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thydungeongal · 1 year

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Hi! First and foremost, thank you so much for being a person who keeps me informed about what's happening in the world of RPGs! I was wondering if you could give some advice: I've written a small RPG for two or more players that can be 100% played over email, and now I'm trying to figure out how to get it into people's hands. If I could make even $1 on it, that would be incredible, but my first goal is honestly just to get it to the people who would be interested in playing. Do you know how to best distribute a small RPG like this? How do people find new RPGs? Thanks so much!

Hi! First of all, thank you for the kind words! Second of all, I'm really out of my depth here so I might be speaking completely out of my whole ass but I hope I can help here! If any indie RPG writers seeing this want to chime in, please do, because I feel really unqualified to answer this question.

So, itch.io is a platform primarily for distributing video games, but in recent years has also seen a lot of use as a platform for distributing RPGs. It seems to be especially well-liked by the indies for reasons I won't pretend to understand but which to my knowledge stem from frustrations with DriveThruRPG, the up until now de facto RPG distribution platform. I know @bowtochris distributed his first RPG, Shotguns & Socialites, there, maybe he can share some insights into it?

I can only speak for myself, but the way I personally find new RPGs these days is mostly through Tumblr. Tumblr has a pretty big community of independent RPG writers who are as a rule extremely cool and nice people, and very supportive of each other to boot. I end up seeing a lot of new RPGs simply by virtue of having followed a few writers on here, cause new interesting games tend to spread like wildfire throughout the community. Obviously there are RPG communities all over the internet, but before you jump into an RPG group on Reddit or Facebook or something do remember to check their rules on self promotion, because it might be looked down on in some groups and promoting your game in a group that doesn't allow it won't earn you any favors.

But since you're already here on Tumblr, you can just make a big ol' post about your game and tag it appropriately. A lot of people follow tags relevant to their interests so tagging your big post about your game with #rpg or #ttrpg or #tabletop will probably get a few eyes on it. Do be mindful of the fact that tag spam will just get you blocked by most people: don't tag your post as #dnd, because most people following that tag follow it for Dungeons & Dragons and seeing unrelated RPGs pop up in that tag is just rude.

I mentioned that there are many interesting indie RPG writers here and there are actually too many for to name, but I definitely recommend you check out @indiepressrevolution and @indierpgnewsletter. They may have some insights into the nitty gritty of distributing your first RPG.

Also, I want to hear more about this RPG of yours.

#rpg #ttrpg #tabletop roleplaying

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bleedforever · 1 year

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katamari damacy (just the first one) is one of my top favorite games ever. i remember reading that keita takahashi didn't want any sequels, and just felt obligated to stay on for we ❤️ katamari because namco said they were going to make a sequel regardless (it is decidedly mediocre, and a mostly-pointless rehash that i didn't finish)

iirc keita takahashi didn't really want to have traditional, video gamey goals and time limits and stuff in katamari damacy, but namco insisted. i think it was to the game's benefit – as much as i love his style as an artist, and as charming as i find noby noby boy, i didn't find it nearly as compelling. same for wattam – i tried like 30 minutes of it at my brother's and just... wasn't feeling it. there just wasn't enough like, Gameplay for me, you know..?

i really respect the intent behind making like, quiet freeform quirky sandboxy software toys, and i don't think they're bad in the slightest, but i think it's necessary to compromise with video gamey goals and structure to get adults to Play without feeling self conscious or bored. like, i think being an immensely talented artist he probably doesn't have a super typical experience with more freeform game-like objects due to his imagination, sense of humor, and playfulness – like, i think it's a little like asking most people to do a standup set on the spot. almost anyone would flounder!

a beautiful thing about ttrpgs is that they give adults an excuse to play pretend. kids obviously roleplay and pretend to be characters and play with toys without needing rulesets – but to get adults to do that you generally need at least some Structure (maybe a codified, important-looking rulebook) with a bit of a story already made, and rules and dice to roll to make you feel less ridiculous while you're pretending to be an elf bard. an invisible presence to tell you: "hey, it's okay – i won't think it's weird if you get really into it"

like, some adults definitely can roleplay or do improv without a structured Game with Gameplay helping them out, but i think the societal shame about sincerely playing pretend as an adult is too intense for most people without some kind of fig leaf to hide behind (or at least, an engrossing prompt) – tabletop game rules, traditionally structured video games, comedy, kinks & fetishes, etc etc... and like, all these things are obviously very popular! play is really, really important, even for adults! (and as an aside, i think keita takahashi would make a fantastic rpg or arcade game...)

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binarystargames · 11 months

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Thinking about (a very broad definition of) quarterbacking, especially as it relates to TTRPGs (part 1)

This is going to be a bit meandering and I'm not going to have answers at the end of this post because it's already too fucking long. Bear with me.

Disclaimer/preface: I'm mostly spitballing based on my own experiences as someone who has both seen and done this. I'm sure there are better terms for what I'm saying and that I'm probably reinventing the wheel. I'm fine with that. I know about the killer/explorer/socializer/roleplayer model for multiplayer games already, it's useful and there's definitely an intersection point on a venn diagram of where it interacts with this but it doesn't 100% map to where I'm going with this.

As I mentioned at the end of my post on diceless ideas for APOCALYPSE FRAME, I like the idea of resource-management-based rather than randomness-based methods for tactics games, but I am slightly worried that it would increase the prevalence of quarterbacking.

Typically the definition used for this in this context is: in a setting where everyone is on the same team, one person (the "quarterback") tells everyone else in the group what to do. I'm expanding that definition here into generalized situations where people are telling seemingly-equal peers what to do during a game or even to some degree when people feel pressured/coerced into taking certain kinds of game actions. I like to think of this on two levels:

Strategic. The kind of decision that's made at a high level, usually before anything that actually happens takes place. Quarterbacking here takes the place like someone having to pick a specific class or character or role. If you've ever picked the party cleric because nobody else wanted to be a healer, even if nobody told you to or even suggested it, that's what I mean. The more defined player roles are and the more essential they all are, the more this comes up, but it can also be reflected in things like equipment loadouts.

