jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 5, 2013 17:05:10 GMT -8
I'm one of those douchey DMs who doesn't deserve players, because I don't apply bennies consistently. You know, when you just plain ol' quote me like that, I sound really unreasonable and excessively strident. Dang.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 5, 2013 17:02:43 GMT -8
I originally read "cocked up in a basement lab," but having read it correctly, my reply is now moot. Moot, perhaps, but still intriguing.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 5, 2013 14:09:14 GMT -8
I can recite damn near every line in Spinal Tap. I have a friend who can recite Star Trek II from any point in the movie. Then we made another friend who could do the same. (Well, "made" as in "met," not "cooked up in the basement lab." Just to be clear.) I have since realized they have a FATE-style aspect that can be compelled. Just throw out any line, and they can't help but continue from there. Together, they'll go until the end of the film.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 5, 2013 14:05:04 GMT -8
It takes my attention away from GMing, because I have to hand out cookies, and make sure I'm being fair and consistent. No, you don't. You can, or you could just hand out the starting quota (be that three, or more or less to flavor your game as you see fit) and be done with it. No distraction. No fair. No consistency. Just done. If you want more on a consistent basis, pass out a benny to all the players when a joker's dealt. At cons, I go with a benny to all the players and me as the GM when a joker pops up. Again, fair, consistent, no real effort. Like pretty much every other aspect of gaming, it comes down to common expectations between GMs and players. Also, as Stork has pointed out, a bennies system robs the dice of their power to sway the story in unexpected ways. You're playing L5R and are a known fan of GURPS (not that there's anything wrong with that). Both of those systems include advantages that allow for a limited number of rerolls per session. Do you disallow those advantages? If not, where's the big difference? No, honestly. I don't see the big shift. Then again, I'm comfortable with the AC abstraction, and may thereby lose all credibility ever. Poof.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 5, 2013 13:58:57 GMT -8
Yes, seriously. Are you claiming there are not "hoops"? Well, yes and no. There are no hoops ensconced in the system itself, but a GM can certainly put some up. More on that below. I can if I'm the GM, but not if I'm a player. Totally fair. Again, more on that below. You act like everyone always knows what the expectations are, and that the expectations are easy to meet on command. Honestly, it doesn't sound like you've got a problem with bennies. It sounds like you've got a problem with douchy GMs who operate with unclear or random expectations. And, I believe, rightly so. Those guys don't really deserve players, and they're likely to be that way in systems with or without bennies. But we all have different experiences. Sorry yours have sucked. (As flip as that may sound, I'm truly sincere.)
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 4, 2013 21:55:36 GMT -8
I lost nearly an entire evening's play once to a modern home description that included "The spotless appearance is only offset by the lingering smell of stale vomit."
There had been a teen house party that got cleaned up, but they couldn't really shampoo the rugs enough to get the smell out. The players eventually tore out all the interior walls and began tunneling out of the basement to find the poor people who were "obviously" imprisoned in the house, drugged, against their will.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 4, 2013 21:48:59 GMT -8
I think bennies suck too. The points in favor of them on the podcast were mostly about how they can be used, completely handwaving the question of the hoops you have to jump through to get them. Seriously? The "hoops"? You can just hand out the three at the beginning of the session and stop right there if you like. As long as everyone knows what the expectation is, you're good.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jul 2, 2013 17:37:08 GMT -8
Now you could just have one sibling play a Crab Clan Samurai and the other play a Crane...That ought to smooth everything out. I've actually always wanted to play an L5R game where all the PCs are from different minor/vassal families of the Scorpion that aren't necessarily getting along. I think the endless in-fighting that had an assumed line (because it would be a failure of Duty to cost the Scorpion Clan a useful samurai) that would all instantly be set aside (largely-ish) when an outsider became a threat or target would be a blast. But that might just be me...
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jun 8, 2013 20:45:30 GMT -8
In a human-only game, assigning ability score bonuses\penalties based purely on race would be racist. I'm just sort of wondering why it's not considered racist when we add in the typical fantasy "races". Eh. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive about this topic. I think the difference between the use of the word "race" (as has been discussed) for "originally regional genetic variation tendencies" in the real world and "no messing around different sorts of creatures" in fantasy games is best highlighted if you stick with gnomes versus lizard men (especially oviparous lizard folk) for your fantasy example. The humans versus elves comparisons just aren't really stark enough. And that difference is where the difference in perception tends to come from, I would venture to guess (as has also been suggested around here already). [Huh. I seem to be rehashing a lot. I probably ought to shut up by now. And so I shall.]
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jun 5, 2013 23:55:35 GMT -8
Or will it be enough to distinguish each race with minor inherent abilities (such as darkvision and stealth bonuses due to size), culturally based skills and talents (such as stonecraft and longbow proficiency), and different languages? Culturally-based skills are an option I tend to dislike. For the most part, unless there is an actual instinctual talent, skills and experiences are the least "racially"-linked things about a PC. After all, a dwarf raised by elves (or "tree-coyotes," as I believe most dwarves think of them) would still be short, still have a pace modifier, but might never see stonework in his lifetime before adventuring. Would an elf/tree-coyote born with one arm actually have a longbow proficiency? But I suppose it's all a matter of the conventions of the world in which you're telling a story. Maybe the "racial" instinct is so strong that a completely limbless tree-coyote (or "elf" if you must) can still fire a longbow with his teeth and some incredibly arched eyebrows!
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on Jun 5, 2013 23:41:04 GMT -8
I have to admit, I've not been impressed with on-line registration at Origins this year. Their latest choice has been to eliminate all access to schedules since preregistration is closed.
So, while I suspect I'm pretty open Saturday, I might be wrong. But for the chance to meet a Master Douchebag live, I can probably skip a game. ;-)
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on May 27, 2013 19:14:01 GMT -8
Is any of the Jackersphere planning on coming to Columbus for Origins 2013?
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on May 27, 2013 19:10:33 GMT -8
As far as limiting a potential Two Sides, One Epic entry to a page size, that's not going to work out. Establish a character or word limit instead. Check out you preferred text size in the layout you like to fit on your Kindle (or other "random" page size), and use that as your guide.
You have to guard yourself against goobers who can't self-edit but can set the text to 5.5-point.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on May 27, 2013 19:06:42 GMT -8
On the About page (http://www.happyjacks.org/about/), the second paragraph in Stu's write-up includes "He published a very controversial artile," which I presume should be "article."
If anyone happens to be editing that page anyway, you might want to fix it.
|
|
jpk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 58
|
Post by jpk on May 11, 2013 22:06:29 GMT -8
If he's first trying it out and wants to keep things really cheap, the free adventure The Wild Hunt contains a full set of the Test Drive Rules. All that's free to download from the Pinnacle web site (www.peginc.com).
With only a little descriptive editing, that adventure is also reasonably easily shifted into other settings.
|
|