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Taskerland

@Taskerland@dice.camp

UK-based writer, critic, and photographer. Primarily interested in #horror, #ttrpg, #OSR, #NSR

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

Taskerland , to random
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Architecture is one of the most objectively hilarious professions.

Someone will give a speech and it'll be written up as 'Sir Such-and-Such talks about architecture as a vector for delivering social justice'.

Then you go and look up their work and see that they won an award for designing the headquarters of the Emirate of Qatar's Ministry of Homophobic Decapitation'

Taskerland , to random
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Reading was a proper Come to Jesus moment on lore: Six or seven pages into the deep history of the setting, I can't remember who the different factions are or what they represent, and the I realise that all of this shit happened centuries before the game even fucking starts!

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland And that right there is the essence of lore: scant relevance. 😅

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss Very scant indeed 😁

Taskerland , to random
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A few days, back, someone asked for people's favourite setting and I don't think I actually have one...

I can think of games where the setting is enough of a turn-off to dissuade me from taking an interest in the game but I struggle to think of a game where I love the setting and its lore.

I suspect 'lore' may be the operant problem. A lot of people adore the Traveller setting and I wound up just skipping over those bits of the book.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I remember liking the description of the setting in the Exalted core book as it was weird and evocative, then I borrowed the setting book and was horribly disappointed by the more fleshed-out version.

Give me a good vibe and some evocative prompts.

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland I'm happy to see fleshed-out ... when the flesh is RPG design. But not when it's lore. Lore is filler. It just makes the gameable facts harder to find, harder to reference, and harder to keep track of.

Taskerland , to random
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I wonder if it isn't a result of D&D having been such a low status activity for such a long time... RPG people are just not used to being pandered-to quite so directly.

I've been in scenes where the pendulum had swung too far in the opposite direction where everything was a "scam" and a "rip-off" but the TTRPG scene is hurling fortunes at people with zero track record for producing stuff and that can't end well.

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland Heh, well, that can happen too. 😁

I think I've backed three gaming things total. Two were storygames where I knew I wouldn't want the game but wanted to show support for a colleague. The third was that sourcebook.

I'd still back another sourcebook of that sort. Sourcebooks, especially system-agnostic ones, are another endangered form of RPG design. 😓

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss Very much so... There used to be loads more but I guess third-party licensing is more common now

Taskerland , to random
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Not sure I see the point of an enormous, expensive, hardback re-issue of a 32-page dungeon.

But then I don't really understand why RPG people keep handing hundreds of thousands of dollars to YouTubers with no game design experience for games that are basically subtle variations on existing products.

Tim_Eagon ,
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@vdonnut @Printdevil @Taskerland IDK, I don't use Old Spice, but they did create a jokey but useable 5e class as part of their promotion.

Taskerland OP ,
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@Tim_Eagon @vdonnut @Printdevil I never use deodorant and I only take bubble baths.

Taskerland , to random
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Interesting session last night. Still processing what happened but it turns out that my group really hates pre-generated characters.

I think it's broadly a product of my encouraging them to be independent and to have agency. Present them with a adventure where there is literally none and they bucked.

They compared the scenario to a murder-mystery dinner, discussed walking away, then discussed group suicide. Things only settled when I improvised a problem they had to solve.

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland I love a pregen. 😊

I would never want to game with pregens as my main thing. I love characters I create even more.

But, pregens let me strut my stuff in a way my own characters can't They're a special chance to flex a different set of roleplaying muscles, like a cooking show where you're handed weird ingredients.

But I'm HTT, so I have zero love for player agency. 😅

Taskerland , to random
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Hmm... Call of Cthulhu one-shot struggling a bit. Group not appreciating the pre-gens. Taking a few minutes to re-group.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss That's a lot of grave-digging

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland Another, entirely separate topic where your local laws may be relevant.

I found out the hard way that human remains are not legally considered, quote, recyclable, unquote. 🙄

Taskerland , to random
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These days, everything seems like an invitation to join a cult. And not a good cult either.

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland I'd join a taco cult, or a pizza cult, depending on the details. 🤔

When I was much younger, there were a handful of RPG people I had cultish admiration for.

I still see a couple of them as awesome, but not, like, taco awesome.

I might be open to a coffee cult. Depending on the dress code.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I have never been comfortable being anyone's disciple... But then nobody has ever tried to tempt me with tacos and coffee.

