Quote from: Ladybird;746800It's the Star Trek model. Plus, this is 40k, where authority equals arsekicking.

Anyway.

Free cheesecake with every book", though, would sell me on more RPG books.

I think as a community and a hobby we've already got enough weight problems, heart problems, and diabetes thanks.  Plus, cheese cake is easy to make.  Seriously, you pretty much just melt butter and mix it with graham crumbs for the crust and the filling is just cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and milk blended up together.

Quote from: Nexus;746829On that note, any game book where the author spends more time trashing other games than talking up their own turns me right off.

This!  OMG THIS!  There are some writers I know that need to shut up and stop bitching about games that do better than them.

Gimmick dice for me. I know we have plenty of fans of Dungeon Crawl Classics and FFG Star Wars, but for me the use of nonstandard dice that you have to buy seperately is a no-go for me. Primarily because I view it as a barrier for entry to newbie Players.

Quote from: Snowman0147;746837This!  OMG THIS!  There are some writers I know that need to shut up and stop bitching about games that do better than them.

For me, this is a big reason I don't get into allot of the indie games as most of their writers seem obsessed with telling me how wrong everyone else is instead of why I should be playing their game.

Only one thing? For Eclipse Phase, it would just be that collection of paper between the front and back covers. Every time I read it, I find something new that upon reflection makes no fucking sense.

Quote from: zend0g;746842Only one thing? For Eclipse Phase, it would just be that collection of paper between the front and back covers. Every time I read it, I find something new that upon reflection makes no fucking sense.

Eclipse Phase is like the rhubarb of RPG. Gamers seem to either love it and hate it with a passion.

Well, speaking indirectly of Eclipse Phase, 'transhumanism' is pretty much a 'one thing' that will instantly turn me off a game.

Quote from: RPGPundit;746508A system, or setting, where you liked everything about it, except for one thing, and that one detail was enough to ruin it for you.

Go. And explain why.

Alignment, in any system, because it represents no one with any actual personality.  As well, it encourages cardboard cutout characters in my experience.  That or it's entirely ignored except for which spells do what regardless of actual behavior.  I think it goes beyond good or bad GMing, because in 30+ years of gaming, I've never had a good experience with it at any table (and I don't use it, so mine doesn't count).

Quote from: Nexus;746825Any at all or predominately "cheesecake" art?

It depends. I'd rather not have any, because it's wasted space, but if there's only a couple then I'll just roll my eyes instead of putting it back on the shelf.

Quote from: Nexus;746829On that note, any game book where the author spends more time trashing other games than talking up their own turns me right off.

Yeah. Discussing why another game doesn't work for you and explaining what you've done instead, fine; it helps people work out if your game is something they'd like to try. "That game is entirely crap so you should play my fantastic thing", no, now you're just being a cunt.

Quote from: J Arcane;746870Well, speaking indirectly of Eclipse Phase, 'transhumanism' is pretty much a 'one thing' that will instantly turn me off a game.

I hadn't really thought about it, but yeah I'm the same way.

Quote from: J Arcane;746870Well, speaking indirectly of Eclipse Phase, 'transhumanism' is pretty much a 'one thing' that will instantly turn me off a game.

Quote from: S'mon;746892I hadn't really thought about it, but yeah I'm the same way.

What do you define as Transhumanism in this regard? The body switching stuff, the whole ideology or something else?

Quote from: Nexus;746894What do you define as Transhumanism in this regard? The body switching stuff, the whole ideology or something else?

It makes fundamental assumptions about philosophy of the mind and neuroscience that have zero rational or scientific support as true, solely for the sake of a selfish and nihilistic fantasy, while still dressing up that fantasy as real possible utopian future.

It takes everything about bad science, technofetishism, libertarianism, and utopianism, and mashes them into one big ball of pure fucking stupid, and I hate everything about it, and its supporters even more.

Quote from: Ladybird;746888It depends. I'd rather not have any, because it's wasted space, but if there's only a couple then I'll just roll my eyes instead of putting it back on the shelf.

Thank you. Personally I like sexy art but I can see where it can be overdone like gore porn and combat scenes. I prefer that it is in the context of the setting being illustrated instead of seemingly random inserted for nothing but titillation value. For example the if the illustration of the god/goddess of Love is sexy its less out of context than just some random cheese (or beef) cake.

Its particularly off, IMO when the setting doesn't support it. If you're going to have extensive illustrations of chain-mail bikinis and loin barbarians that should be viable in the setting.

Quote from: Nexus;746896I prefer that it is in the context of the setting being illustrated instead of seemingly random inserted for nothing but titillation value. For example the if the illustration of the god/goddess of Love is sexy its less out of context than just some random cheese (or beef) cake.

Yeah. That sort of stuff is fine (In moderation; I'd want a hideous pic of the god of plagues to balance it out, too), because it's telling me something about the setting. Stuff like, say, WoD splat pics, that's illustrating a "typical" member of the splat, cool.

Boobplate, metallic chaps armour and chainmail bikinis I just don't like in general, because they're stupid concepts (You want to funnel attacks to those extraneous organs like your heart or your lungs, or to wear armour that leaves those precious cartoid arteries unprotected? That won't go well...), but sometimes it works - for example, in our MSH team we've got a former female luchador with superstrength who has since adopted the persona of a barbarian princess after the time we went to - and won! - Eurovision, so now she wears a chainmail bikini stage prop as her superhero costume; but it works because she's not really relying on it as armour anyway (She's hard enough that she could just take most hits from the villains we go up against).

But if your barbarian culture fights unarmoured, okay, give 'em all loincloths and tell me why they do that, and show me a picture of some people who have done a lot of fighting like that and have the scars to show for it.

Quote from: J Arcane;746895It makes fundamental assumptions about philosophy of the mind and neuroscience that have zero rational or scientific support as true, solely for the sake of a selfish and nihilistic fantasy, while still dressing up that fantasy as real possible utopian future.

It takes everything about bad science, technofetishism, libertarianism, and utopianism, and mashes them into one big ball of pure fucking stupid, and I hate everything about it, and its supporters even more.

Before Eclipse Phase there was GURPS: Transhuman Space. It   seemed that every time I would try to find out about the setting online, instead of answers, I would get transhumanism fans telling me how cool it would be to just let the AI's make decisions for us and how neat it would be to feel a woman's orgasm because we'd be able to download our consciousness into a female body.

It was a turn-off.