#Just complaining about TTRPGS lol

[mukuharakazui]

bg3 is crazy for being a massive $70 larian + wotc collab game whose accessibility menu features subtitles that are present for less than half of all idle character dialogue and almost zero battle dialogue

[txttletale]

when people complain abotu the Mean Indie TTRPG Fans telling them to play another game it's like. idk. imagine that lemonade is the most popular drink and there were people who drink lemonade every day and say 'hmm i hate the lemony taste of this, and its cloudy colour' but they kept just chugging gallons of it and other people who went online to say 'hey how can i make my lemonade taste like chocolate and also be brown and thick' and then some people said 'maybe some of you should be drinking other beverages' and then people who genuinely liked lemonade because of the lemony taste were like 'lol lmao the elitist beverage drinkers think we're tricking ourselves into liking lemonade' . like no buddy this isnt about you

[kuebiko-writing]

The time my sister and I "reinvented" ttrpgs

The story starts with my siblings and I being homeschooled. With creative parents and no internet access--and I do mean that--our imaginations grew to epic proportions. As kids we had lots of picture books and one of our favorites was an illustrated book about the lives of people back in the day. For example, we would point at an illustration of a woman selling bread in a market and make an entire story out of it.

At some point my sister and I realized we could just use words alone, and from there we'd go on to start making stories and characters and asking "what would this character do in this situation?" and "what happened when he rang the doorbell?" and so forth. We'd piggyback off of each other's ideas and work together to tell the story. We named it the "Talking Game", and we still call it that today. It's like a ttrpg campaign where two Game Masters control the story together and play the characters against each other with no rules, dice or stats.

It really took off when I started reading Bereft by Ren Tachiba on Wattpad. I was so inspired by it that I even used the name Anzel from the second book in the series for once of my characters. That's how our story called The Secret of The Seven Realms was created. My sister and I would spend hours building the world and characters. Our parents would complain because we kept them awake at night with all our talking. It's still our most beloved game to this day.

For anyone wondering, it's a high fantasy story set in realms, the most prominent being the realm of Astartia and the realm of Sonasis, who have a friends/enemies relationship with each other. The story actually starts on earth, where a teenage boy with a speech impediment named Despite, later renamed to Lexicon, meets his long-lost father, who whisks him away to the realm of Astartia. (Don't judge the weird names, we were just kids lol) His father, Asher Heartstone is cold and demands a lot from his son, who is tasked with studying magic and learning how to navigate enemies and the strange politics of the realms which consisted of things like a very fancy magic-showdown in an arena.

We developed iconic characters like my sister's character, Hercules Sonasis, an arrogant realm prince who loves to be the center of attention, is addicted to human-world coffee and wears platform boots because he hates to be seen as short. One of my own characters I came to love is Anzel Heartstone, Lexicon's uncle. A High Fae who was cast out of his own kingdom and reinvented himself as a Sanatrix (a healer). Most of his time is spent in his garden or workshop or in the forest foraging for mushrooms. He has a talent for making magic tapestries out of people's hair and spends far too much time stealing snippets of his nephew's hair.

The Secret of The Seven Realms is at least six years old now!

Currently, my sister @bennydelune and I are playing a story called A Pact of Blood (placeholder title) about two Houses that stand in conflict with each other until an old enemy rises from the ashes, forcing them to either unite, or fall into desolation. In this evening's session, Lord Thorne and Lord Bastien of House of Lightshard and House of Nightwing have been accused of murder and imprisoned by Merlin, the prince who is about to inherit the throne. Lord Bastien's son goes to the palace to see him, only to find the two Lords locked in the dungeon under the influence of a powerful illusion that keeps them placid. The session ended with the arrival of the villain and Lord Bastien's wife, who was thought to be dead for years.

I'm so excited to see where it goes from here! I'm having so much fun with it and it got so cool with new plot twists and juicy backstories that I want to make it a novel. If you've read this far, then that's probably what I'm going to be posting about from now on. I've been wanting to write a novel since forever, and this gives me a really good foundation to write something awesome!

Anyway, that's how we sort of reinvented ttrpgs. 😅 I was so happy when I discovered they were actually a thing! I think I'd love to be a DM/GM someday.

