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slap me and kiss me posted:Everyone wants to have a Blackbird Dreaming but no one wants to post. Blackbird Dreaming was the original reason I joined the forums. And to date I have only finished reading a third of it. 
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Apr 28, 2021 02:17
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Helical Nightmares posted:Blackbird Dreaming was the original reason I joined the forums. And to date I have only finished reading a third of it. I only ever get to the part where the one character starts sinking points into dreaming and then it starts getting a bit too one-character focused for me. That's like 200 pages in though.
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Apr 28, 2021 02:45
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I started with freeform PBP-style stuff on Yahoo Groups (goddamn I'm old) and then transitioned to real-time stuff using Open RPG before I ever played a game in person. These days I find it easier to just block off a set evening or weekend day to meet with a group for stuff than I do to keep up with PBPs; I can build up spoons for a prescheduled session easier.
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Apr 28, 2021 05:37
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Kind of a deep pull, but does anyone remember that weird guy who would rant about how casino dice are made wrong and how his dice are superior because of science and geometry, and he would just go on and on about how every big company fucks up making their dice except him, but then his user reviews indicated his dice were actually really, really bad?
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Apr 28, 2021 07:48
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Lou Zocchi, wasn't it?
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Apr 28, 2021 07:56
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My Lovely Horse posted:Lou Zocchi, wasn't it? It was, but IIRC his rants were specifically that gaming dice manufacturers were poo poo and that he was making funny dice that were up to casino levels of quality. I also don't specifically remember widespread complaints that his dice were universally bad, the only complaint I particularly remember was that the first iteration of his actual 100-sided d100 was slightly biased, but that it was fixed in later runs. He also invented all the weird d5, d7, d14, etc. dice that DCC insists on using.
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Apr 28, 2021 08:10
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I didn't realize Zocci was also the "gamescience" guy. I always just associated him with the weird sided and shaped dice, but yeah looking it up he was also the guy that ranted about sprus and bubbles to sell his overpriced dice that in practice weren't really any better.
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Apr 28, 2021 08:22
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That reminds me of the Ask/Tell thread about working at Chessex where a poster flipped out because "what do you mean you don't test each die for accuracy?!"
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Apr 28, 2021 11:15
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GimpInBlack posted:It was, but IIRC his rants were specifically that gaming dice manufacturers were poo poo and that he was making funny dice that were up to casino levels of quality. I also don't specifically remember widespread complaints that his dice were universally bad, the only complaint I particularly remember was that the first iteration of his actual 100-sided d100 was slightly biased, but that it was fixed in later runs. Most of the DCC sets don't use Zocchi's d5/7/etc... Zocchi's d7 is kind of a pentagonal prism, while the one in the DCC sets is ... weird. I think their d5's are similarly shaped, though, being triangular prisms. IIRC, Zocchi's d14 and 16 are kind of like d10's with more sides, while the DCC sets actually make them round - like fewer-sided d20's. But I nevertheless love my Gamescience dice and their sharp corners and obnoxious bright plastic colors, and you can pry them from my cold, dead hands.
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Apr 28, 2021 14:15
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I'm still unreasonably mad at god for giving us hands that encourage base 10 in a universe without a platonic decahedron.
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Apr 28, 2021 14:58
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I recall that Designers & Dragons goes on at some length with other designers praising Zocchi for his contributions to the hobby. Not for making dice, but for his dedication to the convention scene.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:15
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Yeah, Lou is a Gen Con institution. For real, the guy is a legend.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:20
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90s Cringe Rock posted:I'm still unreasonably mad at god for giving us hands that encourage base 10 in a universe without a platonic decahedron. Count like a Babylonian and embrace the beautiful dodecahedron.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:22
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dwarf74 posted:Yeah, Lou is a Gen Con institution. Was he the guy displaying stacks of lumpy dice from competitors?
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Apr 28, 2021 15:24
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Clanpot Shake posted:Count like a Babylonian and embrace the beautiful dodecahedron.
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Apr 28, 2021 15:27
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I assume the potential for him being a milkshake duck is super high, but yeah Zocchi’s sales patter at conventions is amazing https://youtu.be/tSQIir5xxWc
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Apr 28, 2021 15:35
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If Lou Zocchi calls a single die a dice, who am I to disagree? (I'm still never going to run a DCC module and use d7s and poo poo, you can't make me.)
