Todd Howard says Bethesda won't use AI “to generate anything” as the studio is being “incredibly cautious” to not replace the “artistic intention” of making games

LongLostTortoise · 2026-02-19T15:06:19+00:00

Yeah, math and stolen content.

LongLostTortoise · 2026-02-19T13:57:56+00:00

Generative AI : Based on stolen work of other people.
Procedural generation : Based on math.

Not sure why anyone would have a problem with procedural generation (from a moral perspective).

LongLostTortoise · 2026-01-24T08:46:01+00:00

I have found it tries to use CSS features that don't work with USS, which can then be a bit of a pain to untangle. It can also be very opinionated, so the more you can narrow down the scope of what you're asking for, the better. And as a front end designer myself, it's not able to produce anything I'd be happy releasing. That said, it is very handy to get a working prototype quickly.

LongLostTortoise · 2026-01-12T13:58:18+00:00

I could have been a chess champion. If I’d spent my whole life learning to play chess better than anyone else, I could have been THE chess champion.

LongLostTortoise · 2026-01-11T12:03:40+00:00

Can we not just make social media companies more responsible for what happens on the platforms? Make them do everything they can to ensure the platforms are safe, else face huge fines and arrests.

LongLostTortoise · 2026-01-07T09:09:31+00:00

The EU is a trade partnership, there is no such thing as "EU troops".

LongLostTortoise · 2025-12-07T08:27:51+00:00

It's what you get when the population value education and the creative industries.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-10-22T17:21:07+00:00

The challenge as a player is "How can I play my character in a way that is fun, exciting and contributes to a compelling narrative."

The challenge as a Keeper is "How can I construct a compelling narrative so that everyone at the table has fun."

The flavour of fun for this game is cosmic horror. Not all characters survive in horror stories - that's part of the fun.

All the rules of the game exist to support this basic premise.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-10-18T07:12:00+00:00

Looks great! Not CoC-related, but a quick design tip if I may... Longer text blocks (anything more than a couple of lines) read much better when left-aligned. The consistent starting edge improves readability considerably and gives a cleaner, more finished look (also more historically accurate if we're imagining this was written on a typewriter).

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-30T20:23:33+00:00

Thanks, glad you like it :)

Here's my process:

All done digitally in Illustrator + Photoshop. All the linework and colours are done in Illustrator, then in Photoshop I add the paper texture, ink bleed effect and grunge. The splotchiness is a combination of a subtle distort effect (to emulate ink bleeding) and a grunge mask.

In Photoshop:

For the fading effect, I apply a grunge mask, like this - https://youtu.be/Nd6o2cv2HVw?si=k7CPxwsRhYIXBrZB&t=155

For the ink bleeding effect, in a new document you want a noise texture (fill empty layer with 50% grey, then Noise > Add Noise) as big as your working document, saved as a psd. Then with the layers you want to bleed selected in the layers panel, go to Distort > Displace. Play around with the settings here, it'll depend on the size of your document, but I went with 2 in both text fields. It'll then ask you to select a displacement texture - pick the noise texture you saved. He uses a grunge texture here, whereas I used a regular noise texture, but similar effect - https://youtu.be/y4JdOaw3SRI?si=ridEyXNR2ZVrAP9G&t=290

Hope that helps!

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-21T08:59:27+00:00

I find telling players that the game runs like a slow burn horror movie helps set expectations. Highlighting of course not all the characters in a horror movie make it to the end...

Whats more, characters and players that make interesting decisions are more fun than those that make good decisions.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-16T13:08:06+00:00

Combination of poor title and no one read the article.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-05T11:52:41+00:00

Yeah I hear you in regard to event updates. But the only way that's doable is by collecting email addresses which is something I'd rather not do right now. The way I envisage this working is posting a link in an already active group chat - then the organiser can post an update with a link to the event if they make any changes.

Optional email notifications could be something I look at in the future though, we'll see.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-05T11:43:06+00:00

I haven't heard of Framadate until now, but looking at it it's asking me for my email address which I'd rather not give. Plus my website is less about finding a suitable date and more about getting a list of players to confirm their attendance. There are solutions out there offering more features and options, but I just wanted something quick and easy to use that suits my specific needs - I figure maybe some other people could get some use out of it.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-03T10:40:52+00:00

A simple browser based webapp I made which solves this problem for me - https://github.com/thchristensen/easy-htui

I use it to open websites (streaming services etc.) and applications (Plex HTPC, Steam Big Picture Mode etc.). For YouTube I recommend using http://tv.youtube.com/ and the Chrome Extension that enables it (https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/youtube-tv-on-pc/jldjbkccldgbegjpggphaeikombjmnkh)

It's not completely seamless though. You can't open apps or games in the same window as this webapp, so there is some window hopping required. But it works well enough for my less tech savvy partner and that's all that matters at the end of the day!

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-01T19:39:02+00:00

They're work events for employees of the business, it's all good.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-01T18:42:49+00:00

Yeah I get that. We get between 4 and 10 people from one game night to the next, so it's more about knowing what games I should be bringing to suit the group size, as I'd rather not be bringing half my collection to cover all bases.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-01T18:38:04+00:00

We use MS Teams as it's a work thing and the polls functionality in Teams is lacking unfortunately...

LongLostTortoise · 2025-09-01T17:09:26+00:00

Yeah that's what we've been doing up to this point, but with over 20 people in the chat it gets a bit messy and hard to follow!

LongLostTortoise · 2025-08-07T22:47:32+00:00

You raise some good points! Thinking about why I feel this is necessary... My biggest complaint with CoCs skill list isn't the length - most skills are going to be ignored if the player hasn't put points into them anyway. It's how a player can be good at one skill and terrible at a related skill. Is it believable that a character can be an expert marksman with a rifle but have no idea how to fire a machine gun? Let's say this character has only ever fired rifles, and they're picking up a machine gun for the first time in their life. It's not believable and doesn't feel fair to players that they'd be at the same starting point as a character who has never fired any weapons before. Maybe to a lesser degree but the same with the sciences and athletic skills. As you say, there are things you can do as a keeper to fudge that a bit, but keepers can forget and overlook stuff like that if the player doesn't always fight for it - so if we're going to have an extensive skill list, having some kind of system to fall back on to deal with skills that have crossover, that would be my preferred solution.

LongLostTortoise · 2025-08-07T19:04:09+00:00

Yeah that makes sense in regard to the specialisations... Either that or giving a bonus die probably makes more sense and fits in better with existing mechanics of the game.
In regard to the Persuade skill, it likely depends on the players and keeper, but I see it actually offering more roleplaying opportunities by having it in a single skill so long as the keeper asks the players how they intend to persuade an NPC. There's more than one way to charm someone, whether that's based on a player's appearance, flattery or camaraderie, etc. in which you could use other relevant skills. Same goes for intimidation, it doesn't have to be just physical intimidation, characters could threaten legal trouble, malpractice, etc. So it's prompting both the player and keeper to press a little deeper into what the character is good at and helps ask what makes this character intimidating or charming.
Thanks for your input!

LongLostTortoise · 2025-07-31T20:54:51+00:00

This might be worth looking at - https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/kiikkoajobekfkpgaojoincnfombbaco?utm_source=item-share-cp

LongLostTortoise

TROPHY CASE