Tactical. The kind of decision that's made at a per-action, per-encounter, etc level. "Go over here", "do this", "cover X other player", "spend this level of resources but no more", etc. The more important a given action or resource expenditure is, the more this comes up.

Tactical is mostly what I'll get into because that gets to what made me think about this, though I'll probably get back to Strategic later a bit in part 2 because I have a few thoughts there.

Where does this show up?

As much as I'd love to say sports, in seeking a useful definition, I've actually defined it here in such a way that kind of crowds them out: in American football, for instance, it's not intended to be an equal team of people making play decisions: roles are predefined, a play is passed down from a coach to the quarterback to players, and it's up to them to stick to the spirit of the play while interpreting the best course of action along the way. In the context of non-sports, you can see it a lot in video games, board games, and RPGs.

Online games are a big one that comes to mind. There can be a lot of coordination involved and if you're in a group of randos you will inevitably run into someone who decides to tell everyone else what to do. They'll probably start being real shitheads if you ignore them too! Co-op board and card games have this too (I'll get into this more below). And of course, TTRPGs, that's what brought me to the dance after all and got my brain spilling all over the page about it.

Is this actually a problem?

Maybe! It depends! It's a really broad thing I'm outlining here so it's hard to answer.

I think it's a function of expectation going into it. For a lot of groups maybe this is how they like to do things: the strategy person gives out marching orders and everyone else goes along with it, everyone decides party composition ahead of time, etc. If one person is just not as good at using the tools at hand, they might ask for suggestions and that's good! If someone's obviously floundering, suggesting a way out of it is probably also good as long as they're cool with it.

I'm going to use the cases of TTRPGs especially for cases where I think it can be a problem because I reckon there's a few kinds of expression going on that can be at odds. I'm going to make some terms up so bear with me, I'm sure someone way smarter has come up with a better distinction but this is how I'm thinking about it:

Game state expression. This is the "trying to win/lose" or "trying to solve the puzzle" layer. This is where quarterbacking makes the most sense! If you're coordinating to win then coming up with a strategy together, maybe with someone setting it all out, can definitely make perfect sense.

Narrative expression. When you think about an action scene or a fight, usually there's one of two things happening. One, there's a major plot point that's getting resolved by it. This is where you get like "boss fights" and "setpieces". Two, and this is more common, they're pretty low-stakes but are used as a way to show off how characters prefer to do things. Does a vulnerable character keep distance or put themselves at risk? Does a bruiser character pick targets to keep friends safe, to take down easy pickings, or to go for the biggest thing they can see? Do defensive characters mostly keep themselves alive or protect others? This is where I think TTRPGs can really shine. Sub-optimal play isn't strictly necessary for this, but situationally, it can be a way to express this. Quarterbacking often steps on those impulses, but not always: maybe characters are willing to put their personal ways of doing things aside for the greater goal, and that can be narrative development too! But I suspect that's not going to be the response every time.

Personal expression. Sometimes people don't like to do a certain kind of thing, you know? Maybe someone doesn't like their characters having less than half health even if it's like, fine. Maybe someone never wants to spend more than half of their resources "just in case" even when that makes no sense. Maybe someone always goes full auto instead of using bursts because it feels better. Maybe someone only prepares AOE attacks instead of individual-target ones. But it sure would be better for everyone else if they did things that made more sense! This is the one that quarterbacking can really clash with because it's often strictly suboptimal behavior.

I suspect you're going to see quarterbacking be more accepted and less of a problem in video/board/card game scenarios because Win The Game is a lot more emphasized in those, so there's more acceptance of taking some direction from others in order to succeed because that's why we're here. Personal expression still crops up for sure, but aside from like roleplay servers or the more nebulous early phases of an MMO - Dan Olson's example of a WoW player who always stays shoeless and always walks outside of combat and eventually draws the ire of their guild is a great example of that transition, for example - I don't think there's honestly too-too much in the way of narrative expression for multiplayer video games. Your "verbs" and goals are necessarily much more actively restricted too, which furthers this - no matter how you feel about your character or whatever, at the end of the day, W or L is in many cases the thing the game expresses, so that's what folks will aim for. (Some games are, of course, better at this than others.)

Now, this is not to say that I'm drawing a "rollplay vs roleplay" distinction. I would really hope we're several decades beyond that. (I know we're not actually but I like to be optimistic.) What I'm saying is that in a given situation, someone playing the game is going to have several motivations pulling them in different directions, and in a lot of cases any of these can lead to folks telling other people what to do or feeling like they have to do something they don't want to. I mostly think this is a game state vs. other motivations thing but it can definitely happen from narrative or personal angles too: if someone has ever told you that your character probably wouldn't do something, for example, there it is!

Why does turn-based make this more of a thing?

There will almost certainly end up being "correct" decisions, and when there are "correct" decisions, there will always be a frustration in some players when others aren't making them. You can correlate this extremely strongly with the margin for error for victory/etc narrowing: as soon as there's a perception that a binary win/loss is at stake, people will start to do this more. And the longer a game lasts, the more likely this is. The idea of playing a co-op game for 4 hours and losing kind of sucks - much less a campaign that lasts a year and is on the brink of ending in a TPK or whatever!

For turn-based games, you have much more of an opportunity to draw out a turn and figure out the exact optimal thing, and do an "are you sure" or "please do this instead" when someone says the "wrong" thing. In contrast, for a video game that's real-time (and especially one that's remote!) you don't really have a chance to second-guess anyone's course of action, they're just going to do what they're going to do and you can either scream obscenities at them for it or not. Depending on the game, they may not even be able to hear it!

Why does removing randomness also make this more of a thing?

Let's imagine a three-person combo: Person A sets something up with one ability, Person B primes it in some key way with another, Person C finishes it off with a third that ends up as something far greater than the original. Great! This is what co-op tactics games are made of! It's cool when people contribute. We love to see it.

