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Man... Earth and Beyond is something I haven't thought about in a long time. Never got to give it a shot back in the day. And I agree, some of the current space sims I've been toying with don't have "the magic" that I used to get from some of the older games (I partly think they lean into complexity too much to satisfy niche audiences that are more likely to show up). Thanks for the comment and checking this out. Going to go refresh my memory a little on Earth and Beyond.

Yeah, the nostalgia is strong for me on this one. It's held up really well so far even when taking nostalgia into account.

I tried it just couldn't invest the time into solo games anymore ... back then. I lived Privateer though. After Privateer it was ALL MMO Once you go MMO ... you just can't go back. the ONLY games that I will always replay every once in a while : Civilization II Masters of Orion I Masters of Orion II Heroes of Might and Magic III

I keep trying to make EVE Online happen and failing.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia EVE is beautiful and the ship customizations feels grea ... for about a week. Love my Merlin and Kestrel! but everything is TIME GATED for skills ! all you do i mine all day long nothing to kill ... if you see pirates ... you'reusually dead because its almost always 5-8 vs 1 (u_) EVE is no good compared to Privateer/Freelancer/ Earth n Beyond.

Thanks for checking it out. I backed Star Citizen at the basic level when it was the original funding drive on the RSI site (I think), but it has been a while since I fired it up and took it for a spin.

Yeah, I was really into it at release... I needed that Privateer fix and was a little skeptical of this at first. But I got completely hooked. Really wish it had gotten more love/a sequel.

The Patreon is going to be weird...

Thanks for checking it out and I would dig seeing stuff you make about Harn if it comes together. This game deserves a much wider audience. Curious if the new printing of Harnmaster Gold will do anything. I hope to get Harn to the table again, had such a good time with it.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia I recently got the new HarnMaster Kelestia (which is the new iteration of HMG from Kelestia), and I've been very impressed. Really nicely done, top tier production - waiting for the hardback to arrive.

Oh yeah, I got the PDFs... do you know when the hardbacks are due? Dying to take a look at them, curious to see how it differs from Columbia's HM3.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia Their latest was that for US customers, books should be shipping out by mid-January, I believe.

That's great news, really looking forward to giving it a read. Appreciate it.

Oh, that's awesome to know. Really really appreciate that tip. As I mentioned, I've only been playing LOTRO for 17 years so I still don't know what I'm doing. I will absolutely look for that next session.

And I sometimes see people have everything in one giant bag. I need to figure that and maybe a map mod out.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia I've been playing for 14 years and only got over my stubbornness this year to use the auto-sort. 1 Bag is just as easy. To the left of the auto-sort is a cogged wheel, press that button and all your bags will open. You'll notice that every second line in each bag is shaded. You can move each line of 5 slots into Bag #1. All bags can be transferred to the main bag via drag and drop. I still refuse to use 1 bag as a settle to my stubborn streak.

Appreciate that as well, I'll take a look and see if I make things worse with one bag.

Thanks for checking this out. We used Foundry VTT with the Blades in the Dark ruleset and a few added modules, one of which was the CBR+PNK Roller. I also used typical ones like Dice So Nice for the 3d dice on screen.

Sorry, it might be called the Forged in the Dark ruleset.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia fantastic, thanks

really good game, enjoyed it every time I've run through it

Thanks for checking it out. Yeah, the two times we tried this we did one player/one GM and it worked really well for us. I would love to give it a shot with a larger group.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia well if you're looking for players let me know haha

A few sessions of Dragonbane have come together on the discord server but none of CBR+PNK yet.

Interesting that you said you bounced off Mothership... I'm in the same boat on some level. Mechanically never blew me away but I've really enjoyed the adventures I've played in. Like you said, when d100 misses the mark it feels really dry, more so for me than other systems for some reason. Maybe it's too easy to overkill it like CoC? I have no idea. I really want to try Delta Green at some point and see if it's different enough from CoC on some level to keep it interesting. Hopefully you can win your friends over to trying something BRP-based... obviously I'm a big fan of Mythras and its derivatives in particular,

Agree completely, I feel like modern games add detail in specificity in the wrong place at the expense of the right place. Detail and specificity for walking around, not missing anything or anyone as you describe instead of detail in the story and NPCs. Who cares if you find them in a physically represented building or on a menu list of "Townfolk" where your imagination fills in the rest? I really love how Darklands handled towns and cities... they actually felt more alive to me than ones that are more simulated in modern games. Ironically, I just started Ultima 5, the series where I think a lot of the more modern approaches stem from.