[lesvegas]

You ever think about how many classic (fo1/fo2) skills just sorta exist within other skills now? It has everything to do with how Fallout went from being a video-ttrpg to a 3D shooter, but as much as I love classic Fallout there really are times where I just kinda wish a lot of these skills were always like that. Some are so hyper-specific that I've never once actually put any points into them.

Combat skills:

Big Guns and Small Guns - Everyone knows these are just Guns now thanks to FNV. I have never once used Big Guns.

Energy Weapons, Unarmed and Melee - Mostly unchanged, thankfully. Fine as they are.

Throwing - I think this is just Explosives now. I don't miss this one at all but I DO miss being able to throw rocks at people.

Active skills:

First Aid and Doctor - Just Medicine now, thanks to Fo3. Genuinely don't understand why they were separate in the first place.

Sneak, Lockpick, Science, and Repair - Same as it ever was, and I'm not complaining.

Steal - Just falls under Sneak now via pickpocketing or grabbing stuff undetected. As someone who loves stealing things I really wish this just fell under Sneak back then, too.

Traps - This one just kinda falls under Repair or Explosives depending on the trap, as it should. Anyway why put points into this when you can just savescum lol

Passive skills:

Speech and Barter - I wouldn't change these ones at all I love them both and I'm glad they've always been the same.

Gambling - I am so torn on this because I LOVE the idea of Luck actually having a specific skill attached to it and gambling DOES take some skill and know-how. But also this could still just be Luck and I'm glad it is in FNV.

Outdoorsman - Be real no one's ever actually used this one. However I am SO glad it got turned into the cooking skill (Survival) in FNV. It didn't really need to exist as-is back then though.

[sillylilyposting]

Fuckin

Whatever

I'm can't find anything funny in Lily's recent crap that I haven't already said cause it's all repeating shit, complaining at people who've asked her stuff (someone of which i think are people trying to get a rise outta her, stop that if you are)

I wanna ask, anyone if they play table to gamss because I've been playing TTRPGS for a while and just kinda wanted to be unfocused ranting

I've played a Lotta stuff

5e

3.5

3.0

Advanced Dungeon & Dragons (An old player let us borrow his books, really cool)

Pathfinder

Starfinder

Mutants and Masterminds

Call of Cuthulu

City of Mist

Cyberpunk Red

Cyberpunk 2020

I really like d&d tbh and played with multiple different groups of people I'd consider friends

The other games are also fun though with less exposure i will admit i bounced off city of mist the most, I DO really badly want to play a WoD game: Vampire or Hunter

Mutants and Masterminds has a mechanic a lot LIKE insperation from 5e but more integral not an optional rule; the best part is since it's ya know a comic/superhero setting with those tropes a villain might just ESCAPE

Now the book says don't over use this DUH but even then the idea might be annoying BUUUUT if you do something like that they get a heroic inspiration (as i recall called a hero point) since some comic book silliness happened if done well it can have fun villian team ups occur UH OH THE SHOCKER & SANDMAN ARE HERE... AND WORKING TOGETHER!!!

Fun stuff there are rules for tech and how powers interact for adjudication as well as simple sample villains and giant monsters to fight, it being roughly settable in a modern setting with no baggage about it being a mystery like Call does take some getting used to oddly enough but it is weirdly fun having comic shinenigans but it's your oc do not steal with fun rules and drama you can help construct as a group after all superhero comics (most of the good ones) are either soap operas or have fascinating themes and outlooks

Gimme that crunchy combat of Pathfinder or 3.5 and I will be happy, making properly strange monsters with properly fun crunchy combat

I think 3, 3.5, path & star is crunchy while 5e is punchy

3.5 is well i uh, set up... hmmm, ah I tumble to get passed the monsters reach without an attack of opportunity I only get one attack on my turn but haste is up with meta magic swift action bulls strength so take two attacks with my modified strength so I can make a full attack next turn and immediate action close wounds (no idea what class this person is lol)

5e can go, I step up within 5 feet attack attack the creature using my feat I disarming attack for one of my 3 attacks one with haste, and second wind as a bonus action. On their turn when they try to disengage i have Sentinel so with a reaction i can attack and stop them but with warcaster ill use shocking grasp getting advantage on the roll since he has metal armor and now they are stuck in the space

