=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 @user-1056 
 
 heh true - my roots in role-playing games are directly from the playground, so
 it makes sense that I'd gravitate away from dice that are hard to roll when
 you're on a hike or bike ride. Can only really play D&D on a bike when
 you're in the country though, otherwise the sounds of a city are too noisy.
 
 Also, systems that are so simple you can keep a character sheet in your mind.
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/2175 ---
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 @user-1056 
 
 I just got my copy of Knave version 2 and there's this line that stuck out to
 me:
 
 SCHEME
 Think laterally, not linearly. Avoid risky plans that require you to roll dice
 and instead create plans so bulletproof that success is certain. Use
 psychology, magic, allies, equipment, and the environment to overcome
 obstacles rather than relying on ability checks.
 
 I can't wait to try doing that in my next D&D campaign. This was listed
 under "player responsibilities" and there's some other bangers in there too -
 like this:
 
 TAKE INITIATIVE
 Set your own goals and make your own fun. Seek out adventure rather than
 waiting for it to come to you.
 
 I wish every player I ever had read that single page. And I wish I had read
 the "DM responsibilities" listed just one page prior. It's a really great
 game! I'm also into OSE, or Old School Essentials. What kind of D&D do you
 like?
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--- #2 fediverse/1485 ---
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 │ CW: re: more D&D/Pathfinder venting │
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 @user-1005 
 
 If you'd like, I can try and explain "killer instict". Though I get the
 impression you would prefer to play games that don't emphasize combat, which
 is 100% okay and valid and should be encouraged.
 
 My understanding of the rules of D&D is that combat is a contest between
 two or more entities. Contests need rules, and combat being based on physical
 prowess (or magical, or spiritual, or w/e) can be defined. Other kinds of
 contests, like "how well did the ranger do at the archery competition" or "did
 the rogue manage to convince the diplomat to share the plans" are impossible
 to genericize because they are based on situational factors, rather than
 physical (or magical, or spiritual, or w/e)
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--- #3 fediverse/6334 ---
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 a D&D rulebook can double as tarot if you need it. place one hand/bookmark       │
 at the start of a chapter, and the other at the end. flip to a page randomly,    │
 or randomly gain a percentage value from physical objects and then use that      │
 value to determine roughly where in the chapter you jump to. then, read words    │
 randomly, jumping back and forth, or try and divine some meaning from the        │
 words that are printed there. with D&D it's easy because you can say "ah I       │
 landed on the rogue section, that means this guy is probably pretty suave"       │
 (confirming your expectations) "hmmm, here's the rules for fatigue and           │
 drowning. maybe I need to take a break." (validating your unconscious            │
 decisionmaking) "oh neat, treasure!" (needs to explanation) but with other       │
 kinds of books it's usually better to pick the next-best word from the things    │
 your subconscious eyes can take in and process multi-laterally (you lost your    │
 audience, circle back) oh uh so if you wanna randomize it just put the words     │
 in the page in an array and pick one random.                                     │
(you lost your audience, circle back) oh uh so if you wanna randomize it just put the words in the page in an array and compare llm embeddings on each of them and see which has the highest score. this is a language-based truth serum, a way of divining exactly how something is seen to be by the model in use and mixed with a dash of randomized causality.
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--- #4 fediverse/4794 ---
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 I want to play a roleplaying game! anyone wanna do TTRPGs? I've got a map of
 the county jail, we can pretend to be wizards sneaking in to retrieve the
 staff of Dolomis the Wanderer who coincidentally must be carried by the last
 person who fought the one who slayed the last person to hold it.
 
 ... what? oh, so, like... it can only be carried by your enemy?
 
 something like that. anyway it's currently held by a zealot for a religious
 order who's intent on NOT following you out, so you better be ready to
 incapacitate and retrieve a still quivering sack of bones and malice.
 
 ... I don't actually have a map of the county jail. lost it in transit, oh
 well. Well, we'll come up with something. maybe make something up. or perhaps
 someone else has something...?
 
