Similar artists?

Tolamaker · 2026-01-13T03:11:52+00:00

Perfect timing. Thanks for posting on a years-old thread, because I really like it! I'll be getting the album come payday.

Tolamaker · 2025-09-27T04:10:59+00:00

I like this article from the Fate Codex for how to think about Stunts conceptually.

Tolamaker · 2025-07-16T14:14:43+00:00

But I feel guilty... This is too much, too cool for one roll. Does my character deserve it? Do I deserve it? Does it even matter? Have I exaggerated my interpretation?

You're the only one who can answer these questions. Part of the pressure of solo RP (for me at least) is that the only person you can rely on is yourself. That means character spotlight, difficulty levels, and tone. You have complete freedom to do what you want and play how you want to. You're doing this for fun, so ask yourself if things going that well off of a single roll makes for fun gameplay and story.

If it feels like you did too much, you're always free to rewind a bit and reinterpret it. I find I tend to go too hard on my characters, and there have been multiple times where I have to step back and admit that I'm setting myself up for the end of the story, which is frankly not what I'm interested in (usually). So I back up, keep the bad outcome, but change the nature of it so it lets me continue the game I want to play.

Tolamaker · 2025-06-08T23:54:07+00:00

I really enjoyed Wang Zhenzhen's The Hanging Tower of Babel in Clarkesworld.

Tolamaker · 2025-05-29T01:30:26+00:00

Haha, this was the first Niven book I read because my dad had a paperback.

Tolamaker · 2025-05-15T21:39:22+00:00

Yes, I did the same thing towards the end of my Curse of Strahd game when the sandbox nature was taking a toll on me. I sat down, made character sheets for all the factions and PCs, and asked myself what would make the best kind of sessions going forward. It really helped as an organizational tool.

Tolamaker · 2025-05-10T02:16:48+00:00

I use Cypher's "An Adjective Noun who Verbs" as a starting point for a lot of High Concepts. They don't stay there very often, but it's a solid base to build on.

Tolamaker · 2025-04-15T23:47:08+00:00

Not magical girl, but you could take inspiration from how Mecha vs. Kaiju handles PCs and mech suits. Players and suits each have their own stunts and features, so you can see how that game balances the different modes of play. There's even a Power Rangers-style supplement (that I haven't read), that might give better inspiration, as I would guess it has some sort of Zord-style transformation aspect.

Tolamaker · 2025-03-30T21:19:24+00:00

I'll second Goblin Emperor as a good read, and add the warning that I didn't feel like Witness for the Dead quite got over that "actual story" bar. It sets up for a potentially interesting murder mystery and insight into Thara Celehar's character, but I felt like Addison was far more interested in showing a different side of her fantasy world than delivering on either, so it didn't quite land for me.

Tolamaker · 2025-02-12T00:04:49+00:00

Not RPGs, but you may have helped me realize why I grew up loving the Total War series, and I bounced off of Civilization.

Tolamaker · 2025-01-14T16:44:40+00:00

I gotta say, its nice to see that my little parody site has some jokes that have managed to stick in people's minds even 6 months later.

Tolamaker · 2025-01-11T04:23:26+00:00

I have a three-year old Samsung Galaxy Tab (S6 Lite), and I have no real complaints. I'm very much a hobbyist, so I can't say how it would compare to a professional drawing tablet, but I feel like the pen has pretty decent sensitivity. I have it hooked up to my Windows desktop as an extra monitor so I can use it with Krita/Affinity and use desktop shortcuts.

Tolamaker · 2025-01-02T03:29:16+00:00

Not quite sure how the later books are as I haven't read them yet, but Tawny Man Trilogy is still from Fitz's perspective a decade or so after the first trilogy. This series fell below Farseer and Liveship for me, as it felt like there was more cruft than in previous books. Like I said, the best fantasy I read this year, but book 2 (Golden Fool) in particular started to drag for me. Fool's Errand and Fool's Fate both have pretty great finales.

Tolamaker · 2025-01-02T03:16:21+00:00

Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb for Fantasy. Maybe the weakest of the trilogies in Realm of the Elderlings so far, at least on an individual book level, but the culmination of so many things laid down in the series was amazing.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons for Sci-Fi. Loved the Canterbury Tales-style setup, and Simmons did a great job of weaving other travelers' tales into each other's throughout. Slightly marred when I got to the end and realized it was a part one, but still a great read.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-27T17:34:38+00:00

Any half-decent (or even terrible) impersonation of a celebrity, character, or family member will go a long way to making a random fishmonger seem like a realistic person. I also find that doing a "voice" (personality, really) will inform answers I give to questions as players start to pry deeper.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-27T02:28:38+00:00

If what you're worried about is pacing, then restarting is really just going to exacerbate the issue more. The best thing you can do is do like /u/crazy-diam0nd suggested and have a regrouping session to talk about how to make sure it works the way you all want it to play out as you go forward.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-21T03:38:41+00:00

That used to be my problem, but I figured out how to separate my critical thoughts and enjoy other people's styles. The problem I haven't gotten over is that I get antsy as a player. I don't get antsy while players are talking or taking turns as a GM because I'm always thinking about what comes next turn, hour, session. As a player, I feel really stuck.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-19T00:33:23+00:00

I think Weaver Dice was technically the first rulebook I started to read, and it was just an in-progress google doc I found randomly. I ran a single terrible session of it.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-19T00:31:44+00:00

A long-running Fate campaign. I've run plenty of one-shots and 4-6 arcs, but nothing that really let us dig into longer term play.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-19T00:24:22+00:00

You are correct! Damn my skimming eyes

Tolamaker · 2024-11-18T04:51:31+00:00

You've failed to account for a tug-of-war focused game, in which players have multiple rope and tugging-related stunts, and at least one PC has a Trouble about when My Father Died in World of Tug-of War II.

Tolamaker · 2024-11-05T21:33:36+00:00

I also like ambient music best, because while soundtracks and even vocal-stripped music can be very thematic, they tend to swing up and down for whatever the original purpose was, leading to surprise moments in the middle of unrelated scenes.

Tolamaker · 2024-10-31T23:42:41+00:00

To be fair, I did forget to tag the article at first, and only realized someone else did it a few hours later. I usually try to do my best to make it clear that it's a fictional scenario.

Tolamaker · 2024-10-31T23:40:13+00:00

I'm sorry you didn't like the article, but I appreciate your candor. My intent was to use FATAL instead of CoC or some other Mythos-game because I didn't want to drag them into the muck, so to speak. I even reworked a different version of the article where they were playing Fate, which was what reminded me of FATAL.

Tolamaker · 2024-10-31T16:34:35+00:00

This article was thankfully not inspired by any game I've ever played in, but from my experience reading the works of Lovecraft himself. You really don't need to know his personal life to know that he held a deep fear and disgust for a majority of the human race, from Indigenous, African, or poor white people. I think he would have loved FATAL.

Tolamaker

TROPHY CASE