Both can be equally complex if you maximize your see but

3.5 has a lot more small modifiers conditions and situations that just aren't built into 5e a lot of fiddly bits flat footed fod example but in exchange you get not a million classes and instead focuses on a core and let's subclass and build off that

[avatarthelastairgender]

🔥

but specifically regarding ttrpgs in general or d&d in specific (your choice which)

i went dnd with my answers because i have dnd on the brain at the moment

i wouldn't call this broadly unpopular but in relation to the social circles we tend to walk in online: i think dnd 5e is broadly a good game!! the issues i have with it are mostly ideological ones, and there's some vestigial crud i don't think works, but i don't agree with the idea that anyone who is having fun with it is either 1) warping the game via homebrewing to such a frankensteinish extent that they're basically playing another game or 2) trapped in the matrix tricking themselves into thinking they're having fun.

in relation to broader dnd fan circles, i have a few random thoughts on the game

i fucking love playing a monk. people in dnd circles hate on the monk's mechanics so much, call it the worst class constantly, etc. maybe i'm just nuts but i've played every class and monk is in my top two easily. monk also has, outside of warlock, some of the most interesting narrative level-up mechanics. i really like the story beats that the last leveling tier of monk can tease out.

outside of ideological issues (the way monks, barbarians, orcs, etc are written really fucking sucks) my two biggest issues with dnd as a system are 1) the system doesn't do a good job laying out what it means to fail a check (or even really clearly establish when a check should be made), and 2) the responsibility of onboarding new players is foisted onto dms without a lot of support. i've read and played a lot of systems that incorporate some aspect of randomness and failure, and i think dnd is one of the weakest when it comes to articulating what it means to fail a roll. failed rolls often don't do much to move the story forward as the game is written, even stuff surrounding partial successes. and i just don't think 'nothing happens' should ever really be a consequence of rolling poorly; if it is, you should probably just not call for a roll. some of this is down to DM discretion but i don't think it should be! 'even a failed roll should lead to something interesting happening' shouldn't be optional IMO.

a lot of dnd players who complain about the classes being poorly balanced just don't like dnd i think and should probably play another system that either isn't combat-heavy or that just does combat differently? i don't think the classes being optimally balanced for ~5 encounters per long rest is actually that out of pocket personally. '5 encounters' =/= '5 combats' (even if wizards thinks this is the same thing LOL), there are a wide variety of ways to interestingly solve problems and expend resources outside of combat, and even then what constitutes a 'dungeon' does not have to literally mean going into a cave and fighting basilisks. a casino is a dungeon. a train is a dungeon. etc etc. even if you do want to run a lot of combat... this is only a problem if you don't like dnd combat! if you like dnd combat and are playing good dnd combat, this ceases to be an issue IMO. i think the bigger problem is just that dnd is painted as a catchall system and a lot of people playing dnd should be playing something else. dnd is balanced fine for what dnd is designed to do

i think a lot of broad-scale critiques of dnd culture (not all!) and how it's played are less so critiques of dnd than they are critiques of people. at least 50 million people play dnd. if 50 million people played uhhhh i dunno, dungeon world, or vampire the masquerade, or anything really, we would be hearing the same stuff about how dungeon world players are unbearable, because that's kinda just what happens when any subculture is that large.

"minmaxers" are unfairly demonized in some dnd circles. minmaxing rules

[tar-baphon]

Can't win sometimes

I have this former player I still keep in semi regular contact with, I will refer to this individual as Poe not because I ever expect him to stumble upon this but as a matter of protocol. I still try to be supportive towards them in their ttrpg endeavors even though he is no longer in any of mine and it is currently Poe's goal in life to run a PF1e AP but do to the town we are having this innate ability to produce flakey players primarily its an ongoing struggle for him. He keeps starting to put a group together only for it to fall apart either right before they start or 2-6 sessions in. Since we've remained in semi regular contact we still bring up that sometime we would like to be part of the same group again. I'm actually rather sincere about that. Well a few hours ago he brought up sometime he would like to participate in a gestalt campaign, long story, I informed that some of the players in one of my groups have played in gestalt short campaigns before and wanted me to run one for them at some point. I informed Poe that I was considering it but I needed to think of the right premise for one and that I do have a few possible campaign ideas but nothing I've decided on for sure.

