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Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.

Acid

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18 Mar 2018 00:00 #265919 by Matt Thrower
Acid was created by Matt Thrower

We'd dropped the acid just before sunset on a day so hot you could smell the tar cooking on the roads. We climbed a hill as we came up and spent the night on a golf course, pretending to play as the shapes and sounds shifted and blurred around us. Then, tired but happy, we lay and let the warm grass tickle our necks as we watched too many stars spinning overhead, twinkling in too many colours.

Read more...

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18 Mar 2018 00:45 - 18 Mar 2018 00:45 #265921 by Colorcrayons
Replied by Colorcrayons on topic Acid

MattDP wrote: ...the hard teeth of reality gnawing at the edges of faith.


Rather succinct and oh so true. I recall those days.

Brilliant story by the way. Really really enjoyed that. Thanks.
Last edit: 18 Mar 2018 00:45 by Colorcrayons.
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18 Mar 2018 03:35 #265924 by Frohike
Replied by Frohike on topic Acid
Fantastic piece. Thanks for posting this!
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18 Mar 2018 13:42 #265930 by Colorcrayons
Replied by Colorcrayons on topic Acid
Hey Matt, I've read this 6 times now in the last day. If ever there was a good advertisement to buy your book judging by writing quality, this would be it.

I've bought a lot of books, periodicals, subscriptions on such short stories.

Consider your book purchased. Thanks again for the great story. It resonates.
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18 Mar 2018 13:48 #265931 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Acid
Indeed. Matt, this is a new approach to your writing since that game store article, correct?
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19 Mar 2018 06:39 - 19 Mar 2018 06:42 #265959 by Matt Thrower
Replied by Matt Thrower on topic Acid

Mr. White wrote: Indeed. Matt, this is a new approach to your writing since that game store article, correct?


Really glad people are enjoying these - thanks for your kind words.

I made a decision at the end of last year to try and write differently. It struck me that however much we talk about strategy and mechanics, the pleasure of gaming is actually in the experience and the people. After all, even if a game is *all* about the strategy and the mechanics, you can still talk about that by talking about the experience of play, of how the challenge felt, of how your thought processes ran as you learned the rules and came to grips with the depth.

Plus, I figured it'd be a lot more fun to read - and possibly to write. After all, there's only so many times you can write a dry, mechanics oriented review of a game before it starts to feel repetitive. And I couldn't recall anyone else having done it before, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. The games shop article was the first.

Interestingly, the few people I discussed this with before trying it were pretty negative. They felt that journalism ought to be succinct and to the point and that a review should put its opinions front and centre, not make the reader work to pick them out from between the lines. I have to admit that's a good point: but I feel like this is working out pretty well. What you lose in transparency, you gain in readability.
Last edit: 19 Mar 2018 06:42 by Matt Thrower.
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19 Mar 2018 14:23 - 19 Mar 2018 14:23 #265976 by Chapel
Replied by Chapel on topic Acid
I like the approach in talking about games as an experience rather than as a sanitized for your protection and dry rote repeating of mechanics. I write all my reviews/sessions as. a story, because to me that is what they are. A journey through theme and ideas. But that may be the RPG'er in me more than the puzzler. So good job I say.
Last edit: 19 Mar 2018 14:23 by Chapel.
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19 Mar 2018 14:50 - 19 Mar 2018 15:02 #265977 by Colorcrayons
Replied by Colorcrayons on topic Acid

MattDP wrote: Interestingly, the few people I discussed this with before trying it were pretty negative. They felt that journalism ought to be succinct and to the point and that a review should put its opinions front and centre, not make the reader work to pick them out from between the lines. I have to admit that's a good point: but I feel like this is working out pretty well. What you lose in transparency, you gain in readability.


I dunno. Some of the better game related articles I've read are the ones that don't spell it out for me.

I usually think of Kuhrusty's seemingly negative review of Wiz-War on BGG in regards to unconventional critiques.
Essentially it is a positive review. But a lot of people don't get it, and that's ok. Why pander to a lesser demographic for their sake when you can elevate not only your own art, but the minds of your readers as well?

I say full steam ahead. Let the plebes sort it out for themselves.

One wonders if Hunter S. Thompson was given the same advice about playing it safe with journalism. I'm glad he didn't listen to them.

But then again, I am an iconoclast. To me, sacred cows exist to either be destroyed or their worth proven by attempting to destroy them.
Last edit: 19 Mar 2018 15:02 by Colorcrayons.
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19 Mar 2018 15:15 - 19 Mar 2018 18:04 #265979 by Frohike
Replied by Frohike on topic Acid
Board games provide a map towards an experience.

99.9% of board game criticism revels in cartography and all of the taxonomic jargon that goes with it.

The good stuff actually considers what is being mapped.
Last edit: 19 Mar 2018 18:04 by Frohike. Reason: Hey Poindexter, taxonomical isn't a word.
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19 Mar 2018 16:51 #265990 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Acid
Good read!

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