Mrs.Platypus

Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 21:06 UTC

Fun fact - Polish translation makes it a "100 Mile Woods", which made the woods seem endless, like a childhood summer.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 08, 2024 at 18:27 UTC

Oooooooooo

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 06, 2024 at 18:21 UTC

I have a Jadzia too! Here's my other cat, Fig, meeting her for the first time

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 05, 2024 at 07:00 UTC

My parents live in Kashubia (region in northern Poland) and there are several villages with Kashubian language names nearby, which sound... interesting in Polish. Literal English "translations" would be something like "Quarrellous Pants", "Oh, You Brat!" and "Stirs Excrement".

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 03, 2024 at 13:50 UTC

This doesn't surprise me at all. On Twitter I either don't interact because I'm expecting to get a shitty response, or I don't interact because it's a marketing tool and posting random thoughts on random subjects is Bad For Your Brand. I like it better here.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 02, 2024 at 08:52 UTC

I'm sorry, I'm feeling more "ugh, the world!" today

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 19:46 UTC

And it's VERY good at making you understand the vibe you should be going for, what the game is designed to do, and what may not work very well in this system.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 19:45 UTC

First of all, it doesn't assume you already know stuff. It goes step by step, explains the games systems and concepts, including not just the How, but also the Why. It also is pretty much 100% actionable. And it covers every aspect of GMing, from broad strokes planning, to zoomed in details.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 19:14 UTC

Every new module for Mothership I find leaves me awed. Putting so much information on so few pages, combined with all the wild layout and graphic design ideas, and keeping it all readable and immediately actionable - pure gold. A Pound of Flesh would be the size of Curse of Strahd if WotC made it.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jul 01, 2024 at 06:59 UTC

This is a very cool print, but also brb, buying a plate rack for drying small prints!

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 29, 2024 at 13:55 UTC

Are you on any OSR Discords? I'm sure there must be some good ones out there. The ones for indie TTRPGs I'm into (mainly Ironsworn and Mothership right now) are very active and it's really easy to find people to play these games with there.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:40 UTC

No no, I get it. It can't be all or nothing, it never is. I think we only disagree about the extent of that pre-planning. I don't see the evidence that it's more than the minimal choreography I've always done in my own games to make sure everyone is on the same page. So - NBA, not WWE.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:37 UTC

I think there is a notable difference since they stopped playing live. It could be that they are pre-planning the story more. But it could just be a different recording schedule. They might have longer breaks between recordings now, and they don't have to play late on a weeknight.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:33 UTC

They did talk about the story moving in unexpected directions and players surprising Matt, on 4-Sided Dive, and previously on Talks Machina. But I'm with you on the story meetings, I'd love to know how this works. I assumed it was more of a thorough recap + "it's been dark, we need a Beach Episode".

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:30 UTC

Campaign 1 and "take me instead, you Raven Bitch"? Campaign 2 and "hey, let's become pirates", or handing over the beacon to the Krynn? Less so this campaign, but in the previous two Matt definitely had to throw away or rewrite entire arcs because the players did something unexpected.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:27 UTC

I still think this is self-driven. They all have acting experience, they know how stories work, they understand how to pick up what someone else is putting down. Plus, there have been many situations across all campaigns when they zigged when Matt expected them to zag, and the whole game changed.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:10 UTC

Which is what I would interpret as "like wrestling". The other examples to me are just - this is how we play in a long-form character-driven campaign.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:09 UTC

Or Matt saying "this encounter will look unfair, but you'll have an opportunity to find something that flips it around." We do that too. What I don't see happening is "next session you will be betrayed by this NPC, please prepare emotional and conflicting responses."

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 07:09 UTC

We might have had different experiences playing, but I think what I'm seeing in CR is pretty close to what I'm used to in organic play, in terms of choreography. Like, I can see them go to Matt and say "so the two of us would love to have a chance for some quiet RP about what happened last session."

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 06:53 UTC

Less of a "we've ironed out the main story beats beforehand and we all know exactly where the story is going to go". And more "players communicate their goals and ideas, and the GM gives them opportunities to play them out."

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 06:53 UTC

Interesting. In this case I don't really see a meaningful difference between CR and a regular home game. I'll give you D20 - because of the sets they build and the shorter campaign, Brennan does have to choreograph the beats carefully. But CR in this aspect plays just as the groups I've played with.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 26, 2024 at 04:52 UTC

That's me, I'm all three of those people.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 22:29 UTC

What makes you think so? I always saw it closer to the NBA side - they are actually playing, but the team has a strategy, and the coach could be planing to substitute a certain player from the bench at a specific time. Wrestling would be almost all scripted, and rehearsed before the performance.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 22:23 UTC

And in the D20's case, they really are THAT good at improv, and with their format they can get away with reshooting a scene if the joke falls flat. Not sure if they would, but it would be fairly easy to do, since they have shorter episodes and cuts.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 22:23 UTC

Happens in my games all the time, especially if I'm planning to go into potential lines/veils territory. I need to check in my players, in vague terms, if they'd be fine with the story going that way.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 22:21 UTC

I doubt that there is much scripting happening beyond what you would expect from a really engaged group with a character-driven story. Like, the GM asks players if they'd be down for a slower, RP focused arc now, or a player tells the GM they'd really like to do something involving a specific NPC.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 25, 2024 at 22:11 UTC

I doubt it, they'd have to redo half the episode, they usually have at least 1.5-2h with no cuts. Plus, there would be obvious continuity errors (which obsessive Critters would definitely point out) where someone would misremember if they went with version A or version B of a scene in the end.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 23, 2024 at 19:55 UTC

I think I have something pretty cool here, I will need to write it up and get someone else to playtest it properly. And I've said it before, but the #Mothership Warden Operations Manual is probably the best GM manual I've ever used. Makes writing an adventure a joy.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 23, 2024 at 19:52 UTC

I've run my Mothership adventure again tonight! I tried to do it as a one-shot, but I think it needs to be a two-shot. It went better the second time around, I felt more confident with more experience. Next step - play it with experienced players, so far I've only run it for newbies like me.

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 23, 2024 at 06:35 UTC

Heh

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 22, 2024 at 18:25 UTC

Also, since the survey was terribly designed, with botched question branching and grammar errors, I suggested they should try creating the next survey themselves, rather than asking chatGPT to do it for them. 😌

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 22, 2024 at 18:20 UTC

I wrote "cancelling Adobe product subscriptions" 😘

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Mrs.Platypus @mrsplatypus.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 22, 2024 at 18:18 UTC

Well that was fun.