Quote from: Crazy_Blue_Haired_Chick on Today at 01:00:16 PM

Wait, can I be banned from RPGnet for being part of this forum? I use separate emails for both sites and have a different pfp and username, but the moderation over there is so strict that I hope they don't find me out.

They haven't banned people for being members of this forum, but they have banned people for things they do outside of TBP.  So if you become vocal in support of the police of ICE they may ban you.  It's probably just a matter of time before they escalate their policy to ban members of the Site.  I can totally see that happening if Trump wins the election. The mods will feel compelled to "do something" to protect the safety of their members.  Doing so would serve the interests of their Woke cult to reinforce their echo chamber.

There were TONS of animal powered carts and carriages all through the 19th century...so it was extremely prevalent still.  I think you could use an unseen servant to pull or push it though, rather than a faithful war dog.

Yeah the word controversial in this case is EXTREMELY subjective.

Quote from: NotFromAroundHere on Today at 02:42:44 AM

Quote from: jhkim on Today at 02:02:34 AMHowever, there are lots of older RPGs that also prioritize story, like the Storyteller System (Vampire: The Masquerade) with its scene mechanics and Demeanor/Nature and such...

Tell me that you've never played the game without actually telling me that you've never played the game.
Nature/Demeanor is practically the WoD version of alignment, nothing more and nothing less, while "scene" is actually a fancy way of saying "we can't assign a numerical value to the duration of this activity, use your judgement to tell when it's finished". Nowhere in the rules you'll find things like "when the scene ends fade to black and start a new one with a different setup in another location", which is what you'll find in actual scripted media.
The WoD games are not storygames, they're actually fairly traditional social sandbox toolkits (which is the reason why Ron Edwards so deeply despised them: they're not storygames).
The published campaigns for WoD are another matter entirely, they're generally massively railroaded shitshows meant to advance the metaplot (an example: Under a blood red moon, the crossover Masquerade/Apocalypse campaign that narrates the siege of Chicago by the Garou. No matter what you do and no matter if you're playing as a vamp or a wolfie, in the end Lodin dies).

I would agree that despite the mechanical framework being named the Storytelling System and the DM being called a Storyteller, WoD games and even the published adventures aren't actually storygames.

Yeah, Nature does mechanically affect willpower regain in some instances, I guess, but that's more like declaring a key intrinsic motivation mechanically and then reaping the results of playing to that (or not) over the course of the adventure I'd say. Likewise, scene lengths are entirely up to DM discretion, sure, as are plot based effects of powerful beings and the like, which does add a fair bit of DM fiat into things, even from a mechanical perspective, yes. Don't even get me started on DM interpretation on powers and stuff like the Mage spellcasting systems. But ultimately... the authority rests in one person's hands, even if that authority does include narrative fiat overlap with mechanics to some degree.

For a long while, I was confused on storygaming as a matter of definition and thought that kind of thing might qualify. I used to think storygaming was a style of gaming that emphasized storytelling and prioritized that over all else, either by turning the game into a democratized storytelling experience or by setting fire to player agency so the DM could tell their own story and all else such as player agency or mechanics be damned. This in turn made me think that the Giovanni Chronicles, for instance, were effectively a "storygaming adventure", in part because of all the railroading and forced monologue grandstanding that didn't really care about mechanics or the like, just about telling the pre-written story, or the story the DM presumably wanted to tell.

But that's not actually correct. I now know that the actual generally accepted definition of storygaming, since story as an emphasis to some degree or another is a part of most ttrpgs by default, tends to be on narrative and scene/circumstantial control that would normally be adjudicated by the DM, going into the hands of the players. Which potentially breaks immersion into your character, emulation/simulation of a living world, and blah... Basically a different setup that is distinct from a standard RPG for different reasons.

Quote from: Crazy_Blue_Haired_Chick on Today at 01:00:16 PMWait, can I be banned from RPGnet for being part of this forum?

I'm technically still a member at TBP and nobody's emailed or PM'd me from that site to complain about my posting here. However, I have voluntarily posted nothing there in over five years, so I expect people have simply forgotten about me now or not noticed. As long as you don't draw attention to the fact (e.g. by posting there and deliberately linking to posts made here), I'd say you're safe.

I don't have much respect for the stated motives or honesty of the moderation there these days, but they are busy enough that simply not engaging on controversial topics should avoid most negative blowback. However, as you've seen, some of the members can take offense to remarkably bland comments, so engage at your own risk.

Quote from: Crazy_Blue_Haired_Chick on Today at 12:54:00 PM

Quote from: oggsmash on Today at 09:14:16 AMI am trying to figure out just how far to the right David was if the Site is till left of where he was 20 years ago. 

