Messages

76

Tabletops and You / Re: 7th Sea Second Edition

« on: September 14, 2016, 04:20:33 PM »

. . . Vanhelsing.exe . . . trickbag . . . the Benevolent Drow principle . . .

I learned today that James is the mayor of Tropeton.

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Show Discussion / Re: Drunken Quotes thread

« on: September 14, 2016, 04:15:33 PM »

Whatever man; just don't touch my golden statue that depicts James as a bear.

You can't have it. Nope. It's not yours anymore. False idols and all that. The only faces we're gonna depict as holy henceforth shall be an aged, snarling rockstar with spiky blond tipped hair.

Hold up, let me open up an abyss to cast that BearJames statue into.

Now get that shit outta my face.

This went a little off the rails when I wasn't looking.

IF YOU DIDN'T WANT THIS, JAMES, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BOOKED A TICKET WITH THE GODDAMN CRAZY TRAIN.

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Show Discussion / Re: Criticism and Comments

« on: September 14, 2016, 04:08:19 PM »

Oh man, it's finally released?!

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Show Discussion / Re: Drunken Quotes thread

« on: September 13, 2016, 04:34:04 PM »

Look, I saw some shit up on high. Some crazy shit. Tasted some colors, heard some things you wouldn't believe. Do you know what the still frame image of a flying antelope sounds like? I bet you don't.

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Show Discussion / Re: Drunken Quotes thread

« on: September 13, 2016, 02:08:25 PM »

I look forward to the continuation of this thread dedicated primarily to James.

I am a god damn prophet.

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Show Discussion / Re: 7th Sea and other magical piratey things question

« on: September 10, 2016, 11:08:32 AM »

Amongst other things, including a hawk, chameleon, various dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, ducks and probably some other things I'm forgetting.

At the moment it's a hueg German Shepherd and a tiny Pomeranian who somehow get along famously despite one being quite capable of accidentally inhaling the other.

Your dad is baller as hell, man. What was it like keeping a hawk, by chance? I can only imagine how difficult that would be.

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Show Discussion / Re: 7th Sea and other magical piratey things question

« on: September 10, 2016, 03:12:18 AM »

Never got to handle my Dad's Goliath spider, but it was pretty slow from what I remember. It's the little ones that tended to be more skittish and unpleasant.

Your dad had a goliath birdeater as a pet? That's fucking awesome.

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General Discussion / Re: HNNG THRONE OF GLASS BOOK 5 IS OUT

« on: September 09, 2016, 02:50:39 PM »

It's an amazing series. Easily my favorite YA series of all time.

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General Discussion / HNNG THRONE OF GLASS BOOK 5 IS OUT

« on: September 09, 2016, 08:11:55 AM »

THESE CAPS CANNOT BE CALMED; ARE THERE ANY OTHERS READING THIS SERIES? I NEED TO GUSH.

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General Discussion / Re: Games Of The Non-Tabletop Variety

« on: September 08, 2016, 04:06:59 PM »

the RNG side of thigns was kinda bullshit

I've been playing a lot of Warframe. RNGesus is a cruel master.

On the RNG-less side of things, though, I've been playing a lot of Space Engineers with Kevin, too.

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Show Discussion / Re: Criticism and Comments

« on: September 08, 2016, 02:12:37 PM »

I just wish there was anything to be learned out of the experience to better the future, but alas I mostly got "don't touch Skins for the Skinless despite it looking cool".

Unfortunately, that's pretty much it. You're a good roleplayer and you roleplayed that skin as it was designed, it just so happens that the skin itself is awful.

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Show Discussion / Re: Criticism and Comments

« on: September 08, 2016, 11:52:47 AM »

Yes! Masks! Though if I (and/or Manda and/or Zach) were in it, it wouldn't be something recorded for the podcast. If I recall correctly, the cast in the first episode Axe ran was Manda, Zach, Josh, Travis, and myself; if he picks that up again (and I hope he does), I don't expect it to be posted.

That said, I'm sure the DnU cast will play and post it eventually!

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Show Discussion / Re: Criticism and Comments

« on: September 08, 2016, 09:45:41 AM »

I think the issue with Monster Hearts is that some of the skins focus too much on a cool concept without figuring out how well they'll play with an actual narrative or the other players.

That is, for the most part, the fault of poorly done custom skins (such as the Skins for the Skinless pack). Stuff from the core rulebook and Second Skins are all pretty well playtested and designed. My major complaint about them is their lack of replayability. After the second go with a skin, you'll be rehashing the same character over and over again.

