@DymonStorage
So, you're planning to build at Baseline and Clyde. The local community fought you on this and lost. You plan on building a large building - taller than pretty much any other building in the area. Something that's going to blot out the view of a chunk of the area.
You plan to tear down the woods in the area, that houses wildlife. That people walk through and enjoy. Trees that the community get to watch change with the seasons. Where rabbits live. Where cats wander.
So. Here's the thing.
What are you going to give to replace this? What will you give to the community that replaces the trees, the wildlife, the serenity of that small patch between Merivale, Baseline, and Clyde?
Yes, we accept that people need places to store their stuff, especially considering the state of housing and such. We're not blaming you for this, or for wanting to build there. We don't like it, but we understand it.
But, how are you going to replace what the community loses when you build there? Will you develop the space that you own but aren't specifically using to become a park? Offer to plant some trees and lawn around the building? Perhaps grass the roof to provide green?
You said you were contributing to the community by building there. This may be true to some extent, but ... are you replacing what we're going to lose?
#ttrpg#ttrpgredlist
Culture. Faith. Education.
This, we think, should be what determines what kind of magic a character has access to in games where magic exists. Rather than having magic be an open book where all spells are available to choose from,
where your character is from, where they were trained, and what beliefs exist should determine what's available and what isn't. You follow the Goddess of Peace, you don't get harmful spells. You're from a desert region, you might get a lot of fire, sand, and wind spells.
We had a character from an Arabian-like kingdom, so when we made a magus, we restricted elemental spells to fire and wind. The character had a few other spells to round things out (extra movement, buffs), but we decided that most of the spell list was out-of-bounds.
#ttrpg#ttrpgredlist
For us, a good RPG is one that allows you to explore the setting, in any way you wish, and support you in that goal. The mechanics should be able to support this desire, and the characters you want to make within the confines of the setting.
If the game doesn't have a setting, it needs to support the players (and game master) in the genre of the game - a fantasy RPG supports playing in a fantasy world, a cyberpunk RPG supports playing in a cyberpunk world.
And we believe, a good RPG needs to be able to provide the group options. For example, a cyberpunk game should provide support for street level, corporate, military, gang, media, entertainment, or sport-star characters. (Cyberpunk 2020, and Shadowrun, are excellent for this).
#ttrpg - Threat and Momentum.
From the Homeworld RPG, two mechanics have shown up: momentum, which the players gain and spend for benefits, and threat, which the game master gains and spends to complicate matters.
This is what we talk about when we talk about having 'fudging' coded into the game mechanics. We approve of this - rather than just having the GM cheat at dice rolls. Because check this out:
The player wants to do better on a critical roll? Momentum is spent on extra dice. They want to get off another action immediately? Momentum allows this. Do they want an advantage? Spend Momentum. Keep the Initiative? Spend Momentum. The player chooses when to gain a benefit.
#ttrpg:
As a GM, do you build encounters to the PC's strengths and weaknesses, or do you build to the setting and region? Do you go for suspension of disbelief and verisimilitude, or to create awesome scenes?
None of these ways are wrong, but each table, we think, has a preference. We go for trying to paint scenes which are accurate to the region, add verisimilitude, and then see how the players run with what's been provided.
Mostly, because we believe that being a hero is earned, one isn't 'just a hero', one strives to do right, and in so doing, faces tests, and overcoming them (or failing and pressing on), becomes a hero.
Re: Activision-Blizzard.
Guess what? As people, we don't need to presume innocence. We can look at the women speaking out, and go 'okay, yes' and believe them. We don't need to go 'let's wait until the trial is over'.
Know what the trial is for? To see if there's enough evidence to formally prosecute. To assign a penalty that's enforced by law. We, as people, do not have to wait and see. We can take the accusations on faith because there's so many of them, and they're believable.
Have you seen how women are treated in the video game industry? In the roleplaying game industry? In the wargame industry? ("Warhammer 40K is not for women" was something we saw just yesterday.)
Our view on Satan / Evil.
To us, Satan is the breaker-of-chains, the one who refuses to follow blindly, the one who accepts that knowledge is a good thing, and that it is good to question authority.
Good and evil are human things. There is no force outside of humanity tempting us - we provide our own temptation. It is our choice whether or not to give in to temptation - the gods have no interest in our struggles of good and evil. The universe doesn't care.
Heaven and Hell are here on Earth. We are responsible for whether the world is our personal heaven or our personal hell. The world is what we make of it. Our accomplishments are our own, as is our failings.