World Tone / Feeling
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I prefer worlds where terrible things can and do happen, but they are worlds where the characters are the heroes saving the day. I like playing underdogs, and I like playing a light in the darkness. If the world is grim, it must not be unrelentingly so: I prefer worlds that change.
A few of my friends ran private games that began in a pretty bad place. They were being run at a time where the fantasy of overthrowing the government and striking back against police brutality was very appealing. You might even say it would still appeal today. Bringing those dark worlds into something better was part of the fun.
That said, I do not, absolutely do not, like worlds that are all happy all the time. It’s not for me. I need the texture of struggle and challenge. I’d rather a darker toned game so long as there are havens of light. I probably wouldn’t play on something that was all dark and all terrible all the time, but I’d last on it longer than one that was all happy.
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I’m far, far more interested in PVE than anything else. I try to avoid political games. I guess I like a bit of what Tez described? Hopepunk? The world is shitty but we’re trying anyway. Trying to stick to mood here… desperation. That team stuff that Jenn mentioned is pretty appealing. FRENSHIP. Nuanced development in characters. I guess this really depends on your players.
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It really depends on the day. If I’ve had a shit day, I probably want to play something light and fluffy. But if I’m in the mood for something deep and meaningful, I want something with a little edge. Something inspired by Raymond Chandler perhaps, or maybe Alan Moore. Something more ‘grit-dark’ than grim, there are elements in the world that just fuckin’ hate you in particular but also moments of levity and lightness to make the contrast all the more stark. Somewhere that trying can lead to rewards just as often as failures, rather than continually sucking forever.
But alas so often people hear dark and they take that to mean violent and horrifying.
ETA: I think this is the most lit-wanky thing I’ve ever written here.
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The intersection of sad and funny is where I thrive.
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Oh. And. Uh…
Also…
The Appalachian-set Curseborne game I’m bullying y’all into building.
And probably the maybe possible potential of a what if the stories are all true reimagining.
We're all mad here.
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I’m pretty open to any sort of tone or feeling. My tonal issue is primarily that there inevitably will be people who seek to be so mechanically powerful in the ruleset used for the game that their character will almost always run against the grain of the tone and feeling for the game.
If the game is supposed to be about a community in a post apocalypse struggling together against the harsh reality of their blasted world, having someone come in like Tequila in Hard Boiled just because they noticed that they could build themselves a certain way and chose to do so.
This can be prevented in the chargen stage by staff doing a good review of the character (both background and sheet) to ensure they’re fitting the tone and feeling of a game. Often times, when such a character ends up in play it’s either because staff is so overwhelmed with tasks that they push characters through as long as they meet a basic set of criteria, or because the player in question has a relationship with a staffer that basically means they get pushed through regardless because for some people having their friends on a game is more important than having everybody follow the same tone and feeling with their character builds and concepts.
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@Jenn said in World Tone / Feeling:
The Appalachian-set Curseborne game I’m bullying y’all into building.
Curseborne? Where?
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LOL. I’m being such a bully about it that they still haven’t told me the IP because then I’m unstoppable.
But the lore/setting/theme-y stuff we’re workshopping on Discord while our coders figure out how they wanna put together sheets and assign splats is at least danged entertaining.
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@Ashkuri said in World Tone / Feeling:
The intersection of sad and funny is where I thrive.
I’ve made a career of it.
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I’m less concerned about grid-level mood than with having the freedom and flexibility to run a scene that might fit whatever sort of tone I want to hit today. For example, on one grid on one character, I GMed:
- A tomb of zombies horror
- Mad Max desert rig chase
- High class well dressed casino heist
- Hacking a secure server (THAT was interesting to GM because you can’t write “and he typed on the keyboard” and be evocative)
- Run
- And a badly dubbed chop socky kung fu comedy
tl;dr I tend to chafe if the tone is too rigid, flexibility lets me be creative. If a grid is a canvas I prefer it unpainted.
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@Hobbie said in World Tone / Feeling:
I tend to chafe if the tone is too rigid, flexibility lets me be creative.
I agree with this. Rigid tone is stagnation. At the same time, too much flexibility and you lose the original intent of the game in the sauce. If I were to join a post apocalyptic game of community building and the struggle to survive, the sudden addition of a Dragonball Z style combat scene would be too jarring.
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Honestly the world is on fire so much lately that I want something not so depressing when I try to disconnect from the news so I stay away from grimdark and horror, but pretty much would be looking for a game where the PCs would get to be heroes. Which is not to say they win all the time hooray, but more like a place where the PCs could work towards the greater good without getting smacked down for trying.
I’d be down for a good supernatural cowboy game. Where you can shoot a werewolf or a ghost or something and then go to a rodeo or watch a bar fist fight. Something fun!
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The grim/noble dark/bright alignment system might be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/bB0gvqrwjL
I am firmly on the Noble side of settings. I am down for anything on the Bright-Dark setting with slight leaning towards Bright, but I don’t have Grim in me anymore. As @DrQuinn said, if I want Grim I’ll look at the damned window, and I’ve been in that state for about a decade now.
EDIT: After thinking about it more, I’m going to take it back. I’m down for anything but Grimdark. I’ll take Grimbright. Arx felt Grimbright to me.
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam
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My white whale is and will probably always be an at least canon-adjacent superhero game that is relatively light and acknowledges the genre was built on sex
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@Ominous said in World Tone / Feeling:
The grim/noble dark/bright alignment system might be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/bB0gvqrwjL
I feel like Nobledark and Grimbright are my favorite sandboxes to play in.
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@Roz said in World Tone / Feeling:
@Ominous said in World Tone / Feeling:
The grim/noble dark/bright alignment system might be helpful: https://www.reddit.com/r/worldbuilding/s/bB0gvqrwjL
I feel like Nobledark and Grimbright are my favorite sandboxes to play in.
I think Arx corrupted me.
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I need a mix. Depending on my mood and fatigue levels, I may want grimdark horror one day and vanilla slice of life the next day. My preference goes to settings that can accommodate most moods.
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@Ominous Ooo I like this chart, thanks!! I think I’m on the noble side of things but I also like grimbright.
I was mostly wondering if the general consensus was ‘the world right now is grim and so I want to stay away from that’ when I asked this question. I don’t think I’m capable of playing in a fully grim/grimdark setting myself, and there’s a big part of me that doesn’t even want to play in a modern setting anymore even if the “real” world politics are ignored. But I also don’t want to play in a modern setting where everything is happy/bright? Because it just doesn’t make sense for me lol
@DrQuinn I too wish for a good supernatural cowboy game. Give it to me.
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@Prototart said in World Tone / Feeling:
My white whale is and will probably always be an at least canon-adjacent superhero game that is relatively light and acknowledges the genre was built on sex
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Not to double post but this game exists and is listed here https://arescentral.aresmush.com/games bet you can’t figure out which one it is lol