Taskerland , to random
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I should stop being rude about Chaosium really... but they should stop putting out underwhelming, over-produced, and over-priced product.

SJohnRoss , (edited )
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@Taskerland A missing stair?

[Edit: Nevermind. Googled it.]

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss Oy in a financial sense tho

Taskerland , to random
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Having read a book about the absurd hardships of jungle exploration, I would be tempted to implement some robust survival rules into my next fantasy game.

I would grind my teeth learning the rules but I suspect I would laugh quite a lot watching my players manage escalating drifts of debuffs as they desperately scavenge for food and water.

SJohnRoss ,
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@Taskerland Would you mind if I quoted this post in a thing I'm working on? It would be a commercial work, so I understand entirely of you'd rather I didn't.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss No problem 😊 knock yourself out.

Taskerland , to random
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Thinking about Pendragon , I am reminded that the Welsh book had this really cool adventure where the characters are made captains and handed this castle that turns out to be a ruin surrounded by hostile factions.

PCs had to try and secure alliances, hustle for supplies to rebuild the castle, and hold the line until the army turned up.

One of my favourite mini-campaign set-ups: Here is a theoretical pot of power and prestige, good luck turning theory into reality!

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss It's just a classic campaign structure. Also really useful for encouraging less-experienced players to view settings less as a series of missions and more as dynamic real places.

xilebo ,
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@SJohnRoss

I'm currently working on one, where the PCs have to build a canal in hostile nomansland. Securing resources, fighting unkown horrors and secure it against pirates and kingdoms that don't want to pay the tax.

I'm creating a whole world for this. It's a lot of work, but also a lot of fun...

@Taskerland

Taskerland , to random
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Remember when Benedict Cumberbatch was in almost every film? That was a weird five years.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss Yes... He's another one who was in everything and then disappeared. I do wonder what's going on with Hollywood casting. Anya Taylor-Joy is currently going through it.

Taskerland , to random
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I mean... I don't like storygames personally but I always feel like I get something from interacting with and listening to storygame people as they're thoughtful and aware of the existence of different approaches and aesthetics within the hobby.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss Looking back at the Forge, I am aware that there is a distinction to be made between in-group (we are all on the same page) and out-group language.

Not being in the in-group, Forge language looked bad but it wasn't directed at me. Problem is that I think the Forgies confused in-group shared assumptions with the shape of the world.

They mapped their sensibility but that was never the full picture

sbszine ,
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@Taskerland @SJohnRoss I love Fiasco and it's been a great gateway into GMless games and jeepform and such. Played The Skeletons the other day and really enjoyed it.

InSpectres is a fantastic entry point into RPGs too. It's got a lot of trad trappings with a GM, attributes, dice pools etc but gently introduces shared narrative authority, losing being fun, etc.

Taskerland , to random
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I don't generally pay that much attention to 5e stuff but occasionally on here you get a big whiff of the culture of play surrounding that game (or at least how it manifests itself online) and just... No.

I am definitely reaching the point where I feel like they're in a different hobby.

luigirenna ,
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@Taskerland I had this feeling talking to people into 5e and it feels like they treat it like a video game, with most efficient builds and action combo etc. the system emphasis on combat probably is a cause of that, but really it feels like a different thing altogether to what I enjoy playing

Tim_Eagon ,
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@luigirenna @Taskerland That pre-dates 5e though

Taskerland , to random
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No shade or saltiness intended but yesterday's discussion of rpg blogs did little to dislodge my sense that there is altogether too much blogging about encumbrance and initiative going on.

This is also partly a reflection of the fact that I don't engage with rules on that level at all: I use games as they are and cut out the boring bits until I reach a point where I realise I'm using the game as a fig-leaf for FKR.

I have never swapped an encumbrance or initiative system out for another.

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss My instincts tend towards FKR-style play and the mechanical stuff is usually there so that the players have a tangible hand-hold on the fiction.

Risus was my go-to system with my old group for years because the mechanics and character creation options were tangible enough to ground the fiction but open enough that I could make rulings rather than consult rules 😊

Taskerland OP ,
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@SJohnRoss I think it's also why I tend to shy away from settings that aren't either contemporary or quite vanilla as a starting point. Easier for players to grab hold of and make assumptions about.

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