Pondering the publishing gimmicks of my childhood:
Pop-Ups (sometimes with bonus sliding/rotating)
Scratch and Sniff
Red-filter secrets
"Invisible ink"
Flexidiscs
3D w/paper glasses
There were others, but those I actually enjoyed. Some, I was not the target audience for (like "panels of fur for some goddamn reason").
My only nostalgic pang is realizing the flexidisc is the most deaddy deadest, because only hipsters and hardcore collectors have phonographs anymore. ๐ฎ
@SJohnRoss new hipsters are born each day :) vinyl is making some sort of comeback, sales have gone up 10% to $1.4 billion in 2023, and outsold CDs for the second time since 1987. amazingly, there are actually new Flexi Discs manufactured as singles
Folks sometimes ask me if I'll ever just publish an all-in-one article describing #HTTRPG in detail.
I have long intended to. My main problem is that, every time I draft it, its ideal form seems to be a kind of mutant pick-a-path "Choose Your Own Socratic FAQ" monstrosity and I hate that. ๐
Eventually I'll just surrender to that, resign to it, and do my best to make it funny.
@SJohnRoss The "Oh, the good kind!" was me to describe the reaction of the crowd.
As for the games, I haven't managed to properly run Toast yet, but also a specific skill I need to work on is that I'm not great at actually shifting appropriately into being NPCs and having them be distinct enough to "work" has been an issue.
I did an article on inhabiting distinct NPCs that might be a useful read (it's a quick one, at least). It was for an old Star Trek RPG supplement published by LUG and then purchased by WotC who buried it because they have no Trek license. ๐ฌ
The point being, if I dig it up and send it to you, nobody is left to care.
@SJohnRoss Causal chaining reminds me of a worldbuilding tip I've heard: ask "why" three times deep in order to dig up depth and find routes to originality.
@pteryx I posted and then deleted this graphic yesterday, but here's a poke I took at Rufus' causal chain two steps in each direction (cause and consequence). In a real design I'll do chains for every significant person or element, and branch and tangle them.
In an action-mystery design specifically, I'll do another dimension, which is advancing and rewinding the timeline, to find the best point of PC contact.
The value of this is manifold, but the two most basic benefits are:
It's another "balancing" technique to reduce presumptivenes. Essential.
It helps develop the easy-to-overlook quality of being solvable by degrees rather than all-or-nothing, which isn't essential, but it's hugely valuable for characterization potential and for giving the PCs more tools to author their own standards of success (two sides, same coin).
@SJohnRoss Just gotta affirm and share that checking the Fedi-feed of course is scrolling from below. And slowly scrolling and seeing the bottom half of the graphic first had me already guessing it was your post by warm style of graphics alone. :verified:
Of the twenty-something fantasy city-books highlighted in the #Hammondal biblio, Eidolon (and Sel-Kai) might take the "pleasantly surprised" award, because I've never been a Shadow World fan (still not) ... But my preconceptions were unfair to this book, which is Really Very Good. While it has some of Amthor's usual tics, they often end up serving, rather than undermining, the design. Dragon magazine called it the jewel of the Shadow World crown, and I agree.
Ugh. Just saw someone blatantly violating my copyright over on Ye Merrye Drive Thru, to the tune of an entire book.
I strongly suspect it's an innocent mistake, something devoid of malice or sneaky intent ... but ugh. I mostly just hate having to email the DTRPG people; they've never been easy to work with on anything, and previous copyright-violation issues have been minor nightmares.
It's been far too long since I've just gone browsing at an office-supplies or art-supplies store, ogling stationery and cartography goodies I don't technically need but viscerally crave.
More demographic mapping today. This is an early draft of the four dominant cultural/faith/language clusters as represented by Human inhabitants. There are no "race cultures" in the Candle Islands, though there are plenty of people who believe there are. For example, the spots of red are Saman Humans (Humans who are culturally Fjurin, Rolig or Grazny), which many Imperials dismiss as "Humans who think they're Dwarves I guess?"
@ChukG Dwarves get a lot of attention in Hammondal because they share a plurality with Humans ... and there's some discussion of what makes a Dwarf "Dwarf Enough" for some formulations of that idea, and of the struggles some face with those presumptions. Meanwhile, half of the Mantoche in the city are Boranese but ALL of them often get treated as IF they're Boranese, and so on. Uresia had this, too, but in a city-focused gameworld it gets ... sharper. ๐ฌ
@ChukG (There are comparable but distinct concerns for all the peoples in the city, but the dance between Human, Dwarf, and Mantoche gets the most ink ... but there's plenty of anxiety left over for the Elves and Barling and Bears and such).
@SJohnRoss It was just mentioned earlier today on our Discord and the first response was that #RISUS is still the best Discworld TTRPG. @TheBeardedBelgian
We're moving a bit further down the valley next week, in the name of cheaper rent, shorter commutes and other good and necessary things ... And it's got us back with our favorite landlords from a couple years ago. Just amazing, sweet folks. Signed ye merrye lease today. Feels like a homecoming.