Editorial The Fanatic and His RPG - Mark Yohalem on The Age of Decadence

[Irenaeus II]

Steven (((Pinker)))

I bet he knows a thing or two about group selection #LMAO

 

[almondblight]

Then there's Primordia itself (66% off on Steam!), and down the line there'll be TTON (or a tiny sliver of it) and Fallen Gods.

Speaking of which - wasn't the official announcement for Fallen Gods supposed to have been like a year ago?

 

[MRY]

Yes. "I'll have something to show next week" is becoming the new "Thursday." It is still progressing, just slowly. I always want it to be a litle bit better before sharing. :/

 

[Saduj]

I was talking about the "arena". The siege fight could be harder too but I can understand that not being too hard since it is critical path for some chars who may not be 100% combat oriented.

Yeah that arena is the Arena of Scrubbery. My Kingslayer IG Legatus hoplite pwned these losers and scrubs like the worms they were.

Can you access it without being Arena Champion? Because it is a bit odd for such a weaksauce fights being only offered to the Arena Champion.

I'm pretty sure you have to be champ.

 

[The Brazilian Slaughter]

I was talking about the "arena". The siege fight could be harder too but I can understand that not being too hard since it is critical path for some chars who may not be 100% combat oriented.

Yeah that arena is the Arena of Scrubbery. My Kingslayer IG Legatus hoplite pwned these losers and scrubs like the worms they were.

Can you access it without being Arena Champion? Because it is a bit odd for such a weaksauce fights being only offered to the Arena Champion.

I'm pretty sure you have to be champ.

Maybe its a build thing because my dude was the Arena Champion, part of the Imperial Guard and pretty much made to be a helluva murderer, but those fights are strangely scrubby for something you get as Arena Champion. Then again, its pretty much a Centurion betting on his underscrubs killing you.

 

[Lexxx20]

Buy & play Primordia then. It's -66% off now even.

Oh, I've had it for a long, long time but can't start playing it because of all the new releases and huge backlog

 

[Lexxx20]

I wrote an account of the Wasteland 2 launch party, along with an artist I'm working with (Daniell Miller).

I wrote a bunch of articles about game design back in the '06/'07 era. I'm not sure how well they hold up, but I know some of them were well-received on the Codex back in the day: Killjoy (about the problems with narrative-based games allowing the player character to regularly die); A Childhood in Hyrule (about the importance of game designers drawing on influences outside of gaming); The Four Virtues of FreeCell (about structuring goals and interaction); Who’s in the Driver’s Seat (about the difficulty of reconciling player choice with a strongly define protagonist); Go Virtual Young Man (not really design oriented; more just musings about online gaming). I think Killjoy is the best of the bunch, and amusingly enough it makes reference to AOD as a game that is close on the horizon. I basically much of what's in here to rambling 'Dex conversations back in the day.

Here's a sad post about my failed follow-up to Primordia.

Then there's Primordia itself (66% off on Steam!), and down the line there'll be TTON (or a tiny sliver of it) and Fallen Gods.

Alright, thanks for the reply! I'll bookmark those to read later!

I already have your game, mate, but haven't played it yet I adore its art style though.

Alredy know about you work on TTON (and have a faith in project) but what is Fallen Gods? Never head of it before.

 

[Western]

Haha, people being normal in the post-apocalypse? RETARDED. Everyone knows a soon as the bombs fall, all humans lose all compassion and altruism and all become liars and cheats to survive. There could not possibly be good people after the end. Realistic writing, 10/10, Doritos.

I always felt that a society where people could basically trust each other would go further when faced with adversity. There is certainly an advantage to honest pragmatism, if someone has value to the group and it's survival and is injured, you would save them rather than leave them to die, if they're a worthless parasite on the society you would leave them to die.

If someone who lies and cheats leads a group, people will tolerate them if they provide and lead the group. However if a charlatan is only providing smoke and mirrors, hungry stomachs will see their days numbered.

The same principle should be universal (due to its simplicity) but it's not. We elect leaders who promise much but deliver little. We've accepted that the politicians will lie, cheat, and steal. News of some politician being corrupted won't surprise anyone (in fact such news aren't even worth watching/reading anymore). We tolerate all that shit because no matter the choice we make when electing the new leaders, the outcome is the same.

