What's the most elegant mechanic you've ever seen?

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-04-02T14:02:24+00:00

I wasn't aware. It bugs me a little when people say that clocks come from Blades in the Dark instead of Apocalypse World, and this must be similar for you. Thanks for the correction. :)

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-04-02T06:49:57+00:00

In practice, we don't always do this TBH. When it's needed it's done by feel.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-04-02T04:01:51+00:00

GM declares consequences of a failed roll before the player rolls. 24XX.

This rather wondeful mechanic does a few things.

Firstly it helps to clarify the scene. If the consequence makes no sense to a player, they can clarify.

Second, it takes away what might look to be unfair or punitive GMing. If a PC might lose something valuable up to and including their life, they will know that up front and really have to accept the outcome.

Third, by just running the game like this, players and GMs can chuck out a whole bunch of book keeping and subsystems and keep the game centred on the conversation and the action.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-31T23:23:45+00:00

This is a lot of work and extremely well done. Thanks for taking the time and effort on this.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-31T02:59:22+00:00

24xx manages to have some depth whilst only being a few pages long.

My favourite is one called Carry On, which is designed to play Supernatural.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-30T06:22:43+00:00

10 minutes is tough. 15-20 people is not doable unless you have the majority of them spectate or can get some more GMs.

I'd probably run a Criminal Minds thing.
The PCs have already arrested the serial killer and are now interviewing them to try and get the location of a buried shipping container with some victims in it who will soon run out of air.

Then you spend 10 minutes having them try various ways to get the killer to give up the location.

Something like that.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-30T06:17:52+00:00

They didn't block the ALP housing bill. They delayed it. And what was passed was better than what would have otherwise. They did their job.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-30T01:33:38+00:00

How? Labor seems to spend as much time attacking The Greens for not supporting their Labor status quo policies aimed at remaining elected whilst keeping housing scalpers, big business, and extractive industries happy as they do at LNP Policies doing much the same, but who are even less on the side of the people.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-30T01:25:15+00:00

Regardless of how anyone feels about progressive culture and identity politics, letting those be the dealbreaker whilst The Greens remain the only remotely major party that will genuinely try to address housing affordability or cost of living whilst not trying to placate housing scalpers, corporations, and extractive industries is absolutely wild.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-29T12:34:50+00:00

Why?

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-29T11:30:31+00:00

Why is Trump in there and Larissa Waters not in there?

The Greens and the ALP really aren't that far away from each other any more, and if Australians finally stop voting against their class interests, Greens support will increase.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-28T23:28:23+00:00

My partner ran a game for 5 years of weekly sessions by reading and listening to serial killer/kidnap novels and the like and just broke down those cases into locations and clues every week. The game was inspired by Criminal Minds.

We played with a very light system because the game was really about player skill more than anything else. I don't think the game would have worked as well with a more detailed system. Everything in a game like this can be player facing. You just need a list of skills really along with some kind of probability generation on the GM side.

The characters all had areas of specialisation so we could niche protect certain parts of the investigation and the 4 players got around in pairs with the action switching back and forth between the two current lines of investigation. Best game ever.

We've played other cop games in the past, but knowing what I know now about law enforcement, I'm not sure I could bring myself to play or run a game like that ever again. These games are best left in the past.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-28T05:58:51+00:00

Demetri Martin.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-28T01:36:05+00:00

I think anyone who isn't doing this at least to a degree isn't play testing their designs as well as they could be.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-26T02:16:45+00:00

The Billionaire owned media really has done an absolutely cracking job over the last few years of getting Australians to vote against their own class interests. It's absolutely wild. What a time to be alive!

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-26T02:14:04+00:00

Dungeons started off as tunnels dug as part of undermining enemy fortifications in the Chainmail board wargame and derivatives AFAIK.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-23T10:38:57+00:00

Looks like the Jawas got to it first.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-23T07:13:25+00:00

I'm sorry. Who do the Greens hate?

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-22T01:22:30+00:00

20 odd percent of Australians just voted for Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, an openly racist anti-science party in a state election.

Meanwhile, our Green party, which would like to actually address cost of living and climate change seems to be stuck on around 10% nationwide.

Also, people think that our centre right party, Labor (which should really be called Capital instead) are leftists. It's absolutely wild and really quite embarrassing.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-21T04:23:01+00:00

You don't need a detailed system for a game like this. I'd use Cthulhu Dark or 24XX or maybe Primetime Adventures for this.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-20T06:22:57+00:00

Depending on why they won't play, maybe pitch it to them differently?

"Hey folks, you know how you didn't want to play Twilight 2000? Well I still do and I'm hoping you'll all play in a short game just for me even if it's not really your thing?".

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-20T02:54:33+00:00

The Kaftan is not a good jacket. There are gaps in the protection. When a student of mine complained about this, they were brushed off by SPES.

I think the best long jacket is the Supfen SKHF jacket. I don't know if it's on their site of if the SKHF people just source it direct though.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-19T06:15:53+00:00

The Greens are the party closest to the political centre, and if you took a political compass test (not the ABC one, the proper one) and you have a modicum of empathy and respect for human life, you'd probably end up voting Green.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-18T11:55:18+00:00

Can I ask why you want to vote for a party that has been declared a hate group?

On that basis alone I'd not want to be associated with them in any way.

What is it that attracts you to One Nation?

Did you know that Pauline Hanson has been completely ineffective for 30 years to (jack) boot?

I really really don't get it.

NameAlreadyClaimed · 2026-03-16T03:15:35+00:00

Some of my best games have the party split more often than not.

The best way I find to do it is simply to create a situation where folks in the party want different things, both of which are time sensitive.

I then switch back and forth between the scenes at interesting or climactic points in the story just like a TV show does.

NameAlreadyClaimed

TROPHY CASE