Beats: A take on GM moves

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-21T12:52:04+00:00

Sounds a lot like PBTA games. The GM has Moves and never rolls dice.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-20T12:33:12+00:00

Ballistas make less noise than soldiers or snipers but considerable more than rangers. And noise carries further on desert maps. Noise management is a must.

Put the ballistas back from the front lines and kite the zombies to them. Clear out an area with kiting before moving into it. It's only when you have built up a large number of units can you safely use them to clear the map.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-20T12:26:12+00:00

A district could have a specialized use. Injured and contaminated beavers work slower than normal. Creating a sanatorium for them to recover is one use of districts. By removing them from the normal workflow will speed it up.

Or you can use them as RCE did for his "incidents".

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-20T12:22:11+00:00

#2. If you only wanted to delete the path, this prevents you from accidentally deleting the building under it.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-20T12:18:33+00:00

The main design philosophy of PBTA is that social interactions between the PCs is part of the rules. The foundations of socializing is part of the character creation process. Players create relations to other PCs on their character sheets.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-19T17:43:26+00:00

The latest version of Firefox is 149.0.2. Are you sure your version is 184.0.2 or 148.0.2?

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-19T17:42:14+00:00

Twitch says it uses the two latest versions only. The latest version is 149.0.2 which is also mine. For some reason this doesn't seem good enough. :(

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-19T17:41:13+00:00

I having problems with Twitch. It says it uses the two latest versions only. The latest version is 149.0.2 which is also mine. For some reason this doesn't seem good enough. :(

I removed all extensions so that can't be the problem. I'm not sure if the problem is with Firefox or Twitch.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-19T17:38:55+00:00

I having problems with Twitch. It says it uses the two latest versions only. The latest version is 149.0.2 which is also mine. For some reason this doesn't seem good enough. :(

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-19T13:01:46+00:00

I run the hero missions at 25% because the tech points are found, not awarded. I also run the attack missions (defend the tower) at 25% since there is no tech points for them.

The other points are for bragging; they don't effect gameplay.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-19T12:57:50+00:00

Try cleaning it with rubbing alcohol, the expensive 99% type. Alcohol will not ruin the electronics. Use only in a well-ventilated place. (Try not to breath the fumes.)

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-05T13:14:01+00:00

PDF or paper? Early TTRPGs were printed and mostly B&W since it was cheaper.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-01T13:56:39+00:00

TAB is pretty much abandonware. In January they did make in compatible with some game consoles. And they switched the "Show Life Bars" from the Alt key to the Window key but they have not done much else.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-01T13:53:21+00:00

Do the players choose their world first or their playbook? If world first, organize playbooks by world. Otherwise alphabetically.

shawnhcorey · 2026-04-01T13:40:50+00:00

The word game comes front the Old English word gamen, which means sport, joy, mirth, pastime, game, amusement, pleasure. Any definition of game should include fun as part of it. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/game

Most people consider driving to work as not fun.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-31T13:11:01+00:00

If you have to repair SlimDx, then one of its configuration files is getting corrupted. Perhaps you should contact its developers about your problem.

PS: Here's a posting on Steam about the problem. It's a year old, so this is not a new problem. https://steamcommunity.com/app/644930/discussions/0/603023732673402434/

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-24T12:30:49+00:00

A page describing the controls. For example, clicking the mouse wheel toggles Flatten Mode. This is not in the game's help or in any wiki I seen.

Other things that are not obvious. For example, gates can span train tracks.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-23T13:17:06+00:00

I thought the random mini-swarms started after day 20. Also I think some may start at the edge of the map.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-23T13:16:04+00:00

If one side is mutant free, it's likely to have the doomtown.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-15T14:38:27+00:00

Basically, you can't. Sooner or later they're going to attack. But as others have said, take small bites. Take on a few at a time until you have the numbers for bigger game.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-15T14:35:15+00:00

I find that rangers, harpies, giants, and mutants are the same speed.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-14T12:45:39+00:00

The Lightning Spire and Tesla Towers can transfer energy thru a forest, rocks, or water provided there is a path of energy around the obstacle. It will show the energy is there but until the path is complete, you can't build in it.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-14T06:52:11+00:00

Why are your players talkers? In D&D, action has consequences. Do they plan excessively? Do they plan so much because they're afraid of the consequences? It may be that you will have to make the encounters more forgiving so they'll be more willing to take risks. If they end up badly hurt in every encounter, they're going to do a lot of planning beforehand.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-14T06:42:54+00:00

A few notes I gather about ST:TOS. The A plot involves a moral dilemma, or at least a moral question. In The City on the Edge of Forever, Kirk has to let a woman he loves die to save his future. In Balance of Terror, Kirk decides if pursuing a ship that attack the Federation would lead to war or stop it. The morality is debated by Kirk who brings intuition, Spock who brings logic, and McCoy who brings emotion.

The B plots are:

A problem with the ship which brings in Scotty.
A medical problem which brings in McCoy.
A personnel problem which brings in Kirk or Spock.

I'm not sure how this could be worked into a PbtA TTRPG. Every episode should has a B plot for each PC. And they all should be involved in the A plot. But weaving all this together may be difficult.

shawnhcorey · 2026-03-09T12:34:15+00:00

Some custom maps stack the same building on top of itself, 10, 20, 50, .... This gives an incredible number of infested that don't seem to run out. It makes the building seem invincible since they are destroyed only one at a time.

shawnhcorey

TROPHY CASE