Sugar's Blog

arf arf arf arf arf arf (sees that nobody is looking at me or gives a fuck) whatever

I have made a lot of mistakes in my tabletop design stuff, especially early on, but I'm proud that I never put a "If the mechanics contradict The Story™ you're telling just ignore the mechanics" because 1) it's extremely obnoxious when rulebooks act like they're giving you permission to do something that you can technically always do if you want (even if I think it's usually against best practices) and 2) whenever a game has a "this game is about X and Y but if the mechanics start rubbing against that narrative just fudge the dice, lie to your players and/or ignore the mechanics" clause (e.g. OG World of Darkness) the designers are kinda just openly admitting that they're leaning on the GM's ability to ignore mechanics as a crutch for the fact that they didn't design good mechanics for the narrative they wanted their game to be about.

I think more game rulebooks should abandon the wishy washy "uuuhhh the rules are a guideline 👉👈 feel free to ignore them whenever you want if it conflicts with [narrative the rules don't support but the authors REALLY REALLY want you to believe their game us about]" thing and openly embrace the stance that while they can't stop you from ignoring the rules, the rules are there for a reason, and ignoring them will presumably result in a worse experience. And if you as a designer can't in good conscience bring yourself to unapologetically take the stance of "this mechanic is here for a good reason, its presence improves the game, and removing it would almost universally result in the players having a worse experience" about any one of your mechanics that's a pretty good indication that that particular mechanic should either be presented as optional or just not included in your game at all in the first place, don't put it in your game just so you can tell your players to ignore it.

If I just spent like $60 on your RPG sourcebook you had better have something that you believe is good and important to tell me in it. If your rules are worth money they're worth explaining and standing by. Tell me how your rules connect to one another, tell me what I would need to do to replace them if I took parts out, tell me the scenarios in which they are and aren't important. Even if I am going to start going around with a sledgehammer taking down walls; I want to do that with the knowledge that the whole system won't collapse on my head because it was made by someone with zero confidence or ability to design a game. I should be hacking the game for fun, not because it doesn't work if I don't. Giving me permission is worthless; letting me see your design documentation and teaching me how an why your game works is priceless.

YES OMG BRÜNNHILDE

I've just been informed that my tapeworm is invoking squatters' rights

This is the Carrie Fisher post of body positivity reblog for a chocolate bar from her fridge

I take a puff and then look at the chimpanzee I am supposed to be taking care of. with my enhanced empathy I know he badly wants a little bit. he does the universal primate gesture for give here. I hand him the joint, he carefully disassembles me like a lego house