Game Design Sins

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The other day, while trying to take a picture of some back-of-the-shirt art while wearing said shirt, I discovered I have a significantly larger bald spot than I realized. Still haven't quite worked out what to think/feel about that.
 
The other day, while trying to take a picture of some back-of-the-shirt art while wearing said shirt, I discovered I have a significantly larger bald spot than I realized. Still haven't quite worked out what to think/feel about that.
As far as I know, my long hair is not hiding a bald spot or thinning, but I refuse to cut it and risk finding out.
 
The other day, while trying to take a picture of some back-of-the-shirt art while wearing said shirt, I discovered I have a significantly larger bald spot than I realized. Still haven't quite worked out what to think/feel about that.
Yup, that was the day I started just shaving my head every couple weeks. Didn't like when I noted that bald spot growing significantly larger. Annoyed the shit out of me.
 
As far as I know, my long hair is not hiding a bald spot or thinning, but I refuse to cut it and risk finding out.
A few years ago, I was getting my hair cut. It was hot, so I suggested going shorter than normal. She said, "Are you sure? You'll look pretty bald if I do that."
 
A few years ago, I was getting my hair cut. It was hot, so I suggested going shorter than normal. She said, "Are you sure? You'll look pretty bald if I do that."
I would be grateful if my barber was honest and told me that. Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie.

I have always kept my hair short and thankfully no baldness but my hair is noticeably less healthy and lustrous than it used to be.
 
I would be grateful if my barber was honest and told me that. Better to be slapped with the truth than kissed with a lie.

I have always kept my hair short and thankfully no baldness but my hair is noticeably less healthy and lustrous than it used to be.
Yeah, I appreciated the bluntness.

I should add, I live in a small town, so when I go to get my hair cut, it's usually someone who knows me. Thinking further though, she probably would say the same thing to some random stranger.
 
The other day, while trying to take a picture of some back-of-the-shirt art while wearing said shirt, I discovered I have a significantly larger bald spot than I realized. Still haven't quite worked out what to think/feel about that.
I have the same thing going on. I just assume it's my sexy head saying it's tired of being hidden by that curly mop of hair. I applaud it's voice and want it to feel heard. However my curly mop also has things to say. So I'll let them duke it out and stay a neutral party they can find comfort in. If they can't work it out though I'll have to get involved.
 
Now we can add existential hair crisis to 2d20's list of transgressions.

I climbed a mountain to avoid any further aggro and it still found me.

It's all Asen's fault - just couldn't let it go.

1807918259-69130f7538043a28259a21d3f045d978.jpg

:grin:

EDIT: Sorry. This was meant to be in jest but I forgot to put a "winky" after the reference to Asen. Apologies for any offence.
 
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Anyhow, one of my personal game design sins is starting a new project before finishing the last one.

Mine's the opposite. When I start a game design project, I can get tunnel-vision and follow through to its completion even after realising it will require so, so much more work than initially anticipated and entirely disproportionate to the end result. I keep telling myself this is the last time, there are plenty of excellent roleplayings out there, I don't need to create more.

But this time, it really is the last time.
 
Finishing a RPG design project? What's that? :trigger:
Part of the problem is that they're often open ended projects with undefined parameters. Galaxies In Shadow was originally 30 pages, now it's 300. I did cut it back to a single business card that one time and was fiddling with a four page volume. I've also meddled with breaking it down into topical segments, not a player's book and gm's book so much as a topical supplements covering topics. The thing is that its breadth is really its only selling point over other games. Well, there's a bit of a detail level thing, I've worked on designer's notes a bit but really they could be like 300 pages you know?
 
Now we can add existential hair crisis to 2d20's list of transgressions.

I climbed a mountain to avoid any further aggro and it still found me.

It's all Asen's fault - just couldn't let it go.

View attachment 45472

:grin:
You're now simply being cruel...:thumbsdown:
Also, I had the time, it's that simple:shade:.


And besides, I'd notice that the Pub is functioning as normal - we're on to a sidetrack now:grin:!
 
Part of the problem is that they're often open ended projects with undefined parameters. Galaxies In Shadow was originally 30 pages, now it's 300. I did cut it back to a single business card that one time and was fiddling with a four page volume. I've also meddled with breaking it down into topical segments, not a player's book and gm's book so much as a topical supplements covering topics. The thing is that its breadth is really its only selling point over other games. Well, there's a bit of a detail level thing, I've worked on designer's notes a bit but really they could be like 300 pages you know?

Yeah, my project parameters keep changing on me, particularly for a system I've been working on and off for years, cuz I keep second guessing what I already have at any given time, and changing my mind about how to handle stat values and things like that. Setting projects tend to get stuck in the back burner partly due to ADHD, and partly cuz I loose touch with what I was doing every time I jump back into working on the system or some new setting idea.
 
