All of the questions this time featured "wheels inside wheels" leading to some thoughtwork. I don't know if I managed to convey every point successfully, but I'm sure you'll let me know.
So, more about fabulous people-beasts-entities in texts, then a lot about why and why not to rotate GMing, then much crazytalk about dice mechanics and games' themes and settings, and finally an absolute discourse on the dungeon crawl game to rule them all.
These are some very think-y questions! Including a lot about beasts and monsters.
I want to clarify some things about my response to Sean. First, here are the three "roots" of critical hits in text. They're not intended to be in order, as I think they were simultaneous at this scale of history:
Two days ago I had the chance to start a Circle of Hands campaign with some people interested in expanding their knowledge about roleplaying games, whose background is mainly focused on the 3.5 and 5 editions of D&D. In the first session we arrived at what I would call a turning point of the first venture, of which I attach the preparation.
During December, I asked patrons if they wanted to throw me some questions, especially pretty specific to games that I've published or perhaps know well enough to say anything about. The idea was to collect a few and make a little video response, to be posted and discussed at the Patreon.
Everytime I played circle of hands (I only played as player), there is some moment when the players want to do something against Rbaja or Amboryion. But nothing in the book helps you to do that. There is no written solution or explicit mechanics to deal with those cosmic forces, far beyond what your character can do.
When it comes to my priorities as a roleplaying practitioner, the enthusiastic, zestful exercise of narration authority may be my #1.
At the Patreon, I began a deeper discussion of my breakdown of "setting" into three more useful terms: backdrop, situation, and scene(s). I presented it first in Circle of Hands and referenced it a lot since then.
There is a problem over there, and since we have arrived, we can say "there is a problem here." We may resolve it nicely, we may resolve it fairly, we may resolve it cooperatively, but resolve it we will, and if none of the above work, we will do whatever it takes anyway. The latter option is very definitely something we are good at, which is bad for anyone who opposes us. For we are right and you are wrong.
This is an image of Gertraud Long, one of the Circle Knights, by Tazio Bettin! @taziobettin on instagram check his art out!
We were finally able to get back to our Circle of Hands campaign after a ridiculously long hiatus of 13 months. The blame for the delay can be laid solely on the varied demands of my schedule and the limted range of options open due to divergent time zones.