Video game I want to play
Jan. 12th, 2019 05:47 pmYeah, there’s the regular journeying out to get stuff, buy stuff, combine stuff, all to bring it back and sell stuff, but you talk to people too and hear where they’re journeying, where they’ve been, when they were there, what monsters they’ve faced, etc. All of that info gets automatically added to a journal.
A bunch of regular customers (adventurers, explorers, the “typical” RPG party and the “typical” enemy team) all stop by and tell you where they’re heading. Do you know that destination? Do you know seasonal dangers? Do you know what’s effective on the monsters they’re likely to find there in this season? The better recommendations you make, the better your rep, the higher you can put prices, etc.
Sometimes, you won’t have info, you won’t have stock to help them (flaming spears are rare, what can I say, try the fire dagger instead), or maybe you decide to meddle in the plot lines and take down some adventurers via bad advice.
Someone comes in to sell you gear they found while out adventuring to that group’s last destination... and sells you that group’s signature items. (Maybe you later have the option of selling one of these items to a grieving friend. Will you drop the price and gain good will and possible favors, or will you take them for all they’re worth?)
Depending on how well you help, or how poorly, different threats from far away areas could potentially come closer to home.
the freedom of stupidity
Dec. 30th, 2018 01:40 pmNow that I’m three times older, I’ve finally started playing D&D, having finally found a group of friends I’m comfortable to play with. I made my character for a pun, which involved her needing to be a full Orc, and y’know what? She’s dumb as rocks. She’s a charismatic bard of an idiot, and I love her. I love playing her, in part, because she’s stupid. She’s also a lesbian, because I always gotta gay, but as I have no idea how to flirt with women (and my dice apparently don’t either), she keeps striking out due to the stupid. She has the best damn awful ideas, and the look on my DM’s face is always priceless when she hears what the everloving fuck my bard is going to do.
“I fling myself out of the cart.“
“You what?“
“He’s coming at me with a sword, I’m tied up, I launch myself over the edge of the cart with my feet.“
“Okay, roll Athletics… You’re now upside-down hanging out of the cart. I think we’re gonna count that as prone.“
“All right, crew, it looks like we’re facing a werewolf,“ says our wizard.
“Does anyone have glue?“ my bard immediately asks, being in possession of a mace and seven silver coins.
“The werewolf turns and runs.“
“I throw the glitter [that I bought with the glue] at it.“
“Uh, why?“
“To make a sparkly trail we can use to track it.“
Some of these awful ideas have actually worked, which I guess makes them good ideas, but at no point am I ever afraid of offering a stupid plan. She’s supposed to be stupid, she has a -1 Intelligence modifier and is interested in only music, birds, and women who could beat her in arm wrestling. She’s allowed to mess up. Moreover, because she’s used to it, she even knows how to move on from it.
So yeah. I’m having a blast.
fandom as a teacher
Dec. 19th, 2018 08:05 pmThat is, I already know so many of the traps people fall into when they're 1) overexcited, 2) deeply invested, and 3) are stuck in groups not solely of their own choosing.
Something I had to repeat a lot today was "Is a game more important than a person?" Fortunately, the kids I was asking let out sullen no's, but a couple other kids started asking me theoretical questions. ("What if it's someone really, really, really, really bad?" "Is a game more important than a person?" "But what if they killed loads of people?" "If that person is less important than a game, then people are less important than a game. Are people less important than a game?" "...No.")
The other one has been what I'm deeming the Not Your Problem filter test:
- Is it definitely a problem?
- Why is it a problem?
- What makes it your problem?
c'mon, tiny friend, update your world
Dec. 5th, 2018 10:19 pmLast week, she refused to let her friends play with two toy lions as a married couple even after I reminded her boys can marry boys. She still refused to play until I taught them that sometimes, girl lions can have manes (because sometimes, it’s not so obvious who’s a boy and who’s a girl, isn’t that interesting, kids). This morning, she asked why I wasn’t wearing my wedding ring. I answered that it’s because I’m not married “since I haven’t found a best friend I want to spend every single day forever with yet.”
She asked who I live with, then, which is a fair follow-up, and she asked after my roommates. I mentioned that they have girlfriends but are also not married. Child then immediately informed me I should marry my roommate’s girlfriend.
“You should never marry your friend’s girlfriend,“ I told her, because I’m hardly about to mention poly exceptions to a second-grader. “That’s very rude.“
“I’m a girl,“ she said.
“It would still be rude to marry your friend’s girlfriend,“ I said.
“I’m a girl,“ she said.
We then had a five minute long debate as to why she felt I could marry her stuffed animal (a dog) but not my car (who is, unbeknownst to her, a boy).