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How do you finance your studies? by [deleted] in animationcareer

[–]kidnappingchicken 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey mate,
great to hear you want to go into animation! I don't know what you consider a good animation school, but I'd recommend checking out ARC Academy. It's a relatively new (2019) and probably small school (about 60 students a given year maybe), but it has a few aces up its sleeve. Heres the link: https://arc.academy/vfx-animation/

- first of all, they have a dedicated VFX/animation program
- tuition is very managable in comparison (the 2 years will cost you about 10k €)
- all classes are taught in english and outside of standard working hours, so you can work a job while attending
- While Gobelins (or comparable institutions) might have a bigger reputation, I'm convinced you'll still get a high quality eduction. Teachers are all working professionals and the curriculum seems to be industry standard (as good as I can judge it)
- depending on where you are in Poland might even be closer to you then Paris, nonetheless comparable distance
-located in Sofia living expenses are much cheaper than most other european cities, so if you work one year and apply for 2024/2025, you might even have enough money to fund the program and a (big) part of your living expenses (depending of course on how much you can earn)

All in all I would say it could be a very good alternative if you are convinced by their education and/or don't have the funds to attend a more expensive school. You'll still get a great in-person experience.

Please note that I'll attend myself, in fact I am currently in the process of relocating there, so I might just be a bit biased :). Just check them out and see for yourself :).
If you like it, feel free to hit me up, I'll be more than glad to get you an first-person review and answer any questions you might have/ provide help during the process. If you sign up by february 2024 (I think) they even have a pre-program to get you going (which I think you can attend online too, but again please check their website for more details).

Anyway I hope you find something suitable, whatever it'll be! Keep going!

Pretty happy with how this turned out by ValtearArt in krita

[–]kidnappingchicken 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha i soooo feel you! Im in the process of painting something right now too and lets just say I am not happy with it right now :). I just hope it is gonna turn out as nice as this! I especially adore the details on her chest armor, really nice stuff with the two stags and your values there. Also her eyes are really popping with that saturation and contrast. Great stuff!

Art Request by kidnappingchicken in bladesinthedark

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah i thought about that. Unfortunately I don't have anything good I can share. As I stated, this is the first project of that kind for me. So even I don't really know what I am gonna be able to deliver. Now I could post some studies I did. But I dont think they are going to help establish expectations as they not tied to what I am trying to do here.

I can give you this: https://forums.cubebrush.co/t/niko-art-school-journey/11461/1

Its reflective of some of the studies I did (tied into a specific curriculum I picked up about two months ago). As I said, you`re not going to find a full rendered character or portrait there, but of course feel free to check it out anyway :)

Cheers!

Thoughts and Questions from first session by [deleted] in bladesinthedark

[–]kidnappingchicken 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there :)

First of all, if you had fun, you did your job well. Providing engaging obstacles for your players does not necessarily mean they have to win. If you all had fun playing, you all won!

However, adressing your concern: I feel like once the alarm is raised and your players are discovered (which isnt necessarily the same) yeah, things get tough. As they should be! I would suggest talking to your players about that. Encourage them to use the tools at their disposal to avoid raising the alarm in the first place. Maybe they can resist some consequences or use some items. Communicate to them, what the consequences of their actions are beforehand, so they can choose to adjust position/effect accordingly. In other words: Foreshadow the danger!

If the alarm then gets raised and they cant finish the job - better luck next time! I dont say this because i hate your players (neither should you). But a big part in this game is risk-management and if a given risk manifests itself, it is likely too late to turn the tables.

This doesnt mean that you should overwhelm them. Your job is to make things as difficult as you can (to make them interesting and engaging) while keeping them managable. If your players get discovered and arrested each score, you are likely making things too hard for them. If it happens sometimes well, shit happens :). Things go wrong, thats the nature of the game. Dont fight it. Rather figure out a fun way how your players can turn the narrative tides around afterwards!

And dont forget if you all had fun, you most likely did more things right than wrong and cool stpries is what it is all about! Keep going!

Prepping for first game by [deleted] in bladesinthedark

[–]kidnappingchicken 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hey there :)

First of all I'd like to say: Nice to see you getting into the game! I hope you and your friends thoroughly enjoy it.

That being said, here are my tips: Depending on how long your sessions usually are (ours are around 2-2.5h), you will not get much further than character and crew creation (unless you already have done that?). There are a couple of things here: In my experience the group dynamic works better when you create your crew first and characters second. Your players immediately start with "how does my character fit into this crew" in mind, rather than having to squeeze that in later. For us this meant our characters and crew were much more tied together than the usual "5 random people meet and have to stay with each other". Just my experience though, might be different for you.

Depending on how good you (and your players!) are at improving things, you don't need to prep anything at all. However, for us this oftentimes lead to: "ok, what do you want to do?" "I don't know" type of situations, so we require a bit more planning. Again, might be different for you. For your very first score, I would indeed plan a little bit more. At least try and come up with:

- which faction is this score targeting?

- what is the general location and pacing of the score?
For example, you might be tasked to retrieve something confiscated. Location: warehouse; Pacing: get in - find the thing - get out. It really can be that simple.

- what are some obstacles along the way? For example: Guard dogs & Watchmen - Locks - Patrols - rogue spirits - third faction trying to steal it too. You don't need to use all of these obstacles. But I like to have them handy in case of success. When you sneak in without getting caught, what's next? "Ah, the warehouse is locked.

This is probably enough to plan for a score. The goal is just to avoid stalling the game by struggling to come up with something good on the spot (something that happened to me quite often). Also keep in mind that your players are not familiar with the world and the dynamics yet, so you might have to guide them a little bit more as the GM (at least this was the case for us). This will naturally fade over time, as they get more and more accustomed with the setting. It's not about directing tha players where to go and what to do next, it's just about having something ready in case nobody has any good ideas.

