jhdale

When we reach the end and start going in reverse, it will just be a big MOOD.

Unable to disagree? That does not resemble any group I have ever played with!

I do discourage PvP at the tabletop, but arguments, debate, disagreements, and differing values are all part of roleplay. And so are group decision-making, persuasion, and seeking consensus.

The interested industry should be supporting research in their field! Most of the industry, of course, has no money, but it seems to me that Hasbro could endow some chairs for the study of gaming or play.

And dice don't have to render the RP irrelevant. You can give a good argument a bonus, or a poor one a penalty. Something that touches on the target's personal priorities or issues might carry more weight too. But dice leave a chance for the unpredictable and value the character's abilities, too.

I think that's also true of fantasy literature. The theme of alienness is not really a focus of fantasy settings, unless you inject a Lovecraftian horror into it.

So, plenty of options. Fantasy, on the other hand, is overwhelmingly humanoid (occasionally plus tails), with a few centauroids and griffins (e.g., HARP's Cyradon).

I always liked Traveller's Hivers (basically starfish-like) and K'kree (vaguely centauroid) for just that reason.

Spacemaster had clouds of ionized plasma (Avatars), sentient toadstools with mobile carnivorous spores (Devi), 8-limbed lizards with hammer-shaped heads (Inheritors), etc.

Fun!

If you aren't familiar with www.deviantart.com/ashpwright you might enjoy how they subvert comic and narrative design.

The thing I enjoy most about board games is seeing how the mechanics fit together. New games are more fun than familiar games.

The thing I enjoy most about TTRPGs is the interaction and world exploration. Switching games makes me focus on the mechanics instead, I think that's less helpful.

Oh, it's certainly bad. Addictive design has led to serious harm in actually quite a few cases by now, and actually in four different LLMs too, so it seems to be a general trait and not just a feature of any one of them: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_...

Most of these types of cases so far have involved ChatGPT, and especially their 4o model. But it's not surprising that it's not limited to that.

I don't think think it's deliberate, just turning up the sycophancy to dangerous levels because that improves addiction, er, I mean engagement.

That seems like a mindfulness exercise and not a game. That's not a bad thing, mindfulness is good, and can certainly change your behavior. But simply having rules doesn't make a game. Otherwise daily life, governed by laws and probably providing you with objectives too, would qualify as a game.

"Innocently follow a path of previously undiscovered association" is something it does every day. Whether the result is truth or fiction is entirely random, and when the knowledge is unknown, it is equally unknowable which you have received.

So, sure, it can happen, but it will never be useful.

LLMs don't have theoretical knowledge. They are trained on words that people have written, so their output is statistically similar to things people already know. But for what "may be possible," the output is only going to be based on what people wrote, not on any real analysis. Thus, irrelevant.

I just want to bang on the keyboard all day.

It's crazy how much money retailers are willing to lose by getting rid of cashiers and using self checkout instead.

All he did was not scan the cards at checkout.

(I admit I was hoping for a much crazier scheme based on the use of taco seasoning packets.)

@shannonappelcline.bsky.social Are you interested in the ToC from all the back issues of Grey Worlds? If so, DM me.

This is why these kinds of bets should be illegal. It doesn't matter what the domain is, betting on any external action or event creates an incentive for perverse and destructive behavior. It adds a strong motive to undermine the thing that is being bet upon. That hurts everyone, not just gamblers.

Part of the struggle is that, to retrain successfully, you sometimes need to explicitly tell people what the rules *aren't*. How does the system differ from what they know.

But for players who don't have that prior experience, invoking those other systems is *more* confusing, not less.

On the other hand, I've also had the PCs come up *behind* a group of bandits laying an ambush, which turns the situation on its head. A nice encounter for low-level PCs. (Mine decided to use the whole disruptive situation to talk their way through, giving recommendations on how to do it better!)

I've hit them with an area of darkness, with illusionary terrain, with bandits hidden along the road, etc. Don't overuse it, and give them a fair opportunity to detect the ambush, but it scrambles all their tactics and really makes them think.

Ambushing PCs is fine, you just have to keep in mind that ambush provides an advantage and set the difficulty level accordingly. Don't use the same attackers you would use for an encounter when the PCs are ready (or when they are doing the ambush). It creates a different experience, that's good.

We lost several characters to a moving pile of bone: www.realmshelps.net/monsters/blo...

The insectoid angle is a fun twist though!

Can be a little different from the player perspective, though, if there are things you wanted to do and never had the chance.

I concluded an RMU campaign last year, and I'm right with you. It ended on exactly the epic note I wanted, I could not have been happier. And then I started a new campaign with mostly the same players so the fun can continue. All win!

We laughed when M.U.L.E. told us our investments in Artificial Dumbness had paid off, but now we finally know why.

As GM, I like to roll when I have an arbitrary choice to make. Come up with three options, and a "think harder" option, roll to choose. It keeps me from being too predictable or biased.

As a player, I want to feel my actions are relevant. Dice imply that but it's not the only way.

Don't limit yourself to gaming tools just because you're gaming.

I suspect there are collaboration tools that would be better for this than Foundry. A quick search offers classwork.com/17-tools-for...

In-person, the classic conspiracy board with string seems like it would better handle the dynamics of changing and developing connections over time.

As ICE Arrests Increased, a Higher Portion Had No U.S. Criminal Record - FactCheck.org While the Trump administration insists that it is targeting the "worst of the worst" in its immigration enforcement, it has not provided information to substantiate that, and the data that is availabl...

In January, 29% had prior criminal convictions. www.factcheck.org/2026/01/as-i... But only ~5% of those were for violent crimes (and 3% property crimes). Most were for traffic offenses.

And of course 71% were never convicted of anything.