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So was it better or worse than satanism?
Having experienced math, I’d choose satanism for sure.
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I would go so far as to say all of them. The whole idea of Satan is ridiculous, it’s “The Boogeyman” for adults.
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Well some adults are also just plain stupid.
That is what I did after years of playing.
Improv and math, gramma.
Clearly math is satanic
They’re using Arabic numerals! It’s obviously all a devilish ploy to subvert our pure Christian souls!
Not at my games, we only use true American ternary - 🦅, 🍔, and 🛢️
Oh absolutely.
If god and religion demand faith over evidence, then clearly math and science, both of which derive from logic, must be the antithesis of god.
And it doesn’t even add up to the number of the beast!
Could you imagine doing 666 damage in one turn? I’d be riding that high for weeks.
Weeks? More like decades.
And then, In nomine satanis/Magna Veritasuse a D666
Knock #2 by the merry mushmen has a set of actual d666 tables for generating a pact with a devil.
She may buy into hype but still thinks for herself
Good point, actually. Seems like these days, a lot of people wouldn’t change their opinion after seeing what this grandma saw.
There are 2 sorts of ignorance. Incidental and willful. Incidental can be fixed easily, with more information. Willful only look to support their pre-decided views, and so are far harder to change.
Before the internet became a big thing, both were common on topics. We were forced to rely on what we were told. This lead to a lot of incidental ignorance. The internet made it easy to fix this.
The end result is the ratio has changed. It used to be, say 80% incidental, and 20% willful. Now 90% of the incidental is mostly fixed. So it’s 29% incidental, 71% willful. And so looks a lot worse to casual observation.
The Grandma seems the incidental type. Going to a game gave her the information to update her views.
Also to note, the numbers here were pulled from my arse for example purposes only. Actual ratios may vary.
These days, some people wouldn’t even attempt to see the game with their own eyes and completely makes up their mind based on one FB post.
The conspiracy and accusations must always go deeper.
I’m also surprised it ended with the grandma realizing it was just math, because it could have just as easily ended with her thinking that they’re obviously hiding what the real game is about, and how bad it must be be that they’d go to such great lengths to cover it up.
I have to assume having a good, strong relationship with her grandchild must also be a contributing factor. If D&D remained something only anonymous ne’er-do-wells do, it’d be easy to continue buying into the satanic panic. But someone you know and trust to be responsible telling you it’s no big deal might make it a bit easier to accept.
D&D players aren’t satanists. They’re much worse. They’re math addicts.
Speaking as a Satanist studying computational fluid dynamics…
Need a DM?
I would love this so much.
I’ve never played any non-PC RPG though.
Think you could vibe with my favorite Swedish Doom Metal album of an RPG, Mörk Borg? I’ve also played Cy_Borg, though haven’t tried Pirate Borg yet. Pretty rules-light, very much focused on the bleak vibes of a tired world on the brink of Armageddon. Can do DM+1 player with a little tweaking, but anyone reading this is invited to DM me.
I could set up a matrix room and do a session zero to walk through the rules if you’d like!
Exactly why I dislike D&D, it’s more about combat and math. I prefer systems that are less math heavy and more narrative/roleplay focused.
You should check out GURPS. Its a simpler system with universal campaigns (modern, fantasy, mech, dimension hopping, steampunk). The system is super easy. You start with 100 points to make your character. You can spend them on skills, spells, and perks. You can even gain more points by taking quirks.
You roll 3d6 for everything. Your goal is to get under your skill number. Fireball of 13 needs to roll under 13. If its raining or something, your GM can choose to put a -4 on that. So now you need to roll under 9. Just simple addition and subtraction, but it works really well.
Ooo, that sounds awesome! Thank you for sharing!
also worth noting that fallout originally used GURPS before switching for copyright reasons
I’m going to second the other commenter in my enthusiasm for GURPS, but for the opposite reason.
Gurps has the problem of being a universal role-playing system, like Fate, which means session zero includes a long sit-down with your DM about what precisely we will be doing in this game and what mechanics we will be using to create the desired experience. You then fill out the appropriate forms in triplicate to create your character. Usually, your DM makes a template for you to use like a shopping list, but the rulebook assumes you are digging through the first 300-page volume selecting your abilities and skills over the course of a day.
Then, once you start playing, you never have to look at the rulebook again. All the rules you will be using were written (by you) on your character sheet. You roll the dice, see if you managed to roll under your target numbers, and then either succeed or fail. The DM barely has to adjudicate anything.
Oh wow, it sounds so much simpler and easier. Thanks for expanding on the other person’s point!
I just wanted to make sure you understood that the complexity is loaded all at the front, during session 0. Its actually a good deal more complex, but you get to pick and choose what kinds of complexity you want and deal with it at character creation.
Also, their supplemental books really helped me grow as a writer and gamemaster. Most of them tackle a genre and explore it thoroughly.
Oh, thanks! We really appreciate that!
