Sorry, if it's annoying I'll stop.

I don't know WHY I do what I do, I just, like, DO it, man. ;)

Long answer...I studied dead languages in college. Linguists embrace the fluidity of language. Street slang I've picked up god knows where doing god knows what peppers my speech and writing. The plasticity of language is my plaything.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:44, Sat 13 Mar 2021.

In reply to Sancho (msg # 56):

That looks great. Graph paper, huh?

I'm not sure I've got paper paper in the house, let alone graph paper lol.

My MS Paint skills will look better than I'd manage free hand. :)

Thanks for the input!



Oh, forgot to mention...glad to hear I'm not the only person who doesn't care for the idea of Discord.

I didn't make that map by the way. Another player from that game did.

Not annoyed. If I'm annoyed, I won't hide it. Resentment is worse than annoyance.

So like K-Town instead of Korea town.

Or K-Leigh instead of Kayleigh. No.

K-street for Wall Street. Or is that street for lobbyists?

I think the K-thing might work better depending on the consonant that follows.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:54, Fri 12 Mar 2021.

Tried many different mapping options today, found most terribly lacking. I ended up disliking MS Paint for active mapping more than I would've thought, after a little trial and error.

Finally found a site called Dungeon Map Doodler that was easy to use and wasn't a security nightmare.

https://dungeonmapdoodler.com/draw/

Highly recommended.

Or K, the protagonist from The Trial, one of the themes of which, incidentally, was the futility of self-knowledge.

I like retro fonts and all but maybe one that is a little less fussy?

Fussy? :p Something's fussy, not sure it's the font. :| :p

5 hrs chopping wood and tending a bonfire makes me more direct.

Feel free to correct or suggest technical/dimensional issues, in fact, please do. :)

Aesthetic suggestions will be lower priority. :|

Please also feel free to graph your own carts, pleasing your personal aesthetics however you choose. :)

That said, I'll see what I can do. The lack of quality "fantasy"-esque fonts was one of the few issues I had with Dungeon Doodler or whatever that site was called.

5 hours of chopping? You're no Oblomov.

There was a time I could play soccer 2-3 times a week. That time has passed.

Yep, fussy but, I hope, not all that fastidious.

I'm afraid aesthetic suggestions tend to be all I have. I think the current font is some flavor of Gothic? I think some of the Ultima's might have used it.

Anyhow, apologies. The map is essential and I'm too much of an Oblomov to do it.

No apologies needed. Please don't mistake my bluntness for having been offended. :)

Updated map, found a little better font. There's some real bad ones, lemme tell ya! :D

Frankly, that map is pretty good, and now I'm going to look into trying out that dungeon mapping tool. Thank you.

Quite happy with the new font.  Wife teaches art history, which can include the History of Graphic Design. So, yes, fonts.

Still impressed by your Bunyonesque chopping of wood.

Just a note, DM, for Sancho movement: if he sees Y. wants to look at something longer, he'll wait. He's not impulsive -- although it might be fun to give our characters a disadvantage.

DM, I wonder if not enough people are familiar with this system to know that it's just a D&D retro variant, so they skip over your advert?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:13, Sun 14 Mar 2021.

Mood much improved post-lunch, post-bubble bath (listened to Prince's Diamonds & Pearls, a bubblebath fave), post-couch nap with the kiddo sleeping on me. Wife's turn to do yardwork, she flipped our compost bins over. Getting yard prepped for spring post-winter is always a chore.

Massive ice storm this winter and then 2+' of snow for several weeks straight means I'm just now getting to all the downed limbs. Ice stripped the whole damn side of a 150'-ish eastern white pine of all the branches. Still a few widowmakers I'm dodging.

Hate having stuff like that out in the yard. Got up a little toasty from the night prior, grabbed some black coffee, and sweat it out. Not all 5 hrs was chopping, but enough of it was...:)

Will get an IC post in finally a little later tonight.

--

Art history, eh? Love me some art history of all sorts, yes, fonts included. ;)

--

Note re: Dungeon Doodler...I turn all the hatching off or to zero to have the above style, seems easier to manage, and then you can either add hatching after drawing the layout or omit it entirely, etc.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:57, Sat 13 Mar 2021.

Sancho, that is a fair point about people not knowing the system. I normally walk in circles where Swords and Wizardry are well known so sometimes forget how niche retro-clones are to begin with.

You two are making some serious headway into the first section of the dungeon. I hope your luck continues to hold. :)

Map updated!

Questions regarding materials in this new room:

Chain thickness? Total chain length?

Essentially, looking for if it's fine enough of linkage to potentially replace the rope section of my meteor hammer, if we can get it unmoored from ceiling.

Maybe the weight of one of us isn't enough to pull it down (based on the hanging remains), but both our weight together might do it...?

Thickness, and style of vines? Are they woody, where the outside can be peeled off to make cordage? or are they "fleshier/juicier," and might contain water?

Those are great questions. I'll answer the chain questions in my next post.

@Wiglaf re: rules-lite game play query in community chat.

I haven't played the rules set you speak of...it's a fairly pricey rules- lite option; a few mechanics and then a bunch of setting material.

I've been poking around a bit for rules- lite freebies like OSRIC and Pocket Fantasy RPG. While I haven't really jumped into Pocket Fantasy RPG fully yet, as I've been quite busy, it seems at least comparable-ish.

