Scott Ruggels

Current "Achtung Cthulhu campaign: Doctor at the door of his walk up, "So who's the patient? -" Player 1, "The one screaming in the back of the car! - " Pllayer 3, "THE EYEEEESSSS!"

FYI TTS is half off Steam, right now! Half off the 4 pack now as well!

Tabletop Simulator is half off on Steam right now! If you buy a 4 pack, that is half off, too, plus the group discount! Go get it now!

other than stepping backwards to the first couple of editions, no, it cannot.

I thought no you are correct.

It needs to be multiples of 4, for printing purposes, and for longer books they need to bound into groups of signatures and signatures are in multiple of 32 pages (i think).

Yes, and apparently a very low amount of crunch. We can at least address the first one.

I think Aragorn had his chest full... ...of arrows.

I think he's referring to the Video Game , Monsterhunte4r, the one with widly different monsters, and the Hero being assisted by Palicos (short cat people). here: https://monsterhunter.fandom.com/wiki/Game_List

I started in this hobby as a war gamer, so I am of the opposite viewpoint in some cases. Some people enjoy the brutal release. and mental exercise of a guilt free slaughter of a clever and wily opponent (see: First person shooters. See: Space Hulk). This is why I drifted away, unsatisfied, from 4 color adventures, and back to low fantasy.

1) What purpose do multiple races have in a rpg? Or alternatively, what should multiple races add to a game if they're done well? They serve two purposes in my games. The first is to be a base identity to be something "other" than human, to explore a role, or an idea in the game. This is also served by Aliens in an SF game. The second purpose is to be a source of conflict, This conflict can be different cultural goals at cross purposes, or irredeemable, savage, servants of evil (guilt free targets), and that depends on the background and type of campaign I am running. 2) Do you prefer multiple races at all in your rpgs? Depends on the campaign, but in most a couple/ three is fine. Too many and it feels like a "reskinned D&D 5e campaign, and "humans only" feels like a well known Fantasy TV series, which works in it's own way, especially since in both cases I tend to run things fairly low fantasy Heroic level campaigns. 3) What fantasy race pet peeves do you have? Why? The Tolkien Trifecta. it has become the "Default" for fantasy since the three little brown books were published by TSR in 1974. Now on the positive side. D&D and Pathfinder have broadened the selection and types of creatures people can play as Player Characters, but the Tolkien Trifecta is still paramount in those systems. Talislanta had no elves, but looking though those books, they had some that fit the bill, somewhat. Can't someone come up with something new, or at least play with them a little. I will admit to having games where the Tolkien Trifecta were present, but those were mostly "out of the book" adventures. Another Pet Peeve I have is playing the Non-human Race as a Human stereotype, or a Human in a funny suit. Examples would be the Hippie Elves, The Dwarvish "Soccer Hooligan", or the Hobbit Mafia B&E specialist. I do recognize that not everyone can role play, and still be an asset to the game, but I do expect folks to do a bit of reading about the campaign background and how those cultures worked. I also don't like it when the other "races" are played as joke characters. (messes up the grimdark of the campaign...Kidding just a little bit). 4) How many is too many? Too few? Between 3 and 5. Fewer than that begs the question of why hasn't one or the other just taken over and made the other extinct. More than 5 (with some exceptions), and the game feels like a costume party, as none of the races will acquire enough development for them to feel like a different culture and biology. 5) What do races represent in you games if anything? In my game? Depends on the race. The Jaggiri were a source of conflict as they were not defeatable one on one, and were a "Boss fight" against a party. Culturally they were supremacists, and looked at other races as either threats, or economic resources for their territorial expansion. But they could be out thought and out negotiated, and were amenable to diplomacy. They started in the game as a a demonic horror released upon an innocent land. And ended the game as slightly annoying, but decent to know. The Lupines are a stand in for any more primitive culture, except with some tweaks in their physical capabilities and a few broad general mental frameworks that make them, while comprehensible to Humans, different enough that their motivations often diverge from most humans. They do this without having to get into disagreeable situations with the current youth about "cultural appropriation". I roll my own races in games, and after a long history of reading Science Fiction, colonial era adventure stories, and History, the different races basically boil down to creatures from a specific or somewhat general environment that want to eat, breed, raise young, and pass on their culture to the next generation. I had a conversation with Animation Legend Ray Harryhausen once, at SDCC, and he told me, that a Monster was just an animal in conflict. What does it do when it's not angry, and how does it live? Think about that and you then have a more fully fleshed out monster. They also serve to scratch my world building itch, as they will have place names and settlements that are all their own. So Fantasy, or Alien. They signify that this place is "not of this earth", even if I swipe large sections of history.

