Recent content by Umbran

Oh, do not let the boxer shorts fool you. Dungeon Crawler Carl is both dark and serious. It is also kind of absurd, but in context, that absurdity is also dark and serious.

I don't believe so, no. There are lots of cases, where a particular system, or a particular genre, or a playstyle, or even just a particular GM, is more enjoyable (to me) with pre-written adventure content. But that's really a whole different conversation.

The Daggerheart game I'm playing in is a conversion of Humblewood, so the races have been changed, and the adventure is more or less pre-written. And I'm coming away from most sessions with a feeling that it is fun, and I enjoy the mechanics moment-by-moment a great deal, that I think it...

Humans have this unfortunate quirk that they find being told they are wrong difficult to take - admitting being incorrect, to the human hindbrain, is likely a loss of status. Yes, it is exhausting. The only real approach I've ever found regularly successful is disengaging from that person, and...

If I recall correctly, it is a bottle of Greek olive oil on an alien planet that should never have heard of Greece...

Seen on social media today that I feel is relevant...

1) Don't make this personal. It is not about what I know about Cory Doctorow's writing - it is about whether the point I made is, in some sense, valid. 2) If you do make it personal... maybe be correct? (emphasis mine) "En@#$%tification, also known as platform decay, is a process in which...

Not really. The purpose of moderation is not "to enforce the rules for the sake of the rules". It is more to keep the peace, allow on-topic conversation flow, and make folks feel generally safe hereabouts. To that end, the line is less between mentioning/discussion and more between...

This seems prescriptive, rather than empirical. Play, broadly, is an activity done for enjoyment. Sitting down at the table with the dice and sheets is, of course, play. But so is noodling over character builds you may never use. So is painting minis for use in game. So is discussing game...

So, I think that there's one point here that maybe doesn't fall over, but shows a crack or two... Not all "play" happens at the table, and not all play is necessarily with the other players.

Um... "most people" don't determine if you get a job. Corporate America is filled with executives who care more about the bottom line than quality. Our collected experience of "enbleepification" comes from that basic fact.

Mod note: Folks, this site has a no-real-world-politics rule. Please do not violate it. Thank you.

That's a "Have you stopped beating your wife?" phrasing that I'll skip right past. It was a more basic point of logic. I referred to a generalization - repeating one specific case does not address the generalization. If I had said that ALL tactical combat games use highly granular...

Okay, folks, per Morrus upthread, time to let it rest, and perhaps consider the rest of the topic. Thanks.

So, I used to say, "I don't care," and what I meant was that I want my game to be open and appealing to people of any race, color, creed, gender, or sexual orientation. None of those things are bars to being at my table - what matters is that you're a decent person, and that your playstyle...