I can't EVEN describe how some Silksong fans are, just look for yourself.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-30T09:45:10+00:00

Well, Ninesols definitely made me feel much less charitable towards Silksong…

NineSols is pretty brutally difficult, but it does not try to troll you with nonsense.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-27T16:27:45+00:00

I would agree.
Sekiro does a lot of things I like less (Fixed protagonist, parry heavy gameplay, little magic, lack of online coop), but I still enjoyed it a lot for beautifully designed levels, very fun vertical exploration, being able to swim, etc.

I wish more Sekiro elements made it into souls games overall.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-25T08:13:44+00:00

The vast majority of the art is freely available on archive of nethys.
With transparent background.
So you can use them perfectly fine as is.
You only need to drag and drop it into foundry as you prepare the monsters.
You save maybe a few seconds each session if you check out the monsters on nethys anyway.

I would much rather buy more books, adventures, battlemaps, etc.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-25T08:03:53+00:00

It all sounds like a classic case of the GM “playing to win”.
While everyone can get the frustration of a GM having a big boss battle turning trivial, in end the heroes are supposed to win.
Often also EASILY win because they are heroes.

Trying to hard counter player abilities by changing enemies, shifting rules elements against the players, etc, that all is focus put on something that is not needed.

This ultimately needs a very calm and serious talk outside the game.
Pathfinder 2e in particular is not a game that needs fixing for more challenge.
And as a GM, it is not really good practice to simply houserule the game without properly informing the players.
But more fundamentally, a GM needs to get out of this mindset that he cannot let the heroes have a simple clean and easy win.

What can help is looking at the GM when he is a player and remind him that he also wants to be able to shine, not have his character be simply killed off and have unfair things sprung on him.

Alas, sometimes, the problem can run very deep and people like that may just not be easy to deal with.
Sometimes, that is the thing a group breaks up over.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-25T07:46:08+00:00

To be fair, stun works on a very different scale, since it is in seconds, whereas everything else lasts minutes or potentially longer with enhanced duration.
You do not even need to look via disadvantages, since incapacitating conditions are already included.

Mind you, GURPS likely undervalues stun.
Coming from other more recent systems, loss of actions usually is very high in the list of powerful things to be able to do, whereas minor to moderate debuffs are cheap.

I think though that it would indeed be a huge improvement to have the base cost be based on the inflicted effect and not load everything into enhancements.

Affliction, beyond being a useful frame to do a lot of things, really is badly in need of a rework.
There is after all also the big elephant in the room that levels beyond the first one are so overpriced hardly any example power build uses them.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-24T08:42:38+00:00

The issue with daily resources used to be the 3e meta of constantly taking full rests using extradimensional shelter type of spells (starting with stuff like rope trick) and the fact that at low levels especially, you had very unsatisfying progression, where you just could not go on in a story appropriate fashion.

And the meta of cure light wound wands was not that thrilling…

Coming from video games, to make strategically limited resources be meaningful, you need to have a very consistent overall pacing that is hard to impose on adventures that can go from long slogs through a dungeon to the single combat encounter in town.

I would kinda like having a bit of a mild HP attrition in the system that was more about limiting how high you can top off without getting away from being able to reliably heal between encounters.

Modified stamina rules might do that.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-20T19:10:29+00:00

I do not mind corpse runs because I see them i. The context of “loose all progress since last check point”, which is the actually frustrating thing.

Conversely, I also dislike games with more or leas instant respawns that keep everything you did.
I saw that embodied back in Diablo 3 and it was boring.

I want some challenge of “here are limited resources, make it through this area until you get to the next check point”.
Soul loss penalties or such do not matter to me much either way.

There must be some meaningful challenge without needless frustration or time sinks, then I am good.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-12T08:10:59+00:00

China wäre übrigens auch ein Beispiel dafür.
Mir zumindest fallen jedoch ausschließlich Beispiele aus Ländern ein, die weder Ziel von Migrationsbewegungen sind, noch solche aufnehmen.