 ... no?
 
 okay I'll just play Baldur's Gate again. boooooring
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--- #5 fediverse/204 ---
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 @user-95 hehe true. I have a Pathfinder 1e one shot tomorrow and I haven't
 built my character yet D: to say nothing of all the long term "productive"
 things I've been directed away from... Oh also my best friend wants me to
 write a program in C that cracks a 9 character password (all lowercase
 letters) and I sooooorta know how to do that but getting high certainly won't
 help
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--- #6 messages/1066 ---
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 "alright everyone, you're now an adventuring party and your DM is the DJ. Your
 stat blocks are whatever you feel internally. Your skills are written on your
 character sheet, which is stored in your memories. Your bank will store gold
 notes for you, and you can find most things at the store or barge."
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--- #7 fediverse/209 ---
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 osr vs 5e style D&D has a subtle distinction that I think often goes
 unnoticed. In osr games (and often in the early levels of 5e style games)
 characters are encouraged to conserve their resources simply due to the fact
 that they have so few of them at their disposal. While higher levels encourage
 you to be more consumptive of your talents and virtues - for example a 6th
 level character has more spell slots than a level 2 character, meaning the 6th
 level character is going to be casting all the time while the level 2 will
 probably use just a handful of spells per day.
 
 unless you run a style of game where long rests become less frequent as you
 level up. like... exploring a LARGE dungeon means there's little chance for
 sleep. Especially if you are being hunted.
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--- #8 fediverse/2178 ---
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 @user-1056 
 
 whoa, sounds like we have un-similar influences! Together, with our powers
 combined, we could be unstoppable >: )
 
 I love systems, but I like writing them, not reading them. I guess that
 difference is why I gravitated toward OSR style games and you to AD&D and
 4e! Pathfinder 2e I haven't read all the way through but what I did read felt
 like "the good parts of 5th with the good parts of 4th" which I thought was
 pretty neat.
 
 Most of the rest I haven't heard of before, alas, that's what we get for
 contributing to and engaging with a scene. =P
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--- #9 fediverse/3619 ---
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 @user-192 
 
 ah yes like when I used to go to the cantina with my ex-girlfriend in Star
 Wars the Old Republic and bag a stranger to Electronic Role Play with back at
 my ship after a few drinks and some light four play where the four of us would
 play Electronic RolePlay together in the privacy of my ship on the soft plush
 couches or maybe in the padded gym or maybe in the pilots seat so we could
 look at the stars while playing (just the four of us)
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--- #10 fediverse/1765 ---
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 I'm this close to submitting a D&D character sheet instead of a resume
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--- #11 fediverse/2643 ---
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 @user-1292 
 
 You don't have to come up with the WHY for why a character does something -
 only that it happened.
 
 if the "WHY" leaps out at you, sure, yeah, go for it, until of course your
 players sitting around the table say something like "I bet they did this thing
 because of this reason" and you're like "shit that's better than what I got,
 okay that's how it's gonna be"
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--- #12 fediverse/744 ---
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 │ CW: alcohol-mentioned-protests-games-laughter │                                │
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 Protests are great because they give you the opportunity to make friends with    │
 2-5 other people who you've never met before, and who've never met each other.   │
 People who you could play DND with - for those who don't know, DND is a fun      │
 activity you can do with friends that involves chips, soda, sometimes beer,      │
 and plenty of laughter and loud voices.                                          │
 It's essentially a game where a group of people create plans, solve problems,    │
 and organize solutions to roadblocks on their path to success.                   │
 It's also great because it's a planned activity that you don't have to take      │
 your phone to - in fact, it's best when you don't make a reminder for for the    │
 event anywhere digital or easily misplaced.                                      │
 There aren't too many rules, and whatever you can't remember you can make up     │
 on the fly. It's not like there's any consequences in a game, not like anyone    │
 could die.                                                                       │
 Most people don't like playing games with me though because I have a pretty      │
 bad memory. Call it a quirk of fate or something                                 │
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--- #13 fediverse/3974 ---
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 it is significantly more engaging to watch people play MMOs when they've
 unbound all their action bars from their number keys and are forced to click
 on all the abilities. That way you can actually follow what moves they're
 doing.
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--- #14 notes/symbeline-design-the-guild ---
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 design the guild, design the capital, then design their path through mordaunts.
 easy peasy.
 
 design the guild like a museum. Each spot there's an exhibit which teaches the
 randomly generated rolled statistics hero something new. Maybe it teaches them
 how to use certain weaponry, maybe it teaches them how to use a bow. Whatever
 the spell might be, they can learn it, and use their randomly rolled statistics
 to cast spells that scale differently depending on how their character has been
 built.
 
