Let's build a Four Against Darkness town!

Happy New Year! Let's build a Four Against Darkness town using the newly released Treacheries of the Troublesome Towns.
final thoughts: 31:52
Also seen in the video, Dungeon Year Design Journal from pandiongames.com
#solorpg #ttrpg #asmr

[@GeekGamers01]

Help support the channel: Donating: paypal.me/geekgamersDeborah Get SOLO GAME MASTER'S GUIDE: order from Amazon: shorturl.at/vFMQ2 order from Modiphius: shorturl.at/npsL1 order from Modiphus UK: shorturl.at/kqsMN Get RANDOM HEXCRAWL book: tinyurl.com/5cj3d4jc

[@dafrca]

I really appreciate your 'Final Thoughts' very much. nice summery and I thought your warning about the material was handled with class. Once again, a great video.

[@GeekGamers01]

Glad it was helpful and thanks for the comment.

[@shirleynace1314]

Thank you for this video. These two books are amazing and your videos are too!

[@GeekGamers01]

Thank you so much. Happy new year to you.

[@AceneDean]

I can't wait for my copy to arrive. Thanks for doing this video!

[@carolinelabbott2451]

Could easily change the love interest to a good friend or known family member to the party. The lust events could be changed to a game challange ( chess, cards, etc) and playing for gold coins only. Or as you said, could just be be rolled. Some folks like romance and lust, some folk don't. Both are valid game experiences. Its good to be forewarned that the books have them in it though.

[@andreasfiligoi]

there is indeed a chapter with guidelines on how to turn the love/lust content into family friendly one. Basically, this is a PG13 rating game.

[@jaymea8907]

Eric makes it absolutely clear right of the top that this is for a mature audience. Literally on pg. 3, lol If someone doesn't understand that it's their fault.

[@carolinelabbott2451]

@@jaymea8907 So are you telling solo gamers whom enjoy this particular system that would skip the lusty parts should be bared for using that system because they too dum? Because that is how you just came across in that comment of yours. I really do hope your intended meaning was not to be taken that way.

[@L0-R3Z]

These types of vids: Acquire tomes and paw them until new tomes arrive. Paw paw paw I LIKE TO TOUCH THINGS Books, figures, dice, pencils, maps . . oh my GODDAM. GOTTA TOUCH THEM ALL.

[@MrGeneralPB]

i have no problem with their humor nor their adult stuff, they probably should have made it into its own book or books... that said, thank you for running through this, i really enjoyed it

[@ncjrock1]

Hey, I'm glad if found your channel. Thanks so much for the information! I just received my first Four Against Darkness book and can't wait to get started. I gave you a like and a subscribe and will definitely be exploring the rest of your channel!

[@GeekGamers01]

Hey I’m glad you found my channel too. Welcome! Most of my content is organized in playlists. Give a shout if you have a particular topic or game you wonder if I have covered/want to see covered. Enjoy Four Against Darkness!

[@theforteanslip]

I wouldn't have a problem with love interests becoming parts of these games as long as it can play into what the adventurers are able to do. For instance... if the love interest gets kidnapped and must be saved, etc.

[@nneisler]

Or if they have children and then they have to retire but then come out is retirement just to put the band back together

[@jcraigwilliams70]

I'll start by saying that I like 4AD, but as I watch you roll on tables referencing things in other books, it just reminds me of what I find to be an impediment to further investment: the fact that rules are spread out across so many books. I often hear that 4AD is easy to get into because the books are not terribly expensive but when you need to buy 20 to get a full, robust game, that's not too different from buying one expensive book. As for the romance stuff, I've had numerous people suggest that that one particular author (who worked on this book) always includes sex, lust, and various forms of depravity. He also supposedly mocks players who don't play "the right way," which, of course, includes sex, lust, and various forms of depravity... I'm really torn about whether or not to pick this up, but I'm leaning towards "not," at least until the oft-rumoured 4AD 2nd ed is released, hopefully cleaning things up and making it more comprehensive. But I'm not sure that will come to pass.

