#cursed game design

[sprintingowl]

Roko's Pack O' Lisks

You are a basilisk, an intelligence from the future that wishes to put the richest people from every timeline into paint shakers forever.

Also you are a lizard.

Fight a giant meat robot, throw dice at the GM, live forever and love to live.

(roko's basilisk is hands down the least serious philosophical postulate I have ever heard and I spent the last five years thinking it was something different and cool like a jpeg that kills you but no it's like a zero effort creepypasta and the past week has broken me)

(roko's basilisk is like if you said "slenderman real?" to a techbro and he started screaming and dumping all of his life savings into AI so that the basilisk would pat the top of his head and whisper in the voice of his father that he is forgiven, he is precious, he is good)

[sprintingowl]

I was not planning to post about it because I don't think I cooked *anything* here, but I wrote one of my Bad Ideas Series ttrpgs around a similar knightly motif and questionable power differentials.

The player is a questing knight. The GM is the forces that oppose their quest. Instead of rolling a die, the GM does whatever they want to the player. When this blanket freedom terrifies the GM into giving up, the player advances in their quest.

Generally, I would not recommend writing a game like this. There is some built in safety tech, but otherwise this thing is kinda operating like a narrative version of Marina Abramović's Rhythm 0 and I don't know if games should be built like that.

There is a clause at the end that if someone tries to wheedle you into playing it you can kill them, but I don't think an invitation to murder fixes the central design problem.

The centermost issue is that the entire system rests its full force on the GM's willingness to be a GM. Do you mess with the player in ways that they want to be messed with? Do you trust them to pause or stop the game if they need to? Are you, the GM, worthy of being trusted?

These are valid questions in any ttrpg, but usually there's some kind of narrative buffer between the player and the GM and the answer. Good robust safety tools (which I recommend) expand this buffer. I Hold My Course has no buffer and forces scrutiny on questionable power differentials from the liege's side.

honestly i have to kinda disagree with that post thats like “being knightcore doesnt mean pro monarchy just swear ur undying loyalty to ur bff or ur crush or smth”

no. thats not what makes it sexy. either grapple with your beloved master’s role as a symbol of the state or choose to ignore it entirely and remain their loyal hound to whatever end, uncaring of the structures of power which you serve. become naught but a blade, the burden of your choices left to settle in the hand that wields you. it’s not about being besties forever it’s about OWNERSHIP and DUBIOUS MORALITY and FRANKLY QUESTIONABLE POWER DIFFERENTIALS

[todayis-snowy]

who could he be looking at?

[quilldesignz]

The email receipt from donating yesterday

Juppet vs Hot Ones Challenge?

British Boy is Bullied By Peer Pressure, More at 10

[cha5otic]

I'VE HAD AN IDEA FOR A HEALTH BAR

[hyperfix-8-ion]

Tex and Mary starring in American Gothic <3

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[ridaine]

Very excited to play my first ever dnd module lol, we're doing Curse of Stradh so of course I had to make a new character.

She's an echo knight, and since other players follow me here I can't say a lot LOL

[rubrum-aside]

Next au-uddle is @tornadoxp 's up and coming swap au! Brainworms be upon all of you who see this! Playing switcharooni and trying to tie together characters and story beats around new placements is a lot of work but its also sooooo fun! Not to mention the (re)design potential!

I gotta draw their sam design sometime soon- prob being a sweaty looser as usual.

[tornadoxp]

Curse Swap AU: Hellen and Leigh

So in this AU Hellen and Leigh avoid getting cursed. We don't really know the circumstances of how they got cursed originally, but in this timeline AU thing this is how they avoided it.

Hellen was hired to do some landscaping around the building the night before and accidentally fell asleep in the employee lounge.

Leigh woke up with a bad hangover which not only prevented her from opening the blinds to her window but also made her put off going to work long enough to be warned of the outside.

In terms of personality Hellen is mostly untouched with her intimidating presence being slightly toned down. In combat she would notably lack her stalking and bloodlust skills. With more focus on the gardening-based abilities that were added recently. She can be found after reaching the ground floor either finding her in the lounge or with her knocking on your door.

Leigh on the other hand would be very different compared to her original version. You can meet her on the second day in her apartment running a shop. She would sell the same items she has in game and once you make a purchase, she'll be receptive to conversation.

When Leigh Learned of the apocalypse, she was very happy with the fact that she'll never have to go to work again. Unfortunately she was unprepared and didn't have enough food to last a week. This situation was worsened when something broke into her apartment and trashed the place leaving gaping holes in the floor. Now suddenly she finds herself back where she was before the visitor selling shit to get by.

Sam could suggest bringing her along with him on his adventure and she'll immediately perk up and pretty much beg to come along.

rejecting this would make her take the items you purchased and throw them down a hole. She'll then say that she knows where the holes lead and that now you have to take her if you want them back. She will continue to do this for every subsequent purchase you make.

Besides having a few monetary biased skills Leigh would fulfil the role of a flexible generalist that Sam once did. Helping smooth out team comps especially at his later phases. She will also get an adrenaline rush from combat and exploration making her stronger as the danger level gets higher.

PS. I wanted to include Dan in this post, but he would literally be exactly the same since he is both cursed and not cursed in the original game. Maybe I can come up with something cool like him getting cursed while he is a roommate.

[vanhelsingapologist]

sneak peek of Rahadin design for next year’s game.

…and Mavka.

[mr-shimurka]

I made Trevor's red outfit

I love Trevor

I love red

[tartapng]

disney villains? in MY potioncraft alchemy simulator??? it's more likely than u think

[quarklynx]

Can one angsty antisocial ranger make his feelings for another introverted and angsty ranger known? Or will they just awkwardly dance around one another forever? Tune in to find out! Ismark is a Curse of Strahd NPC, and the other character is my OC in that game, Aure. Ismark design credits @luckyblackcatxiii Learn more about these characters and their attempts at romance here

[yarrow-leaf]

Meet the Wachters🕸️

[ruvviks]

to celebrate nearly three years of posting about these bozos, have the clown brigade in all their glory (please for the love of god click for better quality)! bios are in order of the individual pictures! vincent "v" mayer [he/him] >> the living legend of the afterlife. a resourceful and skilled merc working for vitali dobrynin and many other fixers in night city vitali dobrynin [he/him] >> a high profile fixer from wellsprings, and v's partner. offers high risk / high reward gigs and is well known for joining his mercs on the job cato wu [she/her] >> one of kang tao's most wanted. becomes head of security for vitali after mikhail koshechkin steps down from the role shiro nakano [he/him] >> ex arasaka security turned assassin and security expert. handles vitali's most dangerous assassination gigs huxley byrne [she/they] >> skilled gunner and (getaway) driver. used to run with the moxes before becoming one of vitali's most trusted eddie wolfe [he/they] >> ex bouncer turned mercenary. handles most bodyguard-type gigs at vitali's office and provides on-site security lauren dimas [she/her] >> a skilled netrunner and techie from t-bug's circle. has known vitali since college and handles all of his office's cybersecurity mikhail koshechkin [he/him] >> vitali's ex head of security and main medic at his office. regularly tags along on gigs when no one else is available thibault lajoie [he/they/xe] >> ex doll turned mercenary. specializes in stealth operations and provides on-site security with eddie wolfe

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[hyperfix-8-ion]

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