Search results

I've been giving some thought to a signature ability for the Wudang techniques, but first, some research. The Wudang in question is the fictional Wudang school/sect located in the Wudang Mountains, based on the real Taoist temples there, which are associated with neidan or internal alchemy. In...

One of the things that came up in this thread before I joined, that I find contentious is the conflation of GM-created/authored with GM-driven. A notable example was you holding up BitD as a player-driven sandbox (and, to be clear, I agree it is), even though RAW the GM is the one deciding and...

And there's me collecting and playing Warhammer since the 90s, while also hamming it up in Red Dragon Inn.

The narrativist-leaning folk might bristle at this, but one is learning to GM. Think of it like stabilising wheels on a bike: useful when first starting to learn to ride (or just too lazy to maintain balance), but they're going to be restrictive, even detrimental for some things you might want...

This was exactly my problem with Cortex Prime. I got into RPGs properly after MHR and Firefly had been pulled so I only had the Prime handbook to go off, and none of those examples were particularly helpful or inspiring. As a newcomer, I would have been better served if the 3 examples were, say...

Personally, I think Ron Edwards is to RPGs what Freud was psychology - undoubtedly influential with some incredibly flawed notions - and GNS theory has been incredibly damaging to RPG discourse due to misrepresenting any style outside of Narrativism, and resulting in naughty word like this. Putting...

I have observations on this, but I'm not sure they'd be received well enough for a constructive discussion.

Personally, I try to approach a given game in the spirit it was intended, even if it's not quite my thing. Not everyone does, and that certainly results in a messy game, but certain Blades fans holding John Harper up as the RPG messiah and refusing to accept that their game isn't universally...

There's that reactionary pushback I was talking about. The irony is that I, the one who made that comment, not only don't think everyone should be playing Narrativist games, I don't even like them myself. Until this comment, I've deliberate tried to avoid stating my preferences precisely...

A combination of factors. 1. Its design, particularly levels and CR, breeds a certain assumption of balance (though we all know action economy trumps CR) that I feel goes against the nature of a sandbox. Not that one is beholden to balanced encounters, of course, but there are expectations to...

You're going to need more straw for stability. Who on earth is going to put poo on such a table?!

I'll cop to being such a person. I hate rule of cool because I find it leads to a game that lacks consistency in tone and adjudication, and inevitably gets increasingly more gonzo as players try to play the GM. I have a friend who prioritises rule of cool above all else, and that's exactly what...

I'd say some systems are better at facilitating a sandbox than others, but it's a tool that you still need to know how to use. Personally, I'd never run a sandbox with 5e just because of certain assumptions built into it's design (that's not to say it can't be used for a sandbox, of course), but...

I think there's a case of some subsect of certain games/styles/movements being dogmatic about their preferences, and that then breeds a reactionary pushback because it's ultimately subjective preferences. I think there's a small handful of fundamentals that are applicable across the board - but...

I think system matters, but I do agree. Not to harp on the BitD community, but a prevalent attitude I've seen is how they will insist that any problem someone had with the game was the result of a bad GM or simply not understanding the game, but when people enjoy the game, they're quick to sing...

Those came out long after I ran my first session, and even with experience those videos just don't gel for me.

I watched both to try to get a handle on how to run it, especially since I had no familiarity with player-facing systems on the GM side, but I'd agree. Both APs were dry as the Sahara. Haunted City was more entertaining thanks to the players, but Jared Logan is incapable of learning/remembering...

He did the standard "that sounds like X" as well, but he explicitly called for specific actions - not just suggested - and I'm pretty sure it was at least once every session. There was also rolling twice for the same thing, without the fiction changing much. And requiring a roll without having a...

So, this GM acknowledged that the adventurers were competent enough to build and start a campfire (one that didn't burn out, at that), but not put it out? Top tier GMing that. That's just standard operating procedure!

It does. And I'd agree a few of them to apply across the board, but there's some I chafe at. Even Harper himself fails to abide them in the actual plays he ran.