Various tabletop stuff not deserving its own thread

[sheet]

Thanks to my older brother, Goldbox was my introduction to AD&D. The 3.5 books with the cool "tome" theming were the only time I picked up the D&D books to look through them at the bookstore. I was tempted, but I didn't buy any (no friends were into it), but having the central theme and appearance uniting each book, much like the Goldbox games, was undoubtedly good marketing.

Why would I pick up a generic looking dragon illustration cover D&D book when it looks like a dozen romance novels nearby with the same style of cover?

[DemoGraph]

Blue of course!

That timmy-jimmy-whatshisnammy marketing slop in MTG never made sense to me. Combo players are sophisticated core audience of the game engine, everyone else is periphery. If you cater to anyone but core, you're busy catering to a product, not the game. This is absolutely ok, of course. What is not okay is to pretend that you're busy developing the game.

[Kalarion]

What's HQ's opinion of solo RPGs, like Barbarian Prince?

This is harder than playing with a group. You need to be both a GM and a player, plus you need to be able to adapt the system, if it is designed for group play, for solo RP, which also requires certain knowledge and understanding, for example, how to play someone else's campaign and not spoil everything for yourself while reading the book for it during the playthrough. But overall, it is an solid option. Especially if we are talking about journalling games. With the advent of AI, keeping tables, tracking the hero's condition, etc., is many times easier.

Failing reading comprehension at the most basic level. He was talking about games designed for a single player, you ******* ****-souled ******. YWNBAH. Get out.

[enisey]

What's HQ's opinion of solo RPGs, like Barbarian Prince?

This is harder than playing with a group. You need to be both a GM and a player, plus you need to be able to adapt the system, if it is designed for group play, for solo RP, which also requires certain knowledge and understanding, for example, how to play someone else's campaign and not spoil everything for yourself while reading the book for it during the playthrough. But overall, it is an solid option. Especially if we are talking about journalling games. With the advent of AI, keeping tables, tracking the hero's condition, etc., is many times easier.

Failing reading comprehension at the most basic level. He was talking about games designed for a single player, you ******* ****-souled ******. YWNBAH. Get out.

I assumed he was talking about adapting campaigns/modules/adventure paths that were written with groups in mind.

Anyway, I'm interested in solo play. I've tried using AI, but it's just not there yet. I don't think an LLM alone will cut it, it'll need a model with special training, MCP servers, a more defined structure with databases, and a game system designed to work with it all before it will really shine as an option.

[Kalarion]

I assumed he was talking about adapting campaigns/modules/adventure paths that were written with groups in mind.

Anyway, I'm interested in solo play. I've tried using AI, but it's just not there yet. I don't think an LLM alone will cut it, it'll need a model with special training, MCP servers, a more defined structure with databases, and a game system designed to work with it all before it will really shine as an option.

He was not. Maidenhaver listed Barbarian Prince as the example in the post that kicked off this topic. Here's one of the pages dedicated to it: https://dwarfstar.brainiac.com/ds_barbarianprince.html.

BARBARIAN PRINCE is a solitaire game of heroic adventure in a forgotten age of barbarism and sorcery. No opponent is necessary as the Event Booklet takes you through a pre-programmed sequence of encounters which is different each time you play the game. For each event, you, as the Barbarian Prince Cal Arath, must make the decisions which will make your quest successful -- or may cost you your life.

Reference as well for instance the solo Hobbitses game that Rusty started (and abandoned) an LP for in the HQ playground - Tolkien Quest.

It's relevant to stick to the specific type, because as you and the coomster have both stated, "adapting" typical TTRPGs to solo play is difficult, time-consuming and changes the nature of the game.

EDIT: added a second example solo RPG.

[SpellSword]

Just saw this video and figured I'd pass it on:
A Cheap Alternative to D\u0026D Miniatures!
Could be a simple and effective substitute for games that require token objects on the board.
(Kind of reminds me of Knights of the Chalice 2's tokens)

[Trickster]

Neil Walker just dropped the second edition of his Harry Potter RPG! It's a solid d10 system. Don't expect anything groundbreaking. But on the flip side, there's nothing painfully cringey either.

Download for free: https://neilwalker.itch.io/harry-potter ... aying-game

[enisey]

Just saw this video and figured I'd pass it on:
A Cheap Alternative to D\u0026D Miniatures!
Could be a simple and effective substitute for games that require token objects on the board.
(Kind of reminds me of Knights of the Chalice 2's tokens)

I went through every single Pathfinder bestiary PDF and ripped the images to make tokens. I made them for Roll20's 70-pixel grid (2 pixels for the borders), with enough density to enlarge to 4x4 without stretching. At 300 dpi, they're 0.93 inches.

