It's fairly obvious (from his writing both in and out of the game) that humans == demihumans.  George RR Martin wrote a decent essay about the subject, and how if your alien/fantasy races are used to explore human themes and issues, then they're not really alien or fantastical (and you may just want to use humans, then).

What Clinton means is there are no convenient soulless evil creatures that you can kill that will solve all of the world's problems, no BBE without some human motivation behind what he's doing.  It helps focus the problems on personal and human ones, sorta like how in Vampire, your human memories make it more than just a game about predatorial and neo-feudal conflicts.

Powergaming isn't an issue unless you make it an issue, like any other game ever.  Always best to play in the spirit of the rules/intent of the designer.

Also, where does it say not to change the rules in the book (I may have a different edition -- mine is the setting-neutral Solar System done by Eero Tuovinen)?  Clinton spent most of his time at the Forge not involved in the theory debates and distancing himself from GNS.  I know saying "the Forge this, the Forge that" is convenient, but the generalization is overused, and assuming any game designed by someone associated with it adheres to the same philosophies doesn't work.  There is a lot those guys don't agree on.

I'm not a huge fan of Near, personally, but I'm not a big fan of pulp fantasy to begin with.

Ok, first of all, it is a policy in this forum that threads have to explain what they're about.  Fail to, and you're acting against the functionality of this forum.

Second, this thread is in the wrong forum; it belongs in "Other games", as TSOY isn't an RPG; its a storygame.

Third, I suspect that the OP knows this, and that his intentional vagueness was an attempt to skirt around that.

Ghostwhistler, stop acting like a fucking dick. Don't do this again.

RPGPundit

Actually, I would classify it as an RPG. It's fairly traditional in mechanics.

That's a good short review Rincewind.  Beside my sarcastic remark about the over use of acronyms, understanding proper semicolon use is another problem among game writers, there is good advice in Rincewind's brief review for making these type of games too.  If the author reads this thread, don't take it so hard.  There's good advice for the revision in Rincewind's comments.

Quote from: Kuroth;532685That's a good short review Rincewind.  Beside my sarcastic remark about the over use of acronyms, understanding proper semicolon use is another problem among game writers, there is good advice in Rincewind's brief review for making these type of games too.  If the author reads this thread, don't take it so hard.  There's good advice for the revision in Rincewind's comments.

Thanks*, although it's more of an extended opinion .

*Or are you making fun of my own lack of proper use for semicolon and me repeating certain words too much in the text? The repetition of my humble nickname certainly bears such intent, or at least that's how I'd do it if I wanted to ridicule such a review .

Oh, I have see reviews of literary novels that have that level of slapping about the face and neck. ha  The use of semicolons is one of those problems that one confronts a lot in small press games.  Writers that don't quite understand how they should use them should rewrite without them.  Better yet, take an editor's advice as sound.  Almost every game could use a good editor.  Page counts for games would go down and quality would go up immeasurably.

Quote from: Kuroth;532706Oh, I have see reviews of literary novels that have that level of slapping about the face and neck. ha  The use of semicolons is one of those problems that one confronts a lot in small press games.  Writers that don’t quite understand how they should use them should rewrite without them.  Better yet, take an editor’s advice as sound.  Almost every game could use a good editor.  Page counts for games would go down and quality would go up immeasurably.

True, true.

What does "slapping about the face and neck" idiom means, though? Never have I encountered one before, I admit.

As for the acronym madness, I admit I had not encountered that. Perhaps it was cleared up in Polish version.

Quote from: Rincewind1;532708True, true.

What does "slapping about the face and neck" idiom means, though? Never have I encountered one before, I admit.

As for the acronym madness, I admit I had not encountered that. Perhaps it was cleared up in Polish version.

Is that an American one?  Must be.  You know, getting roughed up to make the point.  

The acronym abuse was more directed at Ghost Whistler.  He has heard enough about it I'm sure.  I like Rifts, but the acronym use in it is bad.  One of the editing failures of Dangerous Journeys was how it became almost incomprehensible by the use of acronyms for everything.  These are just a couple examples.  Even usage that seems small, like THACO, is very poor in implementation.

Idiom usage is another problem one sees all the time in games too, of course.  On the most basic level, I read a game recently that was completely infested with one independent clause after another without punctuation or using improper punctuation (see semicolons).  The errors were of the most elementary school level.  It was sad too, since the mechanics of the game were very sound.

Quote from: RPGPundit;532647Ok, first of all, it is a policy in this forum that threads have to explain what they're about.  Fail to, and you're acting against the functionality of this forum.

Second, this thread is in the wrong forum; it belongs in "Other games", as TSOY isn't an RPG; its a storygame.

Third, I suspect that the OP knows this, and that his intentional vagueness was an attempt to skirt around that.

Ghostwhistler, stop acting like a fucking dick. Don't do this again.

RPGPundit

Ridiculous. This is an rpg, irrespective of your feelings about it may be. How on earth am I meant to know what games you consider to be 'story games' and whether or not they are 'roleplaying games'? You moan about rpg.net behaving in such a divisive way and yet do exactly the same thing: you criticise them for creating a second forum solely for DnD/D20 and yet you expect people to be able to read your mind and know what you YOU alone consider to be a story game and post in the 'correct' forum, even though you can't define your terms so people even know what you mean.

There was nothing vague about the question at all: I wanted to know what people's experience of the ability pool mechanics were. How on earth is that not clear? How is that less clear than "D&D Next" or "So, Shadowrun?", or any number of threads seen in the rpg forum? You want people to agree to your definition of roleplaying games? Then define your terms - starting with an explanation of why this game (which I have never played, hence the question) isn't an rpg, as opposed to this nebulous and terrible thing called a 'story game'.
 
I'm not responsible for the content of trolls who don't understand the acronym (and therefore can't even answer the question anyway) or trolls who just want to chime and go 'it's a turd'. This crusade against a category of roleplaying game, which this most assuredly is, is absurd self defeating and unhelpful. I don't understand how on earth you can consider this a story game at all; there is nothing 'story game' about it other than you not liking the people tha twrote it.

I wasn't asking for reviews of the game.

And finally, I actually did edit the thread title so don't fucking blame me if your forum won't let an edit through.

You've had plenty of time to read it by now.  What do you think of it Ghost Whistler?

It seems you haven't.  Here is a link to help you.

This wiki is the authoritative source for the game The Shadow of Yesterday.

Quote from: RPGPundit;532647Ok, first of all, it is a policy in this forum that threads have to explain what they're about.  Fail to, and you're acting against the functionality of this forum.

It was quite functional. The game was mentioned in the title. The question was concise. That some people do not know what TSoY refers to, well, that's probably their problem.

QuoteSecond, this thread is in the wrong forum; it belongs in "Other games", as TSOY isn't an RPG; its a storygame.

Says who?

There is a GM, there are dice, there is a combat system, characters get better over time, it's a fantasy setting.

Quote from: Kuroth;532798You’ve had plenty of time to read it by now.  What do you think of it Ghost Whistler?

You've not read the original post have you.

QuoteIt seems you haven't. Here is a link to help you.

This wiki is the authoritative source for the game The Shadow of Yesterday.

Wonderful. How does that answer the question?

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;532281Is this a fun system? Does it work? Is it interesting? Or is it a bit pointless?

These questions have been answered.  Rincewind, Peregin, 1of3 and I have given you a fair amount of input.  I want to hear what you think.