#aork14

[txttletale]

I just wanted to let you know that I just found your tumblr within the past week and you have immediately become my 2nd favorite tumblr, being only behind Blogatog. Love your ttrpg takes.

Anywho, you said to ask about flags, so what is your biggest/are your biggest red flags when it comes to ttrpg design?

thank you! i'm glad you enjoy my silly little posts. anyways i think my biggest red flag is unintentionality--the feeling that the writer of a TTRPG has done something by 'default', the inability to put myself in their shoes and understand (or even better, be told by the text itself) the reason why a particular decision has been made.

one of the biggest places this rears its head is in terms of tone and voice. let me quote jay dragon's really good the storyteller technique:

Another advantage of getting to know the narrator of your RPG is that it helps mitigate unconscious bias in your design. Dungeons & Dragons has a notably anthropological narrative voice, explaining other cultures and creatures like a scientist in the field. The language of D&D mimics the writing style of mid-century scientists traveling to “exotic” locations and cataloging non-Western experiences as part of a documentation of the Other. It’s easy for newer designers to want to “write a game like D&D” without regard for how even the narrative voice of Dungeons & Dragons carries unintended political baggage. Is a bird’s-eye and judgemental perspective really the energy you want to bring to your whimsical fantasy world? Or is there another perspective within your world that can be more useful, and allow you to find new perspectives on the world you’ve created.

narrative tone is a choice--the attempt to use a 'neutral' tone for rules text and description is also a choice, how formal and how informal you get with it is a choice, and when i read a text that seems to have made that choice thoughtlessly it imo bodes very poorly for the rest of the game.

other examples of this kind of unintentionality are games that have a comabt system despite not being about combat in any way--games with equipment rules despite them not setting out to tell the sort of story where which sword or gun a character has matters--games that measure themselves in exact distances without actually using a battlemap--&c.

while most of this unintentionality takes the form of 'falling back onto what DND does' because DND is the market leader and many people's first TTRPG, so imitating it without purpose is something that both cynical market-share chasers & unexperienced designers without a wide range of expereicne can do--it's absolutely not unique to it. one form of unintentionality i see a lot in indie TTRPG circles is creating far more Moves for your PBtA game than necessary--clearly more out of a sense that 'AW/MotW/Masks has a Move for this' than any specific understanding of what that move will do in your game

in game design--as in any art--there is no such thing as a 'neutral' choice or a non-choice. there are only choices, and how much someone's thought about these choices is important!

[markrosewater]

I'm not sure if this has been asked before, but is Ajani still Naya colored? The last and only time we've seen him red was as Ajani Vengeant in Alara. Did he lose access to red mana? Will we ever see him become red again in the future?

He's currently green/white.

[tanchimo]

@aork14 I don't want your $5 my bro, but thank you for the offer B)

[psychoticsweetheart]

Oh geez...do you remember this night?

[tanchimo]

whoa @aork14 is randomly back on tumblr?

[tanchimo]

I AM SO EXCITED FOR TOMORROW NIGHT OH MY GOODNESS I GET TO SEE KAILA FERSURE AND MAYBE KAT AND MAYBE ISHON AND KARA IF THEY ANSWER AND I GET TO MEET KAILA'S BOYFRIEND WHO I DIDN'T KNOW EXISTED UNTIL JUST NOW

literally the only thing that might bring me down is not being able to see John again because of the snow/his sucky workplace BUT I WILL MAKE THE BEST OF WHAT I HAVE AND IF ALL GOES WELL I SHALL HAVE QUITE A FANTASTIC TIME

[tanchimo]

No, shut up, Ishon, I have a penis. You do not know my loins, you are in no position to tell me what I may or may not possess.

[tanchimo]

"You have made a great leap towards me not judging you by reblogging the "first blowjob" post.  You legit made my day with this."

:'D How can I continue complaining about having a tough time with this interview when I've made someone's day!? AND ISHON ISN'T JUDGING ME QUITE AS MUCH AS HE WAS BEFORE.

Yeah, uplifting submissions!