If this works every time, if all of them can be guaranteed to be able to happen, then setting things like this up is the play, no question. If you're Person B, you're guaranteed to be decreasing the value of your actions by doing something that isn't bridging that gap between A and C unless there's a situational reason not to do that. If you can't guarantee any part of that combo happens/will work, though, the value of being able to set those combos up decreases or they'll be much shorter/more conditional to account for it.

This isn't to say it's useless when there's more uncertainty, but there's way more latitude for not sticking to the plan when things have an increasing number of ways they can go off track.

Can't we just solve this by talking it out.

Yes. I feel the need to emphasize this, yes. I've done it in the past. You can always talk to a group of friendly folks to fix almost anything. It's always correct and valid to just talk to people if there's an issue if that's an option. Talk to your friends.

Now that that's out of the way, I think it's a bit of a thought-terminating cliche. Of course you can just ask your friends to knock it off...but that assumes you're playing with friends, and often if you're playing with someone you aren't that comfortable with it's way harder to do - doubly so if that's how they've always played and they're not sure what they're doing wrong. And especially if you're time-limited, like at a con game! "Suddenly become an extrovert" and/or "figure out how to confront people you don't know" is a little beyond the scope of this topic, and if you can teach people how to do that, write a book about it or something.

Ideally I'd like to design and run games so it doesn't feel like it needs to get to that point as often or as quickly. For instance, a game that's wildly poorly designed and unbalanced requires a lot more pulling punches and intentional spotlighting to keep things even-keeled than one that isn't, you know? For traditional GM-centric games it puts a lot of work on them, and even for more distributed-role games it adds a ton of work that doesn't have to be there and expends a lot of energy that could go elsewhere. As such I think there's value in figuring out design and play tools to help myself and others with this (and luckily, there are neat examples to pull from).

Next time.

#ttrpg #ttrpg design #game design

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emerald-dragonflame · 2 months

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Really dumb thing I've been thinking about is what classes and races the MHI Crew would play in DnD/Pathfinder.

Earl wouldn't because the only board game he'd be interested in is Monopoly, cause that's when money made sense (I genuinely think he finds video games and TTRPGs silly)

Tanya wouldn't cause she would try to use real elf magic in the game and would get frustrated when Tripp, the DM, says she can't do that.

And Edward wouldn't simply due to the fact that there's way too much talking and numbers involved.

Tripp is obviously the DM, playing either Pathfinder or a more homebrewed version of DnD

Owen would play after Tripp tells him it'll be fun (even though he says that it's a nerd game. As if he isn't a giant fucking nerd himself. My mans, your an accountant, this is a numbers game, and you don't even have to factor in taxes, it was, like, made for you), so he decides to play something he thinks is funny: A Dragonborn rouge who is way too good at sneaking around. He's not edgy, and doesn't have a tragic backstory or anything like that, he's just a shit stirrer. Only later realizing "Oh... crap this is actually kinda fun", turning his character into the best part of the campaign.

Julie would play a gunslinger Halfling, mostly cause I think she would play something she knows (and Tripp would definitely change some gunslinger rules to make them more realistic), and I think she really likes the trope "cute, but deadly". She'd 100% play the sweetheart of the group, and play the character closest to her personality.

And while Owen and Julie try not to have their characters fall in love, it kinda happens on accident cause the two idiot lovebirds won't stop jokingly flirting with each other, and whoops, how did they end up in the same bed?

Holly would play a male Goliath barbarian, and would be the only person playing someone of the opposite sex. She doesn't care about the roleplaying or anything like that. Her characters entire personality is: A'm only 'ere t' crack skulls, an' fuck bitches... and a'm all outta bitches t' fuck". Girl doesn't care at all about the kingdom they need to save, she just wanna roll dice and swing her axe around.

"I would like to rage" is her favorite thing to say.

This is all mostly headcanon that I have no proof for other than "yeah, that feels about right", but it's fun and i think fit's their personalities... I... might have to draw these characters now, lol

#emerald blathers #monster hunter international #mhi #owen pitt #julie shackleford #tripp jones #holly newcastle #earl harbinger #elf princess tanya #edward the orc #headcanon #dnd #dungeons and dragons #pathfinder

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aethericfist · 1 year

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1. Are you named after anyone?: Nope, my parents wanted to name me specifically after no one

2. When was the last time you cried?: Honestly I have no idea

3. Do you have kids?: Nope

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?: Well, do I? I try to use it more.

5. What sports do you play/have you played?: Tennis, I also did some Judo back in the day, but I love jogging & hiking, and most of all and home trainer thingies. Tho I dislike jogging where I run into other people

6. What’s the first thing you notice about other people?: Whether or not I consider them generally likeable.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?: ¿Por qué no los dos? But I enjoy scary movies, especially watching with other people.

8. Any special talents?: I am driving more of the "Jack of all trades, master of none" kinda schtick, but weekday calculation and a pen chant for puns might count

9. Where were you born?: Too personal a question used in too many safety questions to recover accounts :P

10. What are your hobbies?: TOO MANY. Mostly I like to create things, Game Master several TTRPG or play in them, worldbuilding, I play the guitar for fun, OBVIOUSLY FFXIV and video games, home trainer thingies as mentioned above, overall writing, game development (both virtual and physical), 3D modeling, and I want to say cosplaying but I haven't crafted or sown anything in awhile, I also enjoy audiobooks but I also have been told that doesn't count as reading by someone who didn't start or finish a book in years :>

11. Do you have any pets?: Not anymore...

12. How tall are you?: I'd say average dude height

13. Fave subject in school?: Game Development and Databases actually

14. Dream job?: Having enough money to pay myself a salary OR landlord so I can game develop the games I want to make on the side

15. Eye colour?: Bleu

Tagged by: @dragonsongmakhali thank you :> I am also gonna do the other one

Tagging: @sasslett @unchangingeverchanging @pumpkinmagekupo

feel free to ignore, I honestly forgot who did it already and wasn't sure whomst to tag

#tagging #not ffxiv

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anarchotolkienist · 1 year

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I usually never do these, but I've been tagged by @mossbawn before and she's like the only one on here with good takes on the Gaels, so I felt like I should aknowledge that I'm a person with opinions that are not just based on annoyance.