Poe's response was to complain why don't I run an AP in gestalt and that all he's every played through is homebrew campaigns and he feels he's been missing out by never completing an AP or playing in one long term. I explained my reasons for not running APs I told him I love the lore and setting of Golarion but the APs don't interest me enough to be able to ever picture myself running one for a long period of time. I explained that with the amount of time, effort, love I would have to put into changing an AP enough to get it to a point where I could desire running it I might as well save myself on some those expenditures and just make my own because to make an AP my own would be as much effort or more then just doing a homebrew. I explained it would be even more so to convert an AP to handle gestalt. While I don't have an issue with people running or playing in APs, I've played in 3 well... sorta 5 myself all inconclusive lol, I don't get the mindset of how your missing out by not doing so.

Am I missing something or in the wrong here? I was honestly hurt when he told me he would prefer that I run something that's been published, he's not my only friend whose said they prefer published content but the other friend said that's because published work has what he refers to as "safety rails" sigh.

[himbotron]

AAAAAGHHHHH

It's stupid but I feel it's kinda draining in friends conversations but there's currently 2 games at the same time goin on

One I'm in and Sometimes I feel I'm like. the only one enjoying it, and the other one I Just couldn't get into bc I find it so terribly boring but Everyone's Just So Into It for some reason??? and it's just frustrating bc the DM for the second one just complains every fucking time in the first one about the stupidest things and then doesn't take criticisms at all lmao. Also I'm kinda going solo most of the time bc I felt from thw start just... unjustifiably treated like an Outsider???? first bc I choose a very femme character (who's actually a very masc guy trying to act like his deceased brother, long story lmao) and GOD even today they try to tell me it's not bc they were homophobic even thought I literally changed the character and I was inmediately treated with more respect bc i wasn't "actually a f*g". lmao

idk man this is like my escape from reality (tm) and it's just so stressful now lmao I really love these ocs tho and I'm always kinda tempted to snap at some players and tell them to fuck off but I'm also trying to just have fun myself and ignore them (I've even silenced them in game and completely ignored them sometimes akkdkf)

It's just like. you love something a lot and your friends keep telling you it's trash or no one cares about it, and then proceed to talk about how much they love x thing and how underrated it is and no one really talks about it (even tho they talk about it the whole time) and you personally think it's not that great or have criticisms about it but you just know if you say smth they'll take it personally so you just. shut up.

Also there's a character in this other game that I KNOW it was at least a bit inspired by mine and everyone loves him and puts him in a pedestal EVEN THOUGH they're super similar and I'm the one who is annoying it seems, EVEN THOUGH I never talk about my stuff because the first time I did I was sent this shit:

like. wow. okay then I'll just keep the stuff i'm excited about for myself I guess

yea. little things but it makes me so mad lol

[lobotomy-maybe-bestie]

7? :)

this is a bit difficult because i don't really have or like aus that have a complete theme shift but sometimes i like to think about what the characters would do if they, through weird multi-dimensional shenanigans, found out they are characters in a ttrpg and could listen to the episodes of rqg/small snippets of them that i find on tumblr:

-zolf would have an entire freakout. like we're talking paris, if not worse. he would simultaneously absolutely hate ben both as an extension of his self-loathing and as the person who "forced" him to do certain things he regrets now but also find a weird comfort in the fact that these people who have an overhead "objective" view of him don't think he's terrible or everything is his fault. then at the same time he would loathe them all for taking his world and playing around with it, only using him and his friends for entertainment.

-cel would be like "OH THAT EXPLAINS SO MUCH" lydia plays them as very unintentionally meta and if they found out they'd immediatly analyse all of their thoughts, feelings and memories, trying to determine which dice rolls lead to what exactly. they would delve so deep into this whole new level of meta science that the others may think they have gone mad. also i feel like they would frown upon the whole "world ending for narrative purposes" thing but eventually come out the other end and say that it's nice that there are people that care enough about a story that it makes up their whole world.

