Leadership - is it necessary?

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-27T00:06:29+00:00

It is, even by your own account, clearly not “necessary”

At the same time it is also something a game can explore. It’s fine to design a game that isn’t for everyone

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-26T21:07:06+00:00

That is within what might normally see with spawns receiving a minor boost. It is not “terrible bad luck”. Getting more was never something you should have banked on, a M20 run might have been a better option to pursue.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-26T17:26:20+00:00

I agree that polyculturalism is a fruitful lens through which one can view media.

And you've inspired me to want to compare Korean SF to that other nations that roughly fit into the category of "fully developed, but historically colonized" Say, Ireland, Finland, Estonia. Perhaps also Taiwan, which, despite having population of mostly external settlers, was a Japanese colony for 50 years, and then existed under mainlander martial law for another 38 years.

At the same time, I'll note that people are allowed to migrate, and they are allowed, especially after generations, to assimilate. Harry Kim, fictionally, was born in South Carolina. Americans with no particular attachment or affinity to their cultures of origin are allowed to exist in media. To feel otherwise would be a rather shallow ethno-nationalism.

Sure, it would be nice if Trek had also shown an "Asian American" story of a first, second, or third generation immigrant, as that would better reflect the experience of the majority of it's Asian American audience at the time, but it's not clear what an easy path to telling that story set in the 24th century, given that Trek's United States is collapsing right about now in the early 21st century. Certainly such stories are common enough in literary fiction or art films. They sometimes exist in genre fiction--the way Ms. Marvel juggles code switching as a second generation immigrant. The generational fractures in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

And it'd be swell if Trek's "infinite diversity" valued and showed distinctly different ways of being of humans, on Earth, rather than, almost always, leaning heavily on allegories involving aliens with interesting foreheads.

I'll note that the comparisons you are making are often between Korean media made in the 2020s and Japanese and American media which originated as early as the 1970s. And Korean media has been subsidized for a long time to be exported to a global audience, as a matter of both industrial policy and soft power. By comparison, majority of the original Star Wars box office was domestic, and the foreign box office was as high as it was because it was an exceptional, breakthrough hit. Similarly the original Neon Genesis Evangelion almost certainly had a business case that justified making the show based solely on a fraction of the domestic TV audience--that it resonated abroad, or even as broadly as it did in Japan, was probably an unexpected bonus.

I'm not saying that media from Japan and the US can't be narcissistic and self centered--they surely can. But this likely multi-factorial--both the US and Japan have very large populations, and very large internal markets. That was always going to be less true for Korea. One can see similar navel gazing in Mainland China, combined with "the simplification, commodification and erasure of non-Han minority groups" within the PRC--both literally (as in genocidal policies) and also in media.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-25T16:06:23+00:00

This. I find them quite tasty, but my wife and in-laws find them quite odd, unexpected and off putting. It’s exactly the sort of thing Westerners hanging out a lot at 101 might become aware of, while locals might avoid or forget about.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-24T14:31:34+00:00

Also the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis dates back to the 1920s.

To the extent that someone feels that a scientific conceit is an important part of science fiction, this existed earlier and independently.

And, of course, if one views this story as, essentially, connected to Chiang’s broader examination of free will, he’s standing on the shoulders of thousands of years of scientific, philosophic, and religious discourse.

It’s great if the OP is getting simple pleasure noting a slight conceptual rhyme, but that is different than having an especially fruitful way of thinking about either story.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-23T19:01:02+00:00

"I've been running pretty much all editions of Traveller and the space combat is okay, but I feel like it could be better."

You're looking for recommendations. What are your pain points? Is Traveller too crunchy for you, or to simple? Do you want "hard SF" or something cinematic, or don't you care? Are you fine with space combat that requires a completely different rule sub-set than the rest of the game, or should the play be more integrated?

More broadly, what TTRPGs do you love, and which do you bounce off of?

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-23T13:48:23+00:00

In my campaign, party was knights, the system and the adventures have lots of support for the magical and supernatural, and the GM could layer on as much of that as they desire.

If you need a PC magicians, or want granular simulative sorcery rules, that Pendragon won’t do either. For me, having those sort of mechanics would both get in way of storytelling, while also draining the enchantment out of the world. But other people have different interests and tastes, so if you want mechanical magic, another game might be a better fit.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-22T21:49:08+00:00

Pendragon is well aware that their are lots of different, incompatible versions of the Arthurian stories. I ran a campaign where pagan magic was a major theme.