So if our society were to end and we'll have to transition into a post-apocalyptic one, we won't enter it as equal. Some people will always have more power (those who are ready to seize it and have men and weapons), some less, others none. Much like today, those who have power will call the shots, only without any laws, rights, and such. Basically, the glory days of feudalism, serfdom, and such.

Regarding politicians an there is an issue of the stakes for poor leadership being too low. As long as people are fed, sheltered and employed forceful action against leadership remains improbable, hungry stomachs with little hope are needed (we in the west are far from that).

It's true that systems from already established societies can carry over but I like to think of a new environment with different selective pressures as creating potential for new players. A society where part of the populace is forcefully subjugating another part of the populace is ripe for destabilisation.

There is definitely space for more efficient political systems with hopefully more productive members to pull ahead of competitors. Perhaps a Caliphate held together by religious fervour would overtake the left overs of a decadent destabilised western nation for example.

 

[anus_pounder]

I was talking about the "arena". The siege fight could be harder too but I can understand that not being too hard since it is critical path for some chars who may not be 100% combat oriented.

Yeah that arena is the Arena of Scrubbery. My Kingslayer IG Legatus hoplite pwned these losers and scrubs like the worms they were.

Can you access it without being Arena Champion? Because it is a bit odd for such a weaksauce fights being only offered to the Arena Champion.

I'm pretty sure you have to be champ.

Maybe its a build thing because my dude was the Arena Champion, part of the Imperial Guard and pretty much made to be a helluva murderer, but those fights are strangely scrubby for something you get as Arena Champion. Then again, its pretty much a Centurion betting on his underscrubs killing you.

I forget, but in one IG conversation with Paullus (or was it a Act ending slide?), I believe he slags off the house soldiers as being - however trained they are - largely uninexperienced beyond dealing with petty city thugs and thieves. I figure thats why the Crassus guards are an easy fight for a hardened Arena Champion.

Or maybe I'm just making excuses for a poorly balanced series of fights.

 

[Turok]

I'll buy a copy of AoD to the first Latin American who reply to me.

Que??? dame una copia, demasiados $$ with the price of the game i can buy food for 3 months here. Dame una copia amigo, asi la agrego a steam.

Por cierto yo soy blanco.

GUAOOOO

GRACIAS!!!

 

[MRY]

what is Fallen Gods? Never head of it before.

It's been my personal project for the past couple years. It's about a god who draws the short straw and is thrown overboard from not-Asgard, which is crumbling due to a crisis of faith among the people below. Since the world is a miserable place, he has to get back home before he becomes a mortal for good. It's a dark fantasy RPG based on the sagas and eddas and my own general despair about the world. I have no idea whether it's any good or not, but the artists are doing a nice job, at least. For a variety of reasons, I'm skeptical that people on the Codex will like it: it is quite streamlined, and the story itself is just a series of vignettes (like a more fleshed out FTL, basically) without too much overarching structure.

 

[pakoito]

what is Fallen Gods? Never head of it before.

It's been my personal project for the past couple years. It's about a god who draws the short straw and is thrown overboard from not-Asgard, which is crumbling due to a crisis of faith among the people below. Since the world is a miserable place, he has to get back home before he becomes a mortal for good. It's a dark fantasy RPG based on the sagas and eddas and my own general despair about the world. I have no idea whether it's any good or not, but the artists are doing a nice job, at least. For a variety of reasons, I'm skeptical that people on the Codex will like it: it is quite streamlined, and the story itself is just a series of vignettes (like a more fleshed out FTL, basically) without too much overarching structure.

Keep your twine shit to yourself.




























Just kidding, would play.

 

[MRY]

Just kidding, would play.

That is a ridiculously premature decision. This is the Codex, not tumblr.

Oh, I should add that the main mechanical inspiration for the game was the old single-player board-game RPG "Barbarian Prince," designed by Arnold Hendrick. (Yes, that Arnold Hendrick.) I've never actually played the game, but I've spent hours reading and rereading its rules and marveling at their brilliance in modeling a cRPG without the computer to do the work.

My first stab was to translate BP to a space opera, which led to Star Captain, but I put Star Captain on hold for Primordia and then it was preempted by FTL.

 

[EG]

what is Fallen Gods? Never head of it before.