-wilde would have an immediate existential identity crisis when he finds out he's an npc. not only is he not important enough to be a player character (the players don't even know what he's been up to for a lot of the time!) he is also played by the same person who plays barret, all the squizzards and every single other bad person.

-azu wouldn't be mad, i think, except maybe at alex. she would LOVE helen. she'd see them as her ally in everything bc helen only wants good things to happen to her.

-hamid would be shocked. he might have a breakdown or try really hard to make sense of everything, maybe joining cel in their endeavours.

-the knowledge that lydia played sasha would make the party weird around cel at first, while they themself would probably try at first to figure out if they maybe have some of her memories or qualities. eventually it'd probably be azu who'd tell the others that just because the person who plays cel also plays sasha doesn't mean they should treat cel differently. wilde adds in that he is played by the person who plays literally everyone else and they don't treat him differently either.

-that ben also played grizzop would be... a surprise, to say the least. zolf would have another identity crisis. wilde, half joking but a little inappropriately, complains about the time grizzop punched him in the crotch and zolf gives him a look like "i threatened to drown you it's not my fault you have that effect on people when they first meet you".

-listening to the ancient rome arc would kill them. hamid and azu would cry the whole way through, zolf would walk out probably and then would have to be brought back in to listen to the rest. they would all be Very weirded out by ben's delight in grizzop's death, and would get very worried for zolf. zolf, meanwhile, is trying to reconcile that he shares the instinct of "protect sasha even if it means your death" with the person who controls him who actually went through with it (sort of).

-look idk it's not a developed idea. i never thought i'd talk about it bc it is a little weird. the main points are all very angsty lol i mostly use it as a fun thought exercise of how the characters would react upon finding out. not even big story things. i love listening to that one audio from the episode that had a lot of fluff where everyone is just excited for every character's relationship.

[corvidcall]

hi!!!! OP here. I think you did miss my point a little bit, but thats at least partially on me. I wasn't really expecting this post to get any traction (didn't realize I still had any ttrpg followers... lol) so it was just kind of a mess of my thoughts about the whole situation. It's not as clear as it could have been.

The point I wanted to make was threefold:

People who play D&D are getting something out of that experience. Most of them aren't playing D&D because they just don't know any better, they're doing it because that's the experience they want to have. To act like they're doing it because they aren't as smart as you are is frustrating, arrogant, and off-putting, and it CERTAINLY won't get anyone to play a different game. Like I said in my post, I see so many people act like D&D fans are popular jocks to the indie fans bullied nerds, when like... we're all in drama club. None of us are cool here. Why invent a hierarchy when there was none?

Every indie game is not good for every desired game experience. Indie games are great because they can give you a specific experience. If you want to play Teen Titans or Young Justice, you would play Masks. That's all Masks is set up to do! But it's not really a good system if you want to play like... a team of adult supervillains. (I believe this is what the podcast Stop, Hack and Roll called "genre bake-in". The mechanics are inextricable from the story they were intended to tell)

If you want to suggest a game for people to play instead of D&D, you should try to figure out what they're getting from D&D. People's games can vary wildly, and they can like different things about it!!! If I play D&D because I like to tell stories with my friends, and we mostly ignore a lot of the mechanics in service of our storytelling, then sure, Thirsty Sword Lesbians is a good suggestion. Follow (one of my personal faves) would be a good one, too, which is incredibly flexible for telling all kinds of 3-act stories, especially if I'm looking to play a one-shot. But if I like the crunchier rules of D&D, if I think they're important to crafting a good experience and having emergent storytelling, then a PBTA game is probably a bad pick for me, and Pathfinder might be better.

The behavior I was specifically complaining about, though, is one I saw all the time for years on twitter (and still see), of people being like "Don't play D&D, D&D sucks, INSTEAD of that game you should play MY game, which is good instead" but then the game they're suggesting has nothing at all in common with D&D. My favorite ttrpg is Good Society, but I wouldn't suggest that as a replacement for D&D. They're not even similar experiences, and to suggest that they are interchangeable really flattens ttrpgs as a medium.

