@AndreasDavour@dice.camp avatar

AndreasDavour

@AndreasDavour@dice.camp

I usually consider myself a #ttrpg gamer, who also likes his #boardgames.

I'm also an IT professional with a love for old computers, hacker culture and #retrocomputing.

I enjoy #wuxia in film and literature, and also books in general.

I practice #xingyi and #WingChun .

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. For a complete list of posts, browse on the original instance.

SJohnRoss , (edited ) to random
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I've been trekking through the books, and sure enough, same basic pattern as Space Master, where the adventures are at least 20-25% likely to be high-trust designs.

I've even revisited the one MERP book I had a copy of in the 80s: Perils on the Sea of Rhûn ... and the writing is a bit stiff, the organization a bit off. BUT: yep, still some HTT adventure to be had! I bounced off the writing as a kid. Almost did again.

I'm so sorry I didn't know you back-when, ICE. 😥

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss any you'd recommend to look at, in general?

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss @capybarbarian when you develop some favourites, I'd love to hear about them!

SymbolicCity , to random
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Anecdotally, it looks to me like the #TTRPG corner of the fediverse boosts and favs less often than your average, engaged account. Replies less, too, maybe. I'm not just talking about my posts. Most of the boosts I see via this account are about other topics—politics, as often as not. Maybe we got too accustomed to letting an algorithm do the work for us, but that's not how conversation spreads in the fediverse. I don't see how TTRPG fedi can grow if we don't cheer one another on more.

AndreasDavour ,
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@Glupinickname @SJohnRoss @SymbolicCity good to know I'm not the only one missing some interactions then. Sometimes you get the "shouting into the void" feeling.

AndreasDavour ,
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@Glupinickname @SJohnRoss @SymbolicCity I think I might still harbor the idealistic view there are less assholes around here. If for nothing less than that there are fewer people in total.

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss A win is a win, either way, indeed! @Glupinickname @SymbolicCity

AndreasDavour ,
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@SymbolicCity I have, luckily, not seen much of them, so I get to keep my idealistic view. ;)
But, yeah let's not delude ourselves. @Glupinickname @SJohnRoss

craigofinspiration , to random
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hey spell casters, dungeon delvers, and adventurers

what's your favorite d&d class, any edition? #dnd #ttrpg

AndreasDavour ,
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@craigofinspiration I find I am attracted to the ranger, but for no game mechanical reason.

AndreasDavour ,
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@Tim_Eagon @craigofinspiration maybe there's a reason I also find druids to be kind of cool. I have never played one, though.

chgowiz , to random
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The original 1997 Fallout is quaint, but not easy!

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss @chgowiz I have been trying to stay away from spoilers for Zork since I first tested in in the 1980-ies. Sometimes I take a stab at it again, but never get far.

It's generally how I attempt those kind of games, I drop it for a while when I get to a puzzle I can not crack. A year or five later I try it again, having forgotten how I got as far as I did the last time.

Maybe I should just read some hints?

AndreasDavour ,
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@chgowiz @SJohnRoss my only experience of MMO games are MUDs and apart from a quick re-visit a couple of years ago, it all happened in the early nineties. I barely remember I did it.

chgowiz , to random
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Planted so far:

  • corn (3 Sisters)
  • tomatoes
  • Swiss chard
  • potatoes
  • snap peas
  • cabbage

Coming:

  • wax beans
  • green beans (3 Sisters)
  • squash (3 sisters)
  • pumpkins

#Gardening #VegetableGarden #CommunityGarden

AndreasDavour ,
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@chgowiz my wife plants a plenty at her lot, but it seems like getting something to grow is another matter entirely. I am impressed when someone makes something grown and produce. I guess I am really far removed from my farming forefathers!

AndreasDavour ,
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@chgowiz really! That's impressive. Considering how people back in the days did this for a living, keyboard cowboys like me probably seriously underestimate what it takes to farm enough to live by...

BrianBinh , to random
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I'm not much of a wine guy (more of a whiskey and gin guy), so correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that Merlot is the winiest of wines.

AndreasDavour ,
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@BrianBinh it is one component of a classic Bordeaux blend, so it probably remind many people of some of the classic feel of a red wine.