That’s great! 🙂
includes a long sit-down with your DM about what precisely we will be doing in this game and what mechanics we will be using to create the desired experience. You then fill out the appropriate forms in triplicate to create your character. Usually, your DM makes a template for you to use like a shopping list, but the rulebook assumes you are digging through the first 300-page volume selecting your abilities and skills over the course of a day.
Holy shit. This first bit sounds like a bureaucracy simulator.
Probably the only game to be made better by chatgpt
Yep! That’s the entire appeal of the system! And I want to make absolutely sure that anyone picking up the game knows that they are getting into, because I am well aware that the fact this is my favorite game system says a lot about me as a person
I bought the Fate Accelerated Edition because it sounded fun but I’ve literally not found any published adventures. I’ve found campaign settings, yeah, but nothing explaining what an easy encounter should look like, how to structure an adventure, nothing.
Fate seems fun so I’m ready to be proved wrong.
Sorry that this is off-topic… but your avatar hit me in the feels. I can’t explain fully. When I first became aware as a kid in school, like… first conscious memorized thoughts, I was staring at the Netscape Navigator loading animation. Now every time I see it there’s this feeling. Like super nostalgic serotonin and dopamine running through my veins.
Such a small thing, but I almost cry every time I see it.
That’s because you need to wake up, eye dust! You need to break out of the simulation! It’s still 1999 in here!
Just kidding lol. But thank you for sharing. I know the feeling you’re talking about, just like a tidal wave of nostalgia that is utterly devastating. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that gives me that feeling, but I’ve felt it.
Lol! Well, you’re probably not wrong.
Yeah, its just a blast of feelings, hard to describe. Shooting stars can usually do it to me. Whether they’re in a game or in real life.
I used to sit in old WoW waaaay back in the day and watch the shooting stars in Arathi Highlands. That and Winterspring were my favorite areas.
Thanks for this. Its been quite a while since I’ve played, so I was going off of fuzzy memory. I do still have all the books, but haven’t opened them in a long time.
That’s exactly it. You choose what you want your character to do and be within the GM’s world type. Then you have one or two sessions really setting everything up for world, characters, story, progression, etc. After that you’re done with the hard part. Heck, even the GM is done with it. They may need to reference material occasionally, but the game almost plays itself.
It’s much, much more casual and focuses more on story and narrative. Its like if Choose Your Own Adventure was a game, the rolls only being there to add flavor and excitement to your adventures.
I understand what you are saying and I can see why that could be interesting to some.
I myself prefer to go the exact opposite route. I like Mini6 a lot. It’s 2 pages of actual rules and a few more with example scenarios, spells, items, skills and enemies. The whole thing is like 30 pages IIRC.
And even better: Dread. You can explain the rules in 2 minutes.
A friend calls it “narrative gambling”, because eventually we’re all throwing dice and hoping it doesn’t “ruin” us.
I mean, it’s not entirely wrong, but saying anything involving dice and risk is gambling, thus meaning it contains the same addictive and problematic features that gambling does, is incredibly simplistic and superficial.
It’s like saying carrots and coke is the same thing because both contain sugar.
How dare you!
<I use an attack of opportunity and I throw my carrot-and-coke cocktail to Squaresinger’s face>
At least not coke and buthane. That would have been worse.
At least not coke and buthane.
Not since the accident…
You don’t even need the dice! I was definitely gambling last session when I attuned to a prosthetic eye filled with the trapped souls of everyone that’s ever used it. It gives me 60 feet of Truesight though!
60 feet of truesight, unfortunately you can’t see shit because of all the souls in the way
Perception check passed, grandma
IMO, math is the work of the devil… 🤣
I guess it’s like saying gambling is just math. You should sit in on her next bingo session or trip to the Indian casino. except you’re not winning money.
This is my first time seeing another person using monospace font for social media in the wild. I’ve changed my phone’s system font to Fira Code to make almost everything monospace.
Why. Legibility?
Honestly, just because I could, and once I had done it, I just liked the way it looked, so I’ve kept it. That, and I remember it being a pain to change in One UI. I don’t remember how I did it, and the process is probably different by now anyways, so I’d have to look it up, and I’m not about to do all that again.
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sorry but it’s either that she didn’t “buy fully into ‘IT’S SATANISM’” or this entire post is made up.
people who buy fully into it don’t allow a test run. if it did g happen she was more likely concerned it might be some cultist shit but was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt and she doesn’t deserve to be described as “bought fully into it”.
I knew a guy who got into d&d in middle school and it drastically improved his grades.
The fact is that gaming is reading, writing, math, make believe, structured socializing, and sometimes history and sometimes art. It’s exactly like school, except fun.
it’s almost like animals evolved play as a way to learn
I learned a lot of English by playing Runescape.
Except you learned british English, not freedom English
So, he learned what most English speakers learn.
He who is not free needs to be British to become free 🦅
My son taught himself English by setting Minecraft to English. Once he mastered that, he set it to Pirate.
But math is satanism
No you’re thinking paleobiology.
