It strikes me as a distraction tbh. It's just completely outside the realms of any kind of useful focus. In the same way we don't argue about the Greek myths, we just accept they exist.
I remember when every Irish character was either a member of the IRA, an alcoholic or both.
They have what are essentially feats though, although depending on which PbtA game they may or may not be available to everyone. ("Which PbtA game?" is always the complication with this)
And it works. Character creation in Nightlife (species but no class) is way more chaotic. We'll carefully skim over them including "Inuit" as a supernatural creature though.
I think a lot of that is outside the realm of history though. We can say that Jesus likely claimed to perform miracles and his followers believed he did, anything else is faith not historical research. (There's a reasonable chance that the virgin birth is based on a mistranslation anyway).
Same with VtM which is not character class but cleverly disguised race-as-class.
I can call PbtA playbooks "character classes" again if it would help?
Yeah, creationists don't sway easily because it's a matter of faith for them. Same for you.
"There are zero contemporaneous writings or mentions, unlike actual humans eg Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, etc."
This is cherrypicking, probably deliberate. What are the contemporaneous writings for Boudicia or Alexander of Macedonia? Hell, by this standard you'd have to deny the Persian Empire.
He's right on the scholarly consensus. (Or least that the consensus is that's it's *probable* he existed. That's how history works). This is a simple matter of fact.
Paelomythic. Mystical prehistory. The good side of rules light systems that open rather than close off possibilities. Good worldbuilding tools and there's a surprising amount of variety in what you can do with it.
Diana Warrior Princess. Inspired by Xena: Warrior Princess and tries to portray the then modern world with the same accuracy Xena portrays the Ancient Greece. Very funny, but if you have young people in your group they'll ruin it by saying things like "who are Red Ken and Archer based on?"
As long as I can play a negapsychic. Because who doesn't love a character class whose main function is to fuck up everyone else's powers AND be smug about it?
As a member of the group, you do realise that's practically incitement? (I'm now trying to think of an entirely different reason to raging about it. "Unfair on the horses" maybe)
This feels like people asking me why I'm not a paid GM. Like, all power to those who make it their living, but I know it would suck all the joy out of running for me.
I feel that Termination Shock manages what he was trying to do with Out of the Violent Planet more successfully.
I still remember a certain RA member on tv as an spokesperson for Anti Fascist Action.
"Would you say your group condones violence against the far right?"
"Absolutely not" *Pause* We don't condone it, we promote it.
That's kinda a Stolze RPG trait I think. (The alt settings felt way easier to get a handle on for me).
I remember him breathlessly bursting into a thread to tell us that he was "exposing" Red Action as supporting political violence. Mate, that wasn't some kind of secret. That was their USP.
Oh, I got blocked by the anti left "Mr Corbyn in the Times" account for asking why he'd deleted all the claims that Corbyn was mates with Red Action without acknowledging it. He was amazing.
I also got my parody Elon Musk account banned, despite the fact it clearly said "parody" in the bio like it was supposed to. But I had been repeatedly spamming Grimes' comments with the Take That "Want You Back for Good" video, so fair enough really.
Then the creator of Bernard Righton, John Thompson turned up. And posted the single word post "plagiarism!". I strongly suspect he was joking in that way you do when you really aren't joking.
Andrew Doyle, who I know blocks everyone, but he blocked me after I did a 20 comment thread critiquing his comedy as lazy and naming everyone whose act he'd stolen from.
Best bit was I pointed out Titania McGrath was just Bernard Righton with the the charm and wit.
Or it's close sibling "I spent all game attacking you but then at the end you unfairly chose to stop me winning rather than playing for third place".
I believe the reason nobody remembers it is because the co-designers have had a falling out and refuse to let the other republish it. Proper rock star behaviour.
Also, complaints of "kingmaking" and "it all came down to one move".
For Coin and Blood. OSR (Swords and Wizardy based) that focuses on "what if you played evil PCs". It works perfectly well, but I'm not sure I can quite see the point. "Playing evil PCs in D&D" hasn't really been a hot topic since about 1988.
After Sundown. Because what WoD *really* needed was Shadowrun mechanics. Absolutely kitchen sink of a setting where every possible idea is put in. Makes Nightlife look constrained. I've used the setting for a LRP, even if I wouldn't run it as a RPG. And it's free!
Be interesting to know what numbers Osprey are doing, as a subsidiary of a mainstream publisher. Rebellion to, although they're arguably just a *big* niche publisher.
I'm pretty sure that everyone calling for AI chatbots is Arnold Rimmer and thinks it'll mean they can have sex with the tennis girl.