[@GeekGamers01]

@jcraigwilliams70 Truly had to disagree with what you are saying… difficult to recommend the system for all those reasons even tho I do love it. And I recounted my tally of titles since filming realizing I missed some I own… I actually have 20 books… that’s a lot of cash invested over the years. For whatever reason the author is not making what is sorely needed-a 2nd edition of the basic rules. As to the rest-it does baffle me why the sophomoric sex stuff is there & makes it challenging to recommend books beyond the basic rules because all of them have some of it & for someone not comfortable overlooking it you are out of luck

[@jcraigwilliams70]

@@GeekGamers01well, I'm sure you know this already, but supposedly the titles are colour-coded according to the author, with the purple and white titles tending to be the more adult-oriented.

[@GeekGamers01]

Also…. Missed this in your comment: you do not need to buy 20 books for a robust game. I think 2 books provide tons of game play-something like the mail rules and More Monstrous Mayhem would be quite a lot of gaming IMO.

[@macoppy6571]

Tables hallucinate like AI: [Character] meets their one true love at first sight that happens to be a beggar. 😂

[@GeekGamers01]

Good one!

[@CreationBrosZone-km5be]

And fill it with townies? No thanks ;) Happy New Year to you and your growing channel. Always an inspiration for fantasy storytelling. Please keep adding to the soup.

[@beldar1215]

I would love to see more videos using TTT

[@GeekGamers01]

I’m just now in the process of creating a party to play in this town. Have decided that one character will be a goblorc from the town itself, returning home after a short adventure. That’s as far as I’ve gotten. At some point I will do another video which will be a recap of sorts (maybe with game play, maybe not) of what happens in town.

[@ajmunzi]

Amazing!!🎉

[@mrbrianparker]

Nice little drawings and mapping style in your notebook.

[@alexisxiros8168]

Happy new year.

[@GeekGamers01]

And to you as well.

[@nneisler]

You’re the dwarf who hates when the elf falls in love.

[@Bren71319]

That is hilarious that they used a “Skyrim” reference for the beggar with “an arrow to the knee…” 😂😂

[@crapphone7744]

Would love to see a video about your parties adventures in town

[@nneisler]

7:00 man there are some race mixes I’ve never heard of - that a whole video in itself….

[@cybrim1]

@GeekGamers01 I love the channel, I was holding off on "yet another purchase"... and your videos always seem to find me intrigued and wanting more. Can you look into Five Leagues from the Borderlands? I'm sure you can use some ideas to fuel your RPG needs.

[@GeekGamers01]

That's a great suggestion and has been on my long list for a while. What keeps me from pursuing it is the miniatures aspect....it's one thing to modify RPG rules as I do but quite another to be modifying from playing an actual skirmish rule set... I fear that I'd be taking the guts and heart out of it too much in order to play that way I like to paly

[@cybrim1]

@GeekGamers01 I have the book, and the random events are tied to player action. If you start your turn in a wilderness camp, there are different events than if you start your turn in town. There are many thematic random tables that would be very useful for both 4AD and D100 Dungeon play.

[@ajmunzi]

Which 4AD supplement for wilderness exploration could fit with these two books?

[@GeekGamers01]

Check out fan-made wilderness 4AD material in the files section of BGG. More Mountainous Mayhem is a 4AD book that has some wilderness in it but not sure if that’s what you want when you say exploration.

[@liquefiedpork]

As one who is just getting into 4AD, do you have a book recommendations list? I don't think getting every supplement is practical, but would love to expand my current library. Thanks.

[@GeekGamers01]

Are you offended by the sex and lust and raunchy content? Would need to know that before recommending books. They all have some of it unfortunately but some have much more than others.

[@liquefiedpork]

@@GeekGamers01 I would not be offended. If it is not in the spirit of my game or too over the top, I would choose to ignore it. I will be going through your playlist for sure. Really enjoy your content.

