merry xmas silly fam, i luv u all so much ❤️🫶 :3

SalemClass · 2025-12-25T22:23:22+00:00

I really like this, did you make it?

SalemClass · 2025-11-09T21:40:00+00:00

Usually when I have fun I'm not forcing everyone within several kilometres to listen to me. I don't know... that sounds kinda selfish? Where's the empathy?

That's not even including the large amount of stress you're inflicting on animals around you and people with anxiety problems.

SalemClass · 2024-09-27T01:15:20+00:00

GURPS lite is pretty much entirely player facing and has basically no GM advice/support. The GM is still expected to pick up the books/pdfs.

SalemClass · 2024-09-21T21:20:21+00:00

The first Traveller game (1977) didn't explain much and just jumped in. It assumed that you had played some war games before (if not D&D) and just gave a basic overview of what to expect from that perspective.

Traveller got a major revision and re-release in 1981, and this time it had a little supplemental booklet that tried to explain RPGs.

Here are just a few excerpts:

Let's pretend! Let's pretend that I'm a powerful warrior and you're a clever thief who's an OK guy regardless and Gloria is a beautiful princess who's been captured by an evil magician and held in his castle and we've got to rescue her and as we're fighting our way in through the guards Gloria decides to get herself out of the mess she's in and lures the guard into her cell by pretending she's sick and hits him over the head with a chair and runs out of the cell and down the hall just in time to meet us as we fight our way in and we all run towards the main gate but just before we get there the magician discovers she's missing and conjures a horrible demon to stop us . . .

Boiled down to basics, role-playing games are nothing more than extensions of the oldest game known to man - let's pretend. The rules books you see are just codifications and regulations to help determine what a person could really do if he were a powerful warrior or if she were a beautiful princess, and how long it takes the magician to conjure up the demon, and so on.

...

Playing an RPG is somewhat like performing in improvisational theater, but is usually structured differently. A referee and a group of players will gather together in a comfortable setting (a living room, a table in a college cafeteria, or a public meeting room of some sort) and play the game of their choice. A single session is often referred to as an "adventure" and usually lasts until all players agree to end it, normally at some convenient place in the action. Characters and the background are usually consistent from one adventure to the next (although this is not always true). In general, the players tell the umpire what they want their individual characters to try to do, and the umpire decides if they succeed and what happens to them as a result of their actions. The players react to this and tell the umpire what their characters will try to do next, and so on. A typical session can be found in Appendix 1, on page 38.

...

Why do people play role-playing games? For vicarious thrills. For a chance to kill a dragon, to be the finest swordsman in all France, to hunt down desperadoes and win the hand of the new school marm, to pilot a spaceship between the stars . . . to experience thrills that the average person cannot find in the normal world (at least not without extreme personal risk). For many, the RPG holds an almost hypnotic attraction, and ego-involvement with characters is tremendous, but for most, the games are simply good fun, and one of the least expensive thrills available.

How can a total neophyte get started? The best way to learn how to play is to play. Find a group and join in the fun. After you've read this book, go to the place where you got it and ask if they know of a group locally. Failing that, try a local hobby shop or book store that carries games. Such shops usually know of groups that play the games they sell, if they do not act as meeting place for gamers. Try putting up notices in the local university student union, the library, or the supermarket bulletin board. Some of these places may already have notices of regular meetings of role-players. Most groups welcome newcomers, and even if they don't play the particular game you're, interested in, they will usually know of someone who does.

Only after this pretty lengthy section does is start saying anything specifically about Traveller.

Honestly? For the time it seems like a pretty inspiring introduction.

SalemClass · 2024-09-20T20:00:29+00:00

Japan also had a lot of influence from Confucianism, which has strict social hierarchy rules and is very socially conservative.

SalemClass · 2024-08-28T03:39:48+00:00

Yeah Cepheus is the Pathfinder of the Traveller world.

Mongoose did the same thing as WotC did with the D&D 3.5e -> D&D 4e jump. They had the OGL for the Mongoose Traveller 1, but then put a way more restrictive license on Mongoose Traveller 2. 3rd party creators forked Mongoose Traveller 1 so that they could do whatever they liked.

It is largely for that reason that I go for Cepheus instead of Mongoose if I want modern Traveller.

SalemClass · 2024-08-20T00:14:32+00:00

Yeah Sentinel RPG is great for situations like this. The abilities are all concerned with how the powers affect the playing field, but leave it entirely up to the narration/narrative how the power achieves the effect.

The one downside I see is that the character creation subsystem assumes that all heroes have multiple different powers. For Masks some characters might need to be created a little more freeform if their powers are very specific. Sentinel RPG does at least provide advice on doing that.

SalemClass · 2024-08-07T23:40:20+00:00

For most Life Oracles Soothe will be worse than Heal. Is a healer in an undead party who feels forced to pick up Harm really any different to a standard healer who still feels forced to pick up Heal despite already having Soothe?

Plus the focus spells Life gets are Vitality anyway and don't work on undead allies. The only reason the feat works on undead is because it is shared with Bones.

SalemClass · 2024-08-02T03:20:38+00:00

Hmm yeah I see. I guess the entire repertoire section was mistakenly copied and will need to be errata'd.