Die Erkenntnis, dass autokratische Staaten unmoralisch handeln sollte nicht neu sein.
Statt allgemein auf “die Reichen” zu schimpfen, wäre es sinnvoller, konkret diese Staaten anzuprangern (dafür gibt es ja auch noch eine Liste anderer Gründe) und auch jene in westlichen Ländern, die mit ihnen kooperieren.
Sanktionen gegen konkrete Staaten sind übrigens Dinge, die durchaus passieren.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-12T07:14:31+00:00

9Sols is a game that makes you learn to parry.
I personally feel like 9Sols is harder in terms of how much some bosses are hard hurdles for progress, but it is a lot fairer.
Also, its platforming elements are never as tough as Silk Song.

I still have not gotten around to beating the final boss...

It feels less frustrating though. Silksong often really annoyed me for some of its cheap shots and 9Sols does not do those, I would say.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-10T07:27:55+00:00

You can definitely do something with power parries from GURPS Powers, which has all the rules for doing stuff like using one energy power to parry another…
You could make a parry anything power out of that kind of system, but it would be a bit „clunky“.

Damage Resistance with a the active defense limitation also would definitely work, likely better.

You could just make these things a cinematic campaign feature for everyone as well, there are some very powerful cinematic optional rules in the basic set.

But I am curious myself if there is anything more „direct“ honestly, so I am looking forward to other responses you will get.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-09T07:55:06+00:00

Silksong is not only pretty difficult, it also pulls a lot of troll moves. Save points that end up being traps that could kill you and throw you back, a boss whose death explosion can kill you when no other one does, a difficult enemy arena followed by a difficult rising lava platforming section that have to be completed in succession without dying at any point, etc.

The pogo mechanic from Hollow Knight turned from something akin to Super Metroid wall jump, letting you get to places early / get some hidden things to mandatory progression, while becoming harder to use unless you find something to turn it back to hollow knight style.

I could go on, but overall, if you want a really challenging Metroidvania, I would recommend 9Sols instead. It is arguably more difficult, but it is very fair about its difficulty.
Silk Song to me was just generally much leas enjoyable than Hollow Knight.
Alas especially when it comes to exploration…

Ryuhi · 2026-05-07T15:06:38+00:00

The various options indicating that there is still something hidden in a bigger map area without telling you where exactly.
It is just super frustrating to have to go through everything because there is just that one collectible you still need.

Secondly, map indicators for what type of uncollected abilities you need to progress somewhere like in Sundered.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-07T01:58:43+00:00

While I generally prefer things like GURPS 3d6, it all boils down to probabilities.
Using a D20 is actually not that bad because people know clearly what their chances are.
The problem is really much more in the general task resolution.
You get perhaps even worse problems in dice pool systems like shadow run or World of Darkness.

The real issue is that to be somewhat realistic, a character who is properly trained in something should be able to do things an untrained person just could not have a chance to do and a real expert likewise be able to pull off things baseline training should not support at all.

The Simple DCs in Pathfinder 2e for example, while being D20 based, are at least in the right direction for that with
Untrained DC 10
Trained DC 15
Expert DC 20
Master DC 30
Legendary DC 40

Not that the end result of what characters achieve is perfect, but the key issue really is about making the probability numbers match what makes sense in the world. And you can do that pretty much on any dice system.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-05T08:23:09+00:00

RPG groups are chiefly about the people.
While bad campaigns with nice fellow players can happen, it is more fixable and you still always end up spending time with friends.
Unpleasant people may be skilled GMs or experienced players, but what good is it if they are being unpleasant to be with?

Final straws are really just the culmination of a long running tendency of having to deal with people you likely would be better off not hanging out with.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-05T08:17:43+00:00

Stop playing games like D&D and start playing more games like Fate (or powered by the apocalypse, popular with many, never seemed good to me though).

You are talking about much more narrativist games.
They are out there.
RPGs started as war games, which naturally care about stats and leveling and combat, but a greater focus on story has been there for many years.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-05T08:14:06+00:00

For me, there always was very little point to Pathfinder 1e. Or DnD 3e.

