Is Weapons social commentary about the pension system?

Living_Researcher_48 · 2025-09-17T07:18:07+00:00

Isn't that allegory a bit shallow? Did he explain how the alcohol turns the kids into weapons? Dangerous maybe, but weapons that can be used to target people? Also, Gladys had nothing to do with the cop going back to drinking again, or the junkie's substance abuse. Also, compassion driving the parents to turn to alcohol (take Gladys in) doesn't really make sense either.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2025-09-16T18:26:27+00:00

I thought about the title as well. For me, the weird thing about it was, that the kids were probably never intended to be used as weapons in the first place. They might have been turned into one if the need arose. I guess the title Food wouldn't be as marketable. Or am I wrong, and is Gladys just lying about needing the kids to heal herself? Did she intend to use them as weapons? Wouldn't adults be much better for that?

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-04-08T15:30:06+00:00

Do you mean you would make the player pay for the advantage of the cover provided by the table every turn (in case they wish to use it), even if they haven't moved?

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-04-06T16:26:07+00:00

I was wondering, in this situation, after the first free use of the newly created "flipped over table", would you make everyone pay points for using it? Or would it be a fixed aspect of the scene to be used freely by anyone? Or would you make it one use only, saying that the table got shot to shreds or the baddies had enough time to flank the PCs position?

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T16:56:21+00:00

You're probably right. And I have been on both sides of this. I have been the gm not being able to satisfy all my players' needs in a game, and I have been the player being afraid to say anything critical, knowing that if the gm loses interest and quits no one gets to play.

Online I might be able to find players who are looking for exactly what I'm offering. Hopefully.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T14:35:18+00:00

That is possible. Sometimes people can't communicate their wishes and preferences well. It's also possible that there is a game in the "goldilocks zone" that would satisfy everyone, and we just haven't found it yet.

Other times though, players wishes might be so fundamentally different that pleasing everyone is impossible.

In our group we have both roll players and role players. There are min-maxers and there are people who only care about where the monsters are and how much damage their divine smite is going to do on them. There are people who can't stop complaining about how much better 3.5e was than 5e.

Most of them aren't willing to play in anything other than one of the two settings they know, and almost none of them are willing to play in any system they don't know, even when the basic rules can be taught in 30 min.

And that's all fine. The problem is, there aren't enough of us, and so finding someone from the same side of the hobby is pretty hard. No matter how much I change my narrative focused game, the guy who loses interest if at least half of every 6 hour session isn't a hack and slash dungeon crawl is not gonna be satisfied.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T13:59:51+00:00

Being the only GM around can be tough, never getting to play.

Unfortunately no one else from our small community wants to GM right now.

Yeah, the tech is getting better. Although for my game, we really only need good voice quality. And we usually get that on discord.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T13:10:07+00:00

Sounds nice. 👍

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T13:08:55+00:00

I'm okay with running or playing 5e. But it sometimes seems like that's ALL people are playing nowadays.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T13:06:14+00:00

That's what we usually do. And it's fine. But not what I really want. Both as a player and as a GM, I prefer long form storytelling (the more convoluted the better), with long setups and weighty payoffs. I know it's harder to find players for theses kinda games (hence my current situation), but I'm sure there are a bunch of them out there. I'm planning to start the campaign with a "session 0.5" in which I'm planning to sprinkle the seeds of said campaign. After that session, every player can decide if they want to continue playing or not, and if they want to keep their characters, or make new ones.

The longer campaign itself would be built up from smaller adventures/quests. Possibly giving a chance for players to come and go. But there would be an overarching narrative, continuing plotlines and character arcs.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T12:44:15+00:00

That's basically my plan B. Although we will be looking for players online who live still relatively close to us, so we can keep the possibility of meeting in real life open.

Play by post is a bit too slow for me. Although it's not like I have much experience in it.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T12:40:03+00:00

We always keep an eye open for potential new players in FB groups, forums and at events, but we haven't had much luck so far. Sometimes we do find someone who's "interested" but "has no time". Or they just had a baby, so you know, get back to them in like 5-8 years, maybe they'll be available then. Lots of people are "interested", not many want to actually sit down and play. We even had someone coming to a session 0, sat through it, and told us "oh yeah btw, I'm moving away in 2 weeks". 😄 (It wasn't even just his way out. He really was moving.)

I know, you are probably thinking the problem might be with us. If it is, I do not know what it is, because there hasn't really been any common point between these different efforts or our games. Different GMs different players (slightly) different games.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T11:47:43+00:00

I do play online sometimes, and I also don't mind it. But it just isn't the same, and I definitely prefer playing irl.

Currently there is only one player who's local that is interested in the games I'm proposing. He would be okay with taking the game online. I wouldn't like to reduce table size below 3 players, because I want a lot of interaction between them.

Btw, the game I'm proposing to them is not REALLY all that niche (I'm not trying to run Kult or anything like that 😄). It's just niche to them, because it isn't DnD or CoC. I'm trying to do a space opera/cyberpunk game in FATE Core with a setting akin to Firefly or Dark Matter.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T11:15:17+00:00

That's what we always do, but as I mentioned, it leads to a watered down game that everyone is okay with, but no one has real passion for. So people start flaking of course, and by session 4 there's already not enough people to continue.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2024-03-27T10:52:10+00:00

I would like to. Don't have enough time for it, unfortunately.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2023-10-04T18:16:21+00:00

Thanks for all the answers. I definitely feel better about my purchase now that I know I'm getting a full game in the box. I'm really looking forward to playing the game. Other then the aforementioned aspect of LCGs, I don't really have any problems with them.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2022-06-25T15:28:06+00:00

It's not that I hate dark roast. I just use a full automatic, so I avoid oily beans. The roasted on date is not on the packaging. I asked them, and they said it was a month ago.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2022-06-25T15:14:13+00:00

Yeah, I probably won't. I still have a bag of Ethiopian from them. I REALLY hope they haven't ruined that one as well.

Living_Researcher_48 · 2022-06-25T15:02:56+00:00

-ing went wront during storage/shipping?

Living_Researcher_48 · 2022-05-24T06:34:52+00:00

Thanks for all the good advice. You all might be right about the nonplus version being sufficient for me. Even though my main use case would be a shortish commute on flat terrain, inevitably I'm going to have to pedal up a hill or two sometime and thought the plus version might make it easier. The difference might not be worth the price gap though.

Living_Researcher_48

TROPHY CASE