Favourite time of the year:

Depends on where I am! In Scotland, spring, and in Sweden, deep winter. I love snow and proper cold and being able to go skiing (flat-ground, not alpine), but you just can't do that in Scotland. It's never cold enough.

Comfort foods:

Sausage rolls. Fake vegan mac'n'cheese with flakes, pasta, olive oil, and tofu.

Do you collect anything:

At the moment, old Gaelic books, mostly, if that counts!

Favourite drink:

Hot chocolate made with coconut milk.

Favourite musical artists:

At the moment, in no particular order, Alasdair 'Mòr' MacIlleBhàin, Kathleen NicAonghais (Kathleen Dhòmhnaill Phàdraig Iagain), An t-Urram. Uilleam MacMhathain (Uilleam a' Mhiseanaraidh), Rónán Ó Snodaigh, Ellen Sundberg, Johnny Cash, Brigada Flores Magon, Imperiet, Nationalteatern. Also some other Caillich is Bodaich on Tobair an Dualchais that haven't gotten the Uilleam MacMhathain treatment of getting a full album. Honourable mention to Nan, Cùrlach, An Eòsag, An Coddy, Ronny the Whaler, Flòraidh.

Current favourite songs:

This is always hard for me, but scrolled through my recent listens and wrote down the ones who caught my eye.

Tá an t'Áth Liom, by Rónán Ó Snodaigh; Slutstrid by Kjell Höglund, Là Inbhir Lochaidh, by Mànran; Rövarkungens Ö, by Nationalteatern, and then various folkloric recordings that I can't present on here.

Favourite fics:

I don't read fanfic, never have never will. If we treat this as 'favourite fiction', Lord of the Rings, obviously.

Favourite games:

TTRPGs: One Ring (2nd Edition), Burning Wheel, Väsen.

For video games, I think I have to say World of Warcraft, because I've played that game since I was 7 and still do. Hate Blizzard forever, though. Otherwise EU4.

Don't really want to pressure anyone, but if you feel like doing it, feel free to tag me in it :)

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rudojudo · 1 year

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So there's a new Folding Ideas on youtube and it's a fascinating topic, but I'm driven mad by it's closed focus*. If you haven't seen it, I understand, it's an hour and a half of people talking about World of Warcraft. But it's really about games and the way that "top" players change how everyone else plays.

This might go for a bit, so here's the off ramp.

The video, "Why it's Rude to Suck at Warcraft," details the history of the metagame in WoW. In particular, it examines how the mere existence of a metagame pushed players into optimization as the "real" way to play. The title is derived from how even at the lowest level of social play, doing anything other than the objective best strategy at all times is seen as wasting other people's time.

I don't play MMOs. The only real multiplayer video games I play are fighters. In that world, optimization is also forced as a way to keep competitive, because being competitive is the only way to play at all.

You see, in a fighting game, eventually everyone who isn't good at the game leaves. Sure, if it's still getting support, the bigger games will get a rush of new players when a DLC character comes out, but generally, if the game is a full year old or more, you're down to people who are dedicated. And if they're dedicated, they aren’t here to lose.

Fighting games have so, so much room for optimization. You can learn not just the frame data for all your character's attacks (in essence the speed and how much you need to commit to use the move), but then you can learn all that data for every other character, so you know how it interacts with yours. All that is separate from learning and memorizing combos, preferably several for different scenarios.

I do precisely none of that. I go for the moves that *feel* good, the biggest damage with the fewest button presses. I've got ADHD, I'm not built to memorize. So mostly I lose.

I'm not saying I want people to play worse, and obviously a one on one competitive game with no voice chat is miles away from a social space with collaboration. But I can't stop thinking about people who are less enamored with the genre of fighting games who fall out because there isn't a space for them other than punching bag.

This is before we get into the world of playing TTRPGs "seriously."

*I understand that the video has a focus on WoW because it's an extreme case of this phenomenon and to make the video watchable

#fighting games #theory and musings

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ignobiliss · 2 years

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People You’d Like to Know Better

Alias/Name: Cyd is fine!

Birthday: July 21st

Zodiac: Cancer.

Height: 5′2

Hobbies: Video games, obviously- Elden Ring, V Rising, and DbD are the main ones I'm playing rn. I also draw whenever I'm up to the task and sew! Mostly plush toys but I've been tempted to try sewing actual clothes. Want to get into TTRPGS but I haven't gotten a good group yet.

Favorite color: Honestly any bright/neon color.

Last Song: Crucified by the Genitorturers.

Last Show: I honestly don't remember. I don't really watch shows- I think I was re-watching the animated Teen Titans series for nostalgia's sake?

Recent Reads: Started A Game of Thrones, also still in recovery from reading Oyasumi Pun Pun. Using the Necronomicon and Smack as cleansers between chapters of GoT.

Inspirations: For Oneta specifically, old vampire legends and myths. Also exploring what would instill fear into people post-and-pre shattering. Outside of that a lot of my work draws from the wells of Silent Hill and late 80's-mid 90's literature. Also VtM.

Story Behind URL: Funny reference to the Sabbat and also the definition. Despite being of low nobility Oneta was treated worse than even some lower, base-born peasant most of the time.

Fun Fact: I'm allergic to Oranges :)

Tagging: @wanderer-among-undead, @seedbed, @remarkablepasserbys/@tinyredrose. And YOU!

#scraps + ooc

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xombigirl · 3 years

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My Opinion on the CR Safety Tools Video

So someone sent me a DM and asked me why I thought the safety tools video was “not okay” and honestly it’s too much for one DM so I guess I’m going public with this.

