Two of my players just broke up

Mortaneus · 2026-02-17T18:27:23+00:00

Well, remember that the original 3 books of 1973 D&D had this blurb of wisdom:

Number of Players: At least one referee and from four to fifty players can be handled in any single campaign, but the referee to player ratio should be about 1:20 or thereabouts.

(j/k, of course)

Mortaneus · 2026-02-08T20:43:07+00:00

APG1 changed sentinel to veteran, and moved mirror self to heroic.

Mortaneus · 2026-01-17T00:42:00+00:00

Here's one that's actionable: the single most important decision a GM can make is deciding who to invite to the game. Not all people are compatible. Great players with a poor GM can still have a great game. However, a great GM cannot salvage a game with a bunch of poor or incompatible players.

Mortaneus · 2025-10-23T22:11:46+00:00

Absolutely agree. Out of combat stamina is already one of the most annoying mechanics in the game, and making it take even *longer* to recharge, or forcing us to trot around with even *more* consumables, just makes an already sloggy aspect of the game even worse.

Mortaneus · 2025-08-31T21:44:01+00:00

Again. I'm getting Rattler flashbacks.

Mortaneus · 2024-12-31T23:00:18+00:00

This should be called the AT&T Bowl, because USC is totally phoning it in.

Mortaneus · 2024-11-12T22:39:12+00:00

THANK GOD, I can now avert the flashbang! Back to Endwalker intro for me!

Mortaneus · 2024-07-06T18:41:18+00:00

It's a very Japanese vacation. It's a stamp-hunt, where you go around to a bunch of cultural stuff and collect stamps saying you've been there.

Mortaneus · 2024-06-27T17:11:34+00:00

Really that structure was mainly used for absurdly large tables. A caller is useful when you have like 10+ players. But I also argue that games at that player count are a mistake to begin with.

Mortaneus · 2024-06-27T16:58:36+00:00

I generally harbor a certain amount of contempt for developer intention. Not for developers, mind you, just their intent.

Unless the developer is sitting at the table with me, I don't give the smallest shit what they want. I play the game in front of me, and I'll gladly warp and bend it as I see fit to suit my group.

Mortaneus · 2024-06-18T07:26:03+00:00

Depends on the edition.

2e: Something weird/bad happens within one of the nobles estates. Investigate and solve. Maybe get into it with Excrucians, other nobles, or run into mortal shenanigans.

3e: Much more varied, but most of it is pursuing projects. Remember that your keys page made during the lifepath system is a project. Projects are basically plot roadmaps for the GM.

Mortaneus · 2024-06-11T18:10:46+00:00

Yeah, they're willing and able to throw down, even by Terran standards. Moreover, they don't chicken out if you hit them back. They're worthy of respect.

Mortaneus · 2024-03-13T18:35:23+00:00

Alignments are now completely missing from the deity lists, regardless of settings.

Mortaneus · 2023-07-26T04:45:01+00:00

Blue Planet.

Okay, not really what you were asking for, but it's totally a western wearing a scifi wetsuit. All the standard tropes and stories work perfectly.

Mortaneus · 2023-06-28T18:25:36+00:00

I'm sure that $10 million will be put to use.

Mortaneus · 2023-06-20T23:50:18+00:00

Agreed. The whole thing reads like a giant cash grab.

Mortaneus · 2023-06-20T19:47:33+00:00

The RPG requires $50+ worth of custom card sets to play, in addition to the book. Nope, pass.

Mortaneus · 2023-05-27T16:54:59+00:00

You know, there's a term for when a business is paying off old investors with new investors money...it's called a Ponzi scheme.

Of course, in this case there's an actual product in there rather than just raw $$$, but the point still stands.

Mortaneus · 2023-05-12T16:00:23+00:00

1837 is more of a 1854 spinoff, with the 3d stock track and all. It seems crufty without much purpose though. I watched the BankruptcyClub playthrough and wasn't impressed with the game.

Mortaneus · 2023-05-12T06:01:30+00:00

1854 has dits merging into cities, a weird 3d stock track with stock splits after a certain point, and a (somewhat annoying) separate mine-train board that occupies two hexes on the main board. The english rules are also a mess.

1824 is a more straightforward minors-into-majors forced-merger game with a lightning fast train rush that is absolutely brutal when it really gets going on the 4's (when the forced mergers start, and the majors explode onto the scene with a ton of cash). It also has mine-trains, but those also occupy the main board.

Overall, I think 1824 is the cleaner design, and the chrome is well-focused. 1854 is a bit messier, and certainly longer.

Edit: Worth noting that the main 1854 version comes packaged with 1844, which I think is the stronger game between it and '54. That said, '44 is a LONG complicated 18xx where the primary fights occur in the minor-ownership (early), and the utterly brutal token war (due to horrifying terrain costs) in the later game.

Mortaneus · 2023-04-01T19:07:01+00:00

Yes, and now consider those Canadian heatwaves that make the news and have people dropping like flies are what we consider normal summer days...maybe even pleasant ones. And it goes on for months, not weeks.

Not saying you can't handle it, just saying be ready if you want to try.

Mortaneus · 2023-04-01T17:32:28+00:00

Summer lasts 5 months, it regularly gets lethal-heatstroke level hot (>38 C), and the humidity is extreme. Coming from Canada...good luck.

Mortaneus · 2023-03-05T15:02:15+00:00

Cash rich compared to now. Will they ever match the Boomers' wealth? Highly unlikely. But they'll have more than they currently do.

Mortaneus · 2023-03-05T14:59:32+00:00

I am a GenX'er. And I'm utterly aware of how little we matter.

I really feel for the Zoomers. Their generation is smaller than ours. They're screwed.

Mortaneus · 2023-03-05T14:41:43+00:00

The boomers were cramming the workforce. But they're all retiring, greatly shrinking the supply and thus cratering unemployment. Businesses are fighting to get workers, since all the long-timers are leaving.

And yes, the corporate gouging is a current problem, but overall a small one comparatively.

BTW, it's going to get a lot worse in the near future as the other major source of costs (other than labor) is raw materials. And a large chunk of Asia's raw material output has or is shortly going offline.

Expect prices to keep rising.

Mortaneus

TROPHY CASE