New post from "ars ludi"! #ttrpg #blog

Me looking at any games-related topic I’ve posted about on at least two occasions: “is this a manifesto?”

I read this as "We do not want it to be possible for us to be painted as helping spread this bullshit in the upcoming heavyweight lawsuits, so we let our writers off the chain a lil' bit."

To my limited understanding, it'd be ideal if the next fiscal quarter was spent "recovering from the brief suspension of Jimmy Kimmel". That's a unit of time Executives can think in - a tidy message that might even percolate to suits elsewhere.

Another watching of Big Trouble in Little China, and it continues to be greatly improved by the understanding that Jack Burton is actually Wang's comedy sidekick, he just gets more screentime because it's Kurt Russel.

"The dipshits running the US may eventually try to censor the internet as a whole" is one of those farcical scenarios I can't actually dismiss out of hand, because these guys are, you know, like that. Not that it'll WORK, just that they might make some bizarre attempt and wildly fuck things up.

This, right here. I don't use BlueSky for the horny, am unbothered if people do; whatever. But, like, the history on this is that trying to ban horny shit is *quite bad for the bottom line.*

I can think of games where collecting things is an available activity (and it's explicit in Pokethulhu), but "a collecting mechanic" has me going "I've seen this and it was... uh, uh, oh bloody hell." Anyone?

The lifecycle of a good setup guy at my work is: 1. Keener (Avid worker and learner) 2. Trasher (Discovery of how the system is broken, flailing) 3. Burnout (Giving up). 4. Veteran (Simultaneously high-productivity and total slacker). ...

Comedia dell’Arte is an antique form of improvisational theater. RPGs are a contemporary structured improvisation game. This is both. Play as one of the classic italian roles with your friends in this new story game. No funky dice involved! Download at https://gabokerr.itch.io/harlequin

I would be somehow less put out by media companies falling at the feet of the fashy regime if said regime was, you know, competent? Like, there's something about surrendering to complete clownshoes fuckwits that makes it so much worse.

If you're tired of being called a bully, simply don't hurl an unarmed woman half your size unto the concrete sidewalk because she had too many questions about your Secret Jail For Brown People.

My weirdass Teracube smartphone has: - No spyware - No AI - Android Fork OS: No Google. - Swappable Battery - Headphone Jack - MicroUSB slot. And every month, that feels like a bigger brag.

Daughter does not believe her Happy meal should contain K-Pop dolls which are NOT demon hunters.

This is how 40k Space Marines should work.

The larger the corporation and the more horrible the shit they are up to, the stronger the case is for downloading all their shit without paying them. This message brought to you by Talk Like A Pirate Day.

Prediction: "Retro Appliances" is going to become a permanent trend, which will quietly mean "Not this garbage".

Behold the Animals Of Combat!

Any gamer who thinks a lot out loud on social media can 'declare war on the industry' up to three times a year without cause for concern. Beyond that, they're burning out. In RARE cases, they're going hard to sell shit. But usually, just burning out. See it a few dozen times, it gets obvious.

"Something is off." "How can you tell?" "Take a whiff." *Sniffing* "Fudge!"

"what is the OSR's fursona?" is potentially one of the worst discussions of all time.

Players in TTRPGs often appear simultaneously extremely dense and shockingly clever to GMs, because humans are genuinely really bad at anticipating results when doing conversation in, and deliberately maintaining, distinctly different modes from the other person.

Look man, all I'm saying is if 75% of your how-to-GM advice amounts to "see those shiny toys on your players' character sheets? The best way to keep the story moving is to give them as few opportunities to play with them as possible", you may be playing the wrong game for the story you want to tell.

Silly mashup I want: Puzzle bobble / Bust-a-move, but Arkanoid: The ball only sticks if it hits something it matches colour with - otherwise it bounces off and you need to smack it back up.

Learned today that there are people taking cartoons from the 80s, which only really exist in crap formats, and upscaling them with but algorithmic and AI tools, and they look better? I'm waffling on this one. It's not a clear pass like "adding subtitles", but it wouldn't get done any other way.

Not cancelling any of my various streaming services or taking to the high seas as of yet, but I AM slowly consolidating my media files and ripping my DVDs to keep on my PC and a backup hard drive. This, in anticipation of continued streaming service degradation eventually making me go "fuck this".

