Josh Sawyer Q&A Thread

[Infinitron]

lol

 

[gurugeorge]

Josh: "lol idk"

I would only be an impossible problem if both sides in any conflict didn't have access to magic - which in a magic-laden world like Eora, with magical "classes" and set progressions in spell types, they obviously would.

So (since a poke in the eye with a sharp stick could still put paid to a magician, and you still need "Boots on the ground" to hold a place) normal martial arts and tactics would still have a place, and there's still an interesting nerdy question there to be answered.

All bets would be off only if magic were more truly Vancian - i.e. if spells could be constructed that did really weird things that weren't just the equivalent of relatively predictable medieval superhero powers.

But even that could be balanced (as it is in Vance's writings themselves) by the super-rarity of magicians who could do that kind of stuff, and their general lack of concern with human affairs. (But then you wouldn't be able to have magic use as a common "class" in a videogame context.)

 

[Quillon]

HUGE juicy info about sawya's next game:

Spoiler

 

[Rahdulan]

In all honesty I'd be more surprised if Josh drove a normal car. This is right up the hipster alley.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Josh maybe showing off his new game?

 

[vortex]

I see water waves, clouds in the background, in front some party in the sunshine. I don't think this is historical fantasy game everyone talked about. Girl with red hair resembles to Little Mermaid.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

I see water waves, clouds in the background, in front some party in the sunshine. I don't think this is historical fantasy game everyone talked about. Girl with red hair resembles to Little Mermaid.

omg I totally can see it as Ariel

 

[Butter]

Josh you can afford a better chair than that.

 

[Roguey]

Josh you can afford a better chair than that.

It should be up to Obsidian to provide chairs for their employees.

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

I already knew in my heart that Josh Sawyer drives a Mr. Bean tier car.

 

[Volourn]

"The vibe of D&D and Pillars is more about small gangs of elite, highly magical murderers"

Outside of money, there is no reason this guy makes D&D games. He hates D&D band doesn't understand what D&D is about. This explains why even the good games he has worked on could be even better if they were mad eby someone who actually enjoys the work. LMAO

But, you do you. The good news is he's an old white man. he'll be thrown in the trash where all old white men belong.

 

[purupuru]

"The vibe of D&D and Pillars is more about small gangs of elite, highly magical murderers"

Outside of money, there is no reason this guy makes D&D games. He hates D&D band doesn't understand what D&D is about. This explains why even the good games he has worked on could be even better if they were mad eby someone who actually enjoys the work. LMAO

But, you do you. The good news is he's an old white man. he'll be thrown in the trash where all old white men belong.

Can you elaborate on what exactly do you think is wrong with Sawyer's statement? I don't necessarily agree with it completely but my observation is that most dnd campaigns revolve about small groups of adventurers as opposed to large scaled confrontation between regular military forces.

 

[Desiderius]

Murderers of course.

Welcome, autist, you're among friends here.

 

[purupuru]

Isn't that just the old murder-hobo joke? Or do people actually find that offensive?

 

[Desiderius]

Soyer’s jokes are like Shadow Conjurations. If you make your Will Save you can see he’s only 20% joking.

 

[normie]

I already knew in my heart that Josh Sawyer drives a Mr. Bean tier car.

it's a cargo cultist's attempt at car enthusiasm

he's driving a Mr. Bean tier car because he has a Mr. Bean tier brain

he was better off when there were more men on the team, existing in a male social dynamic according to male expectations - now he's just a soft, weak man striving for social approval working at a studio that's turned into a henhouse, and for social media upcummies on a platform that's a digital equivalent of a henhouse

 

[Desiderius]

I like the car. Do your own thing if you can and are into that. It’s manly to have all sorts of hobbies and interests and not worry about what anyone else thinks about them.

 

[Nutria]

If you're going to get a piece-of-shit third world car from 1967, at least get a Paykan like a real man. Why is it that hipsters think they're so cool because they've got something foreign but they never venture beyond western Europe? Really makes you think.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

If you're going to get a piece-of-shit third world car from 1967, at least get a Paykan like a real man. Why is it that hipsters think they're so cool because they've got something foreign but they never venture beyond western Europe? Really makes you think.

Because ultimately they're shallow fucks driven by consumerism more so than real people.

 

[ExposedBrainMatter]

it's a cargo cultist's attempt at car enthusiasm

he's driving a Mr. Bean tier car because he has a Mr. Bean tier brain

lol. It do be like that.

To be fair driving the car by itself isn't so bad but when you put together the whole package... with the beard, the bicycle enthusiasm, the newfound alcohol consoomption, idk how he let himself become a hipster/soy parody like this.

 

[Butter]

it's a cargo cultist's attempt at car enthusiasm

he's driving a Mr. Bean tier car because he has a Mr. Bean tier brain

lol. It do be like that.

To be fair driving the car by itself isn't so bad but when you put together the whole package... with the beard, the bicycle enthusiasm, the newfound alcohol consoomption, idk how he let himself become a hipster/soy parody like this.

Pillars of Eternity broke him.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

how long until josh comes out as josephine

 

[Faarbaute]

It's like he set out to deconstruct RPGs but ended up deconstructing himself.

 

[Desiderius]

Many such cases.

 

[Sailor Woedica]

Sorry to interrupt The Ultimate 2021 Incel's Guide To Cars but Marat Sar from Disco Elysium left a comment under Josh's youtube video way back in 2020 about reputation stuff in Deadfire that was never posted here:

hey joshua! very interesting talk. a couple of notes on Disco Elysium's reputation systems (which you correctly analyzed and identified, btw 1. modifiers (what we called local/global mechanical check leverage ) do not actually take a lot of pre-planning they're surprisingly easy -- just hang those booleans everywhere. they're amazingly low cost -- and were super easy thing to develop. (unlike almost everything else). 2. there are thought-cabinet-like "internal reputation" systems one could come up with, that would not look derivative. do it in dream sequences? with flashbacks? maybe just... the player has a journal and it's stylized as notes? anything you can hang integers on, count, then give them out as internal tags would work. anyway, cheers and thanks for the talk!

And then he answered another question that someone asked him!

What about a game that treats the party as a larger self, and uses internal reputation as a way to represent aspects of the player character's relationship with their companions? So instead of an aspect of oneself, it's something that the character feels comfortable voicing?

Marat Sar: why not! all kinds of tricks can be done by rephrasing structures. larian does "talking to yourself" moments in baldur's gate 3, but instead of skills, you talk to the narrator -- who is you in the future. it's a really smart twist, allowing for moments of introspection and roleplay similar to the skills talking to you -- only more D&D and low key. I like to flatter myself and say it's inspired by Elysium