/arcade/ - vidya gaems and other gaems too

are you excited for any upcoming game? i just heard katawa shoujo is gettin released on steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3068300/Katawa_Shoujo/

Hello everybody, I need a comfy place to talk about VNs. /vn/ on 4chan is filled with literal pedos who only talk about eroge, and I don't like Reddit's format enough to use r/visualnovels. So what have you all been reading lately? What are some great games that we've been missing out on?

Thread for TTRPG discussion and organization.

# What is a TTRPG?
TTRPG, sometimes TRPG, stands for TableTop Role-Playing Game. It includes big names, like D&D, and much less heard of ones, like Song of Swords. The rule systems run from extremely thorough, with rules for things like how many Thai chilli peppers you can eat before getting ill, to so broad as to be nearly nonexistent, with only basic guidelines on how to play. In almost all systems, the key component that sets it apart from video game RPGs is the presence of the Dungeon Master, Game Master, Referee, etc. They help to adjudicate edge cases not covered by rules and create exceptions to the rules in favour of fun, meaning a TRPG has much more freedom of action than a normal RPG.

# Where do I play?
Generally, TTRPGs, especially niche ones without large player bases, are played in-person, but there are also sites and apps that allow you to play over the internet and find groups. The biggest one right now is probably roll20; signing up is free, and as a player, you never need to pay for anything. Other applications include FoundryVTT (paid for by a GM), Maptools (free), AstralVTT (free), and Fantasy Grounds (expensive, but very nice). Some groups even play on Tabletop Simulator, which has the added bonus of letting you play poker or Life before a session starts or if someone flakes.

There's also the potential to show up at a gaming store; if you live in the US, Canada, or Europe, there's plenty of those around too. Gaming stores are in-person, obviously, but they also often boast long-time, highly experienced and confident game masters who are knowledgable at how to best cater to newbies trying to enter the hobby. There are many websites online to help you find game stores near you.

# Where do you get the rulebooks?
You can buy them from places like drivethrurpg, or you can pirate them from https://thetrove.net/. As a new player, you often don't need very many books; both Shadowrun and Pathfinder have relatively complete wikis online with all the setting-agnostic information you need, and Pathfinder even has a setting wiki so there's no reason to buy the books for their content.

I am thinking about isometric action game, where you play as a witch fighting oversized slugs. I probably should not leave my job to work on it, but depression tells me it is a really good idea.

there's a thread here ( >>196 ) on old source/goldsrc games which i enjoy.
this thread is for modern source/source 2.
i love counterstrike ive been playing it for 20+ years love every single iteration especially cs:go.
so, when i heard there was going to be a cs2 i was so excited.
the improved graphics are a major plus yet the movement feels a tad off, then there's the cheaters so many cheaters to the point where some matches might as well be HvH. cs:go wasnt perfectly balanced on release so im hoping in a year or two cs2 will be better balanced. last but not least in regards to cs2 maps are needed i miss train and cache.
oh yeah, deadlock beta is going on i got an invite to it but havent downloaded it yet cause i dont like the cartoony look its like they put every source game in a blender to make this thing.

How come we don't have a roguelikes thread on /arcade/ yet?

What's your most recent social life killer? How do you usually try to build your character? Do you believe in optional content?

Recently I've been playing:

ToME - Very decent game if you enjoy taking it slow and playing in a reactive way. While there are enough fodder enemies, rares spawn with same classes, skillsets and progression a player character could have achieved at their level, which makes fights incredibly fun and complex, especially when you're facing three multi-classed enemies of your level who consist of a melee tank, a ranged DD and a CC mage.

Soulash 1/2 - fairly small roguelikes, can't recommend them for more than one night of fun, they attracted me with tank controls and FoV, which I personally would like to see in more top-down games, but turned out to be very shallow and felt rushed.

Also killed a few of my nights by playing DCSS again, constantly trying to go for a short blades all offense build.

I know you guys might not find the idea of indulging in social movements enticing, but there has been this initiative recently that I believe pushes for a benefit for most of us.

Lately Games as a Service have become quite the norm in this day and age, and it's a very common trend for these games to not let players access the game's content any longer once End of Service arrives. Even if you bought a physical copy of it, there is no way to access these games any longer since they required connection to the servers to play them.

This pledge would be in order so that the EU provides consumers the right to be able to still access these games, allowing users to host their own instances of them, in the case a company or developer group decides to announce End of Service. It would allow a decentralization similar to mastodon 's infrastructure, where if one instance is shutdown, users are able to host their own servers, and the products they bought wouldn't be rendered useless.
I normally believe most users have to do the right thing and not purchase games that they'd be sure these kind of things would happen. But given the tracking record of the EU, bringing back replaceable batteries and making USB-C standard, I don't think this isn't that bad of an idea.

If you think this is a good way to help videogames in general, here are some links you might find interesting:

FAQ: https://www.stopkillinggames.com/faq

The initiative:
https://eci.ec.europa.eu/045/public/#/screen/home

The amount of signatures that are required for this to be taken into consideration by the EU parliament is 1 million, and it also requires certain thresholds to be met. ie: it requires 7 countries of the EU to reach a certain amount of signatures.
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Any sushis play MtG or other trading card games? What formats? Online or in paper?

Seems like they get a bad rep nowadays, I remember I used to look forward to them, but now that old graphics or game mechanics don't seem much of an issue, I can't help but seeing them as red flags.
What about you?

Hey sushirolls. What are some of the comfiest games you've ever played?

I recently just finished playing Va-11 Hall-A for the first time. It's not really a game by everybody's standards but it was really comfy and a great experience overall.

I'd totally recommend it to anybody with a rainy night, some tea, and time to waste.