Redwolf's Journal (continued)

 I cannot be the only one that finds things so predictable, can I? With the leaving of our captain character in Stars Without Number, the rest of us are much less decisive/proactive. Predictable if you've seen us in action. And the only one who really wants to be in charge claims to not - and, I'd say, isn't terribly qualified given the way they regularly don't think things through. Natural fallout and that's fine, I don't blame anyone in particular. But then we get a situation that, while I might not have explicitly predicted, was one I've seen before. Summarized: Other PC: "Well, I'm not taking charge..." My Character: "Okay, fine. Here are some directions. Get on the ship. PC2 do this. PC3 do that." Other PC a few poses later: *takes charge by repeating what my character just said.* If that were just IC, it wouldn't be a big deal - annoying on a character level, but no biggie. But, of course, it wasn't. I could even brush i...

I've been playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 . It's a recent darling among reviewers, and not without reason. The game is good to play. Mind you, I do struggle on and off with the QTE mechanics that are mixed in with the turn-based combat. It's engaging, though. There's a lot of heart and emotion in the story that is well-delivered. I have seen clips of DA: Veilguard scenes (but haven't played the whole game, so those are just snippets) that are embarrassingly stilted and clearly scripted. Clair Obscur's dialog has pretty much never hit me that way. Most of it feels so very natural, especially the shock and loss experienced in the first act of the game - and there's plenty of it given the sort of bleak premise of the game. I don't want to say anything to spoil it for someone who may play, but the wrap of Act 2 and beginning of Act 3 really takes a turn. There are so many reveals there that answer most of the lingering questions (and raise a few more) th...

 So, yeah, I'm terrible at keeping up with between-session conversations and all the piles of possible channels/servers in Discord - especially when work gives me some time to think, but not Discord access. I believe a question was posed about thoughts on the state and future of the Adventures in Rokugan game, though, so here goes... In general, I'm enjoying the time and look forward to it more than feel burdened by it. The start time is a little earlier than ideal, but I don't mind making it work on Saturdays. So, net positive overall. I'm a touch "meh" on the mechanics of AiR. I like the familiarity of D&D, but the Rokugan-specific stuff doesn't feel very rewarding. Granted, this may just be my pick of a shadow acolyte, but I feel like I'm getting more functional mileage out of the sharpshooter feat than all of the special class abilities and level-ups haven't been particularly exciting. I've been tempted to multi-class into something els...

 Last night, we roleplayed a meeting! Whee! Actually, it went pretty well. Players seemed invested, including myself. We discussed the current situation, which was probably a good thing. And as an outcome, the group seems more on the same page and most have things to do. Man, if only real world meetings went so well. - And this morning, I woke from a dream... Military shooter dream. I'm part of a very small team meeting up with a couple others in some Middle Eastern-ish setting. The travel happens following an arrow on a map, then I'm in a town waiting for the other to show up and scheduling a helicopter extraction. One of the other two groups shows up, but the third doesn't. Something happens with the helicopter, so I call in some favors for a different pickup. A short time later, a beefed up looking Osprey shows up and we get in, landing in the street. We get in and take off before the pilot starts going on about being called off a different mission to get us... and then ...

 A challenge to see if I can actually collect my thoughts on this into something coherent... There is a person in my online RP circles since Furryfaire day who irritates me. I don't really dislike them, though I may have framed it that way once upon a time, but I do dislike being "around" them, and pretty much always have. A long time ago, my introspective self considered why. The answer I came up with was not that they diametrically opposed to me or anything, but that in their behavior I saw my own impulses writ large. I could empathize with the desire to take control of situations, shape the setting, and be important. From the outside, though, I found that all struck me as extremely self-centered and I was, frankly, kind of disgusted by it. This led to a period where I kind of beat up my own ego, working to convince myself to see less importance on scenes centered on my own characters in wider RP. Honestly, I sometimes wonder if I went too far, as I find it harder to sp...

- Kosh Sorting some thoughts here on the current Stars Without Numbers game I've been in for a few weeks now... I hope I'm wrong, longer term, but I'm seeing early sign that usually lead to me stepping away from a Discord game. When I start to feel overwhelmed and left behind, that's typically a solid first hint. Looking in from time to time and seeing pages of stuff happening outside of official game time, whether it's moving plot or "side" roleplay between characters, has always made me feel out of sync or behind in things. It's become what might be my number one pet peeve in the gaming medium and, contrary to what some may thing, Discord has actually made it worse for me compared to a MUCK, where I wouldn't even see such activity. Knowing what I've missed rather than just missing something generates more of an emotional response. This is all one thing I try to have clear expectations of starting a new game and if I know outright that things...

 So I was asked last night what I actually want in an RPG game/campaign. I came up with a few points, but that's a question I find hard to answer on the spot. It's easy to point at things in an ongoing game that I don't like, and a little harder to point at things I do (darn negative-focused psychology), but making generalizations is more difficult still. It does, however, give me something to focus a little on and ramble about for a time... Story I like a narrative through line - not usually to the point of "railroading," but I want more connective tissue than just returning to a job board after each mission. Sometimes that develops as things go, with character goals shaping things. Setting an end goal at the outset ("defeat the demon lord!") can have ups and downs. However it comes about, I really like to feel there is some forward momentum toward something, though. Consistency This one gets sub-points!  As far as setting, I sort of stopped using the t...