Let me start by saying that I get wanting to feel closer to the cast. I understand that and I’ve been guilty of it myself in the past. Not terribly long ago(barely six months)I realized that I was teetering on the edge of a very unhealthy obsession. I had notifs on for the entire cast and I would agonize over replies, hoping it would be something clever enough to get me noticed. And it was taking a toll on my already fragile mental health. So I took a step back, I turned off all my notifications on Twitter, stopped trying to interact with them on social media and realized I was better off mentally.

About a month ago a thread started making the rounds on Twitter that was a “deep dive” into the cast’s mental health. I read through it and couldn’t quite figure out why it just made me so wildly uncomfortable. I talked it out with a few friends and realized that part of why it made me so uncomfortable was the wild assumptions this person was making about people they don’t personally know. They claimed Liam was having a panic attack in c2 ep 123 so I went back and watched and no? No, I think Caleb was having a panic attack and that the stress of the situation(which is no worse than other situations they’ve come across in this campaign and the last)was probably getting to Liam. Sure. I can get behind that.

But saying “I also think Matt pushed them too hard with the end of the world possibility (which he's realized and is trying to pull everything back a bit on). Mostly because they've been living through a kind of mass-death apocalypse made much worse by inaction” feels like such a fucking reach to me. It feels like someone who is projecting their own problems onto the cast without any regard for the cast themselves.

Anyway, that thread is part of why this new video makes me super uncomfortable. The person starts off by saying that they’ve been GM’ing “for a while now” and I would like to point out that not all GMs/DMs are created equal. What works at one table might not work at another. I do know they also said that their video is not a “How to” but it feels like they want it to be.

Please do not assume that I am against Safety Tools in TTRPGs. That is not the point of this post at all. I think they are helpful tools and can keep things running smoothly at a table, no matter if it’s in person or online like my own group. I understand character bleed, I understand that D&D or other roleplaying can be a form of catharsis. And sure, those are good things to understand. Where my problem lies is the way this person used things like the death of Liam’s mom to point out an example of things going wrong.

Again, I do agree that this is an important thing to talk about! But I would suggest this person not use Critical Role as an example. There are many other AP streams out there who are far more upfront about their use of these safety tools and I think they would have been better off using those instead.

As a small example, using Sam’s singing and the cast joining in as an example of trust just...this is Sam Riegel we’re talking about. The man who started his career onstage as a young child. I don’t think it’s an example of trust that the cast joins in. Also, just as an aside, Erika Ishii has never guested on the main campaign. She has only guested in Call of Cthulhu and Monsterhearts.

“How explicit the conversation was beforehand we just don’t know.” Is another example. You’re right, we have zero clue how their discussions before either campaign shook out. AND IT’S NOT OUR PLACE TO SPECULATE OR ASSUME EITHER. I know it might be a tired argument but this is, in fact, their game. Yes they are broadcasting it to a large audience but it started out as their game and it will end up that way too. We can’t put the same expectations on Critical Role as we do other forms of media. Hell, even other AP streams such as Dimension 20 which is all filmed ahead of time and is edited down and gives them ample time to tell the story they want to tell. That’s now how Critical Role works.

All of this is to say that we have no idea what sort of discussions happen off screen or behind closed doors. We don’t know how they decompress after an episode. We don’t know if they filled out questionnaires or if there are certain topics that are off limits. They don’t choose to disclose that information and picking apart interactions between a group of friends who obviously trust each other isn’t the way to find out.

This is just one person’s opinion though. I am but one Critter in a vast sea of other Critters so watch the video for yourself. Make your own decisions. I am just going to opt out of speculation regarding anything about the cast’s personal lives. This includes, sexuality, relationships, any kind of safety tools and their mental health.

#this is just my opinion #well i guess I'll put it in #cr discourse #*shrugs into the void*#critical role

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trashcatsnark · 3 years

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Hard agree on you about CDPR's characterization of Johnny. It's not only that he doesn't show up as often as he should, and that his lines are a bit wonky sometimes (side gigs mostly), but they also kinda made him more of an asshole than he actually is? Like, they made Rogue say that he cheated on her. Three times. That is not in the actual lore. Why did they add that??? In the actual story they even share a sweet moment with him saying she's the best and calling her by her actual name.

Part 2 For Context: Another thing to add to my post, TTRPG Johnny also buys entire warehouses and converts them into living spaces for homeless artists and such. He does free concerts to expose NCPD brutality. The guy even felt bad in 2013, when he made the people rally against Arasaka bc he didn't want any of them to die. Like, he's a shit, but he's actually a very decent man too. I guess 2077 Johnny is just an engram and not the real one, but still, could've done better with his writing.

I'm trying to think carefully of how I wanna word this. Because I know when discussing problematic character behaviors, its a slippery slope at times. So, I wanna preface by saying, I am by no means justifying his actions by any means.

However, my issues with his characterization have less to do with me wanting him to be nicer and/or closer to his TTRPG counterpart. I'm not someone who was heavy into the TTRPG, I never played, I've just done some cursory research into it out of curiosity after playing the video game. Mostly out of curiousity of what still could or would fit into the video game. I've talked a bit of how I think the Silverhand Studio warehouses could fit as a project he tried when he was younger that failed. And I could easily see the police brutality awareness concerts still being something samurai did, cause Johnny in cyberpunk 2077 still cares about and is passionate about those issues; but he's a giant fucking asshole disaster who treats people like shit. At least thats how I see him.

And like, again, not justifying his actions but from a character and narrative standpoint. I like the decision to make him an asshole. Because to me, personally, his growth and redemption is the best part of the game. Like, obviously I love a lot of other things in the game and it has value beyond that. But to me his redemption and changing is so critical to the plot. That if he was just good guy johnny who is still good guy johnny by the end, it would take a lot away from the game to me. Which may or may not be fucked up that I prefer an asshole who becomes nicer than nice man who stays nice. But a journey is more interesting than a sit, ya know?