That, in turn, I think is down to the way MH kind of forces a set of social guidelines on the players - you're shitty teenagers, probably American, indulging in spooky drama and sexy times.

To be fair, that is all Monster Hearts is. It's hyper-focused on that one thing, and it doesn't do anything other than that. In my experience, that is how most PbtA games are; they do one particular thing better than any other game, but they cannot sustain themselves on anything else.

I ran a one-shot of it a while back that turned out okay, but it wasn't planned to be recorded. Second Edition recently released the "final" preview for us backers, so I might pick it up again at some point. I'd been avoiding it while 2E was in production.

Oh, speaking of both things in crowdfunding and things not to be recorded: do you plan on picking up that PbtA young superhero game again anytime in the nearish future? I've got the itch to game again, and I recall that game being super rad.

Aw man, that sucks. I've got overcompensating ego and false bravado to spare!

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Show Discussion / Re: Criticism and Comments

« on: September 08, 2016, 08:31:07 AM »

Honestly, Camp Rosewater was the first long Monster Hearts game that the group did. A lot of the hiccups in it are the result of players being in uncharted territory with the game system. Also, in regards to Max and myself in those games, we were using two of the worst skins from the Skins for the Skinless pack--which says a lot, because all but like one skin from that pack is garbage. If I remember correctly, Axe actually disallowed use of SftS in all future campaigns after Rosewater.

But seriously man, the one skin that Max was using . . . Ugh, it was rough to watch. Almost every time he tried to have a meaningful interaction with someone or something, it required rolling to be visible. If you fail the roll, you become a violent asshole. The result of playing the Unseen (I think that's what it's called) is that your character is a violent asshole more than half the time. Max tried his best to be all about love and friendship, bless his magical girl heart, but random chance just never let Penny have any chill, ever.

The skin I was using, the Gargoyle (I think that's what it was called?), was terrible in that it offered no direction for the character to take. It was like the Calaca (that I wished was better; who doesn't want to date a skeleton?) in that there was no internal conflict present in any aspect of the skin. Every skin from the base game and Second Skins has several kinds of internal conflicts to inform the directions you can take your characters, but the Gargoyle and Calaca skins just kind of give you superpowers with no emotional drawbacks and expect you to go somewhere with it.

Look at me, not even part of the cast anymore, still speaking to the credit of my erstwhile colleagues. I'll take my payment in unmarked bills, Matthew. Thanks.

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Tabletops and You / Re: A superhero game with a mystical setting?

« on: September 08, 2016, 07:16:17 AM »

I've actually been running a similarly themed game off and on like Hellboy in Monster of the Week. Though I've used creepypasta monsters as the baddies and threats.

Aw man, how is Monster of the Week? It looks real fun.

*cough*HELLBOY*cough*

...this is relevant to my interests

RIGHT??? A Hellboy/Hellblazer/Dr. Mirage style of game would be awesome.

Either way, a few systems you could look into is: WT Cerebus Club (its is more Victorian than WT and is a bit more suited to the CH feels), Fear Itself (and other systems) have psychic powers and you could add "bonus points" for super powers.

Well, like I said, I have next to no experience running occult oriented games. I only have stacks of comic books about superheroes fighting demons and slinging spells at Lovecraftian horrors. I don't think I'd be up for running something like this; the idea of it is just cool.

Another big question you need to answer is "Why Superheros and not just Heros?"

Because I love superheroes even more than Max loves anime. Also, Justice League Dark and Dr. Mirage, the examples I listed, are both comprised of superheroes. In JLD, you have John Constantine, Deadman, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, and Madame Xanadu as the core cast of characters. With the exception of Deadman (who is a ghost) and Swamp Thing (who is spooky), these are all characters with a public presence. In fact, being a superhero builds up their reputation, which in turn brings money into their day jobs (John Constantine the private investigator, Zatanna the stage performer, and Madame Xanadu the occult saleswoman). Swamp Thing and Deadman are both flashy in everything they do just 'cause that's how they are.

In Dr. Mirage, the titular hero is a television medium that is so widely regarded as legit that no one in the world is a skeptic about it. She solves crimes via talking to ghosts, and she's basically pissed off so many poltergeists, demons, and other sort of shit, and then got filmed laying down some crazy magic to shut them out, that everyone and their mother is like, "Dr. Mirage? Holy hell, she is the bee's knees." Granted, this is my first foray into the Valiant comics universe, so I don't exactly know just how bonkers the world is for the average joe to be like, "yeah man, ghosts and demons and shit, totally legit," but I'm pretty sure it's crazytown. But yeah, being a superhero pays the bills for her.