LoamImprovement @ LoamImprovement @ttrpg.network

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2 yr. ago

You never have to find the Ventrue, they make themselves known.

The issue with this kind of thing is almost never the actual challenge or moral dilemma, wherever and however it may spring up - it's usually about trying to narratively 'pants' a character with a poorly contrived But Thou Must or Sophie's Choice, and the most generous interpretation of that action is that the GM feels that the suffering of a PC will help tell a good story. I find more often that these scenarios pop up in Humiliation Conga campaigns, where the GM just gets a kick out of creating worlds and encounters that primarily serve to inflict pain and misery on the PCs, and sometimes even the players themselves. And that's not to say that those kinds of stories and settings can't work or be enjoyable (Paranoia and the character-focused 40K games like Rogue Trader come to mind) but it has to be the kind of story that everyone at the table wants to tell.

The devil's advocate in me says that dealers often cut drugs with formula so there's at least one other reason to keep it locked, but I don't know how well that statement holds up under scrutiny, because it's not like they check to see if you actually have a baby when you buy formula, and it's probably not worth the risk to steal it as opposed to just buying it with the kind of return you'd get from diluting your product.

And yeah, I see razor blades, shampoo, and fucking laundry soap under lock and key in stores all the time. Nobody's cutting drugs with any of those. Shit's getting real fucked up.

Well that's a given in most games, unless you're going to lengths to depict your character as particularly homely.

In D&D I can live out my fantasies of having enough agency in my life to do something about the end of the world brought about by megalomaniacal bastards, and having positive net worth.

I mean, it does also illustrate how the empire's strength lies in numbers and resources, and not in superior skill. There's some evidence that stormtrooper accuracy is a lot better than popular media gives credit for (e.g. "these blast points are far too accurate for sand-people,") and the only reason stormtroopers miss as much as they do in the movies is because they are under Vader's orders not to injure Luke and Leia, which may or may not be true, but the battle on endor shows how susceptible the armor is to guerilla warfare that does, in fact, utilize those lower-tech weapons. I'm sure if the empire cared enough about the efficacy of the armor, they could develop a suit that incorporated shield technology and win battles with a fraction of the troops they use, but again, the suit's primary function is to mark these shock troops as the face of an insurmountably vast empire. I would not be surprised if the poor defensive qualities of the armor are intentional, to foster a strategic message to the empire's enemies that says "we don't care how many you kill, there will always be more."

In a short story, the monkey's paw is an artifact that grants three wishes of the person who holds it, albeit in the worst way possible.

The story goes that a pensioner and his wife receive the paw from some guy who warns them that the paw twists the wishes, but they pay the warning no mind and wish for a sum of money. A finger on the paw curls, and a factory foreman shows up with the money explaining that their son has died of a horrific mutilating accident in the factory. The insurance policy pays the money out to the surviving members of the family.

The wife wishes that their son were alive again, another finger curls, and a few hours later they hear another knock at the door. The wife rushes to welcome their son, however, recalling the stranger's warning and imagining how terrifying the mutilated body of their son might look, the father uses the last finger to wish the son dead and buried again. Incidentally, there doesn't appear to be a negative on that wish apart from the horror that's already been visited on them.

This is how most supermarkets (Walmart/Kroger/Target, etc.) in the U.S. look brand new - they're effectively warehouses that sell product directly to customers. Smaller shops and boutiques have finished ceilings that hide the ductwork and such because they're meant to be more flexible commercial/office space, but large stores like this do not, except for specialized locations like electronics, jewelery, or pharmacy, that can be gated off from the rest of the inside of the building for reduced operation and security.

I mean, okay, but how much of anything can get hit by lightning and not be a smoldering crater without proper grounding and such?

What the fuck was the point of this thing?

It's just a two hour long exposé into misery.

I mean, yeah.

🎵The best part of waking up is going back to sleep!🎵

Of course without committing a crime before and without saying anything else.

You will probably commit a crime or misdemeanor unknowingly on the way to the station. There is a reason you do not talk to the police, even if you think you're completely innocent.

https://youtu.be/d-7o9xYp7eE?si=ppgOcO6ZcOVPC0oB

I had a princess, but they took her in the divorce!

I always feel really dumb when reading it because it's clear the author is an astrophysicist, but I still enjoy it because it's quite warm and does a really good job of developing the characters. Honestly I think the only real one-note character is Kornada and he's very deliberately that because he represents a grey goo machine in the form of unchecked capitalism.

Reminds me of those old bay goldfish that PF sold for a little bit last year. I admit, my purchases of cheddar goldfish and old bay have been up since that event.

What'd you say about my moms?

peperony and chease

Funnily enough, I do feel like an adult, mostly because I've been aware enough for long enough that everyone else is making it up as they go, that I can sense when people are on their bullshit and navigate it pretty effectively.

Also I'm making a lot of decisions that will hopefully insulate me from the consequences of my inevitable failure, but I hold no delusions that the safety net will ever be perfect or even good, or that some arbitrary amount of austerity would have bought me a house at this point, so I don't starve myself of the little pleasures in the moment - today is the rainy day. I use my PTO, I get a little treat every once in a while, and I make myself as comfortable as I can. My life satisfaction has increased drastically with that in mind.

Well, the problem there is, if they try to emulate the VTMB1 malkavian, they're going to have to record a bunch more VO for the main character. That said, I would appreciate it if Paradox veered away from the fishmalk tropes and gave the player a more subtle window into madness.