But my issues are generally; at times inconsistencies, consequences for his assholery, and just wish we saw more.

Ive talked somewhat about how he can be inconsistent in his development between main quests and side quests. He can be very erratic, which that also is probably just part of his character rather than an inconsistency. But those things can make it hard to understand him and can feel odd. But that also can just come from sidemissions being mostly nonlinear. In my ideal world where cdpr gave themselves more time; i would have liked if side quest/gig dialogue changed based on Johnny and V's relationship, the same way it does in the quests with kerry and in the endings/embers. Like if he do a gig with 0 affection, he may not show up or be a dick. But if you do that same gig with 70% he for sure shows and is more concerned for V. Like just that little level of consistency. Which i know it'd require more time and getting keanu back in the booth but, it'd have been nice.

Ive talked at length before about how I wish Johnny faced some more consequences for being a dickhead, so I wont bore anyone with more of that.

As far as the Rogue stuff you mentioned, that kind of goes into my issue of wishing we'd seen more. Cause V is suppose to have Johnny's memories lurking around their skull but we only see 2 memories??? Rogue says at the date: "lets go back in time before i knew what a bastard you were" there was a time when he was at least on some level decent. I refuse to believe he managed to convince Rogue and Alt to date him, being an asshole out the gate. There had to have been softer moments. But we the player dont get to see them. We only see the worst of Johnny in the past, despite supposedly having all his memories as V.

Like Johnny who cheated on Rogue and the Johnny who was soft with her and called her by her real name: very much can be the same guy and both having happened. Johnny getting attached and that scaring him so be does dumb shit and destroys everything. Johnny having genuine feelings but being unwilling to embrace them fully. Johnny giving breadcrumbs of affection to keep people around then snapping and doing something devastating when he worries they've gotten too close. Then regret it and give another breadcrumb of affection because he does feel that affection, he cares, but hes fucked in the head. Intentionally or not, stringing the people who care about him along. He's whiplash and a whirlwind. And that all makes sense and fits his in video game character to me, because hes meant to be a toxic asshole who really does care but has to get his shit together big time. But we dont see the nicer moments enough, we dont see what drew Rogue, Kerry, and Alt into his life. We dont see enough of those moments in my opinion. The closest is, when alt dies, if you choose the nice goodbye to kerry, and the way he tried to smooth things over with alt in the alley way before she was kidnapped, oh and the little hand hold. You get really brief moments but you mostly just see the assholery. It would have been nice to see how he met the people who mattered to him, seen more of his good, more of that charisma he claimed to have. In general, I would have liked more exploration of his character and his relationships

#cyberpunk 2077 #cp2077 #cyberpunk 2077 spoilers #johnny silverhand

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baldinggoat · 3 years

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Hi. I just want to say that I agree with every point of criticism you have about BG3 and parts of its fandom. Another thing I'm afraid about is they're going to go through with "TWIST! Zevlor is evil all along" thing (based on his datamined voicelines). It kinda dumbs down his character and erase the potential his character could have (a person who tried to fight for the right thing, persecuted for being different, exiled, then having to bear great responsibilty of keeping other people safe). His character could have, I don't know, an arc about learning to put himself first sometimes, allowing himself to enjoy the moment and be happy for once etc. (Also give him a boyfriend, preFURrably Halsin, do it Larian you cowards). It doesn't have to always be twisted villain or being killed off for grimdarkTM or some such to make an arc meaningful.

I very happy to know theres some people actually reading my random rants and even agreeing! I dont tag them bc i know a huge chunck of the bg3 fandom is and will be dragon age players and i dont want anything to do with the homophobic/transphobic/racist circle jerks that pop up in that fandom. Ive already blocked a few terfs. I also have friends who are DA players tho so dont @ me about “not all da fans” if u r one :p

Ive actually written out even more like, burning scolding hot takes that I deleted because i dont want to bring drama to myself. Im not a huge computer gamer, i mostly replay fallout and borderlands, but i do some causal VTM and DND ttrpg so like. I have POE and divinity downloaded but idk when I’ll actually sit down to play (oof). So my like, authority on Video Game is kinda... Limited? But that obviously doesnt stop me and ill tear apart AAA videogames idgaf.

So far ive sorta, noticed that some of the dialogue branches, and subsequently, the quest branching, dont actually have that many different endings and actually loop into each other to give you the same outcome. Not a great look, but ill wait and see when we get to actual baldurs gate to see how everything ends up going. I do know that BG: seige of dragonspear had the first and only trans woman and the backlash was horrible. And i feel like a lot of the problems im finding with lgbt representation (or lack of) with BG3 EA are a direct result from that. Im waiting for more content, and then the full game release to tear it apart. I will not be gentle.

As for zevlor: If he turns out evil idgaf, in this household we love our bastard tieflings to the very end. I hope all the stuff people are datamining are just a very small portion of like, “bad endings” and people are just being pessimistic and i hope there are more good feelsy endings. I really fucking hate forced grimdark/ gritty endings in dnd writing. When theres bright blue elves with purple hair, i cannot take any of it seriously. I hope since it is labeled and marketed as an RPG, our choices will actually matter. If they dont and halsin ends up with a forced permadeath or zevlor ends up ~evil~ no matter what you do at the grove, BG3 is going to get ripped into by critics, not just me lmao.

#sorry i drank a huge venti espresso so i am AWAKE #long post #/goat noises

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hydralisk98 · 5 years

Text

Urya (Brainstorm #0x1)

Urya is a shared universe @hydralisk98 (aka myself) is developing currently to both enjoy himself/herself but also to preparing his/her mind to shift into that world.

Clearly not ready for use yet but I would like to eventually provide access to the data under open source licensing.

