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zedecksiew · 2 months

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What Do Ability Scores Represent?

Recently, Into The Odd and the players in my home game helped me realise something fundamental:

Ability scores represent how good you are at acting under pressure.

STR isn't strength, it's toughness;

DEX really means reflexes;

WIS is more accurately calm or willpower;

etc.

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It is convention in roleplaying games that your ability scores / attributes / six stats determine who your character is.

High DEX means your character is spry, capable of acrobatic flourish; a good Willpower generally means you can browbeat others / themselves / reality (if you are spellcaster) into doing what they want; etc.

There is pleasure in looking at a sheet and seeing: Oh! These are the things my character is good at.

But you do run into problems. Does my 18 DEX rogue know they are fleeter than the 17 DEX bard? What if my wizard thinks she is stronger than her 10 STR? What if I have a brilliant scheme but my barbarian only has 9 INT?

How well, in other words, does the map represent the territory?

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(Art by Vesha, who is an illustrator! source)

I've got three players in my home game:

Vesha plays the teenaged trader Khabar (and his buffalo friend / parent-figure, Paal);

Amanda plays the monkey warrior Boots-Ra, now going white-furred;

Aish plays Captain Phung.

Phung does not yet own a proper sea-going vessel. Perhaps he lost his previous ship? Perhaps he never had one. (He does have a magic five-person sampan, though!)

He is impulsive. He tends to make dodgy deals with hapless village-folk, pick up dangerous-looking objects, and flirt with dangerous-looking men.

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Mechanics-wise, here's how my interactions with Aish / Phung tend to go:

Me: Okay, make a DEX save to duck before the hunter stabs you. Aish: Damn, my DEX is only 6, guess we'll see ... Amanda: Oh, no, Phung!

In a previous session:

Me: Okay, I think I'll call for a WIL save, because the ghost in the goat skull is trying to possess you. Aish: Well, my WIL is 5, hopefully this works out ... Vesha: Oh shit, Phung!

Some sessions back:

Me: The automaton shoves you. Make a STR save? Otherwise you'll be on the ground at its mercy. Aish: Guys I have 6 STR, I may be in trouble here. Me: Wait wait wait. What are your stats again?

So it turns out that Aish had terrible rolls at chargen. STR 6 DEX 6 WIL 5. Just going by ability scores, Phung is an idiot weakling.

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Thing is, Phung isn't an idiot weakling.

I've got crafty players; they are pretty good at cooking up multi-part schemes. (Their go-to tactic is bamboozling rival factions to show up at the same place, then benefit from the fallout.)

Phung is generally the face for whatever racket they've got going: he's the most obvious leader (the party is generally "Captain Phung and crew"), and Aish plays him as a capable, charismatic go-getter.

Looking at the character sheet, is Aish playing Phung wrong?

Fuck that. A player cannot play their own character wrong. I reject this notion outright.

What's going on?

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Different rulesets try to bridge the gaps between player action, character ability, and abstract math in different ways: eliminating mental attributes; going totally skill-based; etc.

The ruleset that comes closest to "solving" this, for me, is Into The Odd.

Saves are the only kind of test player-characters make, in ITO and its derivatives. This is key.

The ruleset assumes competency on the part of characters; you only go to the dice if you need to figure out stuff that is out of your control.

How badly a straight-up fight goes; whether you can jump aside in time if you've accidentally sprung a trap; whether you can improvise a lie on the fly.

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Implicitly, and in practice:

The STR stat in ITO is more accurately toughness---ie: how well you can withstand a physically demanding situation you didn't prepare for.

Ditto DEX, which is an abstraction for how quickly your reflexes trigger.

Same with WIL, which is how well you stay calm under duress.

I can be sharp when I've got time and it is a subject I have experience in. But suddenly ask me to make a speech and I'm toast (low INT).

Some folks have no martial arts training but can hold their own if a brawl breaks out in a bar (high STR).

Captain Phung is a pretty cool operator when he's in control, but tends to seize up when things go off the rails (low WIL).

There's my answer to the conundrum of Captain Phung: he's a genuinely capable guy. He's just not necessarily great under stress. His reach exceeds his grasp, sometimes.

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Your ability scores don't represent who your character is. Your ability scores represent who your character is, when under duress.

In other words:

Ability scores are who your character is when they are not in control. Ability scores are your character's reactions.

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I do feel slow on the uptake, for only grokking this now.

Chris McDowall probably has a post from the mid 2010s or something where he discusses this aspect design in detail, the clever genius bastard. It is probably internalised play-culture within the ITO-and-descendants community; Emms points out that the current edition of Mothership explicitly talks about stats in this way.

Still!

Am glad to have a regular TTRPG group again, and I have them to thank for my epiphany!

