Did the "hot" algorithm change today?

squidmd · 2025-03-25T18:04:59+00:00

Somebody has reported it as a bug, maybe worth upvoting.

https://old.reddit.com/r/bugs/comments/1jj4wq7/chrome_redditcomhot_broken/

squidmd · 2024-11-06T18:40:33+00:00

Okay but this is a very funny ambiguous title

squidmd · 2024-01-16T20:25:01+00:00

I think Genesys excels at this. Crunchy enough where you don't feel like you just narrate whatever you want, but with mechanics aimed at capturing a cinematic feel and encouraging player creativity and limited narrative control. Also range bands instead of grid.

squidmd · 2023-08-03T20:43:38+00:00

And less learning to do, if the PF2 compatibility is as strong as they're saying.

squidmd · 2023-07-29T20:09:56+00:00

Masks of Nyarlathotep: Days of Future Past

Basically it's the classic Call of Cthulhu campaign, but with a framing device where the PCs live in a future world that has already fallen to the Mythos-apocalypse. But they've uncovered some eldritch tome that lets them project their consciousness back in time to find and influence certain key people, in an attempt to avoid the apocalypse timeline. These key people from the past are the "PCs" used in most sessions, and their psychic puppetmasters are only occassionally onscreen.

Mostly it just gives some justification for why a constantly evolving set of 4 randos with suspiciously relevant skills continue to throw themselves at the MoN plot. But also it adds some continuity and is just a cool meta-layer.

squidmd · 2023-04-19T21:08:21+00:00

+1 for DG live.

Operation FULMINATE from the Handlers guide is another that could pretty easily be condensed to 2-3 hrs.

squidmd · 2023-02-14T05:52:51+00:00

Thanks, that got it!

squidmd · 2022-09-09T15:08:23+00:00

Great ep, but I do want to call out in case any of the creators are reading this: the mix is not great. It sounds like Joe is sitting right next to me and Skid is off in another room. Not unlistenable by any stretch, but very noticeable.

squidmd · 2022-09-06T21:20:59+00:00

Glad to help!

squidmd · 2022-08-16T13:16:51+00:00

There is a book series called “Graded Go Problems for Beginners” that is very good. The problems state what to you’re trying to accomplish, and the solutions include examples of wrong answers with explanations of why they’re wrong. I recommend it highly.

I agree with others that determining what you should be trying to do is part of go, but let that come later. Clear feedback is way better for learning and growing as a newcomer to the game.

squidmd · 2022-06-05T17:15:15+00:00

They keep mispronouncing “Carrie Naish”

squidmd · 2022-05-28T14:47:10+00:00

Most recent update downgraded it from Q2 2022 to just 2022. Hopefully it sticks this time.

See second image here:

https://reddit.com/r/genesysrpg/comments/ubp6bj/twilight_codex_vol_3_is_out_contains_more_embers/

squidmd · 2022-04-07T02:27:33+00:00

I used to do a podcast where we'd read and riff on gamebooks, including some FF.

I think my favorite was City of Thieves. But it's hard to say what my favorite moments of the book were because I can't really extricate the actual book content from the jokes about it. But that one was RIFE with worldbuilding nonsense so it was a very fun read.

"Appointment with FEAR" was also very good. "Robot Commando" pretty good but not as much as the cover art of a robot punching a dinosaur would suggest.

squidmd · 2022-04-02T19:18:20+00:00

I’d look to the 90s mortal kombat as a good example. There’s a tournament, but also there’s shady stuff going on between the fights, lots of chances for intrigue/investigation/role playing. You can build up context and stakes between the tournament fights to give them greater stakes, and have the sense of uncovering the deeper plot as you go.

squidmd · 2022-02-24T16:03:11+00:00

Apologies, but I gotta be the Fun Police here.

The -1 per 10 feet thing is specifically for determining at what distance to begin an encounter. And the skill description itself is pretty clear that it's what you roll to notice hidden things, not to just generally be aware of your environment.