I'm not saying that there's no point to suggesting games because nothing is going to be 100% the same as D&D. I'm just saying that the experience people are having with D&D might not be what you assume it is, and you should be thoughtful about your suggestions, and you shouldn't act like people were foolish for having ever enjoyed D&D and that it's an obviously inferior product to (thing you like more). There are things that people genuinely enjoy about using that system in specific, and to pretend like that couldn't possibly be so is not going to get you the results you want.

Full disclosure: I have played D&D maybe like... twice, I've played lots of PBTA games, the game I was subtweeting when I referred to a game "where youre a couple thats getting married in 2 months and you're still planning your wedding" is a game I wrote. I like indie games!! I think they're good, and people should play them! They can be deeply enriching experiences! But as a person who was not only an enthusiast for indie ttrpgs, but a content creator in the community, I have found this sort of "play another game you idiots 🙄 D&D isnt even GOOD" attitude to be really unpleasant and needlessly hostile. I don't see anything gained from it, but I have seen it push a lot of people away from investigating games they might otherwise enjoy.

TL;DR: WotC sucks as a company, and its fine and good to suggest alternatives to their products, but maybe put some thought into it and don't be an asshole

Hope this clarifies some things!!!

ive been a halfhearted dnd defender for a minute, bc i was really involved in indie ttrpg twitter for a while and I Am Not Anymore because frankly. it just got too hostile and crab bucket-y. a lot of people acting like critical role or dimension 20 were opposing them by playing a game that had widespread brand recognition (and also getting mad whenever critrole played something OTHER than dnd. i haven't forgotten how hostile everyone i knew in that scene was when critrole played monster hearts. like what do you want??) or like people who play dnd are popular jocks and people who play indie games are bullied nerds. when actually we're all nerds. nobody is cool here.

and i would especially get frustrated when people would recommend games to play instead of dnd that are not at all a comparable experience, or didnt have the same things people liked in dnd. sure, you could play Masks if you want to play a superhero game instead of just reskinning DnD, but Masks is about teens, and the fact that you're playing as teens is core to the mechanics, so it's not a good suggestion for someone who wants to play as adult superheroes. sure you can suggest someone play Blades in the Dark if they want to play a heist team, but BitD is incredibly punishing! every time ive played it, it felt almost impossible to get a full success at anything. that can be fun, if that's the kind of game you want, but if i want to play a game where i feel cool and like im good at things, then BitD is not a good replacement! I cant tell you how many times I've seen people say that you don't need to just reskin dnd when there are games that are more specifically tailored to the experience you want, and then in the same breath act like the games they're suggesting ARENT specific actually and can be used to craft any kind of experience you want. Is the genre baked into the mechanics, or isnt it? because it cant be both!

and thats not even getting into when people would suggest replacements that aren't even close. a lot of "dnd sucks nobody should ever play dnd. instead of dnd, why don't you play MY game, where youre a couple thats getting married in 2 months and you're still planning your wedding?" like... why would i play that instead of dnd, if i want to play dnd? those have nothing in common, beyond the fact that theyre both tabletop games. it's like saying "Instead of watching Star Wars, you should watch Get Out!" sure, they're both MOVIES, and Get Out is GOOD, but i think to suggest that someone who wants to watch Star Wars would have an equal if not better experience watching Get Out instead devalues both. They're not interchangeable because they're trying to do entirely different things

So I would get incredibly frustrated when people acted like people who were choosing to play DnD were just making a mistake, and that they couldn't possibly be getting anything out of playing that game specifically

ALL THAT BEING SAID wizards of the coast sucks ass and they can clean my balls. they should get put in the stocks and i should get to pelt them with tomatoes. i like playing in the sword and sorcery fantasy setting, and dnd was always my go-to game for that because Dungeon World is the worst game I've ever played (i can think of one or two other games in the same sort of setting, but i haven't tried them or met anyone willing to run them) but ah well. WotC can eat shit for this copyright bullshit

[rebekadjarin]

I’ve been reading your comfort character letters and honestly it’s such a wonderful idea and you’re helping so many people out by doing them. I was wondering if I could get one from Tech or Gregor if you had the time?

