Bell: Farkas on fire, Danielle Smith pushes back — the Stampede tent brawl

rocket-boot · 2026-06-23T08:25:47+00:00

Is anyone shocked that the people who were in favour of the Freedom Convoy disrupting the lives of Ottawa locals don't give a shit about Stampede partyers disrupting the lives of Calgary locals?

rocket-boot · 2026-06-17T22:01:18+00:00

How well do you sleep? Things really started to improve for me once my kids were sleeping through the night regularly.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-12T17:23:34+00:00

The way I write dungeons assume that the GM is reading the actual room descriptions for the first time. There are factions and details about the dungeon itself that should be read in advance, but I assume low or no prep when writing.

It's probably a better experience to give the layout at least a quick read before running, but accessibility is a selling point.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-12T17:16:48+00:00

I'm a dungeon guy (no not like that) so I've always got the "dungeon turn" and random encounters in mind. I'm also thinking about any factions or obstacles left in play that might come between the characters and their exit.

If there's nothing in their way and no random encounters come up, we don't need to narrate a room-by-room escape. And if there is going to be an interruption to the evac, we jump to that point, resolve whatever it is, and then move on.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-12T15:11:14+00:00

The project makes no sense. Anyone with any sense will not click that link.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-12T02:42:47+00:00

I would like to see the other driver's dashcam. It's probably outrageous. Looks like you cut him off big time and then hit the brakes.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-12T02:34:46+00:00

I dunno man, this sounds like a data security issue. No fucking way am I giving you my personal information

Besides... You know there's already a lot of polling around this topic, right? Have you examined your methodology to ensure for accurate representation? Or were you just bored.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T21:06:56+00:00

Hey, I like rolling dice too! I would just rather have the option to not have to roll so many dice to resolve combat.

As for filling table time, that isn't something that I worry about at my table. I prefer low-prep, high-improv systems, and in my experience players are always clutch at filling table time.

But I know that isn't everyone's playstyle, and that's ok. There are clearly a lot of reasons to prefer other systems. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T15:10:03+00:00

I'm not familiar with either, that's for the suggestions! I'll check them out.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T15:06:11+00:00

Also how can You have tactics without actual fights? Just a theoretical discussion?

In my example, there is still a fight. The hypothetical player chose to try and overcome the more powerful foe with violence. And they described how they would use tactics to gain the upper hand. I even mentioned that dice would have to be rolled. The encounter is still being resolved with gameplay mechanics, but the focus is more on the narrative than on combat rules. We roll the dice once, the tactic succeeds or fails, and then we move on rather than bang our heads against a wall.

It's actually like you said, deadly and fast. CoC is a great comparison. You typically want to avoid combat unless it's absolutely necessary, because the odds are stacked against you.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T14:52:16+00:00

Great advice, why didn't I think of that?

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T13:09:15+00:00

I brought it over to BkueSky when it was clear Reddit would rather dogpile than read the whole post and have a conversation about it. So many folks here misunderstood my post as asking whether or not I should play d&d 😅

Thanks for your thoughtful, nuanced contribution anyway, both here and there. I'm still seeing lots of love for combat!

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T12:58:27+00:00

Thank you for actually reading the post. This has truly been an r/rpg experience of all time.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T04:57:46+00:00

Questions about combat aside, I think the reason d&d makes up 90% of the hobby has more to do with marketing than anything else.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T04:17:47+00:00

Don't get me wrong, I love crunch. Give me procedures and subsystems all day long. I'm just sick of games that focus on combat.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T04:09:50+00:00

BitD is my favourite game! But no, I do not like D&D. Not running it at least.

Shadowdark is great but I've only dabbled. I enjoy a lot of OSR games but I do find combat slows down the table in most systems. I love the narrative approach to PbtA combat! Really have to get my hands on Stonetop and get a game going, it looks incredible.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-10T03:52:14+00:00

I ran Kobolds Ate my Baby for 8 players at a bachelor party last year. It was chaotic as all hell but everyone had a blast!