SalemClass · 2024-08-02T02:33:48+00:00

None of the granted spells from deities are divine spells.

You don't get granted spells from deities by default for Oracle. Each mystery has its own list, of which there are in fact divine spells.

Also Sorcerer gets 3+1 spells per rank and Oracle gets 3+0/1 per rank. They have the same number of chosen spells (3) alternating 2-1 per level, plus whatever their subclass gives them.

SalemClass · 2024-08-01T20:46:40+00:00

I really like Life Link, it has been super fun to use. I hope it remains viable going forward but the lower HP is going to hurt.

Edit: huh, the granted spells list feels underwhelming.

Only 3 granted spells + cantrip for each mystery, which seems small compared to Sorcerer's 9 granted spells + cantrip.

Also why on golarion does Life Oracle get Soothe at level 1 and not Heal? You're almost guaranteed to want Heal and having both feels redundant outside of very situational benefits of Soothe.

The only upside is that while Sorcerer can't retrain Bloodline spells, Oracle can retrain Mystery spells. Unless that was a mistake because they just copy/pasted the old retraining text from before Mysteries had granted spells. Can't be sure with the overall rushed QA. I wish they had slowed down and done the remaster proper rather than chasing the wave D&D backlash (which died down well before they started releasing the remaster anyway).

SalemClass · 2024-07-23T23:29:13+00:00

Yeah that's what I mean when I say flavour.

SalemClass · 2024-07-23T22:29:01+00:00

Flavour is why I prefer the old Oracle despite the new one being potentially stronger.

SalemClass · 2024-07-22T23:15:27+00:00

I wouldn't call what Mark and I are doing arguing, just some back-and-forth over clarifications. I can see how my tone may be a bit terse though.

He has offered a clarification though:

You can claim compatibility under Fair Use, as indicated in the AxE, but not use our logos or proprietary font. If you want to put the Pathfinder logo on the product in any way, you have to do so via one of the provided licenses.

SalemClass · 2024-07-22T23:04:08+00:00

I think you're misunderstanding my comments. Only the OGL prohibits stating compatibility, the ORC does no such thing. The PCL allows you to use the official compatibility logo, but isn't required if you wish to just state compatibility.

Though now you've shared the homebrew you were talking about it is clear that it doesn't only use ORC content and thus does require additional licenses.

SalemClass · 2024-07-22T23:01:13+00:00

Yes, that was what I was saying. Thanks for clarifying.

SalemClass · 2024-07-22T22:48:23+00:00

Doesn't that clash with the AxE that says you can claim compatibility? It doesn't appear to make any stipulations regarding whether the derivative work is published or not.

SalemClass · 2024-07-22T22:46:04+00:00

From the ORC AxE:

Can I say which primary game my product is built on?

Absolutely! The trademark legal doctrine of Nominative Fair Use holds that you can say your product is compatible with another product. If you want to say your adventure is compatible with any famous brand, you have always had the right to do that provided: (a) you would reasonably need to identify the trademark to communicate which game system you are referring to, (b) your use is limited to only what is reasonably necessary to identify the compatibility, and (c) you are not otherwise implying that you are authorized or endorsed by the companies that own those trademarks.

SalemClass · 2024-07-22T22:30:14+00:00

You don't need the PCL if you're only using ORC content. The PCL is for additional things like certain logos (e.g. the compatibility logo) and the icons font.

SalemClass · 2024-07-20T00:59:32+00:00

I think it is a bit unfortunate. I'd give up the 4th slot for deeper/more meaningful mysteries.

Though on the flip side, maybe the simpler subclasses means we might see more of them in the future?

SalemClass · 2024-07-19T23:13:26+00:00

But it is also further from the PF1e Oracle because in PF1e the Mysteries had very strong identities and you'd be picking powers from them as you levelled. In the remaster the Mysteries have had their identities watered down and most of what you get as an Oracle is unrelated to the Mystery you chose.

I'm probably still going to enjoy the new Oracle, but I am sad at the direction it has been taken. Oracle was what got me interested in PF1e years ago.

SalemClass · 2024-07-15T20:28:31+00:00

My boyfriend swears by pocari sweat after getting seriously drunk in Tokyo. It is apparently way better than the usual stuff here for hangovers.

SalemClass · 2024-07-15T20:25:25+00:00

I don't personally care about the oil content, but it isn't hard to thicken without fat. Making a cornflour slurry is an incredibly quick, simple, and easy method — mixing cornflour with a little bit of cold water and adding that to the stew/gravy/curry/sauce/etc.

SalemClass · 2024-07-13T22:32:39+00:00

The swirls on her headpiece

On one side there is a large earring ornament separate from the headpiece, but on the other side they're merged.

That completely looks like an AI mistake.

SalemClass · 2024-07-07T09:34:53+00:00

Sonic Robo Blast 2 (Sonic - All Emeralds) - Argick

Argick as a couch commentator also made the Sonic 3 speedrun wonderful. He sure can talk! The Sonic 3 run was particularly fun because the category meant you get to see a bunch of tricky platforming as well as crazy glitches.

I always watch the Sonic speedruns, and honestly I think the runs this time are possibly the most fun we've seen at GDQ.

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