I actually completely forgot about that... I remembered the resistance password but not what really mattered.

Thanks so much for the comment and for checking this out. Your point about the game being very detailed is why I wanted to show the Foundry VTT module because I think it really takes the edge off of it on some level. But it also might make people a little too complacent with rules understanding. Otherwise I agree completely with you, the rules give a level of detail that can really flesh out the narrative of a fight, especially if the GM knows them backwards and forwards so the flow keeps pace. Add to that all the world building material that feels accurate not just to Harn but to our Middle Ages, and yeah... medieval realism at its finest.

I built a RAG AI bot using Ollama and some open source embedding models which I fed all the PDFs to help overcome any slow downs. I can just ask my bot for the rule and it finds it for me. Probably not something everyone can do but certainly helpful for me and my players.

That's really cool... you feel like it works well?

Appreciate you checking it out, thanks. I know it's not a page-by-page review of the rules but hopefully it conveyed somethings about the rules and setting that I really like. I'm a fan of the Mythras system as a whole and this does sci-fi settings justice.

Appreciate you putting that on my radar. I had a c64 back in the day but never an Amiga so I don't know if I knew of that series. Is Amberstar any good at all? Will definitely read up a bit on Ambermoon.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia Amberstar is great. I finished it back in a day since it was ported to PC, unlike Ambermoon (only amiga I think). The guy (Pyrdacor) is now also remaking the Amberstar too :) Ambermoon is just more polished and fleshed out than Amberstar, but both games are great tbf. In Ambermoon you could also experienced some gamebreaking bugs so you won't be able to finish it (happened to a friend), but with the updated version this is not the issue anymore (the guy also added some new quests and features to Advanced version:) ).

Very nice, appreciate the info on this series. Thanks for it and for checking this out.

Really appreciate you checking it out. I didn't do much "here's how the rules work" but I figure there's a lot of ways to learn about that. Since you go way back with Traveller, you already know all of that. Basically I find the setting to Traveller overwhelming but in a way that, like you said, allows for a lot of different play possibilities. I think I personally need some constraints to get the creative juices flowing sometimes (which is why overwhelmed is where I sometimes land when going through Traveller books). Anyway, hopefully you enjoy Hostile if you end up checking it out. Thanks again.

Thanks for keeping up with these. There should be some Book 13 in Forochel coming up early next week.

100%. And I keep a CPR-trained assistant next to me when I fire up the game.

I don't think I've seen all three... definitely Prometheus and Resurrection and they both struck me as intensely stupid for large chunks of them.

Looking at the Hostile RPG setting from Zozer Games. They list influences for the setting and include the Alien films after the third which I think are pretty bad. So I jokingly said they don't exist.

Appreciate it, thanks for checking it out. Hopefully it gave a little insight into what Hostile is and why I dig it so much.

Agree completely, they do such a good job of capturing that Middle Earth feeling in my mind.

Exactly

I don't get your logic what is your definition of fair cause that's super subjective right. How is your definition of fair the same as mine or his. Even if your version of "fair" might be fun what if its not fun to me or the next person to play the game just let people experience different things. pushing your "fairness" on others isn't very fair is it?

Also that gameplay loop you're describing doesn't exist.

@@Cerberusfrosty that's why I said "try" and that people can have fun their own way.

@@Cerberusfrosty well it's the basis of their games, timing inputs at the right moment? Dodging at the right time and hitting when there's a window? Hence why we could hardly summon as easily in previous souls games and were "forced" to face bosses on our own?

On the other hand, having a summon taking all the aggro and spamming attacks mindlessly feels a bit further away from the intended experience (though it can be fun).

Idk just do everything scummy

This.

it's a sword you get by besting an endgame character. worth it

@@davidberry2139 can you tell me which one lol we'll see if I can get to it

@@alejandrosaucedo9805 scared sword I believe by beating radagon

Appreciate you taking a look. I will say I feel like Darklands rewards optimizing a lot going in... which I didn't really do since I didn't quite remember what I was doing. That comes back to bite me later on.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia I appreciate your approach and your look for details concerning the presentation of the game. Concerning the optimization, absolutely right. It's all about penetration value, using hammers and getting metal armor fast..and raising charisma and SpeakC for the alchemist. Not too far off for now.