I’m a new parent, and while I love my child deeply, it’s still a strange and challenging change. I’m still trying to finish my masters thesis in literature but I can barely carve out enough time to get basic house work + maintenance done. Parenthood has also put other joys on the back burner such as physical contact and working on my ttrpg. I hate complaining, I know no one made me make my choices and I always feel like a total asshole when I do vent. Plus I’m terrible about asking for help (trauma related hyper independence woohoo lol). But I just want to feel like I’m doing enough for my kid, that I’m not being the same parent my parents were to me, and that I’ll be able to create content again … if not soon than eventually.

"I apologize that I kept you waiting, I'm here now. Tell me again what's bothering you, you have my undivided attention. I see. I'm sorry you are feeling this way. I see no reason why you should, you are doing wonderfully at every part of your life. I see how hard you are working all day and how wonderfully you are taking care of your child. I understand that you are overwhelmed with tasks and have little time for yourself. That must be very hard for you but I'm here to support you. Can I help you somehow? I have always been interested in literature and I admire you for pursuing it. I would love to listen to you talk about it. Can I interest you in a hot beverage maybe? I'll make it at this instant.

You are worried about being the same parent as your parents were? Don't you think that the mere fact that you have asked this question implies that you are aware of what you want to avoid and actively try to do better? I certainly think so.

You can always tell me when something is bothering you. I read that it's healthier to talk these feelings out instead of bottling them up. And you are never a burden. Here is your tea, careful, it's still hot. Come, let's sit down and talk some more. No, it's not bothering me, I have just told you that you are never a burden. Why would you think that I wasn't telling the truth? You have no reason to feel like this but I understand that feeling cannot be controlled no matter how hard one tries. I will do my best to make you believe me when I tell you that you are enough. We have time."

- Tech

[babsaros]

"indie ttrpg/anti-dnd twitter just does not believe in playing or exploring morally questionable characters and actions" is such an abjectly piss-poor disconnected-from-reality take. it belies a complete ignorance of a great many indie TTRPGs that are not D&D. (D&D itself is frankly not designed for "playing or exploring morally questionable characters and actions"; just look at the fantasy racist alignment system still being jammed in there.)

i really shouldn't dignify this with a response, because i made that post 9 months ago, vaguely venting about an article someone i follow on twitter shared.

however, you've only taken the very first sentence, ignoring that most of the post is about a specific spell in 5e, and how just because it *can* be used in harmful ways doesn't mean it only exists to torture poor helpless npcs, and it also doesn't mean the character/player who chooses to do so is automatically irredeemably evil, because playing morally gray or even straight up evil characters can be interesting and *fun*, not just for the person playing them but for everyone at the table *WHEN DONE RIGHT AND RESPECTFULLY*, hence my bit about the "murder hobo" trope being generally frowned upon. maybe i should have worded my original post differently, but like. dude its from 9 months ago, it got 0 notes, and i never intended for it to become a conversation. i was venting about a specific stupid take i saw on twitter, and then immediately forgot about lol. i enjoy many indie ttrpgs, and also agree with many criticisms of dnd AND *moreso* with wizards of the coast. I think anti-dnd spaces, the ppl who denounce dnd as a system entirely, would be better off trying to convince ppl of the criticisms they have for wizards of the coast as a company, instead of trying to come up with criticisms for a game they've maybe never played, or played a handful of times with a shitty group that made them hate it. I think most of the criticisms i've seen of dnd mechanics (not talking about race stuff) rarely makes sense or is something i've actually experienced in my own play.

Like, you say "D&D itself is frankly not designed for 'playing or exploring morally questionable characters and actions'", but fail to provide a specific example of how that's true besides "well, wizards of the cost wrote some pretty racist shit in there". yeah man they did! i agree with that! but that doesn't mean the system just doesn't support playing an 'evil' orc or whatever and exploring the character arcs that could exist there. like. my original post was complaining about someone specifically saying that 'actually dnd is inherently evil bc you can do some morally bankrupt stuff with certain spells', and now YOU are coming into my house to say 'actually dnd as a system doesn't support playing evil characters or doing evil things at all'. like do you see why i'm saying the criticisms never line up in consistency or as effective counter-arguments to my own personal play experience, where i myself have played, and played with, plenty of asshole, evil, morally gray, 'criminal', corrupt, cruel characters. When everyone at the table enjoys playing around that dynamic, it can be fun and interesting!