AndreasDavour ,
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@BrianBinh I personally approve thinking along those lines, even though I have a personal preference for the wines from Jura, which tend to be of the white variety. But, I totally dig your line of thinking!

LeviKornelsen , to random
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I swear, every time I boot into Windows, it does an update that reactivates some bullshit that gives me grief in Linux.

This time: It auto-re-enabled "Fastboot", locking my backup drive to Linux until I went back in, hunted it down, changed it back.

Such utter nonsense.

AndreasDavour ,
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@LeviKornelsen there's a lesson there.

miriamrobern , to random
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Killing time before my meeting starts by adding a bunch of trans books to BookWyrm.

Do y'all know BookWyrm? It's an ActivityPub-powered book review site. An alternative to Goodreads and other "corporations want to know what books you're reading to better profile your shopping habits."

https://books.theunseen.city/user/miriamrobern

AndreasDavour ,
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@miriamrobern I found BookWyrm to be kind of stressful. Everyone seemed to be reading so much...

Tim_Eagon , to random
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Mork Borg gets a lot of shit for it's hard to read layout and graphic design, but have you ever tried to read an issue of World of Cthulhu?

AndreasDavour ,
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@Tim_Eagon I haven't looked at those in years. Now I'm afraid to take them down off the shelf.

chgowiz , to random
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After 5 days of fevers, about 5 days of no energy and then 5 days of trying to cough up my lungs, I'm about at 80 to 90% of my normal self. Two weeks lost to this bug.

Nasty stuff. I've not been this sick probably since the mid/late 70s. Don't know if its age or just the bug, or both... but ye gods, that sucked.

I feel disconnected from social media and the like, so it might take me a bit to get back into "normal" mode...

AndreasDavour ,
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@chgowiz Good to hear you are feeling better again. That does sounds like a wringer!

AndreasDavour , to random
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The 3rd ed of actually say in the book it will be the final edition of the game. Interesting, considering there have been two more editions published, and something like a new one again being mentioned earlier this year. I wonder why they wrote that?

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I don't think I have seen that many promises like that. Promises of releases to come, on the other hand.

But, it would actually be fun to see such a list, just to get an idea of what people were expecting, and how it turned out.

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss ah! Now I see what you mean. Yeah, that would be a sizable book indeed!

AndreasDavour , to random
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As I gear up to run , what do I do to concentrate my efforts? I did find a used copy of 3rd ed Ars Magica on my local eBay, and bought that one! It's a game I have never managed to figure out.

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss "Dead Serious Arty-Pretentious Gaming" sounds like one player mode I think @robindlaws should have included in his list of player types.😜

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I have a very conflicted relationship with . I never have managed to play it without the covenant becoming a giant resource management millstone around our necks.

Also, I don't think I enjoy the medievalist sim part of it either.

I do love the magic system, but have not played it in such a way it ever got used more than for player enjoyment, vs. character usage.

slyflourish , to random
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#dnd tip from the archive: Instead of asking "what do you do" when the characters enter a town, give them some options. Rest? Barhop? Investigate rumors?

AndreasDavour ,
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@slyflourish that is actually not a bad suggestion in many situations. It helps to remind the players that can do more things than "the usual".

AndreasDavour , to random
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I have been reading a few #KingdomsOfKalamar scenarios, and I have been thinking about what makes a #ttrpg fantasy scenario feel fantastic?

Is it fantastic creatures? Is it fantastic items and artifacts of magical power? Is it old mysterious plots and conspiracies?

I'm not sure I know what I think there. Maybe all of it?

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss That's a good point. How much fantastic does matter as well. I know I've seen fantasy scenarios that are basically whodunnits with a monster in it. They rarely feel fantastic to me. OTOH I know how I sometimes have struggled with Shadow World to come alive, as it's so much of everything.

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@Tim_Eagon That was something I did not include in my list, but probably should have. The environment does a lot of work to set the mood. Yeah, you're unto something key there.

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss True, indeed. That's a good reference point.

Tim_Eagon , to random
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I’ve been reading way too many recently published scenarios that feature a perfunctory investigation before the Investigators board a train to creepy town that is a one way exercise in hit point and SAN attrition. Sure, some of the imagery is very creepy, but something is definitely missing, that being real problem solving and meaningful choices.