IDEAS

Main inspirations from fictional works (Secondary inspirations would take up way too much space so I left that alone at least for a little while):

0x10c

Portal 2 + Portal Stories: Mel

The Alchemist

Hypnospace Outlaw

The Stanley Parable

Zachtronics

Inspirations from OTL’s constructs

Characters:

Constant “Klara” Booksword

“Nil” aka the main playable person/entity

Sasha

Charles

Sophia

Valence

Themes:

“God”

Truth

Soul

Choice

Time

Philosophy

Languages

Methodology

Tonalities:

Didactic

Dramatic

Comical

Ironic

Polemic?

Epic?

Media genres:

Hypertext

Multimedia demos

Video games

Game modifications (probably as total conversions but embracing some of the initial game design as well)

TTRPG campaigns

Addventures / Suggestion forum -ish game

Fictional setting:

Single planet as the initial scope

A few regions or a single country per focus point

Single constellation as the maximum scope

Escapism & personal Joy & Achievement as motivations

Parallel history scheme (There are minor differences mostly up to the initial anchor point)

Mystery + Intrigue plots

Rare magic

2015-equivalent is the initial anchor point

Young adults (15-30 years old) audience as target audience

Grim to noble scale= Neutral (Middle)

Dark to light scale= Grey (Middle)

Recurrent themes= Coming of age / Circle of Life / History repeats itself

Recurrent conflicts= Political intrigues, “Materialism” vs “Spirituality”, “War” vs “Peace”, “Authority” vs “Freedom”, “Xenophilia” vs “Xenophobia”, […]

Most Civs and City-States= Assyria, Morocco, Portugal, Shoshone, Inca, Babylon, Byzantium, Austria, Polynesia, Sweden, Ottomans, Ethiopia, Korea, Maya, Persia, America, Brazil, Netherlands, Songhai, Poland, Indonesia, Fiji, Vanuatu, Guadalcanal, Nendo, Kelowna, Milan, Yerevan, Mombasa, Zanzibar, Zurich, Sidon, Jerusalem, Vatican City, Wittenberg, Buenos Aires, Samarkand, Kabul, Tbilisi, Ormus, Yangon, Cahokia, Mogadishu, Hanoi, Luanda, Antananavario, Melbourne, Sofia, Chennai, Ragusa, Quebec City, Prague, Lusaka, Tyre, Dijon, Konigsberg, Panama City, Riga, Budapest, Algiers

[Work.In.Progress]

Literature processes:

Non-chronological (Flashbacks and anticipations possible)

Non-Linear (Parallel pattern)

High and low levels of language

Stylistic devices: substitution figures, amplification/insistance figures, opposition figures, omission figures, sonority figures?, analogy figures, thought figures (concession, preterition), […]

Point of view= First person perspective BUT with lots of second person and fourth wall breaking instances (so it is very meta fictional)

Values:

“Love” or Acceptance of the divine truth of reality

Choice

Perseverence

Honesty

Knowledge

Ethics’ sense

Originality criteria= Quite null, which is obviously a antithesis

Intrigue/Suspense= Should more driven by “natural” curiosity than actual aesthetics

Lisibility / Complexity= Should stay quite complex and fancy with little compromise towards accessibility as far as simplifying vocabulary and stylistic devices in the original core material goes.

Scenaristic and metaphysical realisms criteria= Should go somewhat far, as to establish a cohesive universe to which we can actually go there PHYSICALLY altrought at least some details should be left unused in the original core material

“Book-Object”= Emphasis towards portraying it in a way that is as balanced as required

Message(s) of the shared universe’s original core material= Introspection and “Activism”?

Narrative model:

Constant writing his bucket list on paper (elements to become Klara or at least the best version of himself/herself), January 2020 in Canada

Constant realizing he doesn’t know how to manifest it into reality

Constant try subliminals unsuccessfully

Constant researches proven methods for manifestation

Constant asking for help

Constant changes his perspective about how to reach his bucket list goals

Constant gets rigorous

Constant finally becomes Klara

Klara is happy and goes onward in life

Actantial model:

Constant (also known as “Klara”) Booksword as the subject

“Nil” aka the player, Klara herself and the whole universe as the helping factors

Constant himself and doubt(s) as the opposing factors

Overall process of acceptation as the quest

Klara as the recipient

Constant as the sender

Constant’s wishes fulfillment as the object

Easter eggs:

[Work.In.Progress]

Ideal licensing terms= Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal for the actual media, MIT License for the actual software written for it

Actual child projects to work on:

Explaining the metaphysics

12-bit computer system and other odd electronic projects

Software and services derived from my world

Naturalistic conlangs based on a specific proto-language family

Naturalistic conlangs unrelated to any specific language family

TO-DO list:

Sketch the metaphysical model used (aka what actual metaphysics work like, think of it like the mythology of that universe but as actual truth)

Finish basic astronomy of the stellar system

Finish geology and climate

Sketch biology and hominids

Develop and get data from game mods and standalone games’ playtroughts to further the decisions afterwards

Sketch human history from the very start of the neolithic era up to the Boltzmann’s brain era of the universe (focus on 10′000 BCE equivalent to the middle of the 6th millennium AD equivalent)

Determine the actual core TL base

Develop over the details of everything particularly interesting or helpful towards the TL shifting

Target games for modding:

Europa Universails III

Europa Universalis IV

Crusader Kings II

Civilization V Complete Edition

Dwarf Fortress

Catalysm: Dark Days Ahead

Game Dev Tycoon

Half-Life 1

Half-Life 2

Lawgivers

Quadrilateral Cowboy

Democracy 3

FreeCiv

Baba is You

Factorio

Minecraft

Hypnospace Outlaw

Portal 2

Garry’s Mod

Quake

Doom

Colossal Cave Adventure

Notices

Feel free to suggest me anything under the [email protected] email address .

November 1st, 2019 4:40am edition

#creative expression

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tiffotcf · 5 years

Text

Tagged by @eyeliner-vampire back in Aug 2018. (I’m only 8 month’s late, it’s totally cool)

Rules: Answer 10 questions, write 10 questions, and tag 10 people

1. Do you name your characters with nicknames in mind, or prefer to call them by whole name only? OR what’s your wackiest/coolest character name to date?

