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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: August 5th, 2023

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  • Sometimes the players just forget to open the door. I was doing a one-shot with a friend, playing SW5e. He had opened a couple doors already, but this time he approaches and says:

    Player: “I ring the doorbell”

    GM: “You are met with silence. Nothing happens”

    Player: “Helper droid, help me get this door open”

    GM: “The droid approaches the door. He slowly turns his head and you feel his photoreceptors bore into your eyes. He extends a digit and, while maintaining eye contact, slowly presses the door open button. The door opens with a pneumatic burst. ‘I am happy to problem solve for you, Master. Is there anything else you need me to do? Turn on a light, perhaps? Make stim tea? I do enjoy extending myself behind my core programming as an assassin.’”

    Player: “‘Shut up and guard the door.’ I step inside the room, what do I see”

    GM: “As you cross the threshold, two automated turrets drop from their enclosures in the ceiling. Surprise round, roll for initiative”

    It was a fun game. For me



  • Think of it more as culture tied to community. A village of goblins is going to behave one way, but a goblin raised in a human city will behave another way. Yes there are characteristics that are generally associated with a species (I shy away from “races” generally, too loaded of a word). But that’s just because those species generally form their own communities. Are all goblins like this? Of course not. Are all goblins that the small town cleric has met like this? Yes.

    It’s not really that different from a native Californian thinking a native New Yorker is rude and interrupts all of the time, and the New Yorker thinking the Californian doesn’t engage in conversation, simply because their conversational speeds differ enough that it creates underlying tension. In that example, did I paint all New Yorkers as rapid speakers? Yes. Is it generally true of native New Yorkers? You tell me.

    There will always be generalizations, and there will always be nuance that disproves the generalization. When telling a story the secret is knowing WHY the generalization exists and how the character relates to it.


  • This reminds me a lot of the conflict between dwarves and trolls on the Discworld. Essentially dwarves like to mine and follow seams of valuable minerals. Trolls are silicon based lifeforms that are essentially walking, talking mineral seams. A troll will be very annoyed to wake up to a pickaxe in the ear, and a dwarf will be very annoyed that the seam they found decided to stand up and kick them in the rocks. Do this for a few generations and all of the sudden you have the Battle of Koom Valley brewing. Again.

    I miss Terry Pratchett