 Being entirely too critical about the state of some current games... After a long-running, system-spanning, started-in-person-and-went-online D&D campaign ended, one group reshuffled a little and started a new campaign set earlier in the history of that world. The DM wanted to use a... certain style. Hmm, I forget the term now. It would be a bit wilderness focused, leaning a bit more heavily on random encounters during travel and resource tracking than a heavy narrative. That was not highly appealing to me, but I was willing to try it. Out the gate, we had a few hiccups. The character background I had in mind was largely tossed aside to fit in with another character. That's not a huge deal to me, but it did throw me off a bit. The game style isn't seeming as satisfying as hoped. For my end, I think I prefer a little more narrative continuity than randomness. The "encounter" for one early day in travel was finding a flute in the road. With an idea what we were in ...

 Last night seemed to be the climactic finale of the ongoing Godbound game. I have some thoughts. The previous session ended with a couple PCs and a shadowy person in the special chamber with access to divine realms and their vacated thrones (in the campaign, the gods were sorta kicked out of their positions, making things up for grabs). Once PC had already claimed a throne. All the others were waiting outside. At the moment the session ended, no one seemed aware that the shadowy figure was Beryn, big-bad threat of the campaign. This is where I feel weird about things, because that little detail came up OOC and it changed everything. If the PCs had been aware at the time, they probably would have started a fight outside the chamber when they saw him. That didn't happen. But suddenly because the players were aware, they wanted to be able to plan before the conflict (with downtime glossed over previous) so they could go into the next session guns-blazing and as prepared as possible. ...

 Early in the morn I woke from a dream in which I was GMing a Bubblegum Crisis -based game for some others. The relatively new player was running an ex-military major who had been extremely cyber-augmented and was causing disruption around the city. Somehow the city major or similar corporate official tracks him down and challenges him to a series of battles with a thought of "I'll show him in escalating fashion how difficult things can really get for him to demoralize and make him stop." The first fight is against a standard boomer, put forth with no expectation of actual challenge. Indeed, the major trashes his with little effort. Next is someone piloting battle armor roughly equal to what the AD Police field. This is more of a fight, but the major manages to dance around attacks and, deciding he doesn't want to kill the pilot, he slips around behind to pull out a power core. Then the mayor-guy puts forth the Knight Sabers. This is a real battle between the parties,...

 Man, I keep waffling on whether I'm playing the Godbound game wrong. I envisioned Kara as a behind-the-scenes sort of entity - someone whose influence either supports or hinders other powers and whose personal appearance/involvement would be as harbinger of change/chaos. That really doesn't lend itself to having her own churches, worshippers, or territories in an organized fashion. Not sure if I mentioned previously, but she was loosely inspired by Isaac of The Skeleton Soldier Failed to Defend the Dungeon . So by some metrics, everything is going swimmingly. Kara is involved with the PCs (particularly Seraphiel, as she seems the most motivated/purposeful) in a way that is supportive, but also a little testing at time. She's tangentially influenced a cult, but doesn't have much direct interaction with it. This fits fairly well. But it also doesn't give much opportunity to sink Dominion into things, which is limiting her level advancement (Kara's now level 4, bu...

 In D&D, we finally took down the dragon we were fighting. As with my previous experience in 5E, it took about three full sessions, which feels like a slog. The game keeps dragons from feeling like chumps by giving them a bunch of extra "legendary/lair" actions, plus flying alone is a huge advantage in D&D that can completely negate melee builds, and they typically sport some big AOE effects. How anyone keeps that exciting is beyond me. Merely the mechanical pace of keeping up with all of that seems like a huge burden to overcome. But hey, dragon dead. We lost a handful of NPCs and took quite the beating, but rawr us! - In Godbound, perhaps I'm being overly critical. I mean, brains often latch onto the negative. When you get down to it, I enjoy my Godbound character. She fits in a good, non-spotlight role where she can get some good lines in, but isn't really required for plot motion. The argument that she doesn't have enough in the way of personal goals i...

 Last night's session was fairly low-involvement for me, as an NPC showed up to contest the claim and recovery of wreckage by enacting divine law-enforcement powers in the area, shutting down most PCs' special abilities. The more law-oriented of the group are engaged in try to talk around the claim to get him to give up, though engaging on his own terms like that feels largely doomed to failure. This experience, however, has further solidified my character's urge to be a bringer of chaos and change. Kara didn't really care much about the wrecked airship - sure, it's big and powerful and worth some ridiculous amount, but it doesn't really help her. Now that this guy shows up and stakes a legal claim, however, she specifically wants him to not have it.

