Close enough to a meme anyways. I’m not complaining!

I love Oglaf so much

I’d say it’s probably closest to Dungeon World? It is a d12 system, and the design of the character classes is pretty clearly inspired by Apocalypse World and the like, but it drops some of the quirkier, fluffier aspects of those systems for a more d20-like approach.

For example, combat is a little crunchier and a little closer to d20 systems - it’s still theater of the mind but there are turns and initiative. Your character has an attack modifier, damage die, and a defense score that determines how hard you are to hit - which work in ways familiar to d20 players. Some characters also have Block, which is damage reducton. If you roll poorly on your attack, though, you can be counterattacked - but the players can do that to enemies on their turn, too, so it balances out.

You also make skill checks like you would in a d20 system, though it does still use the degrees of success that PtbA is known for. But you don’t have that little quirk of the NPCs only acting when the PCs make a move. NPCs don’t have stats for things like skill checks, but there’s nothing stopping the GM from assigning an appropriate modifier and rolling for NPCs if needed - although the players should still be using their skills whenever possible. And when the PCs are elsewhere on the map, the GM is encouraged to keep NPCs and factions proactive and advancing their own plans.

Thank you for being a backer. It’s a wonderfully crafted system!

I don’t know what the implied demographic is, but I assume I am not in it.

The demographic is people who care more about being free from corporate controlled media than they care about a shiny, polished user experience. (i.e. free open source software [FOSS] enthusiasts) This is necessarily the case because of the relationship between sites like Lemmy and sites like, say Reddit. Reddit is absolutely more polished, but Lemmy is more resistant to enshittifcation.

Naturally tech nerds are both more aware of the dangers of corporate controlled software and more able to make the switch, so you get a lot of them as your early adopters.

I suppose that vibe is part of why I don’t feel the desire to venture further into the fediverse.

I really hope you change your mind. Both because Lemmy definitely feels “further in” than something like mastodon or pixelfed, but also because these sites really do need mainstream adoption in order to compete with the tech giants.

Oh, absolutely. I would love for lemmy (and fediverse generally) to have more reach.

I mean it is 😅

But we’re also on the fediverse. That does imply a certain demographic too.

I’m surprised anyone on Lemmy isn’t aware of that one. I 100% would have spelled it out of not for the fact that this audience is 95% Linux nerds.

Ok, gotcha! Thanks for the info!

I’ll still keep it in mind, thank you!

I don’t think that’s a ttrpg, no?

I’ll look into Foundry. Not sure what the specs are that I would need in order to host.

How would I set up a dice bot for matrix? Would I need to self host or is there an existing server I could create a space in?

I like it too, but I think I would rearrange the dice so that the stress mechanic works more like hit points. Currently the advice is that characters with larger dice should receive more wounds - but if you remove this then the size of your die effectively acts as an hp pool of sorts.

If you do this, though, you would probably want to rearrange the mental stack so that the characters with the largest mental dice are the ‘sanest’ or most mentally stable.

It’s a cool concept and I think I’m going to tinker with it a little.

That entirely depends on the setting. Is this more of a fantasy cleric, a medieval priest, or a starship’s chaplain?

The thing about investigation is that it is primarily a player skill.

Also, (and this is true for lots of things the ranger does) adding investigation as a skill tends to trivialize investigations.

Using travel as an example:

Player: wants to explore the wilderness

Player: chooses the Ranger, a character that thematically fits that desire

Character: has features that trivialize the challenges of exploration

GM: since there’s no way for you to fail, we’ll just handwave away travel and teleport to our destination

Player: is sad

Investigation is the same way. Players who enjoy mysteries tend to pick investigation heavy characters, but many games use those characters to make investigation easier. This actively takes away from the gameplay the player was wanting.

If anything, these specialties should unlock new styles of play. For example, a ranger’s exploration skills should unlock access to ever more dangerous types of terrain, so that the difficulty of exploration increases as the character levels up. The character is getting more tools, sure, but they’re mostly unlocking the play experience the player is seeking.

The last name is probably similar to “cha” or maybe “chia”

I know “Xin” is pronounced like “chin”

The mechanics are the medium through which players relinquish control of their roleplay. They’re sort of what mediates roleplaying, I think, by providing a sort of arbitrary and neutral interface to both limit and move along characters.

Precisely. Which is why it feels different from improv. Rules and predictable-but-random outcomes add verisimilitude to a game.

And the closer something is to the game’s core experience, the more likely it is that a rule (instead of a ruling by the gm) is needed. So if you’re playing a game that revolves around intrigue and seduction, you will probably want some rules for that. They don’t have to be overly complicated, but they will need to exist.

Does anything need mechanics? You could just rp everything, after all.

I’m not saying you need something like FATAL, btw, the system I’m referring to is The Sword, the Crown and the Unspeakable Power. It’s a pretty normal PTBA system, plus a handful of moves that let you gain an advantage when you sleep with someone (as you might expect for courtly intrigue in an 18+ setting). There’s also one class that lets you give birth to eldritch abominations, but that’s less of a ‘roll for pregnancy’ thing and more of a dark ritual. It doesn’t have to be done out of a deep yearning for motherhood - that was just the direction I took it because it resonated with me.

It’s not always about horniness, per se. For example, I’m trans, and giving birth is something I’ll always want but probably will never get to experience. So maybe I want to experience a “power fantasy” of sorts where my trans character performs dark rituals to give birth to eldritch abominations, all so she can experience motherhood.

I’m sure there are other experiences that people would want to rp but not necessarily to experience irl. It certainly overlaps with kink, but it’s not like you’re masturbating at the table. You’re telling a story with adult themes, not (necessarily) writing erotica.

I think that what’s happening here is that

1. The vast majority of any <thing> is poorly made, but because there are better alternatives, the poorly made ones rarely see the light of day

And

2. The more specialized or niche something is, the more likely it is to stand out despite being poorly made

This includes racist garbage and weird fetishes, yes, but also any other game whose main selling point is its uniqueness instead of its quality.