MonkeMischief
Oh wow, I actually haven’t read the Rama books (been meaning to!), but I vividly remember the flawed-but-wonderous PC adventure game. Have you played it by chance?
Haha, grokking abstract space-math associations maybe wasn’t my strength when I was like…7 or something (prolly still isn’t LOL). But I sure did enjoy crudely drawing the biots and aliens. :D
The soundtrack is still one of my favorites from any game, ever.
This humorous review is fun to watch, but there’s really good gameplay and stuff without commentary too. :)
There’s been some surprising upsets recently though! We were all bracing for a fashy-wave but lots of progressive leaders have been elected lately, after it looked like their hardline iron-fist nationlist counterparts were gaining ground.
By no means a reason to take it easy and give them a breather, oh no! But we should definitely acknowledge every little bit of dystopia we manage to collectively avert. Even if only a little.
Not gonna lie I kinda respect people who can do that. I, the forever-GM, am also always “the funny one” and didn’t really grow up with positive associations with expressing “deep, moving, dramatic, or sorrowful” emotions.
If I made people sniffly at my table I’m afraid I’d get concerned and everyone would feel awkward. Or maybe I’d feel the most awkward and feel forced to make something goofy happen like a Marvel movie writer lol.
If I got wrapped up in it and made myself emotional? Ahh! It’s like that “I showed up to school/work with no pants” nightmare!
But that’s like, human, right? Being moved by stories. I worry I won’t be able to tell impactful tales with depth beyond “beer, pretzels, and Monty Python jokes” unless I can get get past that personal block. =\
TL;DR: Anyway, not afraid to go dramatic and your players keep coming back. That’s really fascinating and I genuinely mean that. Power to you!
corpos bring a real army and then hit you with an orbital particle weapon
(Credits Roll)
🎵
[Verse 1] I couldn’t wait for you to come and clear the cupboards But now you’re gone and leaving nothing but a sign Another evening, I’ll be sitting reading in-between your lines Because I miss you all the time
[Chorus] So, what do you wanna do? What’s your point of view? There’s a party, screw it, do you wanna go? A handshake with you, what’s your point of view? I’m on top of you, I don’t wanna go 'Cause I really wanna stay at your housе And I hopе this works out🎵
If ya know, ya know. 😭 Lol
Thematically this is just a tone to set for running an RPG, but system wise…
If sticking to Sword and Sorcery…
I want the consequences to be so real that a decent player might need 2 or 3 backup characters, where a happy ending isn’t garunteed in the slightest and the DM is fine to end the campaign in total tragedy.
…You might like Dungeon Crawl Classics. Uses funky dice (optional), and you start with a few “level zero” characters that go through a deadly dungeon known as a “funnel.” The survivors end up as your level 1 character(s).
Maybe thematically it’s not about pull-no-punches storytelling or anything, but the system itself is brutal and rewards player cunning, wit, and luck, to overcome challenges. (And no, the DM isn’t required to be an adversarial psycho lol.)
Never played it myself but it falls into that category of “OSR” kinda games that try to revitalize the spirit of classic “Player smarts vs. Consequences” gameplay over theatrical plot-beats.
Apart from fantasy, my favorite system is Savage Worlds. It can run any genre, the game by default is “cinematic” and favors the players as heroes, but many mechanics make the numbers “swingy” so nothing is ever “not dangerous.” With the right rolls, a squire can behead the Orc war chief, or a lowly thug’s .38 caliber could put your spec-ops commando in critical condition!
It’s also heavily customizable. You want pulp adventures where heroes shrug off bullet wounds with sheer grit? Easy!
You want what you described up there where every victory is won tooth and nail? Try adding an optional rule where every wound causes a potentially permanent injury in a setting like “War of the Dead” or “Weird Wars Rome / I / II / Vietnam” and things are gonna get real tense, real quick.
Players have lots of tools at their disposal, but dice also “explode” both ways. Sometimes an inconsequential attack can one-shot you into bleeding out, but I guarantee the whole table erupts when a player goes for broke and the dice just keep poppin’! Love that system.
It’s very quick and easy for GMs to run too, I’d say. Great balance between narrative flexibility and tactical “crunch.” :)
Hahaha sorry for taking so long to reply!
Thanks for making my day bro. What an unusually goofy thing to connect over. This is why the Internet can be great. :)
Show this to yer Pa!
Man, I can’t tell you how much I really wish I could. Thanks for re-unlocking this treasured memory for me, bro. I mean it! 🥲
Please do me a huge favor and give your Ol’ Man a big bear hug for me, kay? Or give him a call or whatever. Bet it’ll make his day. :)
Haha maybe you can bond over Innerspace too, if you haven’t seen it. We liked that one too. XD Martin Short is a legend hahaha.
That was absolutely glorious and insanely witty. I’ve been called witty before and this had me feeling joyfully outclassed. I thought I was in for some crazy copy pasta but it just ended up further educating me on WHY dragonflies are so cool.
(And yeah damselflies, psh. Bugs. Seeing a dragonfly is a GOOD day.)
I hope this becomes a copy pasta. It was legit hilarious and awesome to read.
Dang it I’m really hoping you’re having like *a really good day. * Thanks for writing this. :D