Just a heads up in case you were unaware of that option, and in case the free feature appeals to you as something you could easily have a group of kids download hassle free. Also I believe there are a few similar "imagination starters" included.

Just a thought! :)

Pocket Fantasy RPG is not one that I'm aware of. I'll take a look. Thank you. :)

One of my hobbies is collecting and reading short RPGs. I like seeing what different designers think a fantasy RPG is when it gets taken down to brass tacks. It really shows what their priorities are and where they find their fun.

I've definitely been very interested and intrigued in the whole OSR and rules-lite movements from a game design standpoint since being introduced to the concept by you. Big fan of seeing the game theory and aesthetic design choices being made.

Read over the Pocket Fantasy RPG and looks pretty funny (in a good way). All done with a d6. 4 pages total, includes a lot of good stuff in not much space. Not sure how that compares to Tiny RPG.


Re: map...updated, I found the "stamps" feature. Not sure how I missed that first several go arounds, but I did.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:36, Tue 16 Mar 2021.

So...looks like "GM fiat" is a pretty touchy discussion point in the general rpg community, lol!

To be clear, I'm definitely from the older school, GM's word is final camp. From a time when half the world was homebrewed and you depended on the GM's imagination to bring it all to you, and run the rules, etc., it seems natural and good. Excepting arsehole GMs, of course.

I guess that makes more sense when it's a group of friends, and everyone can keep everyone else honest because it was face-to-face and friend-to-friend.

Strangers on pbp I guess changes that trust calculation a bit, I get it.

But I can't understand people's complaints for "GM Fiat" being so bad. Obviously it's necessary sometimes, right? Either to speed up play, or for stylistic reasons?

Just curious what your more informed opinions would be on the subject. I find the fact it's a major subject (apparently) humorous to begin with! :)

Nope, I see these games as collectives. A GM dictate (or fiat, if you prefer) indicates a fundamental break-down in the relationship of the participants. This isn't to say that where ambiguity exists the GM won't have the final word. But in all cases of expediency, I have found all to, more or less, agree with GM agency, so in those cases it's not really fiat as such.

For a game with teens or kids, yes, absolutely, the adult running it would need the authority. But in every game I play in here on RPOL, that is not the case. The collective is formed by older, experienced players.

I have found really only one case of GM tyranny on RPOL, though doubtless there are others. A one Mr. Radnoff was running (still runs) a Castle Amber game I was in. At first, I noticed some instances of arbitrariness on his part. But they just got worse and more pronounced as the game progressed. If I can recall a specific example, we were in the chapel which we knew had some hidden diamonds. This was brought up in the game in the form of a thought and someone responded to that thought. This enraged the GM so he effectively vaporized the diamonds, sadly informing us that he had no choice but to do so due to our transgression.

It only got worse. He would assign me the worst possible motives for my comments and actions. I quit, saying, "Why would I stay in a game when you think I'm always lying? Why would you want me in the game if you believe that?"

See. That's what I mean about fiat=fundamental breakdown.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 14:22, Wed 17 Mar 2021.

In reply to Sancho (msg # 78):

Thanks for the thoughts! I, too, see these games as collectives. With long-term, experienced players willing (and able) to drive their own characters, GM Fiat (arbitrary decisions) should be avoided.

With newer, less-experienced players unable (or at times, hesitant) to grab their characters by the horns and really "make them theirs," sometimes what would be considered "untenable" behavior by a GM in a different game becomes necessary.

Obviously, the ideal is a great mix of experienced players where everyone contributes and builds each other up, collaborate, etc.

That's not to say that the GM shouldn't always have a very clearly stated "open door" policy, and then actually implement it. In the game I run, a player had issue with something I decided, he brought it to my attention, we had an honest open discussion about it where I told him my reasoning behind the decision, he convinced me I was at least partially wrong, I admitted it, and then we went forward with a clear and collaborated way to handle the situation in the future. And we both were happy with it.

Just spitballin' some thoughts on the matter, helps to have some experienced players to bounce ideas off of outside the general forum or, say, reddit (shudder). I think you guys kinda know where I'm coming from, so if I misstate my intention of a thought, or word it awkwardly, I'm not getting massacred over something the community in general may have figured out and put to rest a decade ago for all I know. ;) :)
This message was last edited by the player at 14:38, Wed 17 Mar 2021.

I'm definitely reexamining my style of DMing, though, for sure. Apparently, from something I read in passing, 2e was notoriously DM-fiat heavy in style and tone, with some (apparently) bad advice in the DMG. That is basically what I cut my teeth on, so maybe I picked up bad habits/outdated modalities?

Dunno. Could have been formative for you. I don't think the previous versions had that tone.

I couldn't say why but 2nd edition D&D just didn't work for me. I didn't return until 3.5 when the game became far more tactical in nature.

Got my 2nd shot on Monday. Def triggered my immune system.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:22, Wed 17 Mar 2021.

In reply to Sancho (msg # 81):

Oofa, I feel ya. Everyone in my fam that has gotten the second shot has had a tough reaction (still better than the alternatives)!

Feel better soon, sounds like the reaction only lasts half a day to a day in length, from the people I know personally.