Self-Introduction (ct'd)

Message:

(I'm going to write one response, rather than peppering the forum with responses to IronMike, IronFred, IronRed, and IronConrad.)

-- About Me

(Another thing about me is that I write and speak too much. I try and reign in, but it's just a thing about me. Feel free to just skip sections, I'm trying to structure this visually so it's easier for you to find what's of interest to you.)

A little about how I think about games: I am more of a computer programmer than a game designer -- I enjoy games immensely, almost as much as I enjoy writing computer programs, -- I tend to look at games in a kind of "discrete" way that resembles computer programs, state machines, computer memory and communications. I also tend to ready, study, think, write, as a creative process -- more than improvise, socialize, and just dive into a variety of games. I generally go deep rather than broad, which often results in hyper-specialization and missing some obvious things. I am working presently on hosting games in a more improvisational way -- but I feel also that I need a solid game backbone to improvise on top of. I'm running about a game every other week, presently, and writing about 3-5 times a week, for a few hours per session.

(*Programming: I like low-level systems programming and symbol processing. I mostly program in Python, but draw heavy inspiration from Forth. And I must say: I really appreciate the software that runs this platform.)


-- Games Liked

The computer games that I play tend to be turn-based. Reading the games that IronRed plays, I thought of the following:

1. Presently, I am playing Swords of Glass. This is a game that I picked up when I was a kid. I revisit it every so many years. I absolutely LOVE this game. It's very "stripped down," and has much of the puzzling that I like. The puzzles are fantastic, and I love how the game progressively unveils itself to the player. I consider it a mysterious masterpiece. One of the things that is so mysterious about it, is that we have just no idea who wrote it.

http://www.thealmightyguru.com/Reviews/SwordsOfGlass/Index.html

2. FTL. When I read about Darkest Dungeon -- that's a game that I played but lost interest somewhere in the mid-game. I liked it! Though, it was perhaps a bit too dark for me? For some reason, I thought to respond with FTL. FTL is *not* turn-based, but it does allow (indeed, require) "pausing" at any time. So you can treat it like a turn-based game, and I very much do. Pausing is "active" -- you can review the situation, you can issue commands, you can look through menus and such -- the game is intended to be paused at any point. It also has this interesting over-world map dynamic and encounter system, somewhat "choose-your-own-adventure"-like, and I love it. I like how the encounter system and the combat system transition one to another; There's so much I love about FTL.

3. Battle for Wesnoth. War games are not typically my favorite, but I liked Battle for Wesnoth. I like leveling up the units, I like the scenarios, and I like that it is Open Source. I like "crafty" things, and Open Source games, where lots of people are developing a thing together, and it has an extensive modding community, I like all of those things. I like that when I come back to the game at a later date, I see all of the little things that people have changed in it. I haven't played Battle Brothers yet, but I have heard of it, and saw that I had a checkmark on my wishlist, for playing it.


-- Non-Computer Games

When I play at a computer, I prefer to play single player games. But I don't want to live on a computer. I like crafty things, I like tabletop, I like being with other people and acting out. I like imagining things with other people, and I like making things together.

I like persisting spaces. I like dungeons that are revisited -- more than a fresh dungeon every week. I dream of building bases inside of dungeons, and fortifying them, and expanding reach into a dungeon. People talk about "West Marches," what I think I want are "Down Marches." I am sure that I am a dwarf in a parallel life.

I'm also interested in -- "It's games all the way up, and all the way down." Kind of: Every aspect of the game, is or at least can be, a game. I don't know if this is practical. I often dream of Wizards being able to cast spells, and Fighters being able to hire armies, to manipulate the world at the 6-mi 60-mi scale. Building castles and fortifications, or wizard towers, or underground bases, or floating sky palaces. There should be lines of force, everywhere.

One of the games I draw a lot of inspiration from is Talisman. One of the things I admire about it, is how expansion-philic it is -- there's something about the simplicity of the design, and the persistence of the spaces (when you draw a card, it stays in that space, rather than just going straight to the discard pile) that attracts expansions like a magnet. There's a database on the Internet of several hundred fan-made expansions. Firefly has similar mechanics.


--- Question: "Cutlass?"

"Cutlass-style" -- By "Cutlass," are y'all referring to this game, from 2010?

https://www.blackscorpionminiatures.com/cutlass/


-- Question: Understanding the Cutlass-Style

I've downloaded the rules, but wanted to hear from you before I go into studying it in detail.

I read the Brash 4 Coins encounter description. I believe I have followed it correctly: When the Brash 4 Coins event occurs (I am assuming that "4 Coins" is a draw on the Tarot, but I am not sure what "Brash" means here) the player rolls 2d8, aiming for a 13, to get to ignore all negative dice modifiers during a battle. If the player has Longboat Vigilant (which is... one skill?), the player gets an extra d8. If the player is skilled at Man-at-Arms, the difficulty is 11, not 13.

What I don't understand is: What is it about this, that specifically makes for "Cutlass-Style" ..?

Because a lot a lot a lot of board games (including Talisman, Firefly,) have some mechanics of: rolling dice, applying modifiers, reaching a target value, -- and I think you mean something more than that.


-- Things I'm Reading

I have been looking through "Designing Fantasy Scenarios," and I find it positively charming. I have randomly picked some combinations, and I have been impressed with how well the different draws go together. I think it's a fantastic and detailed (without being overly attached to a specific world.) I look forward to using it either in live play, or in preparation for a game.

I had never thought to use Tarot as a game tool, and I have fallen in love with the idea. The Tarot hits in me this feeling of something like a Pagan nostalgia, and puts me right into the medieval era. It feels magical, and casts an aura over the game. I just can't wait to put Tarot to use in games with players.

I am also reading Errant, by Ava Islam -- an experiment in "proceduralism."
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/avaislam/errant

"Proceduralism" -- https://www.necropraxis.com/2014/05/22/proceduralism/

I will be continuing to work through the extensive Better Games backlog, to get more and more of a feel of what you are exploring.


-- I Would Like To Play

If any of you are playing a game at some point, I would like to make time to participate and try it out. It strikes me that you could spend a very very long time writing down how everything works (and I would CERTAINLY like to read IronMike's pedantic analysis!, if he can find it without too much trouble,) but it might be just much quicker and faster and deeper for me to actually play a game.

If there is a time when such a game is upcoming, I would like to humbly request to play, if I may.


Again, thank you for your time,
Lion Kimbro



Yours,