10 Comments
Feb 12Liked by Christian Lindke

I never control the timing of the Slashfilm articles -- they throw out a bunch of topics and everyone grabs what they can. As best I can tell they'd previously done a photo essay on the same topic that did well.

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Sometimes serendipity leads to great timing too. You did a very good overview and she was on my mind with the 20th Anniversary of "Napoleon Dynamite" happening. It's interesting. I know one of the producers of the film, and I've always loved it, but moving to Idaho has made it even more a part of my life.

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I enjoyed your discussion about the subjectivity of the constraints of a strict mechanics-based RPG mindset vs. an open narrative-based mindset. 🧙‍♂️

Also, that video by Desmond Doom about "How to write a Smiths Song in 1 minute" is pure gold! 🎶

Thanks also for the mention about my HeartQuest D&D interactive romance book article! ❤🛡🗡🐲

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I love your glimpses into old products. They remind me of things I had, things I want, and things I've lost.

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Thank you Christian! 🏰

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Thanks for talking about my post! I'll just clarify that the mindset (in my case) isn't that "without a climbing skill, I can't climb" but rather "without a dice roll, the GM has to just decide what happens". This isn't a problem. It's just that it meant that we were doing freeform for 90% of the session. I don't particularly enjoy freeform play. I like letting the dice decide the outcome of some actions, rather than always ruling as a GM.

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I hope I made it clear that I think this is a perfectly legitimate way to play and is in line with my own preferences. There's a lot of room between Amber Diceless/Theatrix and Using GURPS/D&D 3.x as Roll Playing. (Note that all 4 of these are great games)

I was just intrigued by your statement, which I think is astute, that for a generation of gamers a lack of such rules makes them feel like a game is incomplete. It's an interesting observation and worthy of exploring, which I'll do in much more detail in posts dedicated to that whole subject.

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Absolutely! I was just clarifying where I was coming from - you didn't sound judgemental or anything!

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"Films you're supposed to like," is just a condescending point of view to have when it comes to films. I do think there are great films regardless of whether people enjoy watching them i.e. The Godfather, Sunset Boulevard, or Ed Wood. I like said films but if I were to show them to my friends who just want to be entertained, they would not be, and that's ok. Some films can be kino and still not be for everyone. Also, Willy's Wonderland is horror B movie done right.

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I think there are genuinely great films, but I think there are also films that people like only because they are supposed to like them. The point of any canon is to discuss it, debate it, and learn from it and not for it to be set in stone. For example, I think Bresson's Trial of Joan of Arc has a great deal to offer and to learn from filmically. His Diary of a Country Priest? Less so. I find it to be a staid piece trapped within its time. It has little to say and most of that is cliché and was at the time. My opinion is filmic blasphemy.

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