alyssa @alyssa@cat.family

very rude of this word game to incorrectly tell me that seax is not a word

A novel #DecRecs for today:

Fable of the Swan, by Jenna Katerin Moran (whom you may know from her RPGs Nobilis, Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, Glitch, among others), is a novel told by a girl who has lost herself and seen the True Thing. It is the story of her loss and her glimpses and her few moments redeemed in the radiance of the swan. It is an explanation of why and how she must unfold herself into a leviathan of burnished brass and gleaming chrome, why she must swim out into the void and fight with he Death—the lord of Death's Dominion, the first of the Riders, the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy is he named. It is perhaps my very favorite work of fiction.

I must offer the content warning that reading it reliably induces minor dissociative episodes in me and leaves me temporarily unable to believe in the reality of the world. I have intentionally reread it more than once knowing this.

I don’t normally recommend things but I’ll give #DecRecs a try. to start: I’ll recommend the tabletop role-playing game Strike!

It’s a very charming setting-neutral (but action-focused) game that was perhaps the first of the games that decided to combine a D&D-4e-inspired but streamlined tactical combat mini game and combine it with a rules-light core system for situations where that doesn’t apply (or isn’t warranted). Its core rules are centered around simple d6 rolls and learning new skills by trying unskilled rolls. Its combat system has some very delightful class designs, such as the class that’s about playing two different characters and a very cool take on three variations of the classic “Vancian” magician. Its bipartite class/role system also means you can satisfy almost any sort of role in the team with any class.

It is available at https://www.strikerpg.com/ or https://jimbozig.itch.io/strike

addendum: thanks piggo

thanks glitch-soc for the doodling feature. i forget who did that but thank you.

«If it’s ever too much. If you’re ever doing something and it’s just too much. Even if you’ve already started doing it. Even if it doesn’t seem there’s anything you can do but to do it. If it’s ever too much, you can stop.»
—The Night-Bird's Feather, by Jenna Katerin Moran

that said, my beloved @sigmaleph did point out that the argument misquoted the usual claim about the quality of the film and that the correctly-phrased property ("greatest mafia movie ever made") invalidates the argument

this is, to be clear, good

peeps on tumblr are out there making reverse ontological arguments about screenplays for fictional films

downside of having a literally earth-shaking event to open the next session of my strike! campaign with: absolutely zero clue what the players will try to do in the rest of the session.

i might be able to be talked down to allowing craigslist and the like to accept payment under some circumstances

as a treat i will allow myself the moderate, reformist policy position that paid advertisements should be entirely prohibited.

advertising is kinda almost always evil but advertising in fortune cookies is a special horror