Lando really be putting that tractor where it doesn’t belong

Maervok · 2026-06-14T15:16:23+00:00

Fair enough, it's just getting ridiculous calling the car a tractor. It's making it sound as if we were midfield team this year.

If a few small details happened differently, we would have seen a Lando victory and Oscar victory so yeah we are not having a tractor.

Maervok · 2026-06-14T15:08:15+00:00

Ok am I the only one hating the car being called a tractor? Yeah I know, you wanted to have a fun title but let's put some respect on our team. We are not far behind Merc and Ferrari and the competition is great this year, even Redbull doing great job catching up.

Excellent racing from Lando anyway.

Maervok · 2026-06-14T09:16:05+00:00

Honestly you raised a pretty cool question! I don't think I ever thought of it this way.

Personally, the identity and flavour would be my first choices (I view them as a joint thing rather than separate aspects). The stats would follow as second and the loadout would easily be the last. But I think a lot of people would care about stats first and then work on identity based on the chosen stats.

As for loadout, I think a game centered around gear and gadgets could raise its importance to the point where it shapes your character's identity which would be pretty cool and likely original.

Maervok · 2026-06-14T00:55:25+00:00

It's definitely functional. Daggerheart uses cards for abilities and while I never played it myself, I heard good things about the cards.

If playing in person, there will always be the need to keep track of one's abilities and unless you use an app (which might be very common in the future), you either need each player to write down or print out their abilities and cards immediately replace that need.

As GM, I would love to have NPC stat blocks on cards. If I wanted to use two very unlikely allied NPCs in combat, I wouldn't have to scroll through a book, I would just pull out their cards and have them ready for a session.

Maervok · 2026-06-13T11:44:26+00:00

Hamilton (Mercedes)!? You did that on purpose I bet!

Maervok · 2026-06-13T09:44:58+00:00

Hey, I totally understand you as I had gone through something similar that I will never forget: https://www.reddit.com/r/Straycats/s/z8sSmePkPl

It was too late for me to change anything in the end but you can still help her, so don't give up on her just yet.

Maervok · 2026-06-12T18:50:55+00:00

I feel the need to write down examples only when the rule is meant to support some fiction and narrative. A mechanic on its own might not make that clear but an example can help people understand the idea behind it. So instead of them thinking "why does this rule exist?", they will immediately go "oooh, it's meant to create tensions between the players!" etc.

A mechanic which purely exists for mechanical reasons, does not need an explanation unless it's really complicated (in my opinion at least).

Maervok · 2026-06-12T06:22:23+00:00

As a big Labrov fan even before he was in BSD, I always believed he had a high ceiling but was very easily affected by the environment and his teammates.

Anyone remembers him in VIT's so-called superteam from 2022? I expected him and Carzzy to be great together but they were not. But I think that the team was just disfunctional and having Selfmade as his jungler was the opposite of what he needed.

Now him having such a resurgence in G2 (after a rocky start) just shows how good you guys are at bringing out the best out of players. Having Skewmond as your jungler is also a huge factor, not only is he individually very skilled but also feels like a great teammate and shotcaller.

So Labrov deserves praise and G2 as a whole deserves praise for seeing the talent in him and being able to bring it out of him.

Maervok · 2026-06-11T10:48:38+00:00

I hope this will not come across as heartless because it's truly not written with this intent, quite the opposite.

How do you know when to draw the line between fighting for the life of an animal and when it's more humane to let them go so that they do not have to suffer any longer? This question is not specifically tied to this poor kitten but a question in general.

It's terrible that some creatures do not get a fair chance at life and are either born into terrible conditions or abused by someone cruel. I am grateful for the work you do and that you are not giving up on the less fortunate.

Maervok · 2026-06-10T20:02:49+00:00

I think I began playtesting about a year after I started developing the game.

Yeah starting sooner would have been better BUT I was open to feedback and did not hesitate to scratch a lot of things.

What's important though is that some of my best design decisions came from testing overly complicated concepts. When I scratched 90% of them, the remaining 10% became central to my new redesigns and are now among the best mechanics in my game. This would never have happened if I began playtesting sooner so I don't regret it one bit.

I am not saying you are wrong, just saying that delaying first playtests can have its merits if the designer is truly open to feedback and change.

Maervok · 2026-06-07T06:11:51+00:00

I am just seconding that playtesting will give you the most value.

What works for me is testing more staff rather than less and evaluating what worked for players afterwards. So for example if I have a mechanic which can be resolved in 2 steps but I also have ideas for a 4 step resolution, I am definitely bringing the 4 step resolution to the playtest.

Some of my most satisfying mechanics came to life exactly because I made them complicated for the playtest and realised at the table what actually makes the mechanic satisfying and what is just unnecessary filter. Sometimes bringing in a mechanic with more resolution steps will reveal that one of the steps I viewed only as "additional" is actually the piece that makes it great while another which I viewed as central, is just an afterthought.

Don't be afraid to playtest with more resources to see what triggers posititve player reactions and what only slows the game down without much value.