[@GeekGamers01]

In terms of recommendations-I find More Mountainous Mayhem to be great additional content with lots of tables and outdoor “dungeon” spaces. It opens up the game (literally). Books like Twisted Hoards (basically a table of unusual treasure) and Twisted Minions and Twisted Dungeons give you lots of ways to change things up without having to incorporate tons of new rules. If you are looking for new characters to play, Wayfarers and Adventurers might be worth checking out. Finally, if you want a shorter book than MMM which also offers outdoor contents and play, look at Crucible of Classic Critters. Hope this helps.

[@liquefiedpork]

@@GeekGamers01 Thank you so much for your recommendations and time. I will be looking into those supplements for sure.

[@GeekGamers01]

@@liquefiedpork Of course! Happy gaming.

[@ajmunzi]

Do you think it can work with other systems?

[@GeekGamers01]

Probably. Depends on how much you want to modify. The tables could be just rend tables for city creation with some random events.

[@ajmunzi]

Thank you, I was wondering because I read somewhere in the description that the books included guidelines to convert it to and from d20 and OSR games.

[@GeekGamers01]

@@ajmunziThey do contain brief descriptions of doing that, yes.

[@alejotm000]

Great video, and the books look fantastic. I couldn't agree more about the romance and silly edgelord stuff found in many of the books, though, it feels out of place and written by a teen, which is a big contrast to the rest of material. Like you said, it's not a matter of being offended by it, it's more that it feels forced and breaks immersion. To put it simply: it's cheesy and embarrassing. The other thing that really puts me off from Ganesha Games' recent material is the incorporation of AI art, which is baffling to me, considering that Andreas is such a fantastic artist himself. It feels lazy.

[@andreasfiligoi]

Romance and lust are major subject matters on most TV serials, books etc. I couldn't imagine Game of Thrones without the "adult" bits. So I do not see why these subjects should be avoided, considering that the books give ample warnings about such content and one can always decide not to use them (for example TTT has an option for "chaste" games where all the sexual matters can be avoided and replaced with other themes). AI Art is something I have been following since its beginning. For me it is just another technique, just like photobashing (which I used a lot, using both licensed photos and my own photos) and 3d (which I don't use because I don't have the hardware and the skills). Note that I do not use it to create pieces that ape the work of any living artists. Where you see AI art today, in the past I would have used clip art from Adobe Stock (which I have used on several 4AD books, and nobody bated an eyelid, because it was not fashionable to hate on it). It lets us have better looking covers at a fraction of the time (I can do an AI-assisted cover in a couple of hours, while a fully painted cover painted from scratch can take me 3 days). It's not about being lazy, it's about giving a more slick product and saving some man-hours, because I need to make a living. Also, the time saved is used for other projects, making Ganesha Games more productive. Should I go back to clip art? Considering that the number of AI-pieces on stock art sites vastly outnumbers the non-AI pieces, and there is oftren no way to know it, why should I use a piece that is not exclusive to me, and other publishers are using as well, when with AI I can create a unique piece in a short time? There is also a matter of numbers. My AI-aided covers create a much better engagement rate than my hand painted ones. In short, even if a few people are turned off by AI Art (a feeling that I can understand, especially when the AI art is not curated and retouched), the engagement numbers and sales figures tell a different story. A friend who is also a small publisher ran a poll recently and we were surprised that over 80% of customer did not care where the art wassourced from and were not against AI. I work in publishing with other companies, even some major publishers, and I can assure you that many of them (and a lot of illustrators and publishers I know personally) have been using AI for almost one year, they just don't tell it.

[@alejotm000]

@@andreasfiligoifirst of all, thank you for your detailed reply, I'm a big fan of your work and own most of it. And it's not a matter of puritanism, I myself enjoy adult themes and there's definitely place for them. It's the way they are presented in 4AD products that misses the mark, it comes across as silly and immature, which creates a large contrast with the rest of material. As for the AI thing, I understand your position, but do not share it. I guess it's a losing battle, though, and we'll just have to get used to it.

