Wandering Adventure Party

@SJohnRoss @Taskerland I find theory helps me move from "I don't like your game and you don't like mine" to "here are things we both like, so a game that does those specifically is one we can play together".

@Printdevil @Taskerland @BigJackBrass Also it's harder to glue them together to make a campaign if they have any context. (I think horror games are best as one-shots, so that's less of a problem there.)

@Printdevil @Taskerland The great thing about it compared with opposed rolls is that it's self-balancing. If I have 100% attack and you have 100% parry, we're just waiting for someone to fumble. If I have STR 20 and you have SIZ 20, it's the same 50-50 as if we were 3 vs 3.

@Taskerland Those usually only go suddenly bust when the cops are catching up with them.

@Taskerland I don't think there's any real overlap between old Chaosium, which went bust, and new Chaosium which is the Moon Design people wearing the hollowed-out husk of the company. Old Cha launched the card game, screwed over their authors, but had people who loved the games and wanted to produce good stuff for them (though they didn't always do a great job); new Chaosium want to produce stuff that sells, first and last, which may coincidentally be good.

@Taskerland @Printdevil That is apparently What The Punters Want (because they've been brought up on modern D&D). Of course, giving the punters exactly what they're used to is a recipe for a crash.

@Taskerland @Printdevil Presumably David Larkins has.

@Taskerland "You've bought it before, you'll buy it again."

@Printdevil @Taskerland I think those were mostly things the critics approved of, at least if they were the ones doing them.

@Taskerland @SJohnRoss My current golden rule: only make a pass/fail roll if both pass and fail can lead to something interesting. In that case I can see several options, and I'm only just out of bed:
"It's hard teamwork, but you rig a rope and get across the river."
"It looks dangerous. You might get swept away. [To other adventure possibilities, or for 5e an alternative dungeon entrance.] Roll."
"You'll be able to do it, but how much of your supply of wood and rope will be used up in the process? Roll."
"It's clearly too dangerous. You'll need to find another way."

@vortiwife @Printdevil @Taskerland I feel that this might have a lot to say to my notional campaign "Prince of High Wycombe".

@Printdevil @Taskerland The new Arkham Horror RPG feels to me very much like a lineal descendant of the board games that Chaosium started and FFG continued. It frames a struggle against the Mythos as a fight that is essentially winnable. With lots of tommyguns and dynamite and hanging off the running boards of a speeding car while using both. And there's nothing wrong with that, but it doesn't need Lovecraft and I think it is better when separated from him.

@Taskerland @Printdevil @BigJackBrass I don't think that can be quite right; ISFDB lists various editions of The Compleat Traveller in Black through the 1980s (and an ebook in 2014).

@Printdevil @Taskerland Guess it's time to pick up my satchel, staff and cloak and start carrying news from one silo to another. Have to say I was hoping for warmer weather.

@Printdevil @Taskerland Well, I'd say I feel seen, but I don't think I have any old wounds and I tend to look at the game's history (and the fact that the other half, the variant designed not to be boring, was ignored when it was stolen). And to be fair I don't tend to talk or even think about Monopoly unless someone else brings up the subject.

@Taskerland @Printdevil The PbtA I've looked at most closely is Monsterhearts, and that has an explicit endpoint. You can port one or more characters from there to a new campaign, but it's definitely a separate thing.
I find I actually prefer shorter campaigns but that may be because I enjoy inventing a world more than running in it.

@Printdevil @Taskerland Some research from a few years ago suggests that the typical hobbyist boardgame gets played something like six times. (This was used to excuse the monstrous waste of "legacy" games.) I think it's also worth considering the number of systems that show up with quickstarts these days: yeah yeah you can generate a character later, here's something you get you right into the actual play experience and see if you like it.

@Printdevil @Taskerland "turn it into a business when you do not love running a business", I know.

@Taskerland @Printdevil as I understand it that original person is still involved, just not formally; the new people are her friends. Every so often one of them burns out and is accused of all sorts of unprofessional behaviour, and someone new comes in.

@Printdevil @Taskerland Their main bod has major CFS and, I suspect, the sort of depression that combines with that to produce "I just can't today" for months at a time. I sympathise, I sometimes get a bit that way myself, but I'm not trying to run a business or promising product any day now. When Kickstarter briefly had a rule that you can't run project N+1 until you've delivered project N, I was one of the people who reported them.
It's a shame, they had good authors, but I think they should admit their bankruptcy. We all know it's coming, and endless petty fundraisers and empty promises don't make them look any better (or do anything for their stress).