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Reply: General Role-Playing:: Re: QOTD SEP 17: Do you like games that reward system mastery? What about setting mastery? Why or why not?
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:32:20
So, how badly do you want your players to engage with your setting? Like enough to know what's going on or enough to roleplay whole scenes in character?
Personally, I enjoy minimal system mastery and moderate setting mastery best but I don't mind system experts that maximize the potential of a D&D 5e druid, nor that metagame the monsters or factions....I will mod them pretty quick after the first interaction anyway for monsters and factions are almost always my own.
They learn new bits of the world as they encounter them, but they don't have to buy books to read about decades worth of lore, so the pressure on them is minimal- it just involves their own memory and/or note taking skills, and they can explore as they go. Also, if people want to build their characters to maximise certain aspects, good on them, but it will also mean minimising other aspects- such is life. Mostly, I like keeping the barriers to fun low. 🙂
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:32:20
Inkwan wrote:
TomTomThePipersSon wrote:
System mastery shouldn't be that complicated- if it is, I probably won't want to play the game. As for setting mastery, I homebrew settings, so it's a moot point, really.
Personally, I enjoy minimal system mastery and moderate setting mastery best but I don't mind system experts that maximize the potential of a D&D 5e druid, nor that metagame the monsters or factions....I will mod them pretty quick after the first interaction anyway for monsters and factions are almost always my own.
They learn new bits of the world as they encounter them, but they don't have to buy books to read about decades worth of lore, so the pressure on them is minimal- it just involves their own memory and/or note taking skills, and they can explore as they go. Also, if people want to build their characters to maximise certain aspects, good on them, but it will also mean minimising other aspects- such is life. Mostly, I like keeping the barriers to fun low. 🙂
New comment on Blog Post Happy National Video Games Day 2026
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:31:59
Recently I've been just playing Fields of Mistria on my Steam Deck to get that Stardew Valley fix. It's like the sequel we never had. There are some differences which actually help and you can tell they are big Stardew Valley fans as it has a very similar feel.
As for favourite games of all time. In no particular order, just as they come into my head... HλLF-LIFE, HλLF-LIFE², Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, Dark Age of Camelot, Tetris (1984), Tomb Raider (1996), Tekken 2, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Homeworld, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Master of Magic (1994), Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. A mix of FPS, MMO, RPG, RTS, Platform, Puzzle and Beat 'em Up. Need a mix of genres. 😉
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:31:59
by Cricky
Related Item: VideoGameGeek News
This has being going since 1991 and I'm only just hearing about it? Must be one of the many American holidays. 😄Recently I've been just playing Fields of Mistria on my Steam Deck to get that Stardew Valley fix. It's like the sequel we never had. There are some differences which actually help and you can tell they are big Stardew Valley fans as it has a very similar feel.
As for favourite games of all time. In no particular order, just as they come into my head... HλLF-LIFE, HλLF-LIFE², Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny, Dark Age of Camelot, Tetris (1984), Tomb Raider (1996), Tekken 2, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Homeworld, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Master of Magic (1994), Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. A mix of FPS, MMO, RPG, RTS, Platform, Puzzle and Beat 'em Up. Need a mix of genres. 😉
New comment on Item for GeekList "Microbadge Request & Design Feedback GeekList 7th Edition"
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:31:07
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:31:07
by wildthayne
Related Item: DIE: The Roleplaying Game
It's not easy to capture much detail. Here's a draft...
Reply: RPGGeek Bugs:: Re: Cloudflare???
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:01:37
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 21:01:37
by TSSL
The cloudflare issue has also been blocking access for the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, which doesn't seem to have been able to save anything for over a week. This seems to be happening on a lot of sites that use cloudflare lately, which doesn't bode well for, well, archiving. Hopefully they can do something to let it through so it can stay accessible?
Reply: General Role-Playing:: Re: QOTD SEP 17: Do you like games that reward system mastery? What about setting mastery? Why or why not?
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 20:45:45
So, how badly do you want your players to engage with your setting? Like enough to know what's going on or enough to roleplay whole scenes in character?
Personally, I enjoy minimal system mastery and moderate setting mastery best but I don't mind system experts that maximize the potential of a D&D 5e druid, nor that metagame the monsters or factions....I will mod them pretty quick after the first interaction anyway for monsters and factions are almost always my own.
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 20:45:45
by Inkwan
TomTomThePipersSon wrote:
System mastery shouldn't be that complicated- if it is, I probably won't want to play the game. As for setting mastery, I homebrew settings, so it's a moot point, really.
Personally, I enjoy minimal system mastery and moderate setting mastery best but I don't mind system experts that maximize the potential of a D&D 5e druid, nor that metagame the monsters or factions....I will mod them pretty quick after the first interaction anyway for monsters and factions are almost always my own.
GeekList Item: Item for GeekList "2026 Gaming Challenges (Pyronik)"
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 20:40:45
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 20:40:45
by Pyronik2003
An item GeekList: 2026 Challenge: Play 10 Games 10 Times Each has been added to the geeklist 2026 Gaming Challenges (Pyronik)
Thread: Hot Deals:: Fanatical Traveller RPG Bundle
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 20:16:10
https://www.fanatical.com/en/collections/the-traveller-unive...
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 20:16:10
by chuckdee68
Huge GDW Traveller bundle on Fanatical, including tracks for Novels, RPGs, and comicshttps://www.fanatical.com/en/collections/the-traveller-unive...
Reply: General Role-Playing:: Re: QOTD SEP 17: Do you like games that reward system mastery? What about setting mastery? Why or why not?
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:56:17
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:56:17
System mastery shouldn't be that complicated- if it is, I probably won't want to play the game. As for setting mastery, I homebrew settings, so it's a moot point, really.
Reply: The Tavern:: Re: Name the TV Series from the Synopsis
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:39:05
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:39:05
by Derang3d
Archer?
Reply: The Last Ember:: Reviews:: Re: The Last Ember Review
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:37:22
I hope the lukewarm review isn't too discouraging and instead brings about thoughts how to perhaps improve the book (for future print runs) or the next books already in varying stages of development. I like supporting the production of new gamebooks but I also think that there's no point in writing book reviews unless I'm honest about my opinions in them.
Like I wrote in the review I do have my own preferences (for example my aversion to AI generated art affected the rating I gave) and I commented about them in the review so that readers can decide for themselves if they care about those opinions or not. I backed the book knowing the art was going to be AI generated and that it probably would clash with my preferences but I do try to give new authors/companies/ideas a chance instead of just sticking to the same old stuff.
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:37:22
by Damdael
I wrote this reply over at Kickstarter comments but I'll paste it here because the different sites probably have different readers.I hope the lukewarm review isn't too discouraging and instead brings about thoughts how to perhaps improve the book (for future print runs) or the next books already in varying stages of development. I like supporting the production of new gamebooks but I also think that there's no point in writing book reviews unless I'm honest about my opinions in them.
Like I wrote in the review I do have my own preferences (for example my aversion to AI generated art affected the rating I gave) and I commented about them in the review so that readers can decide for themselves if they care about those opinions or not. I backed the book knowing the art was going to be AI generated and that it probably would clash with my preferences but I do try to give new authors/companies/ideas a chance instead of just sticking to the same old stuff.
New comment on GeekList GQGL67: What happens when you awake at three in the morning?
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:36:48
Posted: Thu, 17 Sep 19:36:48
by Derang3d
Doesn't that balance seem off?

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