(They are kickass. I ran them through Whirling Mummy a while back and it was a RIOT)

#theory #design #ttrpgs #home games #captain phung #into the odd #ability scores

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trenchphotos1 · 6 months

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It's a grainy image, as it's on film and my current camera/film/lens/developer combo is not being what I would call cooperative. That being said, I'm posting the pic anyway because that hood ornament above him has a back story that is worth sharing. Jason owns Sublime Signs in Norman and there's a welding shop attached in the back. He welded the tailgating rig he's sitting atop and once it was all said and done, he realized it needed a crowned jewel. And he knew immediately what he wanted.

So off he goes to the interwebs with a price point in mind, and soon enough he found a skull. He contacted the seller and a conversation to settle details ensued. Except the seller found out Jason lived in Oklahoma and backed out of the deal. It should go without saying at this point that the seller lived in Texas. You guys. The same thing went on to happen another THREE times: Jason contacted them to buy, they lived south of the Red River, they tell Jason no when they discovered the delivery address.

Can you imagine being so enthralled with what is essentially cow innards that you refuse to let someone purchase it based on their address? Sounds like discrimination by the long horn of the law to me.

Obviously, he managed to find one eventually. From a seller that lives in Oklahoma.

#canon f1 #Ilford hp5+#hc110h #university of oklahoma #street portrait #analog #2023 #home games

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badhockeymom · 2 years

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Oh lol not sepe cardboard head 🤣

#canes #sebastian aho #canes lb #home games #nhl playoffs 2022 #round 1 win 3

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flashhxn-lights · 2 years

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Guys

Can you all give me games that have like

3d (preferably customisable) house building games

Likes sims and shit ykykyk

Home decor

Home design

All that shit

#games #house #home #home games #home design #home decor #3d games #video games #mobile games

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retquits · 2 months

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1.6 is coming—see you march 19th!!! 🥹🌱

#stardew valley #can you imagine pouring blood sweat & tears into a game #releasing it for like $15 #and then working for 8 more years to add more content without asking for a cent more #for what could have easily been several dlc packs #i love you stardew valley i love you concernedape i love you indie games thank you for being my home all these years #EDIT: added image ID in the alt!!

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malinaa · 5 months

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if i think about the hunger games in peeta's perspective i WILL start sobbing

#imagine you're a boy who's going to die. you're in love with the girl you've been watching from afar. you know your fate.#you just want to help her‚ but then there's the announcement and she's here in front of you‚ kissing you‚ risking her life for you and you #think‚ i could live and i could love. you think she loves you when she hands you the berries‚ when she puts them in her mouth.#then you both survive and you go back home and nothing is real anymore. you have nothing. no family. no friends. no love. just an empty #house. a drunk for a neighbor. the love of your life walking into somebody else's arms. you think‚ i survived the games. i could survive #this. and you also think‚ i should've bit down on those berries‚ should've felt the juice burst before i died.#and then the third quarter quell announcement rings in your ears and you think‚ she will live and i will die as i should have in the first #place. the girl you love kisses you on the beach and somewhere you heart stirs and your mind revolts and you savor every touch she has ever #given to you‚ in front of the cameras and off. because you are a tribute and you are always being watched and snow's presence looms and #you think‚ i know she cares. but you get taken. you get drugged. you get tortured‚ your mind altered. the girl is a mutt‚ a murderer. she's #everything you despise‚ your mind stirs. your heart revolts. you gain more awareness but cannot distinguish reality from fiction and you #have never known katniss' love. the war ends. you heal. you come home. you plant primrose for her. years down the line‚ you grow in love #more than you thought possible. but some days‚ you cannot tell fiction from reality so you ask the love of your life‚ you love me.#real or not real? and she says‚ real‚ and kisses you.#and you sigh and kiss her back and revel in this. a home. a life. a love.#lit #the hunger games #everlark #otp: real or not real?#katniss everdeen #peeta mellark #text #tais toi lys #thgpost

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kithj · 7 months

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games (mostly text-based) about houses and places-- exploring them, haunting them, feeding them:

childhood homes (and why we hate them) - after a decade, you return home.

return - a text-based horror game about coming home.

singing from the far side of the hill - about a trans woman, homeless after a bad breakup, who rents a stranger's spare room. it's a decision she comes to regret.

anatomy - Explore a suburban house, collect cassette tapes, study the physiology of domestic architecture.

leave house - leave house

the open house - We at Northtree Real Estate (in partnership with Optix Dynamix Labs) are proud to present our new, state-of-the-art, open house simulator! Come and take a quick tour of 15615 Hollow Oak Lane, a familiar and comfortable showcase home in one of our premier developments!

what girls do in the dark - This little game is based off one of the greatest fears they had as a teenage girl: showing up late to a stranger's slumber party.

unbecoming - a sonically-textured interactive horror fiction exploring cycles of trauma and unspeakable forces of nature in a mythic rural American landscape.

13 laurel road - an interactive fiction game about the relationships we have with places and reconciling with trauma. You play as a young man named Noah who has been tasked with picking up some things from his cousin’s old house.

domvs - a gothic mystery game in which you rely on your environment to uncover the truth.

flesh, blood, & concrete - you find yourself in a vast, empty apartment complex.

i am still here - a short, unconventional ghost story and vignette reflecting on the end of a long lockdown.

vacant - Film a ghost-hunting show.

