wrapped in Gold,” had been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Novelette. As is customary, the awards team asked if I wished to accept the nomination or withdraw it from consideration. Unfortunately, I’ve decided to

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This couldn’t have been easy, but I’m impressed by the author’s integrity.

What game is too terrifying to finish for you?

Mine is Silent Hill 3. Its subject matter revolves around the fears of a teenage girl, like death of a parent, puberty, unwanted pregnancy (with a demon fetus, no less), mirrors (THAT ROOM shivers), and stalkers. The atmosphere is so oppressive and I cant play the game without having something else playing in the background, its...

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Outlast is 2spooky4me. Got pretty far in, but then just couldn’t get past the dread.

Never played it, but Alien: Isolation is a cool-looking game I’m not going to even bother attempting.

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I love the standalone Gwent game (which I played first), but hated the more primitive version they used in The Witcher 3. Never touched it beyond what they required.

OC HORROR BOOK REVIEW: Boys in the Valley by Philip Fracassi (www.grimdarkmagazine.com)

Like Fracassi’s previous novel, Gothic, Boys in the Valley involves devil-worship and demonic possession. The publisher’s pithy tagline describes Boys in the Valley as “The Exorcist meets Lord of the Flies, by way of Midnight Mass.” Similarities to The Exorcism are obvious, and both the absence of effective adult...

The best dark SFF of 2023 so far (www.grimdarkmagazine.com)

It’s that time of the year. Apologise to your TBR piles in advance because the Grimdark Magazine review team is about to make it rain new books at your house! 2023 had had some brilliant dark SFF drop so far, and there is a bit of something for everyone in our list with city-sized AI robots, dragons, necromancy, empires...

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The mobile version of the Talisman board game is quite good and also syncs purchases and achievement progress with the Steam version.

It's an older game, but Puzzle & Dragons has an incredible amount of content and depth.

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Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. I’ve played it before, but I really want to run it myself.

I’m also interested in either playing or running Black Sword Hack: Ultimate Chaos Edition. I’ve run the regular first edition Black Hack, but I much prefer the overt Sword & Sorcery style of BSH.

D&D 5e alternatives?

I've only ever played 5e for my ttrpgs, but with WOTC showing its true colors, I'm trying to find a new system to adopt. I've been seeing people say Pathfinder 2e, and while i have a digital copy of the book I've been reading, i didn't realize how large it was until i saw it in a game store; the core rulebook is almost 3 times...

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My suggestion would be to go a bit more old school with the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG by Goodman Games. It's lighter than 5e and PF2e, but there's a fun magic system and martial characters also get some love through the improvisational Mighty Deeds of Arms mechanic. There's only one core book, but there's an incredible amount of adventure and setting support. The community is chill and welcoming.

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I'm playing in a Cyberpunk RED campaign and one of my groups just wrapped up a Numenera mini-campaign. Next month, the Numenera campaign will be replaced with a Kobold Press-heavy 5e campaign.

It's on a bit of a hiatus as the moment, but I've been running Mork Borg.

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Very late post-game Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak. Basically just playing to make the numbers increment up, I've successfully hunted every monster in the game. But I play with friends and they're not yet ready to move on to something else just yet.

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I've only played a one-shot so far, but I enjoy Down Darker Trails, a supplement for Call of Cthulhu 7th edition. I've been a fan of CoC since way back, the system feels very intuitive. The Cthulhu Mythos goes well with everything, too.

I don't have any first-hand experience yet, but I'm excited to try Weird Frontiers. It's a weird Western game that uses the Dungeon Crawl Classics system. All of the books and adventures were available from Bundle of Holding a while back.

Ashigaru,
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Playing:

  • Numenera: We're wrapping up a published mini-campaign called The Devil's Spine and probably only have one session left.
  • Cyberpunk RED: We're 13 sessions into an episodic campaign that uses the Cyberpunk 2020 setting with the RED rules.

Running

  • Mork Borg: My players have completed the Rotblack Sludge and Death Ziggurat adventures, but two Miseries have been triggered, including one that killed all the royals of the land.
Ashigaru,
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I'm at the post-endgame of Monster Hunter Rise. Got my final gear, I'm just basically making the rank and research level numbers go up at this point. Still having fun, though.

I also play a lot of Battlefield 2042, but I'm not particularly good at it.

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The original is an underrated classic.

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It’s challenging, but not quite to the extent of the Souls games. The Pawn system is fascinating, where you can lend your NPC helpers to other online players, and they’ll come back with gifts and also advice about dungeons and enemies.

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