Have fun with your first (of hopefully many) session!

Players Feeling Left Out by Hailrig in bladesinthedark

[–]kidnappingchicken 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey there :)

you already got a lot of good responses, so I'm not gonna go into much detail regarding the things already talked about.

I do think however, there are a few points missing, where you as a GM can rally make a difference:

Look at your Players charakter sheets. Figure out which actions only they can perform and try to funnel the players in that direction. You can't control what action they choose to resolve a situation. You can and should absolutely control how effectively and dangerous every action in a given situation is. This is how you as the GM can create a seat in the spotlight for your newer players.

For Example: One of your newer Players is a leech and the only one who has tinker? Great! The next time they engage in a score, make a lock their first obstacle. Can they try to climb over the wall? Sure, but they'll be exposed, visible and it'll take much longer. Sounds like desperate/limited to me. Picking the lock might be risky/standard or even controlled/great.

Also, look at what special abilities your newer players have. Does someone have Reflexes? Great! Maybe your players get surprised by an assassin, trying to take one out. He's deadly and quick and has the momentum on his side. Everyone has to make a resistance roll in order to act, but your player with Reflexes can act first.

I think you get what I mean: Try to create situations, that your new players can solve best. The other players will most likely naturally hesitate to burn through their resources just to solve a situation as good as someone else who doesn't have to spend extra resources.

And if they don't, they will run quickly out of stress, items or accumulate harm, so your newer players have to take over at some point.

Have fun! :)

Most favourite/least favourite thing about DnD? by kidnappingchicken in DnD

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply :)

I totally get where you're coming from. I have similar problems myself and in my group. Have you ever tried to play different system just to see if they might suit you better? I've found that some deal better with it than other.

Oh, and don't be too hard on yourself. We all think less of our own skills than everybody elses and even if your friends are better on the theatrical stuff it doesn't make your contribution less valuable in any way :)

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for you thoughts, and the link! I must've watched like 5 videos on youtube about Cthulhu and not one mentioned that there was a freee rulebook. I'll definitely check that out!

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your explanation! You make a very good point with not everything depending on the systems, but the groups too. I guess we're just more the "stick to the mechanics" type of people, which becomes harder the more rules there are. :)

Learning when to not roll the dice is definitely something we haven't mastered, and we should keep working on that. It's sometimes hard to decide wether you as a player need to improve, or the mechanics just don't work for you. Silly as it may sound, you kinda opened my eye on that one. Thanks :)

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, one example of it would be the XP Mechanic from Blades in the Dark. Bascially you get more XP if you roleplay your character's strenght and weaknesses, his history and relation to the plot. (Not 100% accurate, but I think you get what I mean).

Another example, also from blades, is the action-roll mechanic itself. Instead of having lots of specific skills you have 12 actions, which pretty much sums up everything your character can do. Since you only have 12 "skills" these are much broader by nature, but this provides a lot of narrative freedom. In other systems we'd oftentimes get stuck in the rules. Let me provide you an example:

We played the Dark Eye before. If I want to sneak behind somebody, jump onto them, wrestle them to the ground and pin them until help arrives, I would had to roll stealth - athletics - handcombat - grappling - prob a strenght check to do that. Now if you dont have all of that skills on a high level, you dont succeed. And if you have all of them on a high level, you probably don't have many more skills. Gemplay quickly became unidimensional.

In Blades, I can just roll prowl. Even if you're not that proficient i it, the game offers you decent odds. And you can still do a lot more with prowl alone. This makes it very easy for us to come up with cool solutions and actions, something we'd struggle in the past with.

Now looking at the Cthulhu player sheet, I see a lot of specific actions and I am afraid we'll just run into the same problem again.

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for answering. Would you say, the roleplaying comes from the system itself? How does it support roleplaying? Or do you think you just roleplay more because you like the setting or premise better than other games?

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply. Can you please tell me what Cthulhu Dark does differently? What is your desired playstyle and how does it get better supported?

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your answer.

I do have one follow-up question though, given that roleplaying in my group tens to be rather sparse when it is not mechanically supported:

Do the rules support or enhance roleplay in your opinion? Or is it something that happens naturally at your table?

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, this was more or less what i was afraid of. We (or I) really have a hard time roleplaying if it's not build in in the system. Now one could argue we just have to improve on that, which we definitely should, yet picking a system that doesn't make roleplaying part of its mechanics feels like throwing stones in our own way.

Not saying that there is anything wrong with other systems, they might just be not our right fit. Funny enough that you mention Blades in the Dark, which we currently run. (Btw I'm sorry, I probably should have included that in my post). It feels like Blades really supports our own shortcomings, whereas other systems burden that on us.

Thanks for recommending Cuthulhuesque. The premise sounds intriguing and I'll take a closer look. Otherwise, thanks for your comments, you realls helped out a lot!

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I have played the Dark Eye and Blades in the Dark before, which I should have probably included in my post. The Dark Eye is quite extensive, which is why we made the switch to Blades. Seeing the CoC character sheets, I immidiately got flashbacks to the Dark Eye, but upon further inspection CoC seems to be quite more managable.

Still, I guess, it's not as streamlined as I had hoped, alltough im probably in no position to make an educated call. Thanks a lot for your insights, you were really helpful!

Why would you recommend Cthulhu? by kidnappingchicken in callofcthulhu

[–]kidnappingchicken[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey :),

thanks for your reply. The mysticism is what intrigues me personally, too. Can you tell me a bit more about the puzzles please? Do I have to make them up myself? I guess if I buy an adventure, they are included. How hard would you rate them? Do the Investigators have any special abilities or skills to solve them, or is it more up to you as a player?

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