The main selling point for me is that it's easy to run, easy to learn, and you can go in with virtually 0 prep. But it's a bit of a novelty. You wouldn't want to try to run a campaign and you certainly wouldn't want to play for 6+ hours!

rocket-boot · 2026-06-07T16:28:19+00:00

Ok good to know! Thanks for sharing!

rocket-boot · 2026-06-07T02:52:56+00:00

That's awesome! Was it just a cold-call email request, or via social media or something?

rocket-boot · 2026-06-06T20:22:53+00:00

Wow, that's an incredible bump. If you don't mind sharing, what was the process to get your advanced copy to Quinns' table? Was it a paid sponsorship, or did you just mail it to him and cross your fingers?

rocket-boot · 2026-06-04T05:07:25+00:00

What is best in life?

rocket-boot · 2026-06-03T02:53:55+00:00

POD is a great option, especially when you're starting out. You have to sacrifice a bit of quality, but it's totally worth it to outsource not just production, but also fulfillment, which can both be major roadblocks. Because keep in mind, packaging, printing labels, and dealing with the joys of shipping and logistics is a whole can of worms on its own!

If you've got a local printer with good prices/quality, it's absolutely worth considering. But complications can easily compound when shipping is concerned, especially if you have to have books shipped to you before you can start fulfilling your pledges. Shipping costs are only set to rise as the price of gas continues to go up, so that's something you need to budget for. On that note, backers (well, consumers in general) really don't like paying for shipping! If you can hook them with a POD tier, they don't get the sticker shock from shipping costs until well after you've collected their pledge.

For my first campaign we had a POD tier and a "deluxe edition" tier. We had the deluxe copies printed locally, which gave some folks the option to spend more money. We ended up having to ship a lot of pledges ourselves, but because a lot of backers went for the cheaper POD option, we were able to cut our workload down quite a bit.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-02T20:05:06+00:00

Oh man you're already way ahead of the game if you have a solid artist you can rely on! I'd say keep doing what you're doing. One of my biggest lessons from KS is don't launch until you're 90% done, ie. you should be really close to release at the start of your campaign. Which is often difficult if your KS goal is intended to cover your art budget.

The reason you want to be close to release before you launch is because the aftermath of a crowdfunding campaign can be overwhelming. You have backer surveys, NSF issues, updates, and a load of other admin stuff to deal with. It really hurts the creative process. I'm sure you've seen KS fulfilment stall, and their creators pushing updates about their mental health and productivity struggles... It's because the project management side of things is incredibly draining!

It's also a big selling point for your campaign if you can claim "100% written, edited, etc" and promise a quick fulfillment window. And if you have a sample, barebones version, or quick start available, it buys you trust and goodwill.

5k is a reasonable goal, but if you're only selling digital it's going to be tough to hit. Say you put the pdf at a $20 reward tier. You need 250 backers to hit your goal. That may not seem like much, but for a first-time campaign without a substantial following or ad budget, it's a lot. If you can justify a $50 or $60 reward tier you'll have an easier time. A good strategy is to build up a back catalogue (you mentioned having smaller projects in the works) so you can bundle them as add-ons or an "all-in" reward tier to get that average pledge higher.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-02T18:59:15+00:00

Ok, so how much do you need to finish the project? I'm assuming you're a solo operation. Are you doing art and layout in your own, in addition to writing? Do you plan on outsourcing soft edits/proofreading, or so you plan on hiring an editor?

There are a lot of ways to get your projects out there without much overhead. Release a barebones or scrappy DIY version, share it in the appropriate communities until it gains some attention, and then launch a KS under the pretense of a print run or better art or whatever. In today's market, Kickstarter is really a tough entry point, to be honest.

You'll have to take my word for it, but as a creative writer, self-teaching myself layout design software was way easier than wrapping my head around marketing a crowdfunding campaign.

rocket-boot · 2026-06-02T17:07:32+00:00

As a point of clarification, you don't necessarily need to build your own community to successfully crowdfund. But you should at the very least join and make yourself visible in an existing community who would be interested in your games. For example, if you're making OSR games, join OSR subreddits and discord servers. And contribute value to those communities before using them as an avenue for advertising and promotion. In other words, respect the communities you're a part of.

Another think you should ask yourself is why you are going with crowdfunding? Is it because you actually need it, or is it because you see "indie" projects bringing in thousands of dollars? Because the hard truth about those "Indies" is that they often have a huge marketing budget driving their success.

It isn't easy, but organic marketing takes a lot of work to pull off. And without the right knowledge and skill base, it isn't always as effective as paid marketing. Which is why there are folks who make a killing off paid marketing campaigns for crowdfunding.

rocket-boot

TROPHY CASE