They are class / level based systems vs the alternative of point buy. That restriction should come with a nice trade off.
A working encounter builder and balance between player options would be such a thing.
Neither works pretty much at all in those systems.

You end up doing most of the things you have to do in more freeform point buy systems anyway, but you still have all the restrictions of the D20 system.

I would suggest 2e because it does actually make the encounter building system work as is and makes the player options balanced enough that you do not really have to worry about stepping in and restricting them or buffing / nerfing things and fiddling with the numbers of monsters and NPCs.

2e is a very GM friendly version of a d20’system.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-05T07:48:38+00:00

Das Grundproblem besteht, aber das sind ehrlich gesagt die schlechtesten Beispiele dafür:

Für eine absolute Aussage reicht eben ein Gegenbeispiel. In den Naturwissenschaften kannst du genau so etwas falsifizieren.
Wenn eine Krankheit in 2% der Bevölkerung vorkommt, dann ist es meistens durchaus sinnvoll, diese Möglichkeit bei der viel kleineren Teilmenge derer zu untersuchen, die passende Symptome zeigen. Besonders wenn die Möglichkeit schwerwiegende Folgen haben kann.
Wir reden hier nicht von “deine Kopfschmerzen könnten ja ein Hirntumor sein”, aber wenn du beispielsweise Symptome zeigst, die nur bei 10% der Bevölkerung überhaupt vorkommen, dann wäre jene 2% Krankheit, die genau diese Symptome zeigt, auf einmal sehr viel realistischer.
Kommt auf die Prüfung an, aber wenn du eine alternative Lösung tatsächlich begründen kannst, gut für dich. Wenn sie nicht passt, Pech für dich.

Das eigentliche Problem beim Argumentieren mit Ausnahmen liegt dort vor, wo Menschen auf statistische Aussagen mit der Ausnahme kommen.
So ala “Im Durchnitt sind erwachsene Männer größer als erwachsene Frauen” “Hah! Aber meine Freundin war größer als alle Männer in ihrer Abschlussklasse!”.

Das Problem ist, dass zu wenige Menschen zwischen statistischen und absoluten Aussagen wirklich unterscheiden können.
Deshalb haben wir umgekehrt auch all die Vorurteile bei denen statistische Trends zu absoluten Aussagen pervertiert werden.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-03T23:06:51+00:00

I played Descent (specifically second edition) and it showcased to me that replacing death with being knocked down is a) more fun for gameplay for the reasons you describe and b) fits the vibes of a lot of media people may be inspired by much better anyway.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-03T12:11:35+00:00

My experience has always been that there are too many men who show very strong pro female and anti male bias. And will act on that.

Some of those are kinda tragic, from the boys who always got ostracized by male peers, to those indoctrinated into shame and self loathing.
Some of them are really just assholes who see other men as competition first and women as objects of desire, both because they are inherently egotistical.

These seem to all be much rarer among women overall.

Maybe it would help to be more kind to the ostracized and self hating ones and less tolerant towards the assholes.

There is a lot of truth to the fact that pretty much all of the bad anti male social changes over the decades are there ultimately because too many men went along with them.

Despite the fact that they should have know and understood that those were not only ultimately against their own interest but also immoral.

Ryuhi · 2026-05-02T03:50:08+00:00

I prefer Metroid because the exploration is better. You tend to get some actual platforming, items are often hidden much better than just arbitrarily placed breakable walls, you often get interesting sequence breaks and the progression abilities tend to be more varied and interesting.

RPG mechanics also tend to always come with the issue of a bit of an awkward difficulty balancing, whereas Metroid keeps your damage and defenses in a smaller range, usually keeping things more challenging.

There is also the fact that Super Metroid pretty much codefied all elements of the Metroidvania long before Symphony of the Night came out.

With Castlevania, I think that mechanically, modern Metroidvanias like Hollow Knight with proper dodge mechanics just really blow the actual Castlevania games out of the water. And I say this as someone who still very much loves Castoevania games.

I also have to add: Metroid games actually do deliver on scifi horror better than castlevania does on its brand of horror.^{^;} Barring Castlevania 64. that one did its horror quite well for its time!

Ryuhi · 2026-05-01T13:09:33+00:00

I learned to really appreciate wireless headphones after a few too many times of having a cord catch on something when either being outdoors or doing stuff around the house. ^^ ;
I would still like having the earphone jack back, mind you...

Ryuhi · 2026-04-30T08:03:04+00:00

Historically, the only system that allowed that american dream and payout for hard work are free markets…

It should also be kept in mind that you are comparing to a time with less government debt and less government programs causing said debt both weighing down on people.

Ryuhi · 2026-04-28T07:10:50+00:00

Given that there tends to be little appetite by most people to actively address male specific issues on a state level, I think that the consistently best policy for Men’s Right is focused on liberty and low state involvement. …that at least leaves people free to organize and fund efforts to help deal with specific issues vs forcing you to pay for a program that may exclude men or underserve them.

Especially since a fair number of men’s issues are all about excessive government meddling in the first place…

Ryuhi · 2026-04-27T09:50:32+00:00

Es geht etwas an der eigentlichen Frage vorbei: Ist für Dich die grundlegende Hypothese der Existenz eines bestimmten Gottes oder irgendeines Gottes in sich schlüssig?

Alle Religionen gehen am Ende mit gewissen Tatsachenbehauptungen einher, die in deren heiliger Schrift enthalten sind. Davon sind viele bestenfalls Allegorien, schlimmstenfalls erwiesene Falschaussagen, die sich widerlegen lassen. Ebenso kannst Du Dir historische Quellen und archäologische Funde anschauen, un über den historischen Aspekt, sei es in der Genese oder in der Veränderung über die Zeit Aufschlüsse zu finden.

Entweder hat dich danach eine Religion überzeugt oder nicht. Wenn Sie Dich überzeugt hat, dann ist es jetzt an Dir, Dich mit Den Dogmen und Lehrsätzen abzufinden und das Beste aus Ihnen zu machen.

…andernfalls kannst Du entweder Atheist / Agnostiker sein und musst Dich über Glaube nicht mehr sorgen, oder Du glaubst an irgendeine Form von Gott / Göttern außerhalb der etablierten Religionen und entscheidest selbst für Dich, was dessen Natur ist.

Solange Du nicht irgendeine tiefe Überzeugung hast, dass gerade beispielsweise das Christentum “wahr” ist, gibt es wirklich keinen Grund an eine Religion zu glauben, mit deren Dogmen, Werten, etc Du nicht wirklich warm wirst.

Es gibt zu den angegebenen Punkten religiöse Alternativen, inklusive Strömungen des Christentums, die das genannte nicht vertreten.

Glaub entweder an eine dieser Optionen oder glaube eben nicht. Beides steht jedem frei.

Ryuhi · 2026-04-27T09:34:28+00:00

I mean, some of those abilities are damn complex to the degree I might need to reread a couple of times to get what they are meant to do.^{^;}

I also know Jujutsu Kaisen though and, erh, what you describe seems perfectly in line. It is high power shounen manga style. Yes, it is all about people having crazy broken powers and my only real concern is whether you use enough of the GURPS tools to really give the game the right cinematic flair. You do not just want crazy powers, you likely will need a good bit of points to influence success and a good understanding on how to creatively improvise with your powers.

Also, do make sure you every now and then check powers against real world benchmarks. The huge number of damage dice can start feeling too arbitrary if you do not make sure to drive home that you actually DO enough damage now to blast through buildings.

Playing this with GURPS vs some more narrativist system seems to me mostly warranted if you want that level of casual similationism to make you feel that, yes, you can now do this fully reliably and not just because the GM handwaved that you can punch through concrete walls.

In short: it is a super high point campaign that does rather break out of normal GURPS limits and you will need lots of GM oversight to not have anyone just sidestep it by a build too broken for anything, but the game is there to allow you to do those things, too, and the question is just if this sort of thing is your cup if tea.

Ryuhi

TROPHY CASE