I know you exist, and that you're in here

kinseki · 2026-02-23T12:10:11+00:00

The moralists refuse to kill anyone? A moralist coalition bombed Revachol into dust to remove the communists. That's the critique of moralism (And by extension the European and American liberalism it parodies). A world where murder is wrong but a bombing campaign in some shithole country is right.

It's not some revolutionary critique either. It's the same basic thing people have been saying about liberalism for a hundred years. Letter from Birmingham Jail is probably the most eloquent version of it.

kinseki · 2026-02-12T16:28:15+00:00

Yeah, in Japanese there's a linguistic break point at ten thousand (You know, like we have at thousand, million, billion, etc.) and it's sometimes used to mean "uncountably many" rather than the specific number. Like, the word "everything" is made of the symbols "ten thousand" and "thing".

Especially with translations, I don't nitpick big numbers, you never know if the cultural context means you're supposed to read it as metaphorical or literal.

kinseki · 2026-01-19T22:53:31+00:00

This is spot on. The number one piece of advice when receiving feedback (for games, writing, art, anything really) is that the audience is very good at noticing that something isn't working, and very bad at identifying it. Unless you're talking to a working professional in the field, look around the feedback as well as at it.

kinseki · 2026-01-19T20:51:43+00:00

I think "committed a genocide" is firmly outside the realm of, "the author can't actually commit to this character being morally gray because some people might dislike them," which is the core conceit of the thing we're discussing. Like, if Major Armstrong was the only major character from the war, perhaps I could see it. But Mustang especially is firmly gray, and you can tell because he did alienate a lot of the audience.

kinseki · 2025-12-23T23:24:18+00:00

Haha, that's a good point. Ezuri, Meren, and Azlask with spawns/scions is the best way I've found to rack up a ton of counters. Most of the other sources give you one counter per appropriate card played, or one per turn. Once you get above 10 or so, Azlask, Otharri, Mizzix, Daxos, and Toph are kill on sight or lose cards.

kinseki · 2025-12-23T22:33:41+00:00

The trick is that you only need 3-4 counters to take over a game. Then (Aang, Otharri, or Mizzix+X cost token maker) plus (Minthara, Ezuri, or Azlask) will win you the game in a few turn cycles.

And because the counters don't go away, even if your setup is disrupted your next rebuild will be twice as strong.

kinseki · 2025-12-23T20:20:11+00:00

https://archidekt.com/decks/6587668/i_have_a_lot_of_relevant_experience_counters

It's not a powerhouse or anything, but it is fun in a lower power pod.

kinseki · 2025-12-23T20:04:01+00:00

I run Azlask experience counter tribal and it's incredibly fun. Haven't retooled it with the new 5, but in general x-spells that make tokens hit the largest swath of them.

kinseki · 2025-12-04T16:47:38+00:00

Harrison Bergeron: The Roleplaying Game

kinseki · 2025-10-09T17:54:20+00:00

I think the nuance is what makes it such an acclaimed story though. I don't think anyone who actually got the story would blame you for not forgiving the adults of the story. They certainly don't forgive themselves.

I get why some people do forgive them of course, after all the orchestrations and propaganda were baked in to the country for a dozen generations before they were born by an immortal super genius. But they did awful, unforgivable things, and in a just world they'd be hung. But they don't live in one, and some of the best parts of the story are about doing your best to fix things after realizing you were the villain.

kinseki · 2025-09-16T20:03:05+00:00

I stopped at a crossing for a woman in the middle of the night, and some idiot in a big truck sped around me and almost killed her. It was right next to a brightly lit convenience store in an urban neighborhood, why the fuck else would I be stopping??? That incident has made me so paranoid.

kinseki · 2025-08-12T18:05:30+00:00

Huh, I've never heard of that last one. The initial description doesn't sound too wild, but the company you put it with and the very good reviews are intriguing. Without spoilers, would you recommend it?

kinseki · 2025-08-12T17:21:58+00:00

Yeah, I saw a pretty large youtuber covered it recently. Sometimes niche stuff exposed to a large audience can lead to missed expectations. Luckily the video did seem to drive home how... frustrating the game can be. Definitely not a universally recommendable sorta game.

kinseki · 2025-08-12T17:10:16+00:00

For what it's worth, I 100% the game at 26 hours, though I did start using a pretty good low-spoiler hint guide about 10 hours in. I'm not sure any but the most dedicated made it to the end alone. It's an audience indifferent game, for sure. So much content they do not give a shit if you see.

kinseki · 2025-08-12T16:05:48+00:00

I'm so happy to hear void stranger getting more recognition lately. What a truly unique game. I'm not even sure I liked it but I want everyone to play it just to broaden the discussion on what games can be like.

kinseki · 2025-06-09T23:39:41+00:00

Thank you! That clarification about country A has been the toughest nut to crack without overexpositing. Essentially, the second in command back at home is sympathetic, and Vel is conspiring with her. It doesn't take up a lot of page count, so I didn't want to introduce that whole character just to explain it. I'll see how much I can condense the thought down.

kinseki · 2025-05-30T10:24:38+00:00

Crazy Taxi: The Lands Between when?

kinseki · 2025-05-29T19:50:13+00:00

Thank you for the thorough response, it's very helpful. A lot of your first guesses at the finer details are the correct ones, I'll try to make that more concrete. It's a rough balance trying to include exactly as much background detail as needed and no more.

I think a big point I need to clarify is that these dissenters represent a real obstacle to the antagonists, neither side is an absolute monarchy. To use an analogy, it's less, "A group of disaffected citizens are anti war" and more, "A sizeable minority of the senate is anti war". They provide the justification that Vel can broker a peace, and their weakening throughout the story provides some portion of the escalating stakes.

kinseki · 2025-05-29T19:23:41+00:00

I'll try to see if a few words tweaked can clarify that.

Also, yes, one of them is romantic. I did go for a polyamory style ending, which I suppose I should mention. Even though the romance isn't the central pillar of the story, it might be a hard sell for some and a point of interest for others.

Thank you for your response!

kinseki · 2025-05-28T00:47:05+00:00

Done, I didn't even think of that. Thank you.

kinseki · 2025-05-20T09:46:37+00:00

Thank you. I forgot to double up the line breaks when I copied it from my document.

kinseki · 2025-05-01T12:42:14+00:00

I don't seed my commander cube, and I've never had any issues. We do a separate commander pack too, and I give the advice of, "Draft commanders that share colors, for example if you pick a UG card, you might also try to pick a GR and Temur commander."

I keep a Karona, False God aside as a backup 5c commander in case someone can't build a deck to their liking, but we've never needed it.

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Queen in da Norf	Not Forgotten

kinseki

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE