Ask Me Anything: Aerth

Totally unprepared questions:

How plausible would you think a game would be, themed after Alestorm?

Qralloq unearthed a metal themed(?) 5e homebrew that he ran as a one-shot (underlined purposefully ;) ). What's your opinion on such niche games/settings?

What would your advice be to someone only now getting into RPGs?

Hi Aerth!
Got any EDM recommendations? I've been looking to add some more songs to my playlist.

I had to look up Alestorm because I'd never heard of them before. I'll have to give their music a listen. But at a glance, a pirate-themed metal band could absolutely be the BGM to a fantastic, action-filled game of 7th Sea or something. I'd totally run it, haha!
I think niche settings are where most RPG developers should be turning to, to be honest. I think the world of generic fantasy or generic science fiction systems is waaaaaay too bloated for a fledgling developer to try their hands at first. I'm a bigger fan of indie developers creating a system designed for a specific setting, and the more specific, the better, in my opinion.

As far as playing in a niche setting, hey, if you can find a handful of fellow fans of the same thing, go for it! If you DM it yourself I bet plenty of people with just a passing interest in the setting will still be willing to give it a try.
I think I would tell them to try a lot of one-shots in a variety of systems. We all know about the classic problem of learning D&D 5e and then never trying out other games (I play it myself but would not consider it worth playing over PF2e or other generic systems). It's hard to convince someone to try another game first, but as a DM if I had a big group of new players I'd take them through one-shots of Torchbearer and PF2e and Blades in the Dark first before I exposed them to D&D.

What's your avatar?

What's the best PF2e class?

Who's your favorite slasher movie villain?

DROELOE just dropped a new single called Aurora that I've been jamming to all morning.

Mat Zo's Illusion of Depth album isn't too new but I discovered that last year and it was my 2021 anthem album, more or less.

Otherwise my favorite artists (a lot of whom you are probably already familiar with) include Porter Robinson, Alan Walker, Diplo, Medasin, Timmy Trumpet, and dark cat.

He's a Tamagotchi character named Kuchipatchi. My partner and I still have our Tamagotchi's and he's my favorite.
I haven't had the chance to play it yet but I'm gonna say Oracle. A friend is playing it right now in our IRL campaign and I think it's one of the coolest, most flavor-heavy casters ever. I love the cost vs. benefit weighing you have to do when managing your curse.
Despite being a fan of horror movies, I'm ashamed to admit I am not well versed in slasher films specifically. I just watched the recent Scream movie and I've been meaning to go back and watch the old films. So for now I'll just say Ghostface. Or, if he counts, Candyman.

I love Oracle in PF1. Never played it in PF2

Hi Aerth! What's your favorite thing about New Jersey? What are you reading right now / recently?

Have a favourite place to go hiking? A pic would be welcome here because I love to see what people come across while wandering the trails

Have you heard of St. Peters basketball team? 😀

Band of Blades?!

Soooo... when are you planning to run Band of Blades? =]

I gotta be real with you chief, I do not like NJ that much. Grew up here, and I think the best thing I can say about it is that it's safe as far as natural disasters go, and that's a stretch anyway. It's boring here. Hoping to move to Colorado within the next year or two!
Right now I'm reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. It's a good read, if a little weird. I'm a fan of the writing style. Recently I read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, which has solidified itself in my top 5 favorite books of all time. And I'm in the middle of the Death Gate Cycle books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. That series took a while but now at book 5 I find the worldbuilding intriguing.
My favorite recent hike was Mt. Washington. Last time we went there was inclement weather which made the hike a little too dangerous, next time we're gonna check the forecast before we go, haha! Here's a pic:


I have not, looks like they're a team from Jersey City? I'm from South Jersey. Also, I'm a football fan, not so much into basketball. Sorry!
That's actually a great idea, I think BoB would probably run pretty well on PBP with its mission-based pacing. I'll see what I can brew up as I get more comfortable with PBP in general

What's the attraction to moving to Colorado?

St Peters is a college of about 2,000 students that made history at the NCAA tournament. True Cinderella team.

All my closest friends, people I consider my true family, have moved or are moving there. Also, I've wanted to move someplace with great hikes and mountains and nature for a while now. I love the idea of walking out onto my front porch and seeing mountains in the distance.

Got any favorite/guilty pleasure B-movie that you watch over and over again? Whatever you categorize as a B-movie.

Any supposed A-list movie that you consider to be below average?

Creep (2014) is no joke one of my favorite movies. I love the focus on just a pair of characters and their dynamic. I also think the sequel is just as good, if not better.
This is a tough one because I'm an easy man to please; it's rare for me to be really disappointed by a movie. I think my best answer is probably Eternals (2021). I think that's a movie a lot of people didn't like though. I was especially disappointed with the Indian representation from Kumail Nanjiani and Harish Patel. Right off the tails of Shang-Chi where I thought that Chinese fans got great representation, I was hoping for similar treatment for us Indians, but Nanjiani ended up playing a more minor role than I'd hoped for and Patel played the stereotypical "funny-because-of-the-accent" Indian character.

What's your favourite SWADE setting that you haven't yet played?

Actually I'm relatively new to SWADE. We just started playing Broken Earth because my buddy was itching for post-apocalypse. Do you have any other setting recs?

Rippers is Victorian monster hunting which which think is really cool. Slipstream is 1930s-1950s scifi and is silly fun. Sundered Skies is fantasy but with all the land as floating islands and lots of sky pirate feel.

So many. I'm running games of Savage Rifts and Deadlands: The Weird West, settings that I feel like I'll always want to be playing. I loved Solomon Kane! I've also been interested in some gonzo action like Trailer Park Shark Attack, and more strangeness like in Fae Nightmares. I' don't think I've ever played straight homebrew Savage Worlds or fantasy/Sci Fi. Hmmm ... someday.

That pic from Mt. Washington is great!

My 'Trademark Question' ©Antiproduct: What do movies and television get wrong about your job/career?
Whats your favorite metaphor from a song?
What's the oldest thing you own?
Any food or restaurants you'll miss from New Jersey?

Probably that nurses are more than just waiters/caregivers. Nursing involves a high quantity of medical decision making, and most nurses know what they're doing well enough to ask for orders from the doctor rather than wait for them. Also it's not well portrayed how much nurses have to deal with inappropriate sexual advances from patients; if you do see it in a movie or TV show it's almost always in a comedic fashion or the nurse character flirts back or something. Yuck.
Oh jeez, I just vibe to the music and don't think too much about the lyrics. I guess Medicine by Dayglow's titular line is a pretty good metaphor: "I wasn't meant to be medicine for you."
I still have my old Gameboy Advance SP and a copy of the first game I got for it, Metroid Fusion. It was my favorite game of all time at least until Metroid Dread released.
Mr. Wish! No other bubble tea shop can compete. They don't have one in Colorado unfortunately.

That's horrible. So someone comes in with like a broken leg, looks up at the nurse and is all 'How you doin'?' that's crazy

Healthcare be like that. Sadly, a lot like that.

Should a New York Sirloin be seasoned or just have blue cheese crumble on it? (Important question.)

Seasoned because I don't like blue cheese :P

I'm not sure that's physically possible 🤔
What other foods do you not like? Preferably some that might come as a shock to others

Uh, off the top of my head, I don't like nuts or chocolate, which knocks out a lot of dessert options for me.