Admittedly I'm still under influence of Blindsight/Echopraxia/Omniscience when it comes to some aspects of presentation of odd minds, and that influences some of my RP ideas.
@vicky_molokh I was kinda going to recommend the Netflix film Tau but even though it's not the most traditional "monster AI" film, I wonder if it actually hinders more outside-of-the-box thinking to draw inspirations from films like that
It's not AI, but you might also like Sarah Pinsker's "And Then There Were (N-One)," a murder mystery at an interdimensional convention where all the guests and hosts are Sarah Pinsker.
Oh, and it's not free, but de Bodard's The Tea Master and the Detective is a great novella that's a "how they met" Sherlock-and-Watson team where Watson is a retired-spaceship-turned-tea-master, set in a far future alternate universe where Asia colonized America instead of Europe, leading to galactic empires dominated by societies derived from Chinese and Vietnamese Confucian principles.
@Regress.arg A couple of points different from what the others suggested. Your one on one ahead of time is a good idea. The chargen ahead of time is a good idea, but you as DM keep an eye out for party balance.
@Regress.arg Lastly, you can use email or a chat room to air out some of the session zero stuff discussed with Ben and them, ahead of time. But the first "all of us face to face together" meeting does need to start with a reafirmation of what was discussed, or adjustments, before you go "in game" ...
She's got much more serious stories too, like On a Red Station, Drifting, which explores what it means to be without family in a society where family is everything.
That's all I have as a follow up from the earlier chat
@Regress.arg After the first two or three sessions, important: how goes it? Get and solicit feedback from players. Face to face or via email, but don't guess. A slight adjust ment early can save big friction later.
It also features a space station as a significant character, because in that setting there's no such thing as pure AI; spaceships and space stations are run by specially-born cyborgs who are raised in human families before being implanted in their assigned ship/station where they live for hundreds of years as a matriarchal figure for the entire ship/station and generations of their reared family are appointed to administrative positions.
I mentioned the other day how there are scifi stories which ask how culture will inform technology, more than how technology will inform culture? Yeah, de Bodard's up there.
Like Tea Master is from the perspective of a ship, and it has some opinions about explotiation and mistreatment.
And Red Station has the station as a significant character whose choices really matter, but also addresses how it's constrained and limited--and how its presence constrains and limits the people on the station.
I can't remember which short story it was, but there's one Xuya story where a robot that used to be a person meets a robot AI during a war they're on opposite sides of.
@kviiri I'd love to hear your thoughts on whatever you read!
@BESW I mentioned his works when we were playing Eldritch Horror the last time, my friends just burst out laughing and were like "now you're just making this up" (except the one guy who had heard the name before)
@GcL are you sure that's a homebrew source? That user was very experienced and knowledgeable and I'm not familiar with the setup of 3.5 sources but I know that dandwiki does host legitimate stuff.
In my campaign, there is a crazy old shopkeeper NPC who has some arcane knowledge. In preparation to defend the town against an incoming zombie horde, the party paid him to make twenty one-pound small explosive barrels. Eighteen of those barrels were used to set a trap, and the party kept two. On...
@BESW do you have any experience running LB with people who traditionally really love creating their own characters? If so did you find that they still enjoyed it? @kviiri
@kviiri nice! I'm reading through and listening to some actual plays and it sounds really fun and I think that would be the biggest hurdle for my group honestly.
I'm happy to hear it worked with your group and that makes me pretty hopeful it will work with mine without issue.
I actually think that I would really like playing LB because character creation is not something that I actually like that much (I used to like the mechanical part a lot more, but that appeal has faded significantly in 5e at least) and I think I could really get into a chracter someone else created actually.
I'm trying to create a BBEG that can't die naturally, or at least lives for thousands of years. The PCs need to be able to kill them in the end though. I know I can use a Lich or Vampire but is there any other way to accomplish this?
I was wondering about that. I've read briefly through things but I get the impression there are lots of areas that are open to interpretation. And it sounds like a lot of that might emerge through play and through questions prompted by the DM.
Don't just figure "Oh, I know how to GM, I can do this like I do other things." The GM tips and advice in Lady Blackbird changed my life as a GM.
(I think it does a lot of what Apocalypse World Engine games are trying to do for GMs, but in half a page of guidelines rather than a chapter of hard rules.)
During today's Dev Update, @BadEyeAdam showed off the prototype log in screen being worked on that includes some gorgeous animated art and Google sign in options!
Watch the full Dev Update: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/406033312 https://t.co/NJykaCO2y8
This is a picture of Phoenix from my mythology RPG The Sol Survivor (done by samwindsart on Instagram). TSS is what inspired me to start #FolkloreJam, so we can see more RPGs inspired by folklore and myths. #FolkloreThursday's theme this week also happens to be birds.
Details on the 2019 D&D live event: http://dnd.wizards.com/dndlive2019 "D&D Live 2019: The Descent
Mingle with D&D Luminaries, Grab Exclusive Merch, and Play in a D&D Epic!
D&D Live 2019: The Descent celebrates the Dungeons & Dragons community as they gather both online and at a studio in L.A. to learn about D&D’s latest storyline through an immersive entertainment experience. Following last year’s award-winning Stream of Many Eyes, this year’s D&D event gives fans the chance to play through an epic adventure plunging them into a captivating new story. The three-day extravaganza includes …
I'm trying to create a BBEG that can't die naturally, or at least lives for thousands of years. The PCs need to be able to kill them in the end though. I know I can use a Lich or Vampire but is there any other way to accomplish this?