AndreasDavour ,
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@Tim_Eagon maybe CoC and D&D are the big products that demand a steady churn of products, which almost by necessity means it's easy comfort food quality.

AndreasDavour ,
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@Tim_Eagon that reminds me there used to be "suggest me some of the best scenarios" threads on YSDC. Probably useful to sort through the chaff.

AndreasDavour , to random
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I have been thinking a bit about the ICv2 report.

I never hear anyone talk about Starfinder. I am not sure I have even seen the game. Huh.

The next weird thing is Pirate Borg. If we disregard my aversion to the whole Borg aesthetic, I find it mind boggling that the pirate theme is that strong. Baffling.

#ttrpg #ICv2

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@Tim_Eagon I must have missed those months completely!

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@Tim_Eagon Hmm. Maybe you're correct about that.

FortiterGames , to random
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Rate my birthday breakfast 😉 #RateMyBreakfast

AndreasDavour ,
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@FortiterGames Happy New Year! I would have liked some beans and toast, but I get to have that on my plate. Have a great day!

SJohnRoss , (edited ) to random
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Of the twenty-something fantasy city-books highlighted in the biblio, Eidolon (and Sel-Kai) might take the "pleasantly surprised" award, because I've never been a Shadow World fan (still not) ... But my preconceptions were unfair to this book, which is Really Very Good. While it has some of Amthor's usual tics, they often end up serving, rather than undermining, the design. Dragon magazine called it the jewel of the Shadow World crown, and I agree.

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss I don't know if you have written about it before, but what where those "regular tics" and how come they worked this time?

I have a soft spot for Shadow World, as it ought to be quite cool. Yet, it never seem to deliver.

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss I see. Thanks!

One habit of his I never liked was the excessive amount of history writing, but he loved his Tolkien and never bothered to hide it.

AndreasDavour ,
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@SJohnRoss we do indeed.

AndreasDavour , to random
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This week needs a soundtrack. I have no idea what style or feel, but I feel a lack of sound to back up my mood.

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss thanks, I'll save that one for later.

AndreasDavour , to random
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That is all the prep work done. Tomorrow we make characters for 2300AD. As so often before, the biggest issue is how to make the characters join up where the adventure is?

A sneaky corporation has set up a "research station" that's not really a research facility at all, but an industrial installation.

1/

AndreasDavour OP ,
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I'm thinking a competing corporation have gotten some idea of this, and a government organization feel like tagging along on the research supposedly done. The former place some of their personnel along with some people from the latter that sends a mission of "research cooperation".

I'm not sure that works? It would be cool with some personal drives and hidden agendas as well, of course.

2/

AndreasDavour OP ,
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This seems to be why science fiction games never really work for me. Everyone meeting at an inn, or just going down into a scary hole in the ground with strangers are so accepted. It makes just as little sense, but people go along with it.

In science fiction you almost expect people to behave sensible for to feel real. We have been spoiled by fantasy games.

3/end

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I think it's made fun of a lot, but questioned enough to provide a framework for gathering the party together is more rare, though.

But it's at the core of the hobby because of D&D. For those who have seen it, it can not be unseen. Like for you.

AndreasDavour OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I see what you mean. I find those kind of games can be a lot of fun, because it's made so explicit.

nickwedig , to random
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Someone submitted a request for the court records from the 1979 lawsuit between Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax/TSR over royalties on the original publication of D&D. And they got back 854 pages of documents

https://www.enworld.org/threads/evidence-from-the-arneson-vs-gygax-court-case-including-early-draft-of-d-d-with-notes.702820/

I find these primary source documents fascinating. This includes an extremely early draft of the D&D rules (early enough that your attributes are Strength, Intelligence, Cunning, Health, Appearance and Gold) and some handwritten revision notes, among many other things.

AndreasDavour ,
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@nickwedig interesting! Thanks for sharing.

AndreasDavour , to random
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Hours spent on inserting debug print lines all over the code. Nothing works and the data is correct up until the line where it bombs.

Finally I restructure things in a major way and find that it wasn't the line that bombed that was the issue. Of course.

AndreasDavour , to random
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I was thumbing through the #Tonisborg maps again to prep for the next session. Damn is that dungeon Jaquaysed or what! There are so many level of interconnectedness between the levels!

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