It's all copyrighted stuff, so I'm afraid to share it, but a sample shouldn't hurt.

Zombie.png

[Algol]

I use solo oracles on Foundry. Roleplaying by yourself = a slog. Friends are gay. Friends will ultimately become ****** at a certain point. Therefore the only conversation parter is the wall. Just bring the ******* comet already.

[rusty_shackleford]

I use solo oracles on Foundry. Roleplaying by yourself = a slog. Friends are gay. Friends will ultimately become ****** at a certain point. Therefore the only conversation parter is the wall. Just bring the ******* comet already.

I did some roleplaying with claude a while back but I had it build a bunch of tooling infrastructure for storing memories, locations, etc., It turned out pretty good. There might be existing setups for this.

[Algol]

I use solo oracles on Foundry. Roleplaying by yourself = a slog. Friends are gay. Friends will ultimately become ****** at a certain point. Therefore the only conversation parter is the wall. Just bring the ******* comet already.

I did some roleplaying with claude a while back but I had it build a bunch of tooling infrastructure for storing memories, locations, etc., It turned out pretty good. There might be existing setups for this.

I don't really know how to do this very well.

[rusty_shackleford]

I use solo oracles on Foundry. Roleplaying by yourself = a slog. Friends are gay. Friends will ultimately become ****** at a certain point. Therefore the only conversation parter is the wall. Just bring the ******* comet already.

I did some roleplaying with claude a while back but I had it build a bunch of tooling infrastructure for storing memories, locations, etc., It turned out pretty good. There might be existing setups for this.

I don't really know how to do this very well.

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

[Algol]

I did some roleplaying with claude a while back but I had it build a bunch of tooling infrastructure for storing memories, locations, etc., It turned out pretty good. There might be existing setups for this.

I don't really know how to do this very well.

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

Is there a "dumbass guide"/primer to this sort of stuff? I use Gemini and usually upload the pdf of whatever low-complexity OSR I'm playing at the time to help me "learn" combat. But anything further than that? Like established characters/lands/etc is possible?

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't really know how to do this very well.

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

Is there a "dumbass guide"/primer to this sort of stuff? I use Gemini and usually upload the pdf of whatever low-complexity OSR I'm playing at the time to help me "learn" combat. But anything further than that? Like established characters/lands/etc is possible?

Yes, but it takes a good bit of effort to get setup.
Getting it to adjudicate D&D properly is difficult anyways because the rules are so complex(read: long), it works better with much simpler systems.

[Algol]

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

Is there a "dumbass guide"/primer to this sort of stuff? I use Gemini and usually upload the pdf of whatever low-complexity OSR I'm playing at the time to help me "learn" combat. But anything further than that? Like established characters/lands/etc is possible?

Yes, but it takes a good bit of effort to get setup.
Getting it to adjudicate D&D properly is difficult anyways because the rules are so complex(read: long), it works better with much simpler systems.

So feed it a "dumb blonde" system, like Tunnel Goons, perhaps? But how to structure/what order of questioning, I wonder?

[rusty_shackleford]

Is there a "dumbass guide"/primer to this sort of stuff? I use Gemini and usually upload the pdf of whatever low-complexity OSR I'm playing at the time to help me "learn" combat. But anything further than that? Like established characters/lands/etc is possible?

Yes, but it takes a good bit of effort to get setup.
Getting it to adjudicate D&D properly is difficult anyways because the rules are so complex(read: long), it works better with much simpler systems.

So feed it a "dumb blonde" system, like Tunnel Goons, perhaps? But how to structure/what order of questioning, I wonder?

I'd imagine someone has probably done a lot of the work. e.g., https://github.com/Mnehmos/mnehmos.rpg.mcp (not endorsing, first search result)
But it would require some understanding of setting up MCP and stuff + using an MCP-capable AI

[Tweed]

I did some roleplaying with claude a while back but I had it build a bunch of tooling infrastructure for storing memories, locations, etc., It turned out pretty good. There might be existing setups for this.

I don't really know how to do this very well.

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

People abandoned AI Dungeon after Coomageddon because it's always been terrible at being a DM and much better at producing unspeakable smut, but OpenAI didn't like people using their model for that.

All LLMs struggle with tabletop stuff and need constant bitchslapping to stay on target.

EDIT EDIT: AI Dungeon is still around, but I have no idea if its gotten any better at that sort of thing.

[rusty_shackleford]

I don't really know how to do this very well.

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

People abandoned AI Dungeon after Coomageddon because it's always been terrible at being a DM and much better at producing unspeakable smut, but OpenAI didn't like people using their model for that.

