Rich Stokes

I do sometimes wonder if the problems with it were caused by the state of WEG at the time maybe? Maybe if it'd been more successful it would have ended up with more coherent setting material?
I'm aware there have been recent reboots, I should probably add them to the huge list of stuff to check out.

I love the Gonzo nonsense of this setting. But absolutely agree that it doesn't quite gel together in the way a lot of other settings do.
I have a bunch of the original Master book versions of this and that system was pretty awful so it didn't ever really make it to the table.

The M5Stack Cardputer ADV.

Great, I really needed a new rabbit hole to fall down.

Cardputer ADV is a tiny, low power ESP based computer with a bunch of sensors and expansion ports.

I'm going to lose a lot of time buggering about with this aren't I?

Capitalism, unfortunately.

It's all part of roleplaying, not just the verbalised character-play.
Don't get me wrong, I love me a good in-character chat and a funny accent as much as anyone, but I don't feel it represents the pinnacle of TTRPG play any more than a critical success or level up.

For example, referencing system/rules/stats to understand a character's capabilities. This shapes what your character does (a strong character is likely to succeed in situations where that helps). Players generally run that through the filter of the personality they fabricate for the character.

It goes even further than that though. Communicating your character's actions and feelings is only one part of the overall experience of "roleplaying" (in the context of TTRPGs).
Much of what goes into it isn't directly communicated/verbalised at all.

Far too often when someone says something encourages "good roleplaying", what they actually mean is "encourages people to speak in character with a funny accent".
And it's fine to enjoy that at the table, but that's not the entirety of what roleplaying is in the context of TTRPGs.

People often conflate "roleplaying" with "speaking in character" when discussing TTRPGs.
This is hugely harmful to discussions and impacts the communication of several important ideas and concepts in a negative way.

I think there's probably a set of common features of 90s games like:
"Simple" rules which actually aren't.
Imaginative setting with great, if not always consistent, ideas
Supplement sprawl to both setting and rules
Fanbase resistant to changing system or setting
Hasty 2nd edition to "fix" things.

The ones which lasted, yeah.
I think tastes have changed as there's been an increase in easily available entertainment competing for people's time.
30 years ago the idea that buying a decent sourcebook meant I'd read it cover to cover over the next couple of days.

And looking back at that, I realise this is also 99%applicable to V:tM

Then the real sprawl of ideas happened with dozens of sourcebooks. Things went from complex to amazingly complex.
Clearly a new edition was needed so tie all these ideas together, then to update everything from the 2nd ed sourcebooks. And then more sprawl.

I mean, yes?
A lot of this comes down to its age and kinda "how things were done" at which point the game has a legacy some fans love and will cling to.
1st came out in 89 I think and had profound flaws, but was super fun.
2nd was an attempt to fix some of the biggest problems and was better for it.

The nice thing is the hardware all works for both, so if your area reaches a tipping point, moving from MT to MC is just flashing firmwares.

A lot of this comes down to where you are and what you want to do with it, right?
I'm in the UK and as far as I can tell, everyone adopted Meshcore Narrow last year and Meshtastic seems more or less dead here.

On Android I've been using something called Xodo for pdfs for a while if that helps?

I assumed that meant the PCs all died during character creation?

+ Boom-tish +

The page of cut-out counters from the original Rogue Trader game.

The new Assault Force boxed set looks pretty rad.

Officially adopted.

It's two air fryer draws full of something claiming to be chicken in star shapes?

I'm sure this is really healthy.

Chicken shuriken?

Props for saying doolally (let's bring it back), but also yes.

Please keep doing this, and please keep being you.

It means a lot to me and a lot of other people.

Not in the next couple of days, but my group is playing Vampire: the Masquerade on Tuesdays.
It's been very strange coming back to this game after 20+ years, but the new rules do make the game easier to run.
Mostly the same players from then too, weirdly.

Cool, I'll check it out.
The first edition made me really angry because it seemed like there was an awesome game in there, but I couldn't find it.

Is Anarchy 2e decent? I wanted to like the original so much, but it was such a mess.

It's such a great idea.
And the actual coins are amazing.

Funny story:
Jon: A State on discount!
Me: Cool, loads of people should buy that, I remember sitting in this very chair and reading it, it's great.
+Looks at shelf+
Me: Wait, where's the book?
Brain: You gave it back to Steve, remember?
Me: Wut?
Brain: Yes, you borrowed it from him.
Me: Oh...

Fairly confident Rishi Sunak flobbed in my dinner at least once.

Good job I keep a scalpel handy to repel packaging of this magnitude.

And you're not wrong about these books looking great. All the best books have art by you and Paul 🤣