Posts by epidiah@dice.camp
(DIR) Post #AZh6cndiNYFK825oeG by epidiah@dice.camp
2023-09-11T18:05:09Z
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"Hi there! In order to use our physical, in-person service, you have to download this app."I hate the world we've built.
(DIR) Post #AZh6d6EBGi6vmLIBzE by epidiah@dice.camp
2023-09-12T14:15:34Z
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Oh good, I need to create a password for this app, too.The hits keep coming.
(DIR) Post #AaCq58mLOMWa5tqFAe by epidiah@dice.camp
2023-09-27T22:18:23Z
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@stux This is a delight!
(DIR) Post #Abq0j0Ggy8ubZxSKX2 by epidiah@dice.camp
2023-11-15T15:19:48Z
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You timeline will continue after this ad from our sponsors:*Swords Without Masteris inWorlds Without Master, issue 3https://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/bazaar/worlds-without-master-issue-3* Me. I'm the sponsors. I'm the one who pays the guy** who writes this stuff, and without universal basic income, I need him to tell you how to buy my stuff so I can pay him.** Me. I'm the guy who writes this stuff.
(DIR) Post #Abq0j2B5rvcdVAqt5E by epidiah@dice.camp
2023-11-15T16:00:37Z
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Hey, while you're there, why not check out other issues of Worlds Without Master? Or maybe get Wolfspell or two?https://www.worldswithoutmaster.com/bazaar/wolfspell-on-a-trifold-album-jacketActually, if you're looking to gift a Wolfspell this holiday season, maybe grab that now, cause it's a weird shape to ship and to keep those costs down, it ships a bit slow.
(DIR) Post #AhDF5WGbeHfEcCL5yC by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-04-24T11:31:48Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
I dig this feature. Please bring back the modem screams.https://axbom.com/the-creepy-sound-of-online-trackers/
(DIR) Post #Ai2IP7RdOvuhl5jeVM by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-05-06T00:31:45Z
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Wishing I could just watch Godzilla Minus One again.
(DIR) Post #AjMClEjOTocIXwm55s by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:17:16Z
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Last night, we played the fourth and final episode of a playtest of a sci-fi #ttrpg I've been working on. It was a lot of fun and incredibly fruitful.And I kind of want to talk about it, because it's exactly the kind of playtest I find most productive and in my experience, this isn't the sort of thing folks mean when they say playtest.So, what's happening? Why does it work for me? And how does it differ from other playtests I've experienced?
(DIR) Post #AjMClGEGuUuVC0EFrU by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:23:12Z
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The group I was playing with is a regular group of mine. We're a bunch of friends who get together weekly to play an ever-growing roster of role-playing games. Usually a handful of sessions in each game, and then we swap the GM and game. We used to do this in person, back in the late 00s. Then a bunch of us moved away, but one of the silver linings to the pandemic was the impetus to fire the engine back up over video conferencing. ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ ✨ out of 5 stars. Highly recommend.
(DIR) Post #AjMClHW27wiDBNXxBY by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:27:58Z
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We play all sorts of #ttrpgs across the whole spectrum. Different fiction genres, different game genres, small games, big games, experimental games, games that only existed for the few weeks we were playing them.We, of course, have our habits and traditions, and these help us to smooth over an rough spots, points of friction between the game we're playing and how we're playing it.
(DIR) Post #AjMClIevsLQOjGiZhA by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:33:48Z
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Maybe a bit of a tangent here, but:I dig giving a game a fair shot and playing it as near to its intended way as I can decipher from the rules. What's more, I really want folks to do the same for my games. But also, I've been at this for a while, and I know this is not how ttrpg are played. In general.But...
(DIR) Post #AjMClJNbCH9axncFJg by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:38:43Z
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...groups develop muscle memory that can buck the rules and mold play in ways the designer did not intend. The Internet is littered with GMing advise that's touted as universal but is in truth narrowly focused on the tiniest sliver of the design space out there.The game people play is always going to be something negotiated between the rules and the players, and the terms of service you signed when you became a game designer grants the right to choose the arbiter to the players.
(DIR) Post #AjMClK7KSFjXFd0lay by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:50:12Z
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This isn't necessarily a bad thing. But maybe it's something to design for?Anyway, game design and game play different in a thousand other ways much like this. So when you're designing a game, it's incredibly helpful to play it with folks. To witness it in action.But that's not so easy a task, is it?I mean, just getting a group together to play a game that is, almost certainly, not whole is an uphill battle.
(DIR) Post #AjMClKxnJBhVsLYfNA by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T13:56:26Z
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And here's the thing, even if you get that group together, are they going to play your game?I mean, if you're running the game, who's going to be arbiter between the group and the rules? I bet it's you. I know when I'm running one of my games for folks, it's definitely me. But that's not what's in the game designer's terms of service, is it?Even if you're not running the game, what's the explicit or implicit social contract? Are they there to play or to test?
(DIR) Post #AjMClM1NNM9z9kF2au by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T14:07:46Z
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When you sit down to play a game with friends, even a new one with rules that you're deeply curious about, you're still hanging out with friends. You can give that game the fairest shake the world will ever witness, and still there's other priorities at play. You still want to have a good time with your friends.That's incredibly important. And it's something that playtests fail at regularly.
(DIR) Post #AjMClRTD7IOc3WIqAq by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T14:14:26Z
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I suspect the unspoken, unconscious logic of a playtest is something like, "We're here to see if this game is fun*, and we'll spoil the experiment if we don't rely solely on the game to provide this fun."But that's not how games work in the wild. Games are not inherently fun. They're rules. Our playing with those rules is what makes fun.* `fun` being a variable referencing whatever quality.
(DIR) Post #AjMClU4rQHhW8rvw8W by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T14:24:37Z
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Over the past quarter century, I've noticed that my most fruitful playtests—the ones that ended up changing the course of a game, sometimes even resurrecting it, and often tossing it onto the compost heap where it became nutrients for more interesting games—have all had "Hey, you want to play a new game" vibes and not "Hey, you want to help me playtest a new game" vibes.
(DIR) Post #AjMClWVsMoUzhEaXWS by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T14:29:19Z
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So, really it helps to have a group that says, "Hey, you want to play a new game" every month to month and a half. You can slip a game idea in there and really dig into it.And I'm absolutely thrilled with the results of this most recent go. I got to see the parts of the game that worked, the parts that got snagged on things, the parts that were ignored (and probably with good reason), and see all the emergent parts I had yet to realize it needed.
(DIR) Post #AjMClYVwvVkJu2dcum by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-06-27T14:40:25Z
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Before playing the game, I had an idea. An idea that I was excited about. One that I kept orbiting as I built the structure of a game around it.Now that I've played, I know I'll have to shed some of that structure, but I've gained direction and momentum. We're headed to the stars!Or to drift endlessly in the void.I'm going to have to tinker a bit and play again soon to find out.
(DIR) Post #AkPgx0czMpMOoGx0XQ by epidiah@dice.camp
2024-07-28T17:20:46Z
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Hey #ttrpg folks,When I say "fictional positioning," do you know what I mean?No wrong answers and if the option you want isn't below, feel free to reply with it.