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Apr 28, 2021 16:09
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PerniciousKnid posted:Was he the guy displaying stacks of lumpy dice from competitors? And the Gamescience ad with mismatched dice stacks is permanently imprinted in the minds of any nerd who grew up in the 80's reading Dragon magazine or hobby distributor catalogs.
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Apr 28, 2021 16:51
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90s Cringe Rock posted:I'm still unreasonably mad at god for giving us hands that encourage base 10 in a universe without a platonic decahedron.
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Apr 28, 2021 18:06
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90s Cringe Rock posted:I'm still unreasonably mad at god for giving us hands that encourage base 10 in a universe without a platonic decahedron. Look at this rube not counting in base-12 with knuckles Sumerian style
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Apr 28, 2021 18:17
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dwarf74 posted:For decades now, from drat near the birth of the hobby. Wow that's like the only thing I remember from gencon 2006 or whenever it was. That and I think the cheerleader from heroes was in a tent signing autographs for some pony show which seemed weird to me at the time.
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Apr 28, 2021 19:05
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dwarf74 posted:Yeah, Lou is a Gen Con institution. It's still a shame Lou had that flood or fire a while back. Who knows what unique gaming weirdness he had in his garage.
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Apr 28, 2021 19:17
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 Friday is shaping up to be a monster
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Apr 28, 2021 20:29
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That's my secret. I'm always a goblin.
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Apr 28, 2021 20:35
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Jeff Goldblum in a D&D actual play podcast? Huh, okay. https://io9.gizmodo.com/jeff-goldblum-is-doing-a-dungeons-dragons-podcast-wh-1846781705
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Apr 29, 2021 13:41
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dwarf74 posted:Jeff Goldblum in a D&D actual play podcast? Yeah, we talked about that in the AP thread. Turns out Dark Dice is run by Travis Vengroff who, quoting Wikipedia, manages low-income housing and sits on the board of one of the world's largest debt collection agencies. So.
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Apr 29, 2021 14:21
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From a couple pages back, but drat Rakehell's faction options are good. 
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Apr 29, 2021 14:23
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Dawgstar posted:Yeah, we talked about that in the AP thread. Turns out Dark Dice is run by Travis Vengroff who, quoting Wikipedia, manages low-income housing and sits on the board of one of the world's largest debt collection agencies. So.
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Apr 29, 2021 14:28
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Dawgstar posted:Yeah, we talked about that in the AP thread. Turns out Dark Dice is run by Travis Vengroff who, quoting Wikipedia, manages low-income housing and sits on the board of one of the world's largest debt collection agencies. So.
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Apr 29, 2021 14:33
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90s Cringe Rock posted:That's quoting Wikipedia now. It said a little bit more before he edited it. Was it just the word 'slumlord?'
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Apr 29, 2021 14:41
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Vulpes Vulpes posted:From a couple pages back, but drat Rakehell's faction options are good. lmao holy poo poo, this owns
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Apr 29, 2021 14:44
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Dawgstar posted:Was it just the word 'slumlord?'
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Apr 29, 2021 14:47
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90s Cringe Rock posted:He was definitely not the manager of the building that sent round letters reminding people that if they lost their job because of covid they could still be evicted as the eviction moratorium didn't apply, and if they were receiving any benefits they had no excuse for being late on rent. To be a full devil's advocate, it looks like it was his brother Mark. Now someone explain how this puts him in contact with Jeff Goldblum. EDIT: Not sure what this even means at this point, but in the staff photo of his family's housing company he's photoshopped in. Kavak fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Apr 29, 2021 |
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Apr 29, 2021 15:07
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Goldblum shills for apartments.com. I'd bet on that being the connect.
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Apr 29, 2021 15:31
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GimpInBlack posted:It was, but IIRC his rants were specifically that gaming dice manufacturers were poo poo and that he was making funny dice that were up to casino levels of quality. I also don't specifically remember widespread complaints that his dice were universally bad, the only complaint I particularly remember was that the first iteration of his actual 100-sided d100 was slightly biased, but that it was fixed in later runs. I love those dice and I love DCC. Great game have a blast with it everytime.
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Apr 29, 2021 16:18
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Also thanks for all the input on PBP, I think if I were to do it it would be a less story heavy and more west-march esque explore game with a lot of players. Something that people can jump in and out of with a system with less rules would probably be for the best.
