There is nothing more destructive to the story than a DM temper tantrum, which explains why players have such enthusiasm for causing them.
(Also, for the benefit of readers who check out the comic but don’t read the rest of the site: I want to point out that I was interviewed on Fear the Boot. Tune in to hear some behind-the-scenes info on the comic ( Read more... )

I wrote out the prologue of The Old Republic smuggler story a couple of weeks ago. What I left out was the characterization. For all characters, the player is presented with three responses to every dialogue option with few exceptions. There are actually several different characterizations that could be represented in these interactions; they don’t ( Read more... )

This week I’ve been playing more Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord.

So far, I’ve learned that turning down the damage reduction really hurts. Last time I played I had damage reduction set to easy, so I was effectively invincible with heavy enough armor. But now I have to learn what it’s like to take damage.

Also, since I’m not making most of my money ( Read more... )

This week I’ve been too busy to really play anything between work and Halloween. All I’ve done was finish the Borderlands 3 DLC I was playing last week. The DLC was fine, no complaints, though I have found that I’ve been procrastinating on playing the game itself as time goes on. I originally intended to do everything, but it’s becoming a slog and ( Read more... )

Whenever you introduce a new creature, you should be very specific in your descriptions so that players know if this is something for them to fight or have sex with.
Shamus, Wednesday May 2, 2007

https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=58130

This week is more Borderlands 3.

Not anything new with the base game. I still think the main story sucks, and the combat feels squishy. But, I started some of the DLCs, and so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

I played through Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot fully expecting the villain to just be some AI version of Handsome Jack, but was ( Read more... )

Hey, everyone. I hate to have another non-content day, especially with so many things actually in the works. I took a nap and planned to finish up my weekly post afterward. Instead I got hit with a lot of negative stimuli that sent me spiraling. Thankfully I noticed and arrested the fall, but now I have to re-organize and build myself back up.

I ( Read more... )

Still busy this week. I did manage to play a bit of Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, nothing new to say about it, just a good game.

What’s everyone else doing this week?

https://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=58168

I completed the RollerCoaster Tycoon base game last week and started working on the first expansion, Corkscrew Follies. Two things were immediately apparent. First, Corkscrew Follies employs the same challenges and difficulties as the base game, but provides different and additional rides and shops to meet a scenario’s demands. In fact, the ( Read more... )

(As some people noted, it would not have made sense to re-introduce Merry & Pip as players. Each of them goes off on his own. It would have made a three-way party split, which is confusing enough. Worse, most of the humor comes from the players ignoring NPCs and talking to each other - something the Hobbits wouldn’t be able to do. I could have ( Read more... )