by JudgementDave

jsteidl wrote:

JudgementDave wrote:

jsteidl wrote:

agramore wrote:

I just don't think they are my "jam", as the kids say (if they still say that). 😆

My older one still says that, but I think it's not current for 20-somethings!

The phrase is being thrown away like yesterday's jam.

I think we have some jam in the fridge that's about as old as the kids. Whether eating that would be more deadly than having to play a game I hate is an open question - and an experiment I will probably never attempt!

I wondered if the phrase ‘yesterday’s jam’ needed explaining…
Have you ever watched the UK sitcom The IT Crowd? Yesterday’s Jam is (iirc) the title of the first episode and a phrase used by one character. It’s met with ridicule by other characters due to obvious reasons.

by pelni

Players somehow had much more time in the past. It's obvious in boardgames and computer games as well. Now everything has to be playable in at most an hour. I think that explains most big changes in game design, for all kinds of games, and probably movies as well. Much of it is mistaken for good/bad design.

Even the big, traditional, somewhat crunchy games (D&D and Pathfhinder, at least), seemingly moved on to more canned experiences with scripted campaigns? I was a bit surprised, when I started lurking on rpg forums after not really have thought much about rpgs for a long time, to learn that people now expected campaigns to end, with discussions about campaign finales, and players even knowing the schedule ("oh, we have three more sessions to go; big campaign finale coming up on November 14") as if they were watching tv series, just looking forward to see what the script has in store for next time. Very different from the past, and also very much in line with making sure things move fast and no time is wasted.

by Damdael

An item RPG Item: The Streets of Port Noir has been added to the geeklist Gamebook rankings by Damdael

by TrippyHippyEcho

To give some disclosure, I live in New Zealand and the local gaming community and retail seem to have quite a lot of PbtA games. They are popular in conferences and, I think, with 20-30 year gamers. That said, you can usually buy D&D, Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, Cyberpunk etc too.

by aramis

pdzoch wrote:

A question inspired by [user=trystero11][/user]

What tips can you share for making better Questions of the Day?

don't beat a topic to death with 3 close variations over 3 adjacent days.

by aramis

chuckdee68 wrote:

I think that either is hyperbolic. There are some not so well designed games currently, and some not so well designed games in the past. And the inverse is true also.

Professionally designed games with proffesional layout are more common, and the pros generally do better layouts...

chuckdee68 wrote:

What the current games have going for them is community. In the past, I don't think there was much talk of sharing engines and building and hacking on top of them. Everything had to be its own thing to a large extent, unless it was a universal game by the same company. PbtA changed a lot of that, and you have many such frameworks now, with success built on top of success, and that success making tighter games as you have a tighter design loop. But even for that, those derivatives are still the same game underneath.

That's a small slice of the player space for a large wedge of designs... PBTA gets a lot of talk from a small population.
The big chunk of playerspace is still Trad, playing D&D or Pathfinder.
Only time I see PBTA stuff at my FLGS is on Free RPG Day. (Seriously.)
Closest to PBTA I've heard of being run there is Sentinel Comics (which credits DVB and MB in the starter set, but not the core...).

THey just don't get any demand for it. College town.
The new LGS in town is a satellite store of a huge Portland store, and might have a few... but not in the local store to me, because that satellite store is very minis and boardgame focused.

by Lowengrin

qwertymartin wrote:

...and someone add it to the Phoenix subscription list!

Done!

by Tomcat1304

It's not one generation being better than the other. I think this is strongly connected with developing preferences of players. The 2025 RPG generation is different from the 1995 generation from the 1975 generation. And the way RPGs are designed depends on how media is presented in general in these eras.

Take for example the first Alien movie (1979). One of my favourites, but seen with modern 2020s eyes it takes about 45 minutes until the action starts! Similar experience with RPGs - I like long, complex campaigns and epic stories, but try presenting that to people born after the years 2000. They have a completely different playstyle. Recently I had a player blurting out "We're here on behalf of the city guard". My first thought was "Which point of 'this is an undercover mission' did he not get?" But that was mentioned maybe 15 minutes earlier. So a better question would have been "How do I keep the attention focused on this point with younger players as a GM?"

On the other hand I have older players overanalyzing things. Infiltrating a hideout could easily turn into a week of observation, following irrelevant connections and flows of commodities through a city.

So it's not the point of games being better than others - it's about the designated target group. I've been planning to GM a game for a kids group. Even though I like being GM (well, currently...), I'm going to give this a test run first. Because the group dynamics will be completely different from the gang of veterans I usually play with.

by DoOverAgain

An item RPG: Blade Runner: The Roleplaying Game has been added to the geeklist DoOverAgain's SOLO RPG Actual Plays

by DoOverAgain

An item RPG Item: Blade Runner Starter Set has been added to the geeklist Solo RPGs on YOUR table- August 2026

by Pete_R

Related Item: Herald's Call

A Walk on the Beach does sound lazy & easy going, rather than being an exciting game to play. Beachcomber might convey a more action oriented theme or Beach Bum would perhaps be jaunty and alliterative. Or do consider place names like Carmel by the Sea or Pismo Beach. Let me know if you want me to make more suggestions!

On a vaguely related note, it just so happens that right now, I am working on a Zombicide mission Mardi Gras in San Luis Ventura. It's a special request by a friend as a treat to his twin boys who are home for the summer after their freshman year in college. Normal Zombicide missions are 6 to 9 tiles (10 inches square each) in size for 6 to 8 players. This mission will be a mammoth 26 tile layout for two teams totaling 12 to 16 players altogether. The layout is a diamond shape 9 tiles long by 5 tiles wide that barely fits onto a standard 108 by 60 inches ping pong table. My chosen name for this mission is a combo of San Luis Obispo, which does have a Mardi Gras parade but is an inland city near Pismo Beach, and the city of San Buena Ventura, which is where my friend lives and is a beach city adjacent to Oxnard (also a beach city) where I live. The layout includes 3 tiles for the beach with a pier and a beached ship, a run-down older section of town near the waterfront, the City Hall near my friend's office with the 5-tile Mardi Gras parade route on California Street running from the pier to the City Hall, and a 9-tile Main Street running the length of the layout; the two teams each start at either end. If the mission plays well, I hope to post it as a file under Zombicide (2nd Edition): Rio Z Janeiro.

Best regards,
Pete

A new episode has been added to the database: Road to Victory - Ep. 08 - "!" Joined Your Party