 design the capital like a flow diagram, if horses need feed and forged steel
 (for their shoes) then send the outputs of a blacksmith and the outputs of the
 farmers to the inputs of the stables. Everything has to go somewhere, but the
 streets are only so wide. You'll have to coordinate the traffic diagram if you
 want it to go anywhere useful.
 
 design the path through the mordaunts. Fighting skeletons teaches you about
 perseverence and the ability to crush bones, while goblins teach you to always
 be wary of attack. The sacred grove held blessed berries, and now that the land
 is liberated from the evil bandits preying on villagers those berries can be
 carted into town and used to make an antidote which heals death poison caused
 by the scorpions in the desert (and city rats)
 
 design the ruler's schedule like a calendar where each event gives them a bonus
 on all the ones that come later. Just make sure that they don't get knifed in
 the posterier or driven mad by the whispers of the orb... or perhaps just the
 stress of running a kingdom.
 
 (how do you simulate that? you can't! you can't simulate humans!)
 
 ha I bet I can. They're not so different, you and I, so if given a team I
 will...
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--- #15 fediverse/3005 ---
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 most people have no conception of what ancient battles look like until they
 play a Total War game and see one from above
 
 (total war games also aren't that accurate tbh, there's a lot more
 standing-near-each-other-and-throwing-rocks involved)
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--- #16 fediverse/3703 ---
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 if the map you present to the players in session 0 had a mountain range on the
 OTHER SIDE of another mountain range, you need to zoooooom in. Unless your
 characters are all dwarves, a game should start in a valley or on an island.
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--- #17 notes/dungeon-looting-methods ---
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 the reason dungeon masters should give the gold value of the items distributed
 is because the number represents what it eventually sells for. and the players
 will try and appraise and haggle at the market and such but that all happens
 off screen between sessions. so anyway during the adventure, the dm will say
 "you find some precious gemstones" or "there's some high quality silk here" or
 "these bears are renowned for having magic livers" or "the mold growing on the
 walls can be scraped into a vial and sold to an alchemist"
 
 then the dm will say "this treasure is worth 50gp" or "this treasure is worth
 25gp" and players can "buy" the items from the other players. so player 1 has
 50gp, the item costs 20gp, so in a party of 5 he gives every other player 5gp
 this way, the relative treasure hordes of the players stays the same.
 
 then, when the players find treasure, it can be evenly split - it's only fair.
 when in town, players will feel more impulse to buy things if they can sell
 them too. like "here's an enchanted axe that does some mundane thing like
 never dulls" well, that's probably going to be very valuable to a small village
 or "an enchanted quill that writes down everything you tell it to" could
 increase the education level of the area ever so slightly. Then, after several
 generations of adventurers, the surrounding area will be ripe with magical loot
 the players distributed from the dungeons and such. it can trade with neighbors
 and so over time the markets will have better and better goods for sale - for
 example, maybe after trading with the swamp people, now there's a supply of
 healing potions that runs out both over time (to represent other adventuring
 parties buying the supply) and when the players buy some (to represent
 consumption in their minds). Trade with the dwarves? Now you can buy +1 swords
 for a while. village attacked? the militia can be armed with the holy relics
 plundered from the evil priest-lich. boom development!
 
 the players should also have choices about large scale effects. for example,
 the heart of the forest could be a) preserved, b) burnt down, or c) studied by
 the local wizards. each choice would have different effects on the populace,
 and so the world would change to adapt to the player's choices.
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--- #18 fediverse/3620 ---
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 @user-192 
 
 Yep! back in the day be-fore "four play" you could generally only single-play,
 and for "four play" you'd typically find friends be-fore play-ing.
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--- #19 fediverse/97 ---
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 @user-110 Exactly! I play games to practice strategy and empathy, not to stand
 triumphant over a virtual foe. Why should I care for the lessons of others
 when mine so often go unlearnt?
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--- #20 fediverse/6422 ---
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 revolutions should be paid for in lands
 
 [sometimes I like to just... scroll through the land cards in a Magic the
 Gathering card viewer screen application and imagine I myself am there what
 would it feel like how is it part of my arms (that which interfaces with the
 world)]
 
 there's a deleted section here about atlas the immortal
 
 [while also controlling stimuluses to essentially act as a biological computer
 controlling various hydraulics and related upkeep and maintenance
 infrastructures]
 
 anarchrist (she's a baby)
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