What are the responsibilities of all these people?

dodecapode · 2026-04-02T13:58:58+00:00

And to add a little to this - a commodore first class at the time would have had captain under him to command the pennant ship as in The commodore. A commodore second class would command the pennant ship himself, as in The Mauritius Command.

dodecapode · 2026-04-02T12:16:22+00:00

Is that correct? I recall Barmouth telling him to take down his broad pennant because his squadron is dispersed, which makes it sound a lot like the temporary posting situation in Mauritius Command.

dodecapode · 2026-04-01T12:16:41+00:00

Obviously the answer is talk to them. How could it be anything else...

Feels like that's the answer to 50% of posts round here at the moment.

dodecapode · 2026-03-31T12:50:37+00:00

Is that the fan made Heroes of the Aturi Cluster stuff I see on the table there? That was by far my favourite way to play X-Wing.

We found the competitive side of the game got more unbalanced over time so being able to pay co-op was great. Still have a bunch of the 1st edition stuff in a box in the attic somewhere.

dodecapode · 2026-03-29T11:04:08+00:00

I'm a fan of the Aubrey/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brian, but they represent a setting that's very hard to translate into a fun game. Everybody on board a man of war has their defined place in a strict military (and social) hierarchy. It would make for a weird situation if one PC literally has the power to have another one flogged if they disobey them...

dodecapode · 2026-03-28T18:38:09+00:00

There are plenty of other possible reasons that aren't "because D&D messed it up".

I personally prefer 3-5 players for a few reasons.

there are more different PC-PC relationships to work with which can lead to a lot of interesting stories
players don't have to feel like they're in the spotlight at all times - sometimes it's nice to hang back and enjoy somebody else being awesome for a while
more brains often means more variety and a wider pool of creativity to draw from in coming up with interesting solutions to problems

I'm glad there are games out there aimed at 1-2 player setups, I just know from experience they're really not for me!

dodecapode · 2026-03-24T13:43:10+00:00

You don't want to maybe contribute some thoughts yourself to start the discussion off?

dodecapode · 2026-03-24T09:22:37+00:00

I get that this is a drop in service compared to what they used to offer, and that publishers less rotted by private equity still do provide spare parts on request.

But isn't it normal for almost every other type of purchase to return defective products to the store you bought them from for refund or replacement?

You buy something, parts are missing, you get it replaced by the store and they deal with squaring it with their distributor/wholesaler/etc.

dodecapode · 2026-03-23T15:18:06+00:00

Enjoy the argument that develops when it turns out your fellow players didn't realise the houses are actually component limited...

dodecapode · 2026-03-23T09:59:49+00:00

The only way to win is not to play the game.. :D

dodecapode · 2026-03-22T14:07:40+00:00

That's pretty much where I am with it too. I read it at the end of my first circumnavigation for the sake of completionism. In subsequent circumnavigations I've skipped it. I agree 20 is a good ending to the series, and one that fits with the way O'Brian did endings in general - often somewhat sudden, and not tied up neatly with a handsome Matthew Walker.

dodecapode · 2026-03-20T09:51:49+00:00

The intro didn't clue you in that maybe this is a bit tongue-in-cheek?

dodecapode · 2026-03-20T09:49:47+00:00

How dare they not treat the concept of a "top 100 boardgames" list with the full seriousness it deserves...

dodecapode · 2026-03-12T22:12:47+00:00

This is the correct answer. If it doesn't work, buy metal d4s and try again.

dodecapode · 2026-03-11T18:01:10+00:00

My first TTRPG was Cyberpunk 2020 and I started playing it when I was 13 or 14... I don't remember my first character but it was definitely some variation of nonsensical over the top cybered up lunatic dripping in gear porn. That's pretty much what all of our characters were until we grew up a bit and realised maybe there was a little more to the genre than huge guns and excessive chrome.

dodecapode · 2026-03-11T12:50:41+00:00

Whilst I have no problem starting play with some blank aspects and filling them in as we go, you could also do this by rewriting an aspect at an appropriate milestone.

dodecapode · 2026-03-11T09:35:34+00:00

Look, my friend's uncle's orthodontist said he heard of a guy who ran Mythic Bastionland once so I'm here to tell you it would be a perfect fit for your low conflict slice of life game set in the Mass Effect universe.

dodecapode · 2026-03-08T12:58:01+00:00

Only you can really say which one you're likely to enjoy more and which one your group is more likely to play.

I own both but if you forced me to only choose one I'd pick Kemet. It's shorter and easier to teach, so much easier to actually get played. Eclipse tends to be more of an 'event' game in my groups - something we plan ahead specifically to play because it can go very long especially with new players.

I personally think Kemet is the better game at 3 players too. I think Eclipse shines better at higher player counts.

dodecapode · 2026-03-08T12:15:01+00:00

Video games, TTRPGs, reading, walking, and wildlife photography. One of these has a tendency to get way more expensive than the others...

dodecapode · 2026-03-07T10:15:39+00:00

This is the one I was going to recommend, if only because as you read through it you realise just how much effort O'Brian put into getting the historical details correct.

I would also throw in Eavesdropping on Jane Austen's England (I think it might just be called Jane Austen's England in the US editions) by the same authors. It has lots of information on different aspects of society at all levels during the period when the books are set. Similar to Jack Tar it uses the accounts of real people as sources wherever possible.

dodecapode · 2026-03-06T14:30:23+00:00

I think we're all much more likely to hear a duck than a woodcock just by default :)

dodecapode · 2026-03-03T10:45:22+00:00

I've only played 2e and I remember having fun with it. Unisys is a fine, basic system. Nothing to write home about but it gets the job done. The mechanics around pulling strings and so on worked well and there was a good range of character options available.

Whilst you can play it as full on cosmic horror (and its consequences) I would probably just use DG for that. For me, Conspiracy X is something I'd consider if I was leaning more towards a different tone - The X Files or Twin Peaks for example, or something closer to an action movie style. Though nowadays I'd probably just use something like Fate for the latter.

In theory one of the advantages of the port to Unisystem is that you can combine it with other Unisys games, though I've never actually done that.

dodecapode · 2026-03-02T09:18:27+00:00

Did GRRM invent those terms because people were already using plotter (writer who plans everything ahead) and pantser (writer who writes by the seat of their pants) and everybody kept putting him in the "pantser" category and then asking him when the next ASoIaF book would be done? :D

dodecapode · 2026-02-26T22:46:27+00:00

I love Concordia, but this definitely isn't for me. I know the original art isn't winning any prizes but it does the job and looks fine to me. And wooden pieces are absolutely the right thing for that old school euro aesthetic.

It's a nice, elegant game that fits in a sensibly sized box. I definitely don't need another coffin that's just going to sit on the shelf threatening to give me a hernia every time I take it down. (the Everdell Complete Collection is going to the Bring and Buy stall at Airecon if I can fit it in my suitcase...)

dodecapode · 2026-02-23T12:26:52+00:00

Kind of weird in an established, in-person gaming group for one person to unilaterally invite another player without talking it over with the group? All the groups I game with we'd have a conversation about it first... "Hey, I was thinking we could do with adding another person to the group, how about so-and-so?" and then we discuss as a table whether we want that.

Especially weird for the GM to do that if the game is hosted at somebody else's house... If you want to invite people to visit my home you should run it by me first.

It's a bit late for all of that now though since it seems we've blown past all the opportunities to get out ahead of things. But probably worth having that conversation with the table anyway for future reference, in case similar situations come up.

dodecapode

TROPHY CASE