scarvis.bsky.social
He/him. Chicago. Big fan of (non-5e) TTRPGs. Certified hater of Vancian magic.
Trans Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter, Free Gaza, Fuck AI.
2,148 posts
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684 following
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I’m generally a believing of the old adage, “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” I think someone who isn’t wealthy or powerful gets magic it’s not gonna make them a better person. Maybe they won’t be monsters right away, but I’d wager it’s only a matter of time.
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But to be fair, I do that with all of my PCs. My secret win condition is to have one or more of the PCs ally with the villain…which is why I always try to have villains with a (somewhat) relatable goal. Technically right, but going about it in unsavory/too extreme/flawed way.
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The way I see it, and maybe I’m just too cynical, is that people who can rewrite reality to their whims aren’t going to be good people.
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My general metric is to think of wizards as I think of billionaires: people with vast power to change the world but choose to use that power only to enrich themselves.
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Deal!
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See this is why I keep you around, I need that big beautiful brain of yours!
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Yeah I started a google doc, where it can live with all of my abandoned projects that I definitely never feel bad about
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So the obvious solution is to just go to therapy every week which will definitely ward off my problems and make me feel good all the time.
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What show?
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Nah they just like making money from fash scum
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Yeah 100%. It’s also like such a magical feeling to get into your first RPG, and then find out there’s more out there. I remember back when I was like 16 and making the trek to a game store and finding a copy of All Flesh Must Be Eaten and feeling like I found a secret treasure. Great feeling!
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I feel pretty confident in saying that someone stepping out and discovering one new game, even a big one, is a good first step to discovering a lot of other new games.
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Some of this probably comes from that I’m mostly a forever GM, so on the rare opportunity I get to be a pc, I’d like to play something I’m more vibing with.
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If all the options are appealing, I think 3d6 dtl is good, but I think most old school DnD flavored games have really boring fighters, and I feel like I always get stuck with playing one, when I’d rather play any other class.
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Oh damn that’s pretty fucking cool
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So the real question is what ISN’T anachronistic?
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So my secret is that I don’t give a flying fuck about historical accuracy, just things that seem cool and fun. I generally describe my games as existing in “pirate times,” but also people still use like plate mail and have revolvers and single shot/small clip rifles.
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I’ve had an idea for a long time for ruined subterranean cities linked by haunted subways for a while now but haven’t had the chance to bust it out yet.
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Additional bonus: no clean fitted sheets! Last year when we did a deep clean we got rid of all but two, but kept like 4 extra normal sheets. Good job, past Scott.
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I have a million google docs of game shit I just never do anything with it
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Ah interesting, I’ve never heard that term before but it makes sense!
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Yes, I agree!
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What I want from a game has changed a lot over time; when I was in hs/college, I played (and wanted to play) very crunchy games. Now, I have a lot less patience (and time!) for it. Like if I need a generator to make a character? Nevermind, I’m out.
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What I think of crunch, I think of games with a lot of specific rules for specific situations and/or lots of situational modifiers. Or games with multi-step resolution mechanics. Of games I’ve played recently(ish), pf1 is a game I’d consider crunchy.
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I think this is one of those things where there’s a lot of terms we use in the ttrpg space but we don’t have a consistent dictionary, so we all use ‘crunch’ but everyone has there version of it. Especially for something like crunch, where people have wildly different tolerances for it. ⬇️
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If a bunch of weirdly cute little critters aren't gonna get fucked up, I'm not interested!
But also, as with any discourse, you're better off having avoided it. It's the endless cycle, someone has a subjective opinion and everyone fights like there's objective truth and it's tedious
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I have a few adventures that are more complete. And I have a bunch of finished adventures that I wrote for my home games that aren't usable to anyone but myself, so I think the real takeaway is that writing stuff to be used by other people is hard as hell, and if you've done it you should be proud!
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I find writing systems to be very tedious and overwhelming. I think writing adventures is fun but also overwhelming. If we consult the horrible little graveyard that is my gdocs folder, there's probably about an even split of both, most 10% finished at best.
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Ugh that sucks. Who packs books like that???
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It’s quite frustrating and drives me up the wall.
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Also, and maybe a separate issue, is that with this round of system/adventure discourse I’m seeing a lot of people saying what works for them/their table and assuming that it’s universal. Not you, not everyone, but seeing it on both sides of the conversation. But that’s really ttrpdiscourse.text
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By having an adventure for onboarding new players, you can convey the vibe you’re going for and what an adventure looks like in your system. The first time I read Dungeon World/Fate/Blades in the Dark my first response was, “Cool, but what the fuck am I supposed to do with this?”
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It’s easy to say as someone who’s been playing ttrpgs for 5/10/20 years or whatever, but say you’re someone who’s only played DnD, and you want to run a totally different game. If it’s your only point of reference, it’s pretty natural to interact with a new game that way you know ⬇️
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For me, I think the biggest draw of a published module is for inspiration. I hardly ever run a module, but I’ve pulled a lot of stuff out of them.
The other big thing is that they’re really good for onboarding new players and orienting them to a new system. ⬇️