I don't personally agree with that being the same logic with exploits but I feel like the game does kind of give you a gun build (comet azur builds with the right buffs)

A bug is obviously a different story bro 💀

Yeah, I've always felt like the game and the designers are cool with it but there does seem to be a mindset with some players that either you do it pure or not at all.

He also said he sucks at his games lol. I'm ok with the "accessibility" mechanics in Elden Ring (summoning, etc.) but I'd say, after a first run or once you've gotten familiar with the gameplay mechanics, you should try to see how it goes facing a boss on your own cause it's such a blast to learn the timing.

Lobotomy run is the only true way to play

Pride isn't going to stop me from getting through a Souls game. If the game gives me something, I'm going to take it.

Appreciate the insight on the Landscape sliders. I feel like if I pay decent attention to what I'm doing, I can get through most of the stuff without too much danger or mastery of my class, so I was curious. I could see it making sense for someone who wanted to do everything and keep it a challenge. Also appreciate getting the promotion in monitors, definitely planning to go for a lot longer with this. Thanks for checking this out as always, glad you're enjoying this run through the book quests.

No worries at all, appreciate the insight/feedback and the comments. And thanks for checking this out.

Hopefully it comes through in the full videos how much I love the book quests in LOTRO.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia Don't worry about it~ I was just being dramatic 'cause I love the Narmeleth storyline. 😆

Thanks for checking these out and these are great comments. Completely agree. I like the detail in a lot of the systems but combat in particular overstayed its welcome a bit for me personally. I'm very much in the camp that wants to explore instead of fight, so constantly bumping into enemies in every room for fights that could last 20 minutes threw off the explore/fight ratio for me. I wish the setting fleshed out the "end game" hinted at in the book (finding the throne itself I think?) to give the run more of a narrative purpose. I don't think it needs a design that allows a single character to go on indefinitely, I think a structure that comes to and end and motivates you to try a different build would really work well. I am curious to see what the domains in the zines are like that look to be more bespoke. Anyway, thanks for checking these out. Trying to see about some other Blackoath games to go along with future Ker Nethalas runs.

25 hour-long videos think piece incoming.

I appreciate you checking these out. I confess I will never be the one that knows how to crunch the numbers or stats or legendary equipment or red line blue line. But I'm in your camp, I create these characters and then have head cannon constantly going on in my head. You don't have to worry about Twitch, unless I screw something up from a technical stand point, the video will always end up here (at a higher resolution and much higher bit rate).

Yeah, I definitely completely forgot about the masteries (I thought I remembered at some point in session three? but I can't remember exactly). I know I call out that I forgot they existed. I completely thought that initiative determined an "attacker" and a "defender." What you describe with the +10 going back and forth makes total sense. And rolling the type of attack for the monster also makes total sense. I just got into the loop and never thought about figuring out the kind of attack first. Don't worry about sounding too critical. I'm happy to get insight into how the game should work for when I come back to it. Really appreciate it, thanks again for the comments.

Just wanted to add that I was in a co-op Ker Nethalas session last night and all of your pointers really helped us clarify things on that run. We found a whole new range of things to get wrong but I wanted to reiterate that I appreciate all the feedback you gave... it really helped in last night's session.

@@BlackLodgeTrivia Happy I could be of some help. I am playing myself just right now. Did you record the session and are planning to upload it?

it's not recorded on video here, it will be on another feed with audio only when it goes up. When it does, I'll put the link here. It's 4 hours long going through the starter domain again and we make tons of new mistakes so don't do any kind of "take a shot every time they..." kind of drinking games.

Yeah, thanks. Something in the back of my head was telling me combat was meant to move faster and there was a mechanic to help with that, then I realized I forgot the defensive move table. Really helped things out.

That makes sense, appreciate both of those insights.

By the way: I don't know if you have already figured it out in later sessions but as long as damage is not "direct damage" afaik all damage is reduced in the limits of the damage table. So, your D4 necrotic wound will only deal 0 or 1 damage each turn.

Thanks for the comments... I definitely make the mistake of direct damage vs the damage from the table a few more times during the next three sessions. It just slips my mind now and then. I'll start checking out the charts to help keep the memory failures to the minimum. I just got the zines and I'm excited to try out what's in them. Again, appreciate you checking things out.