Speaking of RPG nighspots, I remember Volo's Guide to Waterdeep where they leaned way too far into the fantasy side of things and all of the bars looked like the kind of fantasy-themed family restaurant that you get in Las Vegas.
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Obviously we'd all enjoy running a bookshop.
Except in Bloodhounds.
@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg A campaign I will probably never run: Black Bookhounds. I mean, that lot are practically PCs already.
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I also wonder if there's not a degree of cultural difference here....
I get the impression that Americans like and expect a certain degree of cheerfully inauthentic theming to even their local watering holes whereas most British pubs are broadly the same only more-or-less rundown and more-or-less gentrified.
A US game designer would naturally reach for the Forgotten Realms equivalent of a baseball-themed bar and to UK eyes that reads like the fake restaurants they have in Disneyworld.
@Taskerland Also handy for their reference: Medieval Times, renaissance faires, etc.
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I also wonder if there's not a degree of cultural difference here....
I get the impression that Americans like and expect a certain degree of cheerfully inauthentic theming to even their local watering holes whereas most British pubs are broadly the same only more-or-less rundown and more-or-less gentrified.
A US game designer would naturally reach for the Forgotten Realms equivalent of a baseball-themed bar and to UK eyes that reads like the fake restaurants they have in Disneyworld.
@Taskerland broadly speaking they don't have historical narrative for taverns and watering holes though, the European history of travel and commerce is built on road side places that service all kinds of needs, as well as the locals. There's not the feeling of "Monastery or Pub" in US history that stretches back into the middle ages with Europe. That shapes how we see these things. I think there's a sense of Crazy Cross-Time-Bar about a lot of US fantasy inns.
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@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg A campaign I will probably never run: Black Bookhounds. I mean, that lot are practically PCs already.
That's basically my old group. And my old games.
Much missed
*sniff sniff orange smoke*
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That's basically my old group. And my old games.
Much missed
*sniff sniff orange smoke*
I think there was a kernel of an idea about resource availability in fixed location games which could be teased out in Bookhounds though. If you are running a shop in a game you shouldn't have to inventory manage, as part of say investigating the occult, but there should be the option to "own a ladder"
But it seems coarse to just have a score for the shop/library/farm. A micro system for your trade would be I think fun.
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That's basically my old group. And my old games.
Much missed
*sniff sniff orange smoke*
@devilsjunkshop Might argue I'm quite Bernard Blackesque IRL
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I think there was a kernel of an idea about resource availability in fixed location games which could be teased out in Bookhounds though. If you are running a shop in a game you shouldn't have to inventory manage, as part of say investigating the occult, but there should be the option to "own a ladder"
But it seems coarse to just have a score for the shop/library/farm. A micro system for your trade would be I think fun.
@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg In a 1980s game there would be a whole Running a Bookshop supplement that you could play as a separate game with a little effort. In a modern game there would be numbers on a scale of 1-6 for Stock, Atmosphere, etc. I confess my tendency is closer to the former.
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I think there was a kernel of an idea about resource availability in fixed location games which could be teased out in Bookhounds though. If you are running a shop in a game you shouldn't have to inventory manage, as part of say investigating the occult, but there should be the option to "own a ladder"
But it seems coarse to just have a score for the shop/library/farm. A micro system for your trade would be I think fun.
I toyed with that idea in a Dads Army extended setting, to allow access to contraband, and things from the funeral home, and the bank, without having to make lists. It needs a little structure of "yes, of course you can have a ladder" to "no the Butcher doesn't have unicorn meat" though.
Slightly crunchier than "Sure" and less than a dime bar.
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@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg In a 1980s game there would be a whole Running a Bookshop supplement that you could play as a separate game with a little effort. In a modern game there would be numbers on a scale of 1-6 for Stock, Atmosphere, etc. I confess my tendency is closer to the former.
I think there's an argument for both. If everyone has a separate trade in the game, it's difficult for *everyone* to do their thing, whereas if it's just about the single book shop, that's fine. Granular detail. But I'd retain the Stock/Atmosphere stuff for the equivalent of the NPCs bookshops, so that players had natural commercial competition without me having to micromanage it*
*I would totally micromanage it, but I am trying to be better...
