Last week was rather busy, the trees have it in for me, and I’ve been staying up too late which requires more coffee (there’s always a silver linking). Because of all this I missed a week of random thoughts, but I’m back and ready to do. These are some random TTRPG thoughts.
- I was able to play Clever Cool Crazy, by RPGs vs. AD founder Glen Finney. The system is interesting because it encourages players to describe their intended actions as vividly as possible so they can get bonuses. We also played it in the B5 universe, which made it even more fun. I got to meet Zathras!
- My CypherCon game was amazing. Here’s a run down. The party started out in the home of one of the character’s parents, who decided that they were rich and disapproved of their choice to go adventuring—so we started in an 80s teen coming of age movie. They were then recruited by a giant penguin to find their child, stole the family’s horseless carriage, and convinced some toll goblins that they had EZ Pass. Before they were able to camp for the night a tornado swept across the area and one character got tossed way far away, but survived—kind of. That night one player attempted a grift by picking a fight, but it all blew up and they ended up in a general bar rumble—which was amazing. The next day passed without incident, until the group disturbed a mass of vampire bats while setting up camp, so they were forced to fight them off. On the third day they reached their location, only to discover a giant stalk growing out of it which climbed up to the clouds. They climbed it, of course, and at the top they found a field of clouds. There were odd crops growing in distant patches and a small house a short distance away. In the house they found the baby penguin being watched by a kindly old man that most of the party realized was their home town’s mayor, but one player triggered an intrusion and ended up blurting out their realization that the mayor died two years earlier. This, of course, led the big bad to drop their disguise and attack, which was a lot of fun. The group defeated the demonic entity, saved the baby, and pilfered an artifact from the house, a wand of flame-throwing, before heading home. But before they could get far the clouds became dense and they all passed out, only to wake up in the sitting room where the adventure had begun, moments after the butler left to get them refreshments. The wand, however, was still in a character’s pocket and a note appeared on the table which read, “Thank you.” 90% of that was rolled up during the session, 9% was the bar fight the group invented, and the final 1% was the dream (which didn’t really come into being until the giant penguin and beanstalk both showed up as a result of table rolls). It was a lot of chaos and such an amazing time.
- I had a friend in town recently and when we were figuring out what to do he mused, “Do you have a game store we can visit?” I thought that was a wonderful idea so after a morning walk to get some coffee we hopped in the car to visit Top Deck Games in Cherry Hill, NJ. I wasn’t going to buy anything because I’m trying to save up for GameHole Con, but as soon as I walked in I saw they had Daggerheart in stock. I’ve been wanting to pick it up for review so, into my hands it went!
- EVmux did a fine job handling the actual play of Clever Cool Crazy. As a bonus, I can actually set up all my scenes, and in a pinch even run a stream, from my iPad. So that’s very nice. It’s far less expensive than things like Streamyard, though to get all the features I’m looking for I’d need to shell out a good amount of cash. Why am I not just using OBS? In a word, bandwidth. I don’t have enough to drag in four or five players via vdo ninja with any sort of quality. Also, I got tired of having to kludge through highlighting comments. I just wanted it to work.
- When people gang up on the Internet to get someone cancelled it’s scary looking, but it’s free speech. Unsubscribing from a channel is free speech. Saying you think Charlie Kirk’s ideology was despicable, and the cause of his death was ironic given his own statements on some gun deaths being “worth it,” is free speech. Charlie’s penchant for being a provocateur was free speech. Jumping to conclusions about Charlie Kirk’s assassin—either his background or ideology—is free speech. And it’s free speech to call such snap assumptions unwise at best. I’m especially looking at all the folks who insisted he’s a groyper, here, since they seem to be the folks who think I’m on their “team.” Saying you’re happy he’s dead or that you don’t have any empathy about it is free speech, and so is me unsubscribing and disassociating from people who do that—because I think it’s poisonous. The moment the FCC threatened to use the levers of its power to punish speech which angered the regime free speech suffered a direct attack from the Federal Government. Watching right wing voices decry what happened to Jimmy Kimmel has been interesting. Also, media conglomerates suck and are damaging to our society—a statement which is also free speech. And Kimmel getting back on the air in 100% of US markets is Free Speech telling the fascists to take a long walk off a short pier.
- I was just going over the likely charges I’d accrue through Lyft trips at GameHole Con and figured out it’s better for me to rent a car. Some extra freedom will also be pretty nice.
- I’d like to offer some perks for superchats during my “Howlmark” actual play stream. Perhaps giving a Boon, a Bane, or Karma? I’ve never tried this, do you have any ideas?
- If you’re looking for a really cool convention in the Philly Area check out PAGE 3, January 15-18. The ratio of special guests to attendees is off the chart, so the chances of bumping into the likes of Professor Dungeon Master, Kelsey Dionne, Baron de Ropp, and other notable folks from the hobby is very high. I’m going to be there running Sentinel Comics RPG and Into the Odd, sitting in on a panel, and doing some interviews for the event. Check it out!
- I was granted PaxUnplugged Media badge, and I’m looking forward to seeing what folks have going on this year! At the last PaxU I had a bunch of scheduled interviews, which cut down on my wandering time, but it was amazing to do some longer-form chats. I’ll have to see how things shake out this year.
- My next personal goal as a channel is to hit $100/month income. In the grand scheme of YouTubers that’s small potatoes but it feels like a nice marker. Hitting it would pay for my streaming software, let me back a few more kickstarters, and free me to pick up some games and other software I’ve been wanting to check for a while. As far as mid-life crisis go this one is rather benign, and I’m glad that I get to contribute something back to this amazing hobby in the process.