Wilhelm von Bismark level conservative?

What?  That poser?

So, the most recent episode of Delicious in Dungeon got me thinking about OD&D's Underworld. Most D&D games don't really have this concept anymore, that the ruins adventurers plumb are just 'dead' places. At least originally, the Underworld was itself a malevolent entity. Doors slammed shut or opened at the worst times (hence why you needed Iron Spikes), lanterns and torches would be blown out, etc. That seems to be missing from subsequent editions and I think its kinda sad. There was a reason for things like Black Puddings, Ochre Jellies, Otyughs, Carrion-Crawlers and the like. They served as the 'clean up crew' that occasionally came around and disposed of the waste that would accumulate (all the way down to almost anything organic being fodder for them).

What if you brought back The Underworld concept, but took it a step further? When player characters toss a fireball or lightning bolts inside a confined space, things are gonna get destroyed, including the masonry. What if The Underworld repairs itself? This isn't that radical of an idea, after all. We are talking about a magical world where the evolutionary process is going to be changed anyway. Its why Drow ended up with inky black skin: a magical adaptation to their surroundings (especially in places like The Vault of Erelhei-Cinlu).

A ruined temple (for example), after so long, merges with The Underworld to become part of it and The Underworld always retains its form. So once you go in and start wrecking the place, eventually it will return to its 'pristine' condition. Dust will resettle, walls/stonework will 'heal' and return to their natural forms, etc. Of course, not every dungeon crawling location would be like this, as some are still actively inhabited (The Moathouse, The Caves of Chaos, etc). Others might become part of The Underworld because of how they're used (The Chapel of Evil Chaos, The Temple of Elemental Evil, etc) so that they meet all the criterion to 'merge'.

This makes them 'living' locations in another sense. They naturally become a beacon/welcoming to monsters and humanoids like Orks, Goblins, Gnolls, etc. And its because of this that the 'unreality' of groups of monsters cohabitating can exist. Yes, they will murder each other when they can, but for the most part, the smarter ones avoid areas where they can be the local Owlbear's lunch and the 'clean up crew' can go about their time steadily making sure the dungeon is just right. 

Quote from: Brad on Today at 08:43:38 AMSo they're basically just dicks who have no real interest in playing games?

Yes, just like others of their ilk do the same crap in every fandom they invade. They're worse than locusts, because at least a locust can die and give back to the soil. They're like hematophagous parasites that destroy the host target before being passed to the next unlucky SOB near them.

Quote from: oggsmash on Today at 08:49:28 AMThis sounds like a terrible premise to me especially with a game system like D&D.  It can work with SW and if you are going for horror (meaning we expect some party members to die and be outmatched for most of the adventure) I can think of a few movies to inspire the effort.  Bubba-hotep and Late Phases are two movies where they have crippled and outmatched protagonists deal with a horrific threat that I would use for inspiration for such a thing.

I haven't seen Late Phases, and it's been a while since I've seen Bubba-hotep. I don't want this to be parody or a pity-party for the PCs. It should be a rousing, action-packed adventure of fighting with horrors. PCs may well die, but they're not helpless victims being picked off.

I'm thinking the PCs would be the equivalent of 7th to 9th level in the war, and still in the prime of their lives, since the Last War ended just four years ago. So they are afflicted with these disabilities from the war, but even so they could easily mop the floor with a party of 1st level PCs.

I don't have a close model, but the theme I am thinking of is misfits who are nonetheless powerful heroes, abandoned by the system. They have to take on this horror themselves, and save others targeted by the horror. Two inspirations that come to mind are the short-lived TV series "Alphas" along with "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". Those both have an ensemble cast of misfits who have powers (of a sort) but also disabilities.

Also, it's not a close fit, but I've recently been re-reading the Miles Vorkosigan sci-fi books, which I love. Vorkosigan was disabled from birth with a fragile and weakly-growing skeleton, so he has dwarfism, uneven leg length, and easily-broken bones.

Quote from: oggsmash on Today at 08:49:28 AMI think their prosthetics are less important than the tone, the idea being they will all have to be very clever and all or most of them will die trying to solve the issue. For the legless vet a small wagon/cart pulled by a loyal and strong war dog would be my approach. 

Yeah. It should be a tough and potentially lethal adventure, and they should need to cooperate well to get through it all alive.

However, a pulled cart feels medieval to me in tone, which would fit for a more medieval setting, but Eberron has a 19th century feel with trains and wandslingers and war engines and so forth.

Wait, can I be banned from RPGnet for being part of this forum? I use separate emails for both sites and have a different pfp and username, but the moderation over there is so strict that I hope they don't find me out.