 Godbound Group communication/expectation issues aside, I still need to figure out what to do with my character. An oddity in the game means you can't level-up without spending Dominion in addition to accumulating XP. Dominion is... a measure of ability to influence the world, I suppose you could say. It makes sense with the game conceit that PCs are growing divinities - they have an ability to shape the world and doing so strengthens them. Spending Dominion to benefit followers or territories seems like the most straightforward and obvious use. But when your character is intended to become a more behind-the-scenes power, things are a little more tricky. Plus, it's far too early at this stage to know who she wants to support - the PCs haven't had much change to distinguish themselves and they really haven't found any territory to claim (save, perhaps, the airship wreck they're exploring, but it would apparently take more than dumping present quantities of Dominion i...

 So I scrambled to make a Godbound character back at the end of January and upon finishing, had to wait a few weeks for the actual campaign. Since thing, I think we've managed... three sessions as of last night? Not a very high rate for a "weekly" game, but life happens. I was asked last night if I was feeling better about the game and the answer is... not really? A lot of little thing still take me out. The inconsistent schedule is one. Things like closing out the previous session with a pose about going to scout where an attack came from and coming into that session with said scouting apparently assumed done and having turned up nothing, even though no direct response to me was made to that effect. And with the "feel" of things the last few sessions, I did wonder if I was missing something. So I was perhaps both enlightened and a little put out when it was suggested I join the voice channel even if only to listen. My understanding was the game would be non-voi...

 Last night finished out the main campaign in one D&D game. The Storm King is returned to his throne, the manipulating dragon attempting to unseat him is slain, and the heroes reached 11th level, I believe. Overall, I enjoyed the experience as a social game thing, even if online. The game itself I may be a little more critical of (woo, pessimism!). Technically, we had some issues here and there, bouncing between Discord and Roll20 before settling on the latter. Two of the players are in the same place, which complicates the "cleanness" of headset use and led to some poor audio and feedback at times. And the DM frequently complained about wrangling things in Roll20's interface, especially lighting. Coupled with a DM who didn't quite have the improvisational confidence to spin off from the published campaign much, I had the feeling the game wasn't all it could have been. I think characters were a bit more than their combat capabilities, but only a bit. I would h...

So I was invited into a Godbound game online and, after some struggle to overcome inertia, convinced myself to give it a try. I had to reread a bunch of rules as my previous experience with them was focused on a narrower part of it (heroic mortals). Over a few days I settled on, and built up, a hengeyokai raven (tengu) thief. A character should have goals and a Godbound character should probably have particularly big ones, but the character didn't really feel like one to do nation-building. But... king-backing, maybe. So more a working-from-the-shadows sort looking for another character to support. I hope that's solid enough going forward. Tsukuda “Kara” Karasu was born in Larendre, but remembers next to nothing of it. In her youth, her parents brought her on a trip to Threshold - a mission of diplomacy or trading as she remembers, but her parents were killed. Whether it was a deliberate assasination or mugging carried too far is unclear, but authorities never did find anyone r...

 Cyberpunk 2077 has had me thinking some about RPG characters in general. I have a lot of thoughts. I don't know if I can organize them well, but at least I can put them out in some fashion... Perhaps more than most genres, cyberpunk is about living hard and fast even if it means dying early - being the candle that burns twice as bright yet half as long. That's sort of baked in to the stories, depicting a quiet life under corporate rule as a fate worse than death. To some extent, that philosophy exists in most games. Fantasy adventurers are willing to take on dragons and the like, after all. The motivation for this may be glory, money, or upholding some greater principle. These stories, though, are stories for a reason. Things get messy if you try to inject too much realism. Money as a motivator is one of the aspects that crumbles the quickest - having enough money for that cutting-edge cyberarm or that magical sword often means having enough money to retire in luxury. And less...

 Feh. Tired this morning. Must stay awake... - I started Assassin's Creed Valhalla over the weekend. It certainly has a different feel to me from the rest of the series. Several hours in I only have a handful of different weapon types with several still unseen and 2-3 armor options. I'm not sure what I think about that overall, but I do feel the game would benefit from some ability to at least loosely target weapons/armor that suit your build within consulting outside sources. Combat feels a bit "floatier" than Odyssey. And I've hit a couple bugs that very oddly had workarounds that involved changing graphics settings. How graphical FPS setting is connected to passing beyond a particular spot in a cave is beyond me. - In our Sunday D&D game, we came fairly close to a party wipe. In the previous session, when our stealth character was discovered we jumped out of his cloak-with-dimensional-resting-space and totally stomped what appeared to be a high-level assas...

 Too many thoughts, too disjointed and generally not very positive... State of the World I've never been much of an optimist, but damn the world feels bleak. Technology progresses - we've got these ubiquitous and amazing smart phones - but that feels like about it. The economy is increasingly divided between the few who have and the masses who have not. Society is turning in on itself, perhaps for lack of a clear outside threat and the ease of blaming "them" for problems rather than looking for a solution. This year's pandemic has been a boost to the very ills already assailing us. Perhaps "us" is only the USA, but it feels even more widespread than that (perception bias?). Personally, I'm fortunate on most of the points by not ending up at the bottom of the barrel. We've gotten off lightly here as far as infections. We're not locally plagued by wildfires or natural disasters. I've avoided the most divisive of political demonstrations or ...