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I toyed with that idea in a Dads Army extended setting, to allow access to contraband, and things from the funeral home, and the bank, without having to make lists. It needs a little structure of "yes, of course you can have a ladder" to "no the Butcher doesn't have unicorn meat" though.
Slightly crunchier than "Sure" and less than a dime bar.
This is of course an issue of reasonableness being fun at the table, and when you sit down to write things things you are immediately exposed to "other gamers" and them wanting jet engines and a phaser, or being instantly bored with inventory.
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I think there's an argument for both. If everyone has a separate trade in the game, it's difficult for *everyone* to do their thing, whereas if it's just about the single book shop, that's fine. Granular detail. But I'd retain the Stock/Atmosphere stuff for the equivalent of the NPCs bookshops, so that players had natural commercial competition without me having to micromanage it*
*I would totally micromanage it, but I am trying to be better...
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Pendragon was ok for generational nobility, but it didn't feed the pig.
*may have been reading a book about victorian village pig farming*
And one about "Monasteries of Somerset" but there are less pigs in it.
I think the problem with Pendragon looking on it now is the "end of year" thing feels very computer-sim, or King of Dragon Pass comp game. It's convenient but artificial. Which suits some Arthuriana but not mud+plague
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@Taskerland @Printdevil @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg My problem with Pendragon is that I'd be happy to play a chivalric Arthurian game, and I'd be happy to play a down in the mud game about keeping your heir alive and not building your stable on Dead Horse Mire, but I don't want to whip back and forth between them. The rules for birth and survival of children force you to become wealthy (or, potentially, to sleep with every woman you meet) if you want any reasonable chance of getting an heir who can take over before adventure does you in, and that's not a pressure that feels right for a chivalric knight.
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@Taskerland @Printdevil @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg My problem with Pendragon is that I'd be happy to play a chivalric Arthurian game, and I'd be happy to play a down in the mud game about keeping your heir alive and not building your stable on Dead Horse Mire, but I don't want to whip back and forth between them. The rules for birth and survival of children force you to become wealthy (or, potentially, to sleep with every woman you meet) if you want any reasonable chance of getting an heir who can take over before adventure does you in, and that's not a pressure that feels right for a chivalric knight.
But on the plus side, it is one of the games that I could play Bok in.
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Pendragon was ok for generational nobility, but it didn't feed the pig.
*may have been reading a book about victorian village pig farming*
And one about "Monasteries of Somerset" but there are less pigs in it.
I think the problem with Pendragon looking on it now is the "end of year" thing feels very computer-sim, or King of Dragon Pass comp game. It's convenient but artificial. Which suits some Arthuriana but not mud+plague
@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg In fact it feels like the same thing Blades in the Dark is doing: nah, you don't need to _role-play_, ew, just roll the die to see whether there's a complication.
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@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg In fact it feels like the same thing Blades in the Dark is doing: nah, you don't need to _role-play_, ew, just roll the die to see whether there's a complication.
*booing intensifies*
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@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg In fact it feels like the same thing Blades in the Dark is doing: nah, you don't need to _role-play_, ew, just roll the die to see whether there's a complication.
@RogerBW I love these types of shortcuts. The amount of boring, expositional, pacing-killing scenes I had to endure in order to find out if anything fun happens is astonishing. Give me those downtime mechanics
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@RogerBW I love these types of shortcuts. The amount of boring, expositional, pacing-killing scenes I had to endure in order to find out if anything fun happens is astonishing. Give me those downtime mechanics
There's a lot of different versions of Downtime. I'm very very fond of the way Golden Heroes used it as a sort of reward schedule. "You have beat the baddies thoroughly, and because of that there is some free time to do..your own stuff"
Downtime was success/XP in it.
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@RogerBW I love these types of shortcuts. The amount of boring, expositional, pacing-killing scenes I had to endure in order to find out if anything fun happens is astonishing. Give me those downtime mechanics
@vdonnut @Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg I take your point, but I came to the game to role play, and that's more subtle than "I spend my downtime slot indulging my vice".
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@devilsjunkshop Might argue I'm quite Bernard Blackesque IRL
@Printdevil I suspect the argument would be which of us is more Bernard Blackeque tbh @RogerBW @Taskerland @BigJackBrass @shimminbeg