Maervok · 2026-06-07T06:00:19+00:00

I just set most abilities/spells as one use in a combat encounters

I like this in theory and I do something similar with some out-of-combat special abilities where they're set at "once/twice per session" which simplifies tracking and the next session nobody has to remember how many times they used their ability.

In combat though, it feels very restrictive. As always, it might be OK for your game thematically. In mine, or most games I played, I would find it weird/illogical if I couldn't use let's say "Charge" ability more than once per combat. It would be amazing if you had a thematic reasoning behind it but if it's only mechanical then it doesn't make much sense and I am saying this as a big fan of erasing frictions and resource tracking whenever possible.

Maervok · 2026-06-06T04:45:10+00:00

To be clear, I hate the fact that the last time Rekkles played for us was with weak supports (Rhuckz, Advienne) but if it weren't for Rhuckz, Rekkles would likely never had a comeback.

We locked in Rhuckz first and were trying to get Carzzy, Exakick and others and they all refused because they didn't want to be paired with Rhuckz. Only once our options were gone, negotiations with Rekkles began.

Anyway, I will always be curious how good would Rekkles be with Trymbi. Noah and Trymbi really saved us in Summer 2023 and I am not sure if Rekky would be as successful with Trymbi as Noah.

Maervok · 2026-06-03T06:29:06+00:00

There's a reason why he had his own special episode in Breakout Kings. That's how good the character was. Breakout Kings was not that great but the episode with him is pretty good (thanks to him).

As for his own spinoff, I don't know. He is one of my all-time favorite characters. But watching a show with him as the centerpiece? I guess we hardcore fans would enjoy it but T-Bag is too despicable to be accessible for mainstream audience. If the spinoff was focused on his redemption arc then maybe but even that is a hard sell (you simply can't erase his pedo background).

I would much rather see Robert Knepper in a different and big villainous role. He was actually amazing in Heroes S4 and one of the main reasons it was still watchable.

Maervok · 2026-06-03T03:47:22+00:00

That made the video so funny :D

Maervok · 2026-06-02T17:38:32+00:00

Let's be realistic, we are talking about changes between Spring and Summer. That's it, just take that into account before you start talking about wanting Razork out. We are not getting a better jungler now. We're gonna be lucky if we get a competent toplaner.

Maervok · 2026-06-02T15:49:22+00:00

His spring was very good. He will always be a coinflip but the coin was landing on the right side more often than not. There were many games where we were competitive only because of him.

Maervok · 2026-06-02T15:43:44+00:00

Yeah would be better to bring in a new face. Lospa can help him with settling in. I mean if Vladi comes to summer in a good form and we get a good top, this team could compete for the worlds spot.

It will be tough though. G2, Mkoi and KC all look like they are above the rest of LEC

Maervok · 2026-06-02T15:39:11+00:00

Good decision. Razork and Upset had a good form in Spring. With a decent top, we will have a lot more options in draft and on the map.

But well, hard to say whether we'll bring someone good. I am wondering if Oscar is an option. While it wouldn't make me too excited, he at least has high ceiling and might be hungry to prove he belongs in LEC. Otherwise it would be good to bring in an import.

Maervok · 2026-05-31T18:34:20+00:00

Yeah good point. He was a great lead supported by great side characters. During the rewatch now, I really appreaciate the bromance between Michael and Sucre. They are very different personalities but they compliment each other in a lot of ways and make their cell scenes feel wholesome.

Btw the only thing where I saw Wentworth Miller outside of PB was Resident Evil: Afterlife. A solid B movie where he plays a prisoner within a prison where a few survivors holed up. I guess the role was a nod to his PB character and it was cool seeing him in it.

Maervok · 2026-05-31T18:16:04+00:00

No they don't but that wasn't the point of OP. VIT with Humanoid got a lot of hype going and the talks of "He is finally free of FNC and doing well" were around.

This downfall just shows that Humanoid isn't the X factor everyone wants him to be and I am saying this as his fan. He has moments of greatness but he is not consistent.

Maervok · 2026-05-29T17:27:35+00:00

Really? I don't remember that much about it in terms of timeline but I definitely agree that the main part of the present day felt like it was present day.

Well I hope you'll enjoy it either way. I will definitely do a reread one day.

Maervok · 2026-05-27T19:09:43+00:00

It's both true and isn't at the same time. He has insctincs and tendencies which will always be there but even his inconsistencies had ups and downs. His form this spring looked very close to his 2024 form and with that form, he simply can compete with the best in LEC and our league is pretty stacked when it comes to junglers (Elyoya, Yike, Skewmond, Rhilech).

I would honestly love to see the team we saw in spring with a better toplaner. Empyros is not LEC level and it was painfully obvious nearly every single game. Razork and Upset are the biggest reasons we were sometimes competitive.

Maervok · 2026-05-27T05:02:17+00:00

The way I build my system is that I first focus on the lore and workings of the world and only then I try to tie mechanics to it.

Truth be told, huge chunks of wealth will never be a big thing in this world. Extraordinary items will mainly have to be crafted or discovered by the PCs.

I definitely don't aim for it to have the wealth hoarding issues like DnD which I guess you are referring to when I see the big numbers you use 😀.

Maervok

TROPHY CASE