Recent content by Umbran

These days, my sessions are short, and only run a couple times a month. I just don't have time for material that isn't core to whatever the players are doing. Yes, yes, "make the world feel small". Sure, whatever. If I try to add interest into yet more things, the group never gets anything...

Ah, so, while I don't think I was wrong to suggest broadening the definition of play, the sport analogy makes me think there's another route to much the same point. But it does mean I negate your original thesis. Play is not paramount. ENGAGEMENT is paramount. Because, you see all those...

I mean, that is exactly my point - in taking that stance, you start with blinders on. The point is to stand beyond your own favorite bits for a minute, and remember that there's a whole of entertainment to be had that may not be your personal focus, because ignoring the other things is missing...

Among crafters, it is often noted that purchasing crafting supplies and actually using crafting supplies are two separate hobbies.

Monopoly. Kind of a crappy game, imho. I'm not interested in engaging in it. Does that mean it isn't a form of play at all? For anyone? Anywhere? No, it just means it is a kind of crappy game. So maybe building (say, 3e D&D) NPCs and monsters is kind of a crappy game. Alas for your...

My very first game of D&D was run this way. My eldest brother had brought the AD&D rules home from college as an X-mas gift to his younger siblings. He referred to it as running the game "blind" - we didn't even have character sheets, just broad descriptions of who we were and what we could do...

Yeah, that's a possibility. Weird tidbit that makes me think about the game's intent and pacing - a "session" is expected to be two hours of play. Thinking about the design choices, I think I've realized there's a difference between, "designed to feel like you are in a Dungeon Crawler Carl...

The GM for the game I play in has a screen with a wire bar at the top, with beads strung on it. So, the amount of Fear he has to work with, and how much the antagonists are chewing up, is always visible.

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, but I think it would...

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...