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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 24m

I think this is one of the things where the aversion to saying that some things aren't RPGs comes back to bite us. I've done freeform tabletop rp. I had a fantastic amount of fun doing it. While it's a close relation, it isn't quite the same thing as playing a ttrpg.

Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 31m

On top of that, there's the fact it toploads the majority of the work onto the DM, both mechanically and culturally. (I've heard a lot of 5e DMs bitch about this so it's not a simple case of 5e bashing; it's a structural issue in the long term I think).

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 33m

Whereas I'll absolutely defend GURPS as a brilliant design I'm not interested in playing. It knows exactly what it wants to be (a modular generic high simulationist system) and refuses to deviate from that goal.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 33m

AD&D is an odd beast because its simulationist elements are utterly superficial (300 polearms with near identical stats) but it's also really bad at simulationism in general.

There's a reason the vast majority OSR games use B/X instead.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 44m

"Is Twilight Struggle a Wargame?" - the greatest thread in the history of forums, locked by a moderator after 12239 pages of heated debate,

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 44m

I think a fair bit of it is people who actually would rather freeform but for some reason have an emotional connection to the idea of playing RPGs.

Not sure using terms from other ttgs wouldn't just give us even *more* to fight about.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 2h

Also probably why I increasingly shy away from games with "exciting new" mechanics. They may be very clever, but I'm increasingly less willing to put in the effort to teach myself a new mechanical language from scratch.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 2h

Because of that, even the crunchier end of d100 (Mythras) feels straightforward to me. (This is obviously subjective). The only other system I've found that comes close to that for me is Ubiquity. Even with a d20, I need to quickly convert to percentile if I'm doing probability.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 2h

I completely don't use it like that. One of the reasons I run d100 like BRP so much is that the mechanics do indeed get out of the way. But what that actually means is I find percentile systems intuitive and can do things like estimate probabilities without effort.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 2h

One thing I think gets confusing in discussions of RPG mechanics is the way people sometimes use "the mechanics get out of the way" to mean "I can ignore the mechanics"/"we didn't need to roll dice all session"

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 12h

There's a fake Ricky Gervais account on here trying to scam Ricky Gervais fans and on one hand scamming is bad but on the other hand they're ripping off Ricky Gervais fans so I don't know whether I should report it.

Lesser evilists, what do I do here?

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

Like I have absolutely no issue if @nickcohen.bsky.social wants to repost me pointing out he's a creepy sex pest to his followers. Because Nick is a creepy sex pest, covered up for by the Guardian and Private Eye.

www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/w...

A British Reporter Had a Big #MeToo Scoop. Her Editor Killed It. (Published 2023)

www.nytimes.com

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

Probably not quite as good as Hadley Freeman namesearching and premptively blocking me though. Why would I fear the commentariat? I'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

It's weird anyway, because if you're actually confident you're in the right why would you care if you're retweeted? Laurence Fox once retweeted me to his credulous collection of tossers. My only regret was I didn't have time to insult every one of them that tagged me individually.

Mina Kimes @minakimes.bsky.social · 15h

This guy gives the game away with the misogyny but man—this attitude (if you have a lot of followers you should just let people be assholes to you) drives me nuts.

You walk into my dojo looking for a fight you’re gonna get it lol

@[email protected] on Mastodon @electricheadpt2.cryptoanarchy.network · 23h

This guy rocks (derogatory). You’re apparently a “thirst trap white woman” and were just all simps for thinking he’s a dumbass.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

Also, Dan Snow is a "British popular historian".

I'm glad the fact that I'm popular and the people love me is getting wider recognition.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

Back when I did performance poetry at uni there was a 60 year old who would always turn up in a crushed velvet jacket, a top hat and with a fucking duck handled cane. I *ASPIRE* to grow into him.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

And this is how things are meant to be. And I promise not to tell my PbtA loving friends "you've been outevolved, boomer" and make "dustbin of history" jokes more than twice a day. Maybe three.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 13h

On this schedule, reckon we should get the equivalent Vampire and the post Vampire boom in the next five years. And it will be cool and zeitgeisty and appeal to young people (actual young people, not 30somethings who use the term "adulting"). And I will not like it and probably won't understand it.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 14h

One of them has asked me to run Rifts and fuck no. There are limits to me embracing the new old tradders.

I will do anything for love, but I won't let you play a fucking glitter boy.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 14h

Can report back that the younger players in my group are starting to say things like "we think we prefer longer campaigns" and praising BRP for its extended skill list as a refreshing change from "mainstream RPGs".

the words `` this has all happened before and it will happen again '' are on a black background .

Alt: the words `` this has all happened before and it will happen again '' are on a black background .

media.tenor.com

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 14h

"In every case, “player skill” means aligning with the GM’s vibes, not any real-world knowledge."

This is the pained cry of someone fumbling in the dark towards the International Kriegsspiel Society.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 14h

Going for a "tiny publisher" definition of indie, it was this near forgotten RPG.

Incidentally, I'm still trying to track down a copy if anyone's selling. (The creator became a born again Christian so won't distribute it because horror and spiritualism).

An advert for Victorian Adventure "the first truly British role playing game".

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 15h

Remembering the time Andy Ngo visited London and breathlessly reported an "alcohol free zone" sign as part of creeping Sharia Law. A sign directly opposite a pub.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 17h

I still have the copy of Ice Dancer I stole from my sister when I went away to uni.

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Flintlock but scary or something dunno not feeling it this year @flintlock.bsky.social · 17h

I think the fact that you have stated that being a journalist is about "selling news" is way more condemnatory that anything I could manage, tbh with you.

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