#on a haunted house kick #some of these are like. a stretch i suppose #but all of them revolve around places or exploring them in some way #people seemed to like that last list i posted surprisingly lmfao #this is just from what i've personally played #it's kinda hard to search for a niche subgenre....i skimmed some of the haunted house tag on itchio #but as soon as you get into 'horror' over there you just get some real awful schlock #edit: I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT GONE HOME.....#games

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escritos-perdidos · 1 year

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faeriekit · 5 months

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#attempted murder for the ask game! 🌱

"...So I'm dead now," Danny ends his story, face in his hands.

"You were dead before this," Sam points out. She takes a bite out of her perfectly carved celery sticks.

"I know, but now I'm dead dead," Danny groans, earning a pat on the back from Tucker. "Like. Dash pushed me off a bridge. And sure, it was an accident, but come on! There's no way I could survive that if I wasn't...me! I can't, like, reappear after that! I should have been a goner!"

"I mean, it was probably an accident," Tucker adds encouragingly, continuing the patting. It's well meant but not helpful in the slightest. Danny groans.

"Congrats on faking your death by accident," Sam says through her celery. She offers Danny a celery stick in commiseration. He eats it, but it tastes like nothing. "Have any big plans?"

"I dunno. Die?"

"You did that already," Tucker and Sam point out.

Danny puts his face in his hands. "I... Did he even report me? Did he even report that he probably killed me? Like...to anyone?"

Tucker pulls out his newest PDA, Pollyanna. A few taps of the stylus. Some scrolling "...Nah, dude. No news, no cops. Legally, you're still alive."

And they sit there, in Sam's room, in silence, wondering how one of their classmates managed to mostly get away with murder.

"...Think he'll cry if you show up to school tomorrow like nothing happened?" Sam mutters, more out of spite than anything.

Everyone looks at each other.

"...Ten bucks," Tucker says.

"No bet. I do the scary eyes and he probably pisses his pants," Danny snorts.

"It's a deal," Sam decides. "All in on making Dash have a mental breakdown?"

Hands go in. One, two, three— Danny and Tucker whoop as their three hands go up, the two high-fiving as Sam holds in her cackle.

"Jazz is going to kill us," Danny snickers, almost guilty.

"After Dash killed you? Please. If anything, Jazz might fetch the Jack O' Nine Tails and kill him first."

#ask games #ask game which is NOW CLOSED #danny phantom #hashtag sorry Dash #he was attempting some regular bullying but Danny tripped— now Dash is Big Traumatized but not enough to fess up to killing his classmate #based on the area it was probably a traffic bridge too. RIP Danny #free to a good home

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cheese-doorstop48 · 1 year

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:)

#wally #wally darling #wally welcome home #welcome home #welcome home wally #welcome home fanart #welcome home arg #arg #alternate reality game #eye contact #eye contact tw

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trenchphotos1 · 5 months

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I couldn't decide which one I liked better, so I posted them both.

#slow shutter speed #long exposure #home games #game day #university of oklahoma #2023

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alpha-beta-gamer · 4 months

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This House is Not a Home is a 1-bit styled first person psychological horror game where a demonic entity preys on your insecurities!

Read More & Play The Alpha Demo, Free (Windows)

#gaming #indie games #video games #pc games #pc gaming #indie gaming #games #free games #indie game #pc game #This House is Not a Home

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kairelart · 1 year

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Welcome Home is a fun piece of lost media with no horror elements whatsoever :)

#welcome home #clownillustrations #wally darling #arg #alternate reality game #sorry i was watching the night mind livestream and the topic of throwing wally in a well came up and i had to ashflakhdglsdf

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starcurtain · 9 months

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One of my favorite things about the game's writing of Alhaitham and Kaveh:

The basic game text goes out of its way to convince us that the house is Alhaitham's--it is literally called "Alhaitham's Home" even during Kaveh's hangout.

But in-universe, we never see Alhaitham in his house unless Kaveh is there.

Throughout Sumeru's archon quests, we run into Alhaitham practically everywhere: in Port Ormos, in Aaru Village, in the Akademiya, at the Grand Bazaar. But never, despite the fact that the story wants to sell him as a homebody, in his own home. In fact, the only references we have to Alhaitham's house at all throughout the entire lead up of the archon quests are mentions of Kaveh.

Alhaitham doesn't suggest going there, doesn't ever go home himself (at least that we're explicitly told about) until the end of the archon quests, and has no cutscenes in his own house until Kaveh returns from the desert.

Then, all the sudden, Alhaitham literally can't wait to go home and walks off in the middle of a conversation.

From that point on, every time we're permitted to enter Alhaitham's house, in story quests, the hangout, and the event, it's either when he and Kaveh are together or with Kaveh alone.