Alex Schroeder @kensanata@tabletop.social

#RPG related apps I host:
https://campaignwiki.org/wiki/Apps

I started listening to @Judd and @seannittner's Shoeless Peasant podcast. I'm two episodes in and I love how different it is from my games. I'm thinking I'd love to run such a slow and deliberate one-on-one game. I was clearly not ready to play like that a few years ago, but I'm thinking that perhaps now I am. (I also wrote some more words on my blog post.)
https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2021-01-19_Listening_to_Burning_Wheel_Actual_Play

Thinking about semi-solo game, plus chat and wiki writing, with a Traveller background. Unstructured unlike face to face meetings, but in terms of the adventures, framed by the existing subsector and established history.
https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2021-01-18_Traveller_Solo_Text_Based

I'm looking at Zozer Games "Solo" PDF. Reading the first chapter, in fact: "Why Solo?" I guess I'm trying to work up the inspiration to start a Traveller campaign.

It went well, but slowly. The other couple is new to RPGs and has a child also playing; the only thing we‘ve played before is Sorcerers and Sellswords, a Lasers and Feelings variant. Character creation took a long time. Picking scenes, deeds of the day, assembling the story book. We played for 2.5h and finished the prologue and the first scene. No more.

Preparing for Western City tonight.

Thinking about play styles… I dunno, I used to be a lot more interested in these things. These days I guess everybody should read such a typology at least once so that we can all at least use the same words. But then my take is that enjoyment is a multifaceted thing that I enjoy all the things, some more so, some less so, some more when I do it, some more when others do it. And I think casual players are important for cohesion (like at the work-place, actually).
https://lichvanwinkle.blogspot.com/2021/01/knowing-your-players-and-their-kicks.html

Working on generating library books for @hexdescribe – including people who own books, people who steal books, and quests to bring back books, or heads…
https://campaignwiki.org/hex-describe/rule?rule=library+book&load=schroeder

So what's new? Text Mapper can now create cave maps (something Gridmapper can do, of course, but not Text Mapper); these can be themed. Currently the only theming available is "vat people" and even that is very slim. But the structure is there!

Working with Josh on the post-apocalyptic hex map generator.
https://campaignwiki.org/hex-describe → click "random Apocalypse" → pick "Josh Johnston (best for Apocalypse maps)" → click submit.

Ah, Melan diagrams to illustrate dungeon complexity… I like what The Alexandrian did, here, taking The Sunless Citadel and illustrating how the Melan diagrams work. https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/45711/roleplaying-games/jaquaying-the-dungeon-addendum-how-to-use-a-melan-diagram

Japanese Yokai book
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/osarusan/the-foxs-wedding-a-compendium-of-japanese-folklore

I'm slowly starting to feel like my interest in running games is returning.

Troika also comes to mind. It doesn’t solve the problem of faster actors getting more actions, but it causes fear at the table as initiative tokens are pulled out of a bag (everybody gets two) plus there’s an end of turn token – if that one gets pulled, the turn ends immediately. So I guess if you really wanted to model “gets more actions” you could play with the ratios. 3:2, 4:2, 5:2 all seem trivial to add, of course.

I've seen few good system where people get a different number of actions per turn. Powered by the Apocalypse seems to be the one system where this works well. There are no more turns. Didn't Hack Master have an eternal counter? That would probably also count, but I don't know how cool it is at the table. I imagine it slowing things down. Simply granting some weapons or characters multiple attacks is a simple workaround, but the result is either slow, or weird (multiple shots with a bow?)

Old one but good one (tooting my own horn, if I may say so – showing myself out in a minute, bedtime!). Initiative is overrated. "I think initiative rules are overrated, particularly in D&D variants where combat lasts multiple rounds. The critical issue is that everybody acts exactly once per round. If everybody survives the round, then it didn’t matter in which order people attacked. So, initiative is only important in the round when somebody is about to die."
https://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2016-03-24_Initiative%2c_Combat