You're now simply being cruel...:thumbsdown:
Also, I had the time, it's that simple:shade:.


And besides, I'd notice that the Pub is functioning as normal - we're on to a sidetrack now:grin:!
Yeah. Apologies to you and everyone else for that one. It was meant to be humorous but missed the mark due to early, pre-work inattentive posting. I also missed the "winky" emoji that might have clarified.

I am now Artie Fufkin and you have permission to kick my arse. :sad:
 
Yeah. Apologies to you and everyone else for that one. It was meant to be humorous but missed the mark due to early, pre-work inattentive posting. I also missed the "winky" emoji that might have clarified.

I am now Artie Fufkin and you have permission to kick my arse. :sad:
Why would I ever assume someone here is being serious? Seems like odd behavior.
 
Yeah. Apologies to you and everyone else for that one. It was meant to be humorous but missed the mark due to early, pre-work inattentive posting. I also missed the "winky" emoji that might have clarified.

I am now Artie Fufkin and you have permission to kick my arse. :sad:
Why would I ever assume someone here is being serious? Seems like odd behavior.
Bunch Bunch has it right, Ragr Ragr :grin:! I took your post as you "taking the piss", and responded in kind - or tried to, at any rate:thumbsup:!
 
Finishing a RPG design project? What's that? :trigger:
I'm not saying I consider it a sin, but seeing John Wick's name on a game generally suggests to me there will be some cool ideas strung together along a lazy dazey chain of cocktail napkin mechanics. Like, I very much would like to try Wield... but I'm not feeling it as a complete game.
 
I'm not saying I consider it a sin, but seeing John Wick's name on a game generally suggests to me there will be some cool ideas strung together along a lazy dazey chain of cocktail napkin mechanics. Like, I very much would like to try Wield... but I'm not feeling it as a complete game.
I've played Wield, Cat and the gods and heroes game, whatever it was named. Admittedly, those were all one-shots.

I loose touch with what I was doing every time I jump back into working on the system or some new setting idea.
...I'm sure nobody else on this site does that:evil:!
 
I'm not saying I consider it a sin, but seeing John Wick's name on a game generally suggests to me there will be some cool ideas strung together along a lazy dazey chain of cocktail napkin mechanics. Like, I very much would like to try Wield... but I'm not feeling it as a complete game.
BAD FORM
 
After a long-is post with some* comments, here's my personal contribution:
Supposed settings that tell me what I'm supposed to do in this campaign. If you're writing a game that's about a specific activity, be it dungeon crawling or doing knightly stuff in the "setting" of Le Morte d'Arthur, tell me that. But when presenting me a setting, especially if it's mainly a setting supplement, keep in mind that you simply don't know what I am going to do!
Nor is it your job to guess.
Just present the fucking setting as it is and let me decide what to do with it!
Speaking of Star Wars and the stats of the main characters, I knew guys who's skills were higher, ships were faster, and had more fire power than a star destroyer. I suspect they were the same guys who had 300th level characters that killed Odin and Thor.
Well, there are some gamers like that, I've been told!

*I lost some tabs I meant to reply to while writing that huge thing!
 
Just present the fucking setting as it is and let me decide what to do with it!

My go-to is Jorune. You get the setting, you're a starter adventurer. The default is to start your Tothis but you're not pressured into it. It's just assumed. You could do the entire game without getting a single mark on your challis. (how about that for jargon). (I'd add that the BPN system in SLA Industries has a similar function although that's really just about the money for ammo. And I've lost my love for Nightfall).

I mean there's nothing wrong with hacking the new Blade Runner to allow less binary choices. And nothing wrong I guess with being Cornish brigands in Pendragon. I think personally I like a defined raisin d'etre - and that's why D&D has never really interested me. I'm literally an "adventurer". And that's a thing. And the economy is based around this? Well, okayyyyyy.

The newer micro games (and I'm actually including the 300+-page monsters I've found while researching the "light and narratively focused" PBTA definitely seem to be micro-specific on the niche you're meant to play. Like very little wiggle room.
 
Just present the fucking setting as it is and let me decide what to do with it!

I lean the other way. I find it much more useful when a provides a compelling "this is that the party does" concept rather than the travelguide style "there this kindgom here and that kingdom there" write up. Whether I intend to play or run a game, the key part of the pitch that will sell me on or off is not "you are in Ancient Rome/terraformed Mars/modern day Cleveland", it's "you play occult investigators/bungling gang of thieves/superpowered rebels hunted by the state".
 
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I lean the other way. I find it much more useful when a provides a compelling "this is that the party does" concept rather than the travelguide style "there this kindgom here and that kingdom there" write up. Whether I intend to play or run a game, the key part of the pitch that will sell me on or off is not "you are in Ancient Rome/terraformed Mars/modern day Cleveland", it's "you play occult investigators/bungling gang of thieves/superpowered rebels hunted by the state".

