…where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above-average…

…yeah, i think that’s an essential cultural distinction between tabletop and videogame backgrounds; i started seeing the transition in campaign styles in parallel with the advent of structured narratives around the mid-eighties leading into the nineties…

…by contrast, our groups routinely swap DM roles across multiple tables which all share the same more-or-less persistent world, although individual character and DM experiences can vary within the boundaries of narrative coherence…that sustained investment is the fundamental point of of our tabletop campaigns; it distinguishes freeform from prescribed gameplay and is why we chose open-ended campaigns over closed-form boardgames…

…are you familiar with the old RPGA living campaigns?..ignoring the structured campaign setting, that style of pickup game used to be how most folks played…

…if player characters aren’t at liberty to move between campaigns, then ultimately no, they don’t have agency: they’re just ephemeral labor playing-out the DM’s narrative with nothing to show for it afterward…

…mind, i’m not damning that arrangement - some folks enjoy the transient experience - but i have no interest in investing my own creative energy toward anything that i don’t keep…

^{(i already deal with that sixty-five hours every week and remuneration barely suffices to stay my contempt)}

…where’s spock, the rock, doc oc, and hulk hogan?..

Anyone Who Has a Fantasy

…hot tub time machine; absurdly better film than its pitch had any right to be…

…folks frequently presume i’m a recording on telephone calls; i used to do radio so i guess my extemporaneous diction comes across more composed than anticipated…

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…fair enough; i don’t invest my time in campaigns where players don’t retain agency over their own characters…

…west marches vs. one-shot campaigns, plenty of tables for both styles…

…that is f*cking brilliant…

…i did not but i’d rather not traffic user-hostile sites, regardless…

…nah, i have plenty of characters from other campaigns available when the opportunity arises…

…spin ties the room together, man…

…i’m not big on contrived replacements; i may rejoin organically at some point in the indeterminate future but if i’m out i’m out…

…now that’s a name i’ve not heard in - two months…

…we had the 4016 2001N with an external tape drive: not quite as much geek-cred as the original 2001, but still respectable…

…is that the demo?..

…yeppers; don’t use a computer…

…unfortunately they’re rife with oppressively disruptive advertising these days; just not worth reading anymore and my battery life agrees…

…every employer i’ve worked with endeavors to put people doing the actual work on salary as soon as possible, so they can harvest that sweet sweet unpaid overtime for maximum profitability…