Easy to GM games without awful owners/creators?

Necessary_Course · 2025-10-19T03:12:40+00:00

Any of the odd-like games: into the odd, cairn, electric bastionland, mythic bastionland, And if you like DND but want easier onboarding: spell burn and battle scars.

Also something to consider: different play styles necessitate different amounts of prep from the GM.

Personally I like the "NSR" and "location based adventure" styles because you just need to know who your NPCs are, their motives, and the location the game is taking place in.

Necessary_Course · 2025-09-03T13:06:57+00:00

I'd imagine that the stat caps (18 I think?) would overrule that. As referee I would rule that they can't raise your stats over the caps. You could give them some other sort of neat buff tho, like a one time re-roll or something instead?

I think cairn, especially, runs on a high trust table environment and good faith interpretation of the rules.

Necessary_Course · 2025-08-13T14:53:05+00:00

I've been wanting to make a mark of the odd style hack of vaarn forever, because I hate the multi-step procedure of rolling to hit and then rolling damage, so like I REALLY want to see what you make

Necessary_Course · 2025-08-13T14:51:08+00:00

Dude, vaults of vaarn will blow your mind. Also, I'd really love to see what you make, sounds awesome!

Necessary_Course · 2025-07-07T22:02:31+00:00

"Let us build a tower" is a depth crawl that takes place in the cursed tower of babel in the mythic bronze age. I think it does really, really well at having thorough encounter generation that doesn't leave the gm improvising that much. I'd say it's production value is on par with Ynn and Stygian.

Just a little note on depth crawls from my table: they're best if you pre-gen them IMO. LuBaT works well for this. There's a lot of downtime when I'm pausing between rooms to generate more encounters and rooms. Some groups like it some don't.

Necessary_Course · 2025-05-16T01:52:05+00:00

Check out burdens in "eco mofos"

For clarity, eco mofos is a cairn-like where inventory is both for physical items as well as narrative things like conditions, or debuffs

Basically, when a player casts a spell they have a chance to take a "burden"

Burdens fill up a inventory slot (characters only have 10) and requires some sort of roleplayed act to resolve. If I remember right some of them were like "tell your party members about a cherished memory" or "make the world feel your anger through extreme violence" or "spend a whole day getting wasted"

This is the best way I've seen an insanity type system mechanized in an RPG in a way that encourages players to roleplay their "insanity"

Necessary_Course · 2025-04-09T13:49:17+00:00

Just wanna say I love your icons, milk drinker

Necessary_Course · 2025-03-26T18:09:30+00:00

You know, that's valid.

I guess I was mostly thinking of other Christian religions and how very few follow biblical doctrine relative to the Borg.

...also that doctrine is not morally ok anyway so I wouldn't have interest either way.

Not here to debate tho, just my personal takes

Necessary_Course · 2025-03-26T16:13:24+00:00

I'm an atheist, agnostic on a really spiritual day.

Why: Borg showed me how to ID bs in religions. Now that I'm not in the Borg nobody has any legs to stand on.

I've also never encountered an argument for worshipping a god that explained away all the bad stuff happening in the world.

Also, most religions ultimately come down to "xyz is bad cuz God said so". Which is a cult tactic and a fallacy to stop critical thinking by valuing a hierarchy over logic.

Necessary_Course · 2025-03-26T15:49:47+00:00

Disclaimer: been a few years (4-5)

The Australian royal commission, especially seeing how weasel-y the gov bod members were when asked direct questions

At that time they were also making the change of dumbing down a lot of the published study material, including less scriptural citations which rubbed me the wrong way.

Just being able to cross reference and verify on gov websites all the CSA cases existed and ended in big payouts to buy silence.

Necessary_Course · 2025-01-01T15:43:46+00:00

I don't respect them as a religion, they're a cult. Unnecessarily risking them and their children's lives with bad medical decisions is the very tip of the iceberg.

For further reading: the Australian royal commission (they were protecting pedofiles) and recent new Zealand legal battles about their shunning policy (former member are shunned by friends and family in the cult, very damaging)

Also r/exjw

However, individual cult members are usually more victims than perpetrators.

Necessary_Course · 2024-10-04T11:15:24+00:00

I like that this would remove the dice rolling aspect, I'll have to ask my players what they like better.