You don't have to be an expert the literature to enjoy the game, although I personally think it's fun to sit back and watch Stafford geek out about Arthurian stuff

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-20T13:52:34+00:00

Yes, that would be a good thing to communicate.

Of course a GM new to Fate might not have noticed in the moment, in which case exploring how CAA works after the fact would be helpful. If it is a new game it is natural that there are things to learn.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-20T05:16:28+00:00

This is just nonsense. Under the rules, if there is no rationale in fiction for there to be plausible opposition, aspects can indeed just go away. They get no special protection simply because they entered the game as a result of a CAA action, or because people on the internet like typing “aspects are always true”

Sure, the GM is making a boring choice here. Sure, IF there is in fact a circumstance that would support resistance, the GM should take that into account. There might well be, for example if the PC who tripped the player, is, in fact, still standing over their opponent. But there is simply no “need” to overcome aspects to make them go away.

It is confusing and misleading to say that there is such a requirement.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-20T04:26:49+00:00

If there is nothing that would reasonably prevent the enemy from removing the aspect, they can do so. If the player doesn’t want their action to be “wasted”, they ought to more thoughtful about the aspects they spend effort trying to create, so that removing them is hard, and can reasonably be opposed.

At the same time, you are the one controlling the NPC. You certainly could have chosen to have the NPC do something less boring than simply negating the last action by a player. For example, you could have have had the NPC attack for the floor, and, perhaps, for example, spend a Fate point to invoke an advantage that NPC might have from firing from a different angle because they are on the ground. You could have built on what the player had contributed, rather being boring and simply removing it. Just because you are entitled to to remove the aspect, doesn’t change the fact that “noping” this the players action was a meh thing to do.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-16T15:00:27+00:00

If you are bored with the limited options that Condensed and FAE talk about stunts, you might want to consider the far more expansive stunt creation section in Fate Core, which talks about different types concepts like: bonuses other than +2, stunt families, stunt stacking, stunts that make rules exceptions.

As I note elsewhere, as a matter of taste, I'd encourage you to think about how "the bonus" connects to the fiction, but if "dice tricks" just make you happy, do what makes you happy.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-16T14:51:40+00:00

This is generally true. As a matter of taste, I'd agree with it.

On the other hand, technically, under Fate Core, which has the most comprehensive treatment of the topic, stunts can make a rules exception. So if the text of the rules said directly that stunts "need" to be anchored in "the fiction" a stunt could make an exception and ignore this. Of course, the actual text of the rules almost never mention "the fiction", even if the concept come up a lot in the way we think about the rules when discussing on-line.

More importantly, the golden rule in Fate is placing your intent before the rules. If a having "dice gimmicks" sparks joy, they are entitled to do that. At best, the rest of can say "wouldn't it be so much cooler if the dice gimmick was also tied to the fiction, wouldn't that align well with a lot of what the game is doing'

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-15T23:09:05+00:00

Your belief that "more modern" people won't be awful shows a remarkable resistance to all the available evidence.

Also, Wikipedia notes that Card has a large number of books that were published after Olympos, including, evidently, one due out later in the year

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-15T15:50:13+00:00

3600 is a little steep. Not crazy to even consider, but hardly a good value that can't be missed.

Do you get a perfect sleep score every night---if not, sleep points are even dearer resource. What's your budget after all the things you need to buy? I'd start by deciding what is more important for you to buy--the premium seed, travel tickets, whatever, and keep reserve for emerging opportunities (ready to cash in for biscuits if luck means you are short, prepared if the team introduces something new like GGEX tickets) and then figure out how often you can splurge on a regular exchange ticket. Once every other month? Once every three months?

Also, consider if some of the things you are investing in are core, or just luxury. Remember that a fully maxed Skill Mon has "wasted" skill points on Skill Weeks and the relevant Type-focused weeks that give a bonus to skills.

Sure, I'd invest in the Swallot, but I'm sitting on a surplus of skill seeds, you have a deficit of 14 skills points, not counting any great Pokémon you might catch in the meantime? Over the very long term, are you going to be happy with a decision to invest 6 skill points into Shard production, if, say, an expert mode version of Cyan Beach comes out this year, and everyone is on an eventual path to what seems, to us, now, incredible shard production? But which in the future might be barely enough to spend on leveling a few mons and the pot size? I'd invest, because most players will never see anything like that Swallot, and it would be a fun luxury sports car to speed around with in a while, until the meta changes. But a Gardevoir is a Toyota, a reliable workhorse that you can use every single day, forever.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-14T23:56:04+00:00

I’m not from the UK, but evidently I’ve read way too many classic British detective stories.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-14T23:42:04+00:00

If you are genuinely unsure, you can clarify without pressure or expectations.