Yeah, one of the biggest issues I have with a lot of settings is when they go off on the details about this land I'm supposed to care about, but don't tell me what I'm supposed to do with it in terms of "WTF is this setting about". And I don't mean that in a railroady sort of way, but rather give me some campaign ideas or adventure seeds of what sort of stuff gets done in this place, what is the focus or "point" of it.

Overwhelming with a bunch of details about this land that isn't even a known IP from an established franchise is just gonna make me go crosseyed, cuz I have no frame of reference for it.
 
Adding elements to make things "symmetrical" without considering how they'd function or fit in the context of the game. Thinking that every empty space in a game's design needs to be filled with something.

Like Antipaladins in D&D, or the demand for a "martial controller" in 4e specifically.
But... but... 16 year-old me loved the anti-paladin (as published in White Dwarf magazine, perphaps ?) !
But I'll grant you than the mechanical aprts of the anti-paladin isn't important. What's important is the concept.
Mind you, this was in a time where tiefling PCs were unheard of.
 
But I'll grant you than the mechanical aprts of the anti-paladin isn't important. What's important is the concept.

One thing I appreciate about latter-day D&D is the addition of a core class that turns out to be the most fitting 'opposite' of the paladin - the warlock.

Think about it:
Divine vs infernal
Selfless vs selfish
Servant vs slave
80% fighter vs 80% caster
Both grounded in real history and archetypes
 
Also setting books that discuss way, way too many places. Burying all the fun bits under the weight of having to describe it all. And it all gets a bit samey as they don't have the space to really delve into anything.

Its like... you are taking your wife to Paris for a week. So when you go into the bookstore to get a guidebook do you (A) buy a book that just talks about Paris and maybe has a few pages on whats around the city. Or do you (B) walk out the store with a book on the entire European continent that has 3 pages on Paris. (One page of which is a shitty map thats of almost no use.)

Both of those options are valid, but one is far more useful to you at that moment.
 
One thing I appreciate about latter-day D&D is the addition of a core class that turns out to be the most fitting 'opposite' of the paladin - the warlock.

Think about it:
Divine vs infernal
Selfless vs selfish
Servant vs slave
80% fighter vs 80% caster
Both grounded in real history and archetypes
I never thought of it that way, but your description makes lots of sense. Thanks for that, new viewpoints are always good for opening closed passages of an old brain.
 
But... but... 16 year-old me loved the anti-paladin (as published in White Dwarf magazine, perphaps ?) !
But I'll grant you than the mechanical aprts of the anti-paladin isn't important. What's important is the concept.
Mind you, this was in a time where tiefling PCs were unheard of.
Our player who always dressed in black, was born on Halloween, showed up with a Dragon magazine, "I will be playing the anti-paladin." It was pitched as an NPC but laid out as a PC. I can't remember the details, but I do remember it had Cause Wounds instead of Heal. . . And a scary horse.

I just found it here:

Screen Shot 2022-05-11 at 1.22.05 PM.png
 
Our player who always dressed in black, was born on Halloween, showed up with a Dragon magazine, "I will be playing the anti-paladin." It was pitched as an NPC but laid out as a PC. I can't remember the details, but I do remember it had Cause Wounds instead of Heal. . . And a scary horse.

I just found it here:

View attachment 45528
I emailed him and he said he switched to the lawful evil illrigger that was in Dragon #106's "A plethora of paladins" which had the rest of the paladins by alignment.
Screen Shot 2022-05-11 at 1.56.43 PM.png
 
Yeah, one of the biggest issues I have with a lot of settings is when they go off on the details about this land I'm supposed to care about, but don't tell me what I'm supposed to do with it in terms of "WTF is this setting about". And I don't mean that in a railroady sort of way, but rather give me some campaign ideas or adventure seeds of what sort of stuff gets done in this place, what is the focus or "point" of it.

Overwhelming with a bunch of details about this land that isn't even a known IP from an established franchise is just gonna make me go crosseyed, cuz I have no frame of reference for it.
I get this to a point, but I look as much to the game system to tell me what we do in this game. I agree about overwhelming details. I can do Glorantha because I've been doing it since 1978 so I've absorbed it slowly. A setting that is too settled may give me trouble with "what to do with it" for most RPGs I would play. The best settings have interesting places on the map with not necessarily any detail. I can then cook up a way to use the place in an adventure, and the nature of the adventure will be inspired by the system. But I don't necessarily want "big" goings on. My Glorantha has the Lunar occupation but it doesn't have the Hero Wars. I don't want something going on that forces my hand about how to use the setting.
 
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