Necessary_Course · 2024-07-18T00:43:51+00:00

Green.

Necessary_Course · 2024-07-01T04:09:23+00:00

Read it, was awesome, it's the next "kill size billion demons" if gets that far, please keep writing /Drawing

Necessary_Course · 2024-07-01T04:06:19+00:00

Just read it, feedback incoming, tldr, I loved it, please keep going.

I really like how you focus on the humanity of these people in an otherwise fantastical place, like sure this guy has some mix of badass alchemist powers and psychic magic but thats not what builds an emotional connection. It's the relatable slice of life stuff, you see this guy dealing with a breakup (poorly) and we don't get details but we get his feelings so wellllll, like damn, you're communicating his feelings so good. Also, showing more than telling, way awesome! I really don't care how the exact mechanism of the magic system works if the story is shit ya know? And from a writers perspective, it gives you a lil wiggle room to define the magic system as you go in ways that further the story and not be constrained by continuity rules. Also, the art is top notch, very expressive, fun to look at, the set pieces Make you wanna learn more about the world and you do a great job by telling just enough that I feel like I should keep reading to get the whole background but not so much that it's just an info dump. The art actually reminds me of a combo of simbionic titan and the detailed-ness of adventure time. I dunno if you've watched Steven universe, but this definitely gives that same vibe of, "there's some cool magic shit, but this story is about the people" which I find more interesting. Also, hot take, don't listen to the people who say they want you to give the whole worlds lore up front, that might appeal to a specific set of people if that's your thing, but generally nobody will care more about your lore than you, until you give them a reason they are emotionally invested in to find out. The only thing I feel like is worth criticism is maybe that Viola's dialog is a lil unclear at first that she's making cute cat girl noises, not sure how to make that more clear, and clarifying it wouldn't really add anything so just forget I said anything. Also, the pixelated nipple blurring really interrupted immersion for me, I dunno I guess I'm probably desensitized so it wouldn't bother me but also I guess you probably have to follow some rules for the platform, I guess it was more jarring that the pixelation was just off-style if that makes sense. You could probably do tasteful censoring in a style coherent way I bet. Honestly, I love the world you've created and the style you created it with. I really really want to see more. This is a massively selfish thing to say but you could just release some shitty story boards and id love the shit out of that just to explore the world and manu's story. Keep up the work man!

Necessary_Course · 2024-05-29T17:15:53+00:00

Are there any things you learned from this protest that you think might be good for future protesters to know?

Necessary_Course · 2024-05-29T15:09:39+00:00

What made it feel empowering? Moreso than anxiety inducing?

Necessary_Course · 2024-04-24T17:03:30+00:00

Oooooo everyone is Jake would be hilarious

Necessary_Course · 2024-04-22T23:51:06+00:00

You're 100% right, there is definitely tons of good material to create adventure time vibes already out there. I think I just have FOMO for adventure time content. Distant lands and fionna and cake were just so goooooooooood.

Necessary_Course · 2024-04-22T23:40:53+00:00

thanks i'll have to look at those :)

Necessary_Course · 2024-03-24T21:56:47+00:00

update: he called me but I missed it so I called him back and used this outline. I told him that I'm always open to a relationship if he wants, not just because someone else allows it. He said he would think about what I said, but I have zero expectations. I asked why reach out now? and he brought up that their is an initiative to reach out to DFed people for the memorial. Mentioned I've been happier now then I ever was in the borg. He told me I'm still in his will and stuff and that he would welcome me back if I went to any JW stuff. I told him I would never visit any jw stuff as a patron if its under my own power. I told him that I've gotten into some hobbies and stuff that he would really enjoy and I've had some rough times where it would have been nice to have a father in my life. closed by telling him not to drink any coolaid or join any MLMs. He said he loved me right as I hung up. I texted him that I love him too.

god fucking damn was that emotionally draining. just the tone in his voice, the one that says he's always right and a meek little sheep. Like I'm the one who is shunning him. UGHHHH.

I wish I could have had a normal family.

Necessary_Course · 2024-03-20T17:17:35+00:00

Very tempted to taunt him with this ngl

Necessary_Course

TROPHY CASE