All LLMs struggle with tabletop stuff and need constant bitchslapping to stay on target.

EDIT EDIT: AI Dungeon is still around, but I have no idea if its gotten any better at that sort of thing.

I had success with what I was doing but it does require actual tool usage rather than telling the LLM to just 'do' things. So, everything from characters(or any thing that needed to be remembered) to rolling dice or even remembering/moving between/adding locations(node graph) was done using tool calls.

[Tweed]

Right, it's pretty specialized.
Whatever happened to AI Dungeon, @Tweed?

People abandoned AI Dungeon after Coomageddon because it's always been terrible at being a DM and much better at producing unspeakable smut, but OpenAI didn't like people using their model for that.

All LLMs struggle with tabletop stuff and need constant bitchslapping to stay on target.

EDIT EDIT: AI Dungeon is still around, but I have no idea if its gotten any better at that sort of thing.

I had success with what I was doing but it does require actual tool usage rather than telling the LLM to just 'do' things. So, everything from characters(or any thing that needed to be remembered) to rolling dice or even remembering/moving between/adding locations(node graph) was done using tool calls.

This was the primordial soup days compared to where we are now.

[Acrux]

Irony, thy name is Wizards of the Coast.

[DemoGraph]

Cypher system is a nice minimalistic system...

So minimalistic, actually, there are no species or races.


So both xenomorph and mr minority are defined and statted as Fast Warrior that Breaks In.

Designers Monte Cook, Bruce R. Cordell, Sean K. Reynolds

[Trickster]

I started reading this (World of Greyhawk) and fell in love with it from the very first pages. The author managed to create truly fascinating human races. It’s not like the lazy tropes we often see, where a Redguard is just a copy of ******, or a Nord is just a viking, but genuinely unusual cultures, distinct even in their appearance. Take the Suel: pale-skinned, violet-eyed, bearing the heavy burden of their heritage. Or the green-eyed Baklunish with their golden-hued skin. It is a genuine pleasure to picture them in your mind, which is more than can be said for the modern "diverse creatures" found in trendy settings.

The demihumans are equally diverse and complex. And then there are the humanoids, races inherently hostile to humanity, like orcs (at this point, any woke activist’s *** would straight up explode). All of this looks, reads, and fills the imagination in a way that is vastly more compelling and nuanced than today's bland, talentless "representation" — which, despite all claims of diversity, remains utterly monotonous, uncreative, foolish, and incredibly banal.

All in all, I’m thinking of running a campaign in this setting, but I won’t start until I’ve mastered the lore inside out. I pitched the idea to a friend, but his reaction was something along the lines of "it feels too archaic for me." Still, I might be able to show him that this 'archaism' stands on a level of quality that modern creations simply cannot hope to touch. And if I can't convince him, I can always just run it for myself. Cheers to Mythic GM.

[Cipher]

I've been listening to Macris' LP of his Grey Brotherhood online campaign (ACKS), while I've been doing other stuff.
So It Begins! / Grey Brotherhood Episode I / ACKS II Actual Play

In episode 28 of this LP the team tried to make a dwarf henchman less disabled and ended up genderswapping him.

Does it count as leftist propaganda if divine-based (divine!) transitioning is included in ACKS core ruleset?

There's also a dedicated female divine/martial class, the bladedancer. ACKS isn't quite as chudly as its detractors make it out to be. Well, in fairness, divine intervention is really the only way either of those things could work.

I am pretty confident has said on record that he created that class for his wife. I think a game designer creating a cool class for his wife is wholesome.

[UltraFan123]

I started reading this (World of Greyhawk) and fell in love with it from the very first pages. The author managed to create truly fascinating human races. It’s not like the lazy tropes we often see, where a Redguard is just a copy of ******, or a Nord is just a viking, but genuinely unusual cultures, distinct even in their appearance. Take the Suel: pale-skinned, violet-eyed, bearing the heavy burden of their heritage. Or the green-eyed Baklunish with their golden-hued skin. It is a genuine pleasure to picture them in your mind, which is more than can be said for the modern "diverse creatures" found in trendy settings.

The demihumans are equally diverse and complex. And then there are the humanoids, races inherently hostile to humanity, like orcs (at this point, any woke activist’s *** would straight up explode). All of this looks, reads, and fills the imagination in a way that is vastly more compelling and nuanced than today's bland, talentless "representation" — which, despite all claims of diversity, remains utterly monotonous, uncreative, foolish, and incredibly banal.