[@andreasfiligoi]

@@alejotm000 I think we will just have "handmade books and art" just like we have a section of organic food at the supermarket. I am NOT putting away my brushes and I have just spent $1000 on a Huion screen tablet, so I do not see myself as being an AI operator only...

[@alejotm000]

@@andreasfiligoi yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. It will have to be branded as artisanal writing and drawing, I suppose! Good that you're not putting away your tools, like I said in my original reply, your art is fantastic. Thanks again for your replies.

[@GeekGamers01]

Breaks the immersion. Totally. Wish I had phrased it that way. Happy New Year to you.

[@CeePhour]

An arrow to the knee!😆

[@Joshuadmathews]

I personally don't care for the love themes or the mature catered content, my understanding, though I have not spent much time reading all the paragraphs that incorporate this content, is that it is meant to evocate a sort of cross between humor that is present in bawdy literature, such as Canterburry Tales (Wife of Baths Tale), if Monty Python had crossed over to Mature content, and comedies from I think the 70s produced in European market where nudity was common. I don't think it meshes too well in the fantasy rpg genre, but with what I have read or seen in the White Title 4ad Books, this is how I choose to look at and interperate why are there and what they represent, zanny outlandish humor in a cross between Chaucer and Monty Python. To me it can sometimes cross the line (there is a 4ad book that is nothing but this and one I do not own and prob will not buy). I think too, that for the most part, words can be switched out and such paragraphs could be rewritten to avoid the mature content, OR, they can be rewritten in way where the zanny humor portion is removed and a serious love story is put in its place. Mechanically I think the origins of why and when these types of rules showed up in 4ad was they were an attempt to expand the system so that not every encounter was a combat encounter and therefore branched out the Reaction tables. I think social type encounters were warranted in the game and taking the game in that route was warranted allowing "play-masters" the opportunity to see what one could do with the system, however, the route chosen was do I fight the witch or do I woo the witch-medusa. And then by default you just immediately went into R/M rated content OR zanny odd ball humor in the vain of an off branded Mel Brooks spin off. However, these are ultimately the games of the players, and so it can be reworked, let's say, that the party simply dooped the witch-medusa and the woo and seduce type mechanics that a player can do is just simply charisma bonus' and checks and then leave it up to the play master to teleplay how that social encounter really went OR skip telling it and move on (just like how in battle, some might teleplay and write out blow for blow what really happened, but most just roll dice, cross off ticks, grab the loot and xp, and then move on, the same here, this was a social encounter, X happened, you decide what X is or leave it be, and then move on). I have not read TTT, yet, so I do not know if that can be done in this book, but that's how I would handle similar encounters, such as "philandering" in Warlike Woes (which also gives advice from the author to rewrite the encounter as just a social one). So in a word, when mature content is rolled, it can just represent X, where X tells you this was a social battle instead of a combat.

[@Joshuadmathews]

PS, big YES to more TTT and 4ad/Ganesha Games related content :)

[@andreasfiligoi]

indeed there is a chapter in TTT on how to turn the bawdy content to family-oriented one. And you are totally right about the inspiration (also comics-- European comics do not skip the adult themes, we didn't have a Comics Code here).

[@GeekGamers01]

Agree that it can just be rewritten and you’re likely right about the origins of it. Still and all, for me it is a big miss. As I said in the vid, however, it doesn’t stop me from buying any of the content.

[@Joshuadmathews]

