Jim McGarva

That's not a gen X playground. The teeter totters gen Xers had were long and wooden and if you and your brother went to play on one, one of you would go home in tears.

That exact teeter totter in the pic is what my Gen Z kids played on.

And that player hasn't given up anything for that. There's no opportunity cost. The classes that tend to get good at persuasion also get more and better skills across the board than, say, fighters. And are equally powerful in combat, too (or significantly more powerful in some editions).

The problem, as usual, is the rules. If you resolve it in character using the rules, you have to roll persuasion or something. And then you face the fact that one player's bonus is like 10 points higher than the other's. And it's manifestly unfair that one player will always get their way.

The rules and rulesets you create don't have to answer to people who don't choose to use them. They have to answer to the people who do choose to use them.

Bottle opener thighs
Sepedon sp. (Sciomyzidae)

Sorry, is she *trying* to look like an SS Obergruppenfuhrer?

don't fucking whine about "class solidarity" in reference to telling the truth about the army, if you're poor and you join the army you're the one who doesn't have class solidarity. you're the one who needs to change. you CAN change, politics isn't about your soul, but you gotta actually do it

I don't *want* to be King of the Wasteland.

Nobody calls me Lord Humungous and let's just keep it that way, alright?

Striker, Defender, Leader, Controller

Basically I'm taking issue with the idea that randomness = emergence. You can have either one without the other, or you can put them together.

Sure, random tables and randomization in general can absolutely be a part of it, but you can "play to find out" using mechanics that are purely deterministic with no randomization, because no player can predict what each other player will do and how those will interact and influence later decisions.

Case in point: I can roll on a random table (or a set of random tables) and potentially be surprised by the result *without playing the game at all.*

It is "Play to find out" because it depends on players making decisions and those ramifying.

It's not "Roll to find out."

I just read a blog calling the random table the epitome of "play to find out."

Crap. "Play to find out" is, or ought to be, the idea that the result of play is an emergent property: the interactions of many factors, and could not have been foreseen.

A result on a random table is not emergent.

4-panel comic. (1) [Person with white hat talking to another person.] PERSON 1 with white hat: As Sherlock Holmes said, When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. (2) PERSON 2: What about the possibility that you forgot to eliminate a possibility? Or that you eliminated one incorrectly? Both of those remain, too. (3) PERSON 1: You’re being pedantic. It’s just a general rule for deduction. PERSON 2: But it’s a *bad rule*. (4) PERSON 2: How often have you thought, “I can’t find this thing, and I’ve searched the whole house. The only place I haven’t looked is the car, so it *must* be there.” PERSON 2: ...And then it’s never in the car. PERSON 1: *It’s never in the car!*

Eliminating the Impossible

xkcd.com/3210/

I think there's a difference between just a reviewer who a publisher can choose to send a review copy to or not, and the Ennies, who used to demand multiple physical review copies be sent in order to be considered for awards.

I thought they accepted digital now, though. I may be mistaken.

Wandering monster roll on a table says a monster shows up here? Good! Discovery! Diegetic!

The GM decides a monster is here? Bad! Quantum ogre! Can't discover what wasn't there before!

Why does the GM get to decide on the spot whether your friend shows up, but not the monster?

It is a mystery.

This is part of the strange incoherence of OSR thought about the GM.

Having a Relationship on your sheet that you know you can call on? Bad! Incentive! Turning relationships into employment!

Having a relationship that you can try call on and the GM says if it works? Good! Diegetic!

Conversely...

Lol damn.

wolfgang pauli "Das ist nicht nur nicht richtig; es ist nicht einmal falsch!" moment

So normally I would ask what game works that way? But I know the answer is "none, they are making up a guy to be mad at."

Just read the post and it says that in games where you write relationships on your character sheet, that means that:

A) players are only making friends to write it on the sheet

B) once they are on your sheet, you get to tell them what to do and it's necessarily an employee/employer relationship.

Yeah, I was confused reading this blog because it seems to be advising against a thing nobody does.

What game gives XP for helping goblins but not for fighting them?

Most games that still do XP would just give XP for overcoming the challenge in any way. Oldschool ones for fighting or looting only.

I'm constantly trying (/failing) to get this point across.

If you're a trained expert in a field, then it may be worthwhile to question the scientific consensus of your peers.

If you're not, the scientific consensus is absolutely the best you can do and it's arbitrary foolishness to disregard it.

You may be joking, but that is exactly where this is going. The PS9 will be available for just $89.99/month, and that'll include their basic games subscription. Aren't you excited?

When nobody can afford to buy consoles, they will happily rent you consoles.

They already rent you games and make more money doing that while distributing less money to the people who make them.

In 10 years when you cancel your xbox subscription, you'll have to mail them back the xbox.

The dragon doesn't have 16 HP, you just invented narrative positioning and don't have any other word to describe it

🎵 You see, I’ve been through the desert on a

What happens to Donatello?? I'm on the edge of my seat here!

Nobody has time because we're all addicted to doom scrolling or short-form video. Because addiction experts decided to use their expertise to give everyone new addictions. I'm not judging the addicts - I am one! Everything that requires attention is much harder than it used to be and that's a fact.