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Apr 29, 2021 16:28
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AttackTheMoon posted:Also thanks for all the input on PBP, I think if I were to do it it would be a less story heavy and more west-march esque explore game with a lot of players. Something that people can jump in and out of with a system with less rules would probably be for the best. I've been GMing a discord PbP going off and on for... god I guess almost 2 years now and I think the two big factors on it still sometimes going are: 1. Players who are okay with picking it up again if we get busy or too stressed to post for a couple months 2. Playing with a game that (like you've noticed) isn't dependent on constant feedback from every player I've been running a game of Blades in the Dark and I think it fits Discord PbPs really well. The mission setup means that players can rotate out if they get busy or lose interest, and they can swap in other characters if they want to try something else. Everyone who wants to step in and post can, but they can also trade off or have one person carry the action for a couple rolls. There's no dependence on maps or positioning, too, though you can buy or make use of maps to help with visualizing layout of the city or a score. When it's going, I try to resolve to post in it once a day or once every few days and try to give updates on roll results the same day they're rolled at least, so the players can think about their next action. Discord letting you @ groups of players is nice, too. You can poke people every few days if nobody's said anything recently.
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Apr 30, 2021 00:19
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So I was doing a bit of reading on WHFRG and attitude that continues to baffle me is the contingent of people who are really upset by the idea of people playing as non-humans in fantasy RPGs. A game making the design decision to only support human PCs or only support Human/Elf/Dwarf/Halfling PCs is a valid design decision, but the degree of resentment I've seen some people have to the idea of other people playing weirder fantasy races just kind of baffles me, especially when people try to justify it as in support of "realism" or a "gritty" aesthetic. The usual justification is one that falls back on the idea that "Medieval Europe" (Which is a very vague time period and location) was homogenous and highly xenophobic so the "realistic" solution. I think part of it is that it relies on the underlying assumption that the "realistic" response someone would have to a weird, sapient non-human would be one of hostility and fear regardless of any sort of worldbuilding related justifications. I've seen this even apply to games like D&D, with posts by people angry at the idea of a character playing a Dragonborn or Goblin and people replying that if they were GMing they'd make those characters constantly at threat of being lynched by NPC townsfolk. It doesn't help that this brushes up heavily against some of the underlying assumptions and worldviews people often use to justify raising a ruckus about POC actors being cast in shows like Game of Thrones or The Witcher. the layman history nerd in me because these people's understanding of diversity in the pre-colonial era is much more a product of media that was made about that period and falls very heavily into the trap of imposing our own, post-colonial concepts of "race" onto a time period with very different understandings of the term. It's especially frustrating to me because I generally prefer the idea of an RPG that deals in more low level and grounded scenarios (where the players are going to be dealing more with local crime lords, bandits and the occasional evil wizard rather than taking on gods), but so many of the systems and people that tackle that stuff try to appeal to a generic "low fantasy"/"dark fantasy" mold where everyone's a filthy, human poo poo-farmer and anything more unusual than an Elf is murdered on sight. TL:DR - I just want to play a low magic game where a lizard person, a giant spider an orc and a robot delve into dungeons, why aren't more people catering to that?
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May 1, 2021 23:02
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KingKalamari posted:TL:DR - I just want to play a low magic game where a lizard person, a giant spider an orc and a robot delve into dungeons, why aren't more people catering to that? Because it's a narrow niche. If you want dungeon-delving that isn't trying to be Dungeon Survival Horror ala Torchbearer, D&D / OSR of varying stripes is What There Is, and most designers generally want to do anything else rather than retread that well-worn ground. You occasionally get something brilliant like The Nightmares Underneath, but not often.
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May 1, 2021 23:15
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TBH I thought systems generally tolerated playing monstrous creatures. LANCER and BITD are pretty explicit about playing humans it felt like fairly bold choices in both cases, though it's also pretty violable. But I guess I'm also coming off of the last two games I read up on being Wicked Ones, where you can't play humans, and Mobile Frame Zero, where the major non-human group is extremely not human and also  I do think that community reaction you're seeing on other forums is probably more grounded in racism than anything else. But I suppose if you want a game that caters more toward what you want, with Drider Bards and Angel Mechanics and stuff, I say go ahead and see what you can make. It's a fun exercise even if you don't go very far with it.
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May 2, 2021 00:25
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