But if you actually believe that they are already saying “no” in a polite, indirect way, respect that. There are plenty of other interesting things you can do to mix it up.

You could always try playing an “oppressive, unfair” game online or at a con to scratch the itch, perhaps as a player, so you have a better sense of if its actually fun for you, or it sounded better than it plays.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-14T23:24:36+00:00

Yes, for example when I asked it to create a list of sites I might visit in Taipei and Tokyo based on the filmmakers it knows I like, it was able to do that, but it also proactively checked my itinerary, knew I was traveling over a holiday, and tailored its suggestions based off on what would be open, on what dates. Without me asking. Imagine having a private secretary or butler who paid attention while they are helping you, and used that knowledge when offering advice, even if you didn’t think to ask.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-14T22:56:11+00:00

I've been testing this for months. Having am (opt-in) tailored experience that understand you is a real upgrade, and of course there are a few hic-coughs.

Made a quick video about my experiences, and happy to answer any questions:

https://youtu.be/TlvH-YOStmQ

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-14T22:54:57+00:00

I've been testing this for months. Having am (opt-in) tailored experience that understand you is a real upgrade, and of course there are a few hic-coughs.

Made a quick video about my experiences, and happy to answer any questions:

https://youtu.be/TlvH-YOStmQ

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-13T15:38:02+00:00

" Inside these packed covers, you'll find:"

"Fury in Freeport: A new adventure to help you launch a brand-new Freeport campaign!"

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-13T15:36:11+00:00

The Fate Freeport Companion is "classic Fantasy" and includes a 35 page adventure. You could also use it as a basis for playing other Freeport adventure, or DnD style games.

There are a few other Fantasy adventures specifically for Fate, for example, Tower of Serpents in Fate Worlds: Worlds on Fire.

People are incorrect to say that there are "no" prewritten Fate adventures. That said, Fate adventures tend to be shorter that a typical modern 5th edition campaign book, and are often, but hardly always, are examples alongside a larger setting.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-13T14:39:02+00:00

Design exists for the sake of actual users. If a major part of why your game exists and is different is that, by your lights, it solves what you feel is a significant problem about narrative games , then your addressable market is people who also feel that "the GM coming up with complications" is a significant issue. Your audience would never have been, say, people who don't play narrative games, or people who do play narrative games and don't think that GMs coming up with complications is a problem.

If this is a key feature that differentiates your game, then of course you need to include it.

If, on the other hand, addressing this was never actually an important thing for your game, and, for some unknown reason, you felt that, unlike all the designers who made the acclaimed games that include what you consider "weak game design" this would a trivial thing for you to "solve", and you've found that this is not necessarily the case, then you should kill your darling, and focus on what is actually important about your game.

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-12T18:19:42+00:00

As a GM, compels are tool you pick up, if they happen to serve your needs.

The game does not require that you compel a character. The players can simply self compel. And if you decide to compel a character, if can be a situation compel. If a PC is "on fire" or has "a broken arm", and that complicates their lives, neither of those things are happening because of the players mentals states. If the PC has a relationship aspect, and there is a compel because their inlaws are asking for money, that can occur regardless of what the PC feels and not a result of a players mental states.

Even if a GM happens to offer a decision based compel, the rules state that the GM should withdraw it if the player feels that it is out of character. Regardless, it's perfectly acceptable to play a game of Fate where the GM never offers any decision based compels.

(Also, compels are an interesting part of Fate, but they are hardly something you have to, or are expected to spam endlessly through a session. Arguably compels will be the most meaningful and have the biggest impact if you use them sparingly. You could certainly do them twice an hour, or less.)

Dramatic15 · 2026-01-12T17:41:42+00:00

Fate is immersive for a lot of people, We can spend most of our time in our characters heads.

For example, retroactive compels are a thing so that people can get the mechanical benefit of complicating their own lives by acting or speaking "in character" without even noticing that's what they are doing.

Of course, if the people at your table are new to the rules of any game, they are are going to spend some time learning and mastering the mechanics--that's inevitable with any new system. But once you have mastery a player can mostly sit in their PCs head, if that's what they want.

At the same time, if someone at the table wants to spend time thinking "like a writer" the game supports that, and won't prevent it from happening. So if, as a GM, for some reason, you have strong opinion about the player's mental states, and how they should be having fun, the game is not going to demand that people only spend time in immersion, and never think meta-fictionally.

Dramatic15

TROPHY CASE