It's been my personal project for the past couple years. It's about a god who draws the short straw and is thrown overboard from not-Asgard, which is crumbling due to a crisis of faith among the people below. Since the world is a miserable place, he has to get back home before he becomes a mortal for good. It's a dark fantasy RPG based on the sagas and eddas and my own general despair about the world. I have no idea whether it's any good or not, but the artists are doing a nice job, at least. For a variety of reasons, I'm skeptical that people on the Codex will like it: it is quite streamlined, and the story itself is just a series of vignettes (like a more fleshed out FTL, basically) without too much overarching structure.

I'd make poorly-phrased comment about it sounding similar to Little Nicky, but Primordia piques my interest.

Cautious optimism.

 

[Davaris]

I simply disagree and believe that's why your game's writing feels very unrealistic and almost childishly naive to me.

I would feel the same way about a game written according to your specifications (in the context of this conversation). No offense meant either.

I know you're not going to be offended but in the off chance some reader is, please remember that different opinions come about from different lives and experiences accumulated, so your lived experiences might be as valid as anyone else's.

Certainly. However, looking at what's happening in Europe now, for example, hardly creates an impression that Good People are in control of their own culture, cities, countries, etc.

An empire is more likely to lash out, when its rulers realize its time is up.

Haha, people being normal in the post-apocalypse? RETARDED. Everyone knows a soon as the bombs fall, all humans lose all compassion and altruism and all become liars and cheats to survive. There could not possibly be good people after the end. Realistic writing, 10/10, Doritos.

I always felt that a society where people could basically trust each other would go further when faced with adversity.

Congrats, you have rediscovered the group selection theory of evolving altruism: selfish individuals do better than altruists, but groups composed of altruists do better than groups of selfish individuals. Whether this theory is the right one is a big debate in evopsych.

http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/16/3/7.html

 

[Irenaeus II]

Interesting simulation.

Based on my real world experience, I'd guess Jews are around the 1,000 cycle and us Whites turning by the 200-300 cycle, with Mobslimes around the 700 cycle. Ethnocentric Pride World Wide.

 

[MRY]

Kind of neat: Mat Williams, the lead designer of Prelude to Darkness (or someone pretending to be him at any rate), posted this as a comment to the article:

This Mat Williams, Lead Design/Programmer on Prelude to Darkness. Just want to say I loved reading this. Really takes me back to the Prelude days. I remember the first time Vault Dweller contacted us to re-use the Prelude engine, which was frankly horrific. While we raised a little bit of money (enough to scrape by one about 1/4 minimum wage for 2 years) the scope of an RPG like Prelude or AoD is mammoth, even 11 years is an impressive feat for their team, minor warts and all.

I've loved playing AoD and seeing the influences, how its improved on our take, and I'm proud to have been a part of its inception. We made a lot of mistakes back then and AoD definitely did learn from some of them! Great read.

I'll tell him to come say hi to his fans on the Codex.

[EDIT]
Oddly, on LinkedIn he seems to go by the name Mat Willows. Maybe a married name?

 

[Cosmo]

Kind of neat: Mat Williams, the lead designer of Prelude to Darkness (or someone pretending to be him at any rate), posted this as a comment to the article:

This Mat Williams, Lead Design/Programmer on Prelude to Darkness. Just want to say I loved reading this. Really takes me back to the Prelude days. I remember the first time Vault Dweller contacted us to re-use the Prelude engine, which was frankly horrific. While we raised a little bit of money (enough to scrape by one about 1/4 minimum wage for 2 years) the scope of an RPG like Prelude or AoD is mammoth, even 11 years is an impressive feat for their team, minor warts and all.

I've loved playing AoD and seeing the influences, how its improved on our take, and I'm proud to have been a part of its inception. We made a lot of mistakes back then and AoD definitely did learn from some of them! Great read.

I'll tell him to come say hi to his fans on the Codex.

[EDIT]
Oddly, on LinkedIn he seems to go by the name Mat Willows. Maybe a married name?

I still really really want them to release the source code...

 

[Severian Silk]

Prelude to Darkness is 10x better than AoD.

 

[TigerKnee]

Well thank fuck they didn't end up with that plan, unless VD enjoyed having a game that crashed every 5 minutes

 

[Volrath]

Prelude to Darkness is 10x better than AoD.

 

[makiavelli747]

damn.. that prelude to darkness was one of my fav rpg too