"I like boys when they are handsome, and strong, and DO WHAT I SAY." - My daughter, 6.

Welp, I do believe it's time to rewatch Warehouse 13.

The stretch ladder for www.kickstarter.com/projects/pen..., our forthcoming tabletop RPG about muppety things causing problems on purpose, will consist of scenarios by a number of guest writers, some of whom you just might recognise. I'll be teasing them in this thread over the next few days. [1/9]

Four of the expected six pages for the Gift section of the Praxic Compendium, now ticking along.

Writing up a "Gifts" section for the compendium, to break down some parts of feats/spells/edges/perks/etc, provide a little "Do a quick check if you've thought about these components" setup.

On my monitor/video card, after an outrageous amount of reading, I discovered that if I had a video card with displayport - ANY such video card - I could dodge the whole issue I was having. Upgraded multiple generations anyway, because fuckit, and now, smooth, like butta.

Advancement options: 1. Number go up. 2. Character get more complicated. 3. Character get LESS complicated (in tricksy rules-set). 4. Situation get more complicated (lands &ct). (Not going anywhere with this, just tilting head sideways)

On the one hand, we may actually get a lot of really good AR tools at some point. On the other hand, I would stake whatever you like that it won't be HIS glasses, won't be LIKE his glasses, and it won't be in the next decade. He's practically a signal flare of "wrongly done and unready tech".

I have reached the "Changes own brake pads" stage of Being a Cyclist, which I think is, like, Level 19 (of 1000).

Me when the DM ends the game on a cliffhanger

Fun fact for Canadian TTRPG creators: you don't need to pay $100 to get an ISBN like folks in the US. Library and Archives Canada allows you to get free ISBNs for your projects. Takes around 4-6 weeks for your account to be created but then you are good to go.

Trying to figure meta-level "tags" for TTRPG special ability mechanics: Bonus, Map Effect, Exception-based, Fiction-first, Meta-trait (affects other traits), Immunities, Adds to Resolution, Source for Trackable, Attacks trackable, Resolution-Skipper, Has Cost/Cooldown, Requires Resolution...

Gonna add Expressionist and Utilitarian approaches to the next version of the Praxic Compendium. Doesn't even need more pages, just a lil' reshuffle:

I have a large 4k monitor, and a pretty basic desktop machine, and I get enough graphic slowdown doing upscaling that I suspect need a graphics card with more than 4gb of VRAM. People who know computers well: Are there "This is inexpensive and will handle that easily" things I should be aware of?

Oh, hey: Paranoia is an Expressionist Comedy, or at least damned close.

Mechanization: The common "low point of the story" for the genre is identified, including ways a character ends up there. You do those things? The GM will check you know it, and then hammer you into a low point of that type. You may then (ONLY then) spend XP / gain levels you have Xp for. 1/3

Oh, shit, Chuubo's quest model suggests that you COULD arrange a cycling flowchart for an episode of play, and put ticky boxes in each section *including failure loops* and then just... let players decide if they want to fail and go get those this pass by, or later. I mean, formulaic as hell, but.

Political view: I think obscenely huge vacancy taxes are better than rent controls, because they attack the problem of "Buying it as an investment" directly rather than the secondary "Attempt to subsidize investment with rent". Make 'em desperate to rent the space or sell it.

I just backed Tribes in the Dark - Roleplaying Game on @kickstarter.com By @tribesinthedark.bsky.social It looks really cool, please take a look and/or boost. As a bonus I know @rivetgeek.aggregatecognizance.com and he would never pull a Shane Hensley on us. www.kickstarter.com/projects/dp9...

I never got into Savage Worlds because I don't like mixing resolution dice (no idea why not) and "Savage" is the kind of word that, when used, suggests that people may one day have national holidays celebrating their independence from you.

Post was deleted, thread locked, but now post is back (though thread still locked). Anyway, yeah, follow up from Pinnacle / Savage Worlds guy.

Posted as a nickname for Gotham, but, look, this needs to see use somewhere.

I'm just saying that "Killing a conservative pundit is much more effective at making you famous than killing schoolkids" may be sending an interesting message down into the chanpits.

So, rather than my usual format for hacking up games, what I'm going to do here is talk about how "Xp for actions can cheapen things" is true, and how Chuubo's Marvellous Wish-Granting Engine goes about turning that problem upside down. 1/