The Default State Is Broken

Nearly every relationship in my adult life I have because of games of one sort or another. Not all of them, but nearly all of them. But if I had to narrow it down, then I guess the best place to sum up this day's post would be the story of my current marriage.

Shit. There are so many of these.

Every time I read or come across the horrible shittiness that is the latest white male cis supremacy bullshit that always seems to be cropping up in games, I see something, usually just a comment or a snippet, from someone I consider to be awesome, and I feel kind of OK about playing these games again.

Brie Sheldon for his unremitting approach to consent. Olivia Hill and Filamena Young for their relentless refusal to be silent. Jeremy Kostiew for his unending kindness. Cam and Jess Banks for existing in a space that wants them to not.

These are just some of the awesome people I can think of off the top of my head. There are others. You're welcome to tell me yours.

I can't help you with this one. Every AP/gamestream I've ever tried to watch has been exceptionally unentertaining for me. Which is not to say there's not great stuff out there; I'm just not the target audience for it. Watching other people play tabletop games is about as interesting to me as listening to paint dry.

I bet there are better suggestions from other people, though.

Oh, this is a hard one.

1) play more, don't just storyrun. I spend a lot of time coming up with ideas for games, and then not really following through, which isn't fair to my players. It's one reason I've explicitly limited all of my recent games to six episodes or fewer. I want to play in someone else's sandbox for a while. So I need to make time for that, and I need to restrain myself from leaping into something just because I'm filled with Shiny And New Energy, which never lasts much beyond character creation.

2) Play more boardgames. I have a pretty sizable library, but I haven't been able to make a regular game night happen, for various reasons. I think I want to try and put some effort into that.

3) Hang out with more people around games. That means more boardgame events, maybe more holiday gaming, and definitely more karaoke/Rock Band.

4) Don't be so goddamn judgy. Some People Juggle Geese, and that's OK.

The obvious and boring answer is Savage Worlds: RIFTS. I just finished up the second six-issue series for my tabletop group, and so I've been thinking a lot about it and how if I had stuff to do over again what I'd do differently. The SW system is a good, solid one, and the RIFTS bolt-on is certainly RIFTS-like, but boy does it not even pretend to be balanced or reasonable. Which is fine; we had a big group and I think everyone had fun, or at least they said they did, but I'm not sure I'd use the system again. There was a lot of nostalgia (mostly negative) bound up in that decision, and I'm not sure it was worth it.

To give you an idea of just how much I am happy to let go of SW:R -- I'm actually looking forward to a 5E game.

I don't think I'm particularly deep or immersed in the "indie scene" whatever that fucking means, but I will say that Tinstar Games does great work around mini/microgames, and my favourite current minigame is Elon Musk's Ipod Submarine, which is both more clever and more fun than Cards Against Humanity. It's also Safe For Work. 
(Steve would like me to remind you that while they don't have a soundcloud, there is a Patreon page.)