100% I always think about possible nicknames when I pick character names. As someone who lives now by what was once a nickname I think names given by those who come into your life can have a pretty big impact. Especially, if the character felt like they didn’t have a place that they belonged before.

2. Do you talk about your WIP to others or prefer to keep it close to the chest?

It kinda depends, I think I mostly keep things to myself unless it is someone that I have specifically decided that they will be my sounding board for this story. Or if I am talking about the story to someone who I know will never read it. Then I will spoil them all day. because I am talking to them about story crafting and not just this work in particular.

I don’t like to talk about something that is coming up with people who might read it because I want to know what they think of the actual story as it presents itself, that way I know if it is working.

3. What’s something you’ve learned during your growth as a writer?

Oh man, a lot of things. Like personal ways of thinking about things and like stylistic things. And of course true to writing I can’t think of anyone thing in particular now.

I think something with my recent edits to KH that I kind of learned/evolved in is letting the audience fill in the gaps. When I did my re-read & edits there were times where I realized I was hinting at how things were going and then I would just flat out say them and I realized that the second part was probably redundant so I cleaned a lot of things up so that there are more things for the audience to piece together but that it is still clear what is going on.

The other BIG thing I tried to evolve with is giving the characters agency even if it means I don’t get the ‘moment’ or trope that I wanted. Especially because often I found that if I let them act things ended up falling into place just not in the way I had originally forced it to.

4. What’s your average number of characters in your works? Do you think you could handle more/less?

Hmm, this varies. Though in general I think of stories in terms of novels. It is really hard for me to think of a short story and that means that I have a long list of massive stories that I want to do and I can never get anything out and done. KH eneded up at about 100k words and I am happy to have others end up just as long if not longer.

5. What’s your religion system like in your WIP? Is there one?

Well one of my WIPs has a relationship with Buddhism but who knows if that story will every get done.

Religion in most of my other stuff is either not mentioned or it is a tool and belief system of various secondary characters.

6. How do you balance your writing with daily life?

I can’t and I really need to find a way to do so because I really miss writing and desperately need to get back into it.

7. Are there any stories behind any of your characters, creation wise or other?

Uh, depends on the story.

For KH obviously the main characters are based on the series characters, so for that I will talk about the two main original characters.

Yuuki Oshiro- he is the bad kind of ‘soft boy’ he has been sort of dismissed by his family and kept quiet about it. But when he finally finds the strength to do something for himself he goes about it in allllll the wrong ways. He expects the world to pay him back for all the poor treatment he has received and he doesn’t think of others in pursuit of this expectation.

Fun Fact: Since it might not have been obvious in the book, Mai’s is not the first body Yuuki tries to steal for Eloise. He actually got his feet wet in the body stealing game by trying to have Eloise possess his brother’s wife. :/ (there is a whole world of issues wrapped up in there) And it was his and Eloise’s attack on her that leads his brother to call on SPR.

Jack Murphy- He’s an actual narcissist; self-important, lacks any sort of empathy, fantasies about power, has a MASSIVE sense of entitlement, has a history of exploiting others for personal gain, and as most of you know he is directly based on my old boss. He’s a real piece of work and some of the worst things he says are basically things I got to hear IRL. One positive of working with that thing. Good story fodder.

8. What’s your setting like in three words or less.

Uh, I guess I will do this for the story I am supposed to be working on ATM

Wet, salty, hot (ewww, I don’t really like it when I say it like this)

9. How many different colors/shades are you currently utilizing in your WIP? Do you use color for any specific reason (emotion, tone, etc)?

oh color, Well in this story blue will be a thing I think for sure. Turquoise blue, like a coral pink, and maybe gold. Hmmm. I find that color tends to come for me as I am writing and then I will end up seeing a pattern emerging that I can end up leaning into as I move forward or go back and edit.

10. Do you gain inspiration from any source outside of writing (video games, rp, real life, dreams, etc)?

Sure, I think about everything in terms of story telling. When I over did it at the gym last week and had to lay on the floor trying not to puke or pass out. I tried to think about how to describe how this felt and how my trainer was acting as she worried over me and my reactions to her. ( I wish I had a video of it to know what it looked like) But I totally was thinking about how I want all of this information for a scene where someone has fought hard against something but eventually they are reaching their limit and their body just turns against them and they can’t anymore. I also thought about how much that experience exhausted me for the rest of the day and how it was effecting me hours and even a day or two later.

I have thought about wiring out the stories that I started when I did TTRPG with my friends. We all got too busy and stopped playing all of our various games at this point but I love a number of the stories that we started with and the variety of characters we had and since we stopped I think about just continuing things but... I don’t have the time. Need to work on the stuff I have.

These two long rants are to say yes. Inspiration from almost everywhere.

Questions Time!

Because of how my brain works a lot of these are linked to one another.

1.If you could write anywhere, where would you write?

1a. What is the weather there?

1b. What do you hear/ are listening to?

1c. What are you drinking/eating?

2.If you could come up with any story, your dream story, what would the setting be?

3. Do you have any preferred patterns for setting yourself up to write or rituals that help you get into the flow?

4 Can you write for just a few moments at a time here and there or do you need larger chunks of time to even get started?

5. What is your favorite piece of work?

6. What is its main theme? What about it holds you so deeply?

7. Pick a character you are writing/like to write, where is their favorite place to go?

8. What is their favorite sound? food? time of day?

9. What would the character you were just thinking of have to say about you?

10. When you are stuck how much compassion do you show yourself?

Tagging time!

@sprghosthunter , @seoulsborne123 , @radiowrites , @amynchan @taniyamamaiumi, @megabadbunny, @samantha-girlscout,

@frenchcirce, @csakuras, @snavej

#the write stuff #tiffo time #another meme bites the dust

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