All in all, I’m thinking of running a campaign in this setting, but I won’t start until I’ve mastered the lore inside out. I pitched the idea to a friend, but his reaction was something along the lines of "it feels too archaic for me." Still, I might be able to show him that this 'archaism' stands on a level of quality that modern creations simply cannot hope to touch. And if I can't convince him, I can always just run it for myself. Cheers to Mythic GM.

Afaik, Greyhawk started as the OG fantasy setting that Gary Gygax created to play with his sons.

And a very important character of that setting, Lord Mage Mordenkainen, started as a character that Gygax made and played as.

I myself I'm also reading through the lore of the world collected in the Living Greyhawk Gazetteer and I also think that it's a fascinating setting.

[Norfleet]

The demihumans are equally diverse and complex. And then there are the humanoids, races inherently hostile to humanity, like orcs (at this point, any woke activist’s *** would straight up explode).

To be fair, I don't think most of those humanoids are intrinsically hostile to HUMANITY, they're just intrinsically hostile, and without humans around, they'd just start eating each other instead.

[DemoGraph]

I can always just run it for myself

Or run PBP here.

[fork]

Irony, thy name is Wizards of the Coast.

That was true two generations ago or so.
There are almost only NPCs left now.

[DemoGraph]

The author managed to create truly fascinating human races.

You hooked me. I haven't read anything Greyhawk before, but at a first glance (p. 13):
- Suloise - white-skinned Germans.
- Oeridians - Mediterranean Caucasians (Greeks, Romans, Georgians and the like), maybe with some Arab notes, that is, Latins.
- Flannae - Negroes.
- Baklunish - American Indians.

History.
1. Tribes invade everywhere.
2. (p. 8) Indians destroy European empire via orbital bombardment, hold to their steppes.
3. Germans and Latins duke it out. Latins (like Spaniards and French) try to integrate indians and other barbarians into their societies and win. Germans go all nazi and lose. Latins found notRoman Great Empire.
4. notRoman Empire turns into Byzantine Empire and somehow gets racist white aristocrats (p. 14).
...
Yep, it's literally Europe.

Ok, ok, maybe I simplify things too much... I'll read about it a bit.

Also, I've checked the map and... Is there explanation of why Greyhawk isn't superpower yet? It sits on the river exit of the river system that spans basically whole continent, at least from Veluna in the west to the Pale in the East. They should trade with literally everyone and probably tax them all. Greyhawk-Hardby cluster is pretty much like Cairo-Alexandria for Egypt or New Orlean for Missy. Is it because there are strong countries on the shores of inner sea? (Nyr Dyv if I read correctly)

[DemoGraph]

So I've began reading about Greyhawk. GH Dungeon was teenage oriented. Many supplements are really old-school, with a plethora of useless stats ("this is Don John, age 43, height 6"7', weight 200 lbs, anal circumference unknown, liked carpentry in his youth") and stuff...

Then there're modern remakes that are, well, modern.

Then I've stumbled upon something called Living Greyhawk (pretty much a modular soap opera, player keeps his PC sheet and migrates between GMs on conventions or whatever). This is a fun idea. But is it, well, classical?

I was more and more confused.

But then I've stumbled upon "To forge a fantasy world. Greyhawk's creation" (c) 2000, Gary Gygax.
It's basically Greyhawk postmortem. It's pretty honest, it shows GGs thought process and spontaneity of many of his decisions... and it clicked.

It's probably a free text, because it's here: https://archive.org/details/to_forge_a_ ... s_creation
But I also uploaded it to Vault, because arhive didn't open for me and maybe it won't open for you.

Oh, also,

The Flan people, the aboriginal inahbitants of Oerik continent, were based loosely on a combination of Africans and North American Indians. The Oerid and Suel peoples were mainly drawn from the Indo‐European models. The Bakluni ʺraceʺ was meant to suggest the Asian, combining the Near East and Central Asia. These races alone, or in combination, provided plenty of cultural potential.

I was almost spot on.

Recently, Wizards of the Coast, the company that purchased TSR in 1998, decided to revitalize Dungeons and Dragons and specifically Greyhawk, for the setting had languished for a considerable number of years as new and different world settings were released. Then it was decided that a ʺwarʺ that virtually wiped out all of the former states and wiped the political slate clean would be beneficial. As the original creator of the world, I surely would have advised against such a thing.

WOTC were already ******** at the turn of millenium, weren't they?

[UltraFan123]

Mmm, so the great war that destroyed the Great Kingdom as a hegemon and gave rise to lesser petty kingdoms, duchies, marchlands, and principalities is something that was added to the lore after Gygax was no longer in charge of it.

This is quite interesting. I should've known that the Gazetteer I currently have - which was published in the 3.5 era - wouldn't openly mention that the current scene of the setting was created against the wishes of the one who created said setting.