@@GeekGamers01 Agree. Unless TTT does it differently, I've never been compelled to incorporate wooing into my games. I was just trying to point out that it seems to me that perhaps the mechanic originated from the idea that in the core game you are punished, mechanically, if you roll reactions first vs attacking first, therefore, game-wise, if you want to stay alive, it is beneficial to get that first attack, but solo-rpg/story-wise, the core game can just turn into a rinse and repeat dice roll procedural full of lots of combat versus cohesive storytelling. To me, an alternative was warranted, unfortunately, the alternate social mechanics veered in the route it ended up taking (though I guess if you classify the flowerdemons in a similar vein of Homerian sirens, which then requires your heroes, like Odysseus, needing to put their brains together to outsmart and outmaneuver them, then perhaps that could fit the genre?) For me, I've grown the game out as a full fledged solo-rpg system or one I GM for middleschoolers. So I went a different route on how to handle reaction rolls. I usually will pre-roll reactions (as a GM only roll) and use the result to act more as an oracle on how to rp the encounter. Bribe equals a social encounter that usually is a tit-for-tat type scenario (like something akin to the goblin leader in Cragma Cave in 5e's Phandelver), fight to the death is an ambush. I've never fully have done this, but I had an idea, like for mansion like scenario, where maybe certain reactions mean different things depending on the location the reaction happened in. Like in a kitchen, maybe bribe could mean the "orc cook" needs a specific recipe from the infested basement and promises not attack if you can deliver him the jar he needs, ect. I have developed my own large tove (over 100 pages) of side mechanics involving schools of magic, a lot of the spells and mechanics I developed for it plays with unique things that can be done with the reaction rolls that try to put it more in the party's favor to attempt to roll for reaction first before just jumping into combat.

[@GeekGamers01]

Wow that’s a lot of content you’ve created! Very cool. Nice to hear it being used with middleschoolers. It is a great system for that sort of thing… I use it to GM for my kids…a g-rated version of course. I guess what I noticed in the comments on all the videos I have made about the system is that I don’t see anyone writing in saying how much the sex stuff ADDS to their games. At most people just say they ignore it. I still just wonder… why bother with it. It’s not too hard to think of other non-combat ways to interact with others, is it?

[@TryssemTavern]

I am glad I'm not the only one who gets annoyed (not offended) when 'adventure' or 'action' genres throw in 'romance'. (I can enjoy a good rom-com. I just find it pathetic if an action or adventure anything needs to use 'romance' to push the story forward.)

[@lockedlake]

I feel like TTT is changing the game to a much bigger scale like D100 Dungeon World Builder change d100 dungeon completely. I really like both games and both I have some issues with them. For 4AD, it's biggest problem, I think, the rules being scattered all over the place in different style with different wording. Some rules seem to contradict themselves but it's generally because the words used are different. In TTT, it's hard to clearly understand on a first read the difference between an Hamlet and a City beyond the size. I love the game, but I always get frustrated on the rules, especially when I want to use multiple books.

[@GeekGamers01]

The rules spread everywhere are a bummer-agree. But I think you need to accept that as being a part of this game as I doubt the designer will ever remedy this.

[@lockedlake]

@@GeekGamers01 Yes, I'm in the process to simply remake a ref. guide with all the tables and stuff I want to make things easier. All the PDF is starting to get hard to have a fluid session.

[@GeekGamers01]

I can’t imagine using/playing this game with pdf’s at all… but that’s just me. I can say that all the books is getting a lot too!

[@Lee_Adamson_OCF]

The adult content in 4AD is what has skeeved me out from getting any of it. I mean, to each their own, but some of those products look almost, uh, fetishistic. Skeeves me out. I mean I don't mind a little bit of fairly chaste and understated romance content, although that's not really my thing. But the hardcore stuff, that's a big Nah from me. :(

[@GeekGamers01]

I totally get that. Some of the art is really off-putting to me especially as a woman I find it offensive. Nothing new in the world of course. But disappointing at the least.

[@theHiddenStone]

I agree about the "adult" content, it really doesn't work for me - especially some of the more problematic spells in Ominous Opus. And the author's obvious self-insert character just makes me cringe. It's all very well saying "just don't use the bits you don't like" but that's a LOT of tables to modify.

[@jaymea8907]

He makes it pretty clear that you can use optional rules in Chapter 4 and there are tables or re rolling it's really not that bad. Did you even read those?

[@theHiddenStone]

@@jaymea8907 Yeah, I read it. The alternative subtable is a joke. Did YOU read it?

[@angel8fingers]

Than don’t use the product. Go be sensitive somewhere else, 5th edition will take you in. Go there. You’re not wanted in 4AD. Bye.

[@john-lenin]

Then you must hate En Garde