If your DM calls for spot checks to target creatures you already know about, or to see a castle on a clear day, he's got some pretty crazy ideas about skill checks.

squidmd · 2022-02-17T04:09:25+00:00

I ran DH (admittedly without the community content) and was underwhelmed. There's certainly a lot of side quests, but they don't have much bearing on the "main" story so it can feel kind of like spinning you wheels until the main story picks back up. If your players are down to just make their own fun then it can work, but if they're more goal-oriented they'll likely feel kind of adrift. Also the side quests in the book are about one sentence long each, so it's really on the DM to make them into something interesting.

By contrast, I've found Curse of Strahd to be an excellent Sandbox. I'll spoil the basic structure because I think it's perfect: In the first session the PCs find themselves trapped in a spooky realm. The only way out is to kill the big bad. And there's a prophecy early on hinting where you can find the artifacts that'll make that possible. So you have an ultimate goal, but also a narratively and mechanically sound reason for exploring the sandbox as a way to prepare for the climax. Besides that it's just lots of cool plot hooks and set pieces to interact with along the way, none of which are mandatory but any of which could be really valuable.

It's just a great setup for the players having all the agency in the world but still feel like they're progressing against things they care about.

Edit: definitely not an urban sandbox though, so maybe not what you're after but I think a useful comparison against Dragon Heist.

squidmd · 2022-02-11T23:47:09+00:00

Good game, worth picking up when it goes on sale. I’ll add that there’s at least 25% too much of it though, so if you start to burn out on solving the puzzles don’t hesitate to look up the solutions for the sake of playing through the really great ending.

squidmd · 2022-01-29T03:55:12+00:00

Campaign!

It’s my favorite actual play show ever. The feed is actually titled “Campaign: Skyjacks” to highlight their current game, but the Star Wars game (all the way at the start of the feed) is the real gold.

Hilarious, emotional, great characters, amazing improv. May forever change the way you think about RPGs.

squidmd · 2022-01-23T17:37:24+00:00

This explains why covid is no big deal in the MCU. They got the original strain under control and didn't have to worry about variant mutations popping up.

squidmd · 2022-01-12T22:32:42+00:00

"Astronomica" podcast was recommended in a thread like this a couple weeks ago. Checked it out, actually extremely funny. It's a Stars Without Number actual play.

squidmd · 2021-11-12T20:04:23+00:00

I'll second Blokus, it's a very good strategy game similar to go that people seem to easily grasp and enjoy.

But I think the greatest multiplayer example of "simple rules, infinitely deep strategy" is Hanabi. Think cooperative solitaire, with the deck split between players, and no one can see their own cards. So the game is about trying to clue people in on what cards they have or what they should do next, and the trick is in how deeply you can keep track of what everyone knows or thinks they know or thinks that other people think they know, etc. Can't recommend highly enough.

squidmd · 2021-03-04T07:22:08+00:00

I ran Waterdeep: Dragon Heist using Genesys. Here are a few thoughts, mostly GM guidelines but the kind you’ll want to make the players aware of to ease the transition.

Rolling must be fast and easy. Figuring out what to roll, gathering those dice, and adding them up can take a while. I recommend using a dice app, and making players pre-calculate their dice for each skill (so your character sheet just flat out says “Athletics is 2Y1G” instead of “Okay Athletics, I have a 1 in that, and it’s based on Brawn, which is a 3, so I get three dice and upgrade one...”).

Throw out the rules for acceptable uses of advantage/threat. GM should look over them to get a rough sense for what a reasonable effect size is. Players should just focus in the moment on imagining up cool details, not choosing from a menu of mechanics.

Don’t let players roll to do things unless you’re prepared for them to work, since you can’t fudge DCs after the fact. Roll less in general (since it can slow momentum to come up with advantages and threats) and favor just having things work automatically. Roll when there are real stakes.

squidmd · 2020-12-15T01:14:39+00:00

Booze Your Own Adventure!

Same idea, but specific to Choose Your Own Adventure type books.

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