I do the same having the roadside ear free.

Mmmhmmm. Just imagine every few hours the game updated boosts to (for example) specific dungeons. If one has been popular then the nect interval you have a -10% loot and xp (number taken out if my arse). And these numbers posted clearly in and out of game. I think it wouldn’t take too long before minmaxers have identified breakpoints for when each dungeon is “profitable”. And not too long after that evegy dungeon would be about as profitable as every other.

I wouldn’t mind at least trying such a system. Think it would be neat.

Darkest Dungeon could be something up your sleeve.

The only one I can think of right now would be Imjara, the earth-goddess of the Imjaran peninsula and one of the many earth-daughters. Not no much that she was never introduced, rather never got re-introduced in a later campaign.

A fair bit of background and story. The current dominant culture, the Kloviaks and especially the Belliard sub-group, got into their position driving out and subjugating the previous group. This migration was encouraged by the All Encompassing Church of the Common Faith and the Bruxlannian Commonwealth. I never gave that culture’s name for itself but the Kloviaks and other outsiders either called them Imjarans or Soulmongers. During the migration and wars a hero rose among the Kloviaks, Bellik the Great, who drove the Imjarans into the southern sea. It was said he slew the last soulmonger and built his new capital on that site.

That is what the records, legends and propaganda say. What really happened was that Bellik did corner the last soulmonger, driven to far reaches of her domain. But he could not slay her, he knew that. Bellik was not a fool and knew the last soulmonger was Imjara, the earth-goddess of the land. Slaying her would doom the land, would kill it. Nothing would grow and nothing alive would be born. So instead he subjugated her, as his faith and people had done with the land, and imprisoned her. Never really said how she was imprisoned but that never did matter.

So enter a previous campaign. Character needing mentors in magical arts, get-out-of-jail-cards etc. One thing led to another and at the end of a character’s arc, with the player having talked about wanting to play something different, the party found themselves where Bellik once stood all those years ago. Knowing who the soulmonger-witch imprisoned beep withing the oubliette of the old keep was but wanting her presence gone from the land (something about the preservation of the souls of the faithful) the character did what needed to be done. Took upon himself to carry the witch and keeping her contained in him. And then left. Que end cinematic from Diablo and the lone wanderer cinematic from Diablo 2.

Fast forward to a later campaign set on the same peninsula but ravaged by generations of civil wars. The amount of death brought upon the land had made it into a fallow wasteland. If Imjara would have remained things would have been different. This new campaign used the Torchbearer rules and was about delving into dangerous environments and loot the loots. So not really that much about deep issues in the setting. But as the characters grew and I felt I could up the mystic parts of the campaign I started seeding rumours. One about a lone hooded emerald-eyed wanderer one stormy night rowing into the capital, just walking past the harbormaster without uttering any words and heading towards the old keep. Other rumours (later on) of farms being visited by an old impoverished crone with emerald eyes and those who treated her well found their fields growing a full harvest in but a month. These rumours were sprinkled in with others more directly leading to treasure. Guess which rumours the party decided to follow?

Then at one point I had introduced Armaud, the first mortal to reject mortality and once a lover to Imjara and a crack in the sky-stone keeping Nothing at bay. Armaud had told the party the only one he knew who could possibly mend it would be Imjara, who he also knew once again walked the lands. But their relationship didn’t end well and he feared this time she would undo him, force mortality back onto him. So he had tasked the party to seek her out. At this time the campaign was drawing towards the end and we agreed to shelve this arc for some other game and instead do one last dungeon run to get filthy rich.

So here I sit with Imjara in the to-be-used-later folder waiting for a campaign rushing directly into the mysteries of creation. We’ll see when she comes around.

Something I have found immensely useful is the filter on the activity panel, top-right of it. Being able to easily highlight for eample abilities that does something with vulnerability gives me so much better overview. Really helps me determine where to put the points when I’m too lazy to tab to a guide.

Aöso Fextralife have a bunch of build guides.

So watched the rest of it.

• Had a big rant about “forever GM whine”. Talked how the “burden” could be mitigated and shared. But very ranty.

• Felt the pace slowed down and they started to drag things out. Partly because they got into a series of systems I’m not too interested in, really narrative and often GM-less games. Wanderhome, Bleak Spirit, Good Society and Miss Bernburg’s Finishing School for young ladies. Just not my cup of tea. But the very creative presenters had lots to say about these systems.

• Some sections towards the end about game engines and rpg designing.

• Lightning round with another bunch of systems.

All in all well worth the two hours the video took watching.

40 minutes into the video (it’s two hours long) and some of my impressions.

• Yes there is some D&D bashing but on the lighter side. And not the focus but rather used a comparison and baseline for the discussion.

• Enthusiastic. But then OSP are always enthusiastic.

• They brought in an irregular guest who really, really likes to talk about rpgs.

• So far good spread and variety on system recommendations. Begun with combat heavy (Lancer, Wyrdwood Ward and Panic at the Dojo) and are now talking about PbtAs (WorldWide Wrestling, Legacy and blades is coming up).

• Found one system I really need to play - Panic at the Dojo