Ender 3 pro as well. I found this Profile prints really good mi miniatures, but the print times are around 10-11 hours though for a 28mm mini:

Not much changes here since I moved in last year. Stick to myself, go out only to shop or walk a trail. (I am in a high risk group, so I go to the store masked and gloved, with eye shields. I'd go MOPP3, but that would scare people) The one disappointing thing is that I am finding I am cleaning the house far more often than I am fulfilling paid work art assignment. I am procrastinating far more. Very disappointing. For some reason just not "feeling" the energy to work, but My house is spotless, and and my books are all re-arraigned properly. I have also got a 3D printer and am noodling in Z-brush with the intent of making figurines, and miniatures at some point soon.

https://www.sfgate.com/living-in-sf/article/Coyotes-are-being-seen-on-the-empty-streets-15159105.php

TTS Stands for Tabletop Simulator. It was originally a Kickstarter project that successfully funded, and is now available for purchase on Steam. What it is is a Physics enabled, VR capable (but not necessary), simulation of a Gaming Table top for up to 8 individuals to play. It is $19.99 on Steam, and has a large amount of games implemented on it. It requires all participants to have a copy of the application, but is a one time purchase. One navigates their POV using WASD to move the camera around, and the Arrow Keys to re-orient one's camera. One uses their mouse to pick up, manipulate, and drop objects onto the table. Each participant picks a "color" which corresponds to their seat position at the table with the host, or GM being black. By Default the table comes with a chessboard and decks of cards and some other items. but users have made multiple Modules for it, for Card and dice games, Classic and current board games (such as Settlers of Catan. or Monopoly, though I think within the last month, Steam has removed some of the games at the copyright holder's request), and Tabletop RPGs, such as D&D 5th Edition, and now, Herosystem 6th edition (and fifth is currently being implemented). All of the modules are available on TTS's Steam Workshop as Downloadable Modules, most of which are free. The Herosystem Module was coded in Lua (the native programming language for TTS), by user Brennall, who is publishing not only YouTube tutorials on how to play, but has also published video play throughs on his 1935 London campaign, with some of his players having no experience with Herosystem picking it up fairly quickly using the module. Brennall's purpose in publishing the module was his attempt at bringing new players to Hero, and making it much easier to play. He, and the community over on the Herosystem Discord Server are very much interested and following along as Brennall posts his adventures and tutorials. The Module supplies a free HDE plugin for Hero Designer that will convert characters into JSON files that are read by the module and import the character into it's "combat controller", and also suppies areas at the player's seat to load PDF files for in app reading and reference. First: What are you having problems with? Basic camera Navigation? Manipulation? General complexity? Remember that TTS can be used in three levels. The first level , with the Herosystem mod loaded as a simple hex grid display, and Dice roller. The second it can be used to load characters, and prepared map images, and the third level can be used as a fully functional combat manager, with miniatures inside of fully 3D terrain with weather and lighting effects (which the 5e, and pathfinder guys seem to use to great effect as well), with a wide array of miniatures, scenery and terrain available for free, but will have to be pre-prepared and loaded for your scenarios. Like most computer assisted tasks these days, the time is spent in set up to make the actual play experience rather smooth and quick. So far, it seems that for TTS it's sublime to be a player, but a lot of work to be a GM. Second, have you looked at the video tutorials? These are what is posted right now. To get a new User's perspective on TTS, you may want to DM User Lensman here onthe forums, as he is the GM for the above mentioned Turakian Age campaign, and we are going through this together, figuring out how to make maps, and pre load things. I really hope this helps.

I will post some reports. It will also be using the TTS Hero Mod as the players are widely geographically separated. Lots of stuff to report.

Wow. this has finally drifted away. I have been reading Turakian Age in small chunks in preparation for a Turakian Age Game taking place later this year. Discussions with the GM just had us replace the Erqigdlit with my Lupines as they make a better PC choice. The GM is using a custom magic system, and is enforcing a late bronze age tech with iron/steel being a rarity. So it's not entirely out of the book and have a flavor straight from the GM. This may be the second time I have played a halfling, though HD has a problem with STR subtraction for the halfling Package Deal (or Template as it's a 6e game.(

And yesterday's numbers from Styx Hexenhammer:

Rudy

If it was just Lost and Fringe, I wouldn’t care, but it’s the wholesale destruction of formerly entertaining franchises, by Abrams, and his acolytes.

I hate J. J. Abrams. I’m just sayin’...

Unfortunately, you are in the clear minority, in that regard, as many modern textbooks are equally as cluttered. Two column with quarter page illustrations in black and white or worse, gray scale sketches look antique, or worse , boring to the modern audiences. For better or for worse, Paizo has set a high bar for appealing and attractive product for a young and modern audience. It’s forcing me to abandon ink line illustrations for digital painting so I can still get work.

The Second is what I meant. For myself I am working (very slowly) on a couple of supplements, one that will include 4th edition stat blocks, and then converted to 6th, and another with 5th. converted to 6th. But it's really slow.

4e is unavailable. Would have to be 5th or 6th, for new publishing.

From Wikipedia: The Type 38 at 1,280 mm (50.4 in) was the longest rifle of the war, due to the emphasis on bayonet training for the Japanese soldier of the era, whose average height was 160 centimeters (5 ft 3 in).[7] The rifle was even longer when the 400 mm (15.75 inches) Type 30 bayonet was fixed. The Type 38 was fairly heavy, at about 4.25 kg. That means a total length of around 65 in. from butt to tip of the blade. I think the Mokuju may be a little shorter.