my tags on that post to sum it up are: #i think dnd has just as much potential for being cruel as a lot of other systems#its just a matter of who you play with and what you play#and i dont think there's anything wrong with playing 'bad guys'

like i don't even say dnd is the best system for what i want. i *say* i have criticisms and don't even like it that much. i'm sure there *are* some really fun, well-written indie-ttrpgs out there that encourage rolling up some evil characters. i've even explored writing my own, one specifically built around rolling up miserable assholes and exploring the bad things they do and become, and the ways ppl like that can be pulled back from the brink, that ppl aren't just good or bad and they can change.

you've just twisted your own panties about this, man.

like, feel free to respond, i legitimately have nothing better to do. you opened up this conversation by saying i had a "piss-poor detached from reality" take about a post that was really just a vague vent but *did* try to be respectful and explain where i was coming from, but you also seemingly ignored everything after the first sentence, so idk its difficult to judge how much free time you might have on your hands, but i'm guessing you started this the way you started it bc you do want the attention.

[bubblewrapjunkie]

giggles-manically replied to your post “Reading that Polygon article about the Critical Role kickstarter and I...”

Well dont expect decent journalism from Polygon for 1. They literally just exist to scream at make believe stuff to promote outrage and generate clicks. I just ignore them and live a happier life for it.

I have no opinion on Polygon’s written content as a whole since I've barely read any before today. But I do greatly enjoy their videos (as evident from my blog the last month lol) and I do enjoy the McElroy boys, so it was disappointing to read an article that seemed to sacrifice accuracy, research and nuance in order to use CR as a “villain” (or at least willfully ignorant and excluding content creators) in a very important conversation. Because I do think that it is a discussion that needs to be had, but in a much more constructive way than leading it down the road of “this home game turned show turned phenomenon that did not plan for any of this needs to change their cast or else they’re canceled”. 

I also find it a tad bit hypocritical that an article that make a point of CR being all white doesn’t offer up more than a single alternative to go support (and the link was specifically to Kimis personal twitter post criticizing CR, not Happy Jacks RPG). But that would require research into something other than salty TTRPG developers complaining about people streaming their games online making more money than them (which seems super relevant when talking about CR who uses 5e - which btw has boosted the games sales since they started streaming, but go off I guess) so...  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[maniac-reboggles]

I already play ttrpgs lol and while I have considered doing a superhero one, I'm ultimately not super duper interested in the idea. Especially if I have to run it. And I'm not exactly in a posistion where I'm able to pay someone to run a game for me either.

Also I like role-playing more than anything in TTRPGs and even D&D combat often bores me to tears and can be generally frustrating for me. (I'm usually a healer. I get to complain!) So I don't know that MORE crunch would be the right vibe for me. :p

If I were to do something like that though, I would not be particularly interested in playing a part ghost character. I have like... 2 vague ideas for characters in a superhero setting that I've had for a long while. Otherwise I'd just want to... You know... Do a Harvey-esque redemption arc. But make it exceedingly gay where my character (a supervillain who is trying to reform their ways) is just constantly bragging about their superhero/childhood friend/bestie/boyfriend that they love very very very much and get to make out with. But yeah. No idea if you'd be down for such a character in your campaign. (I'm just generally more interested in rogues than I am in heroes. If I HAD to pick a superHERO character to play in a TTRPG, I'd probably do Billy Batson. :p )

People: Follow me for that sweet, sweet DPxDC content.

Me: Makes 10 posts about Jackie Chan Adventures in a row instead lol

Just saying. I DO WHAT I WANT here on this blog! And you'll just have to deal with that! :p

Like... Interaction gives me joy. But the DPxDC community in of itself doesn't give me a ton of inherient joy. So if I'm not getting the serotonins of people interacting with the posts that I like within that community, I won't make more for it. If you aren't down for dealing with my sometimes eclectic tastes, I don't know if this blog of mine is for you. :p Also I've done this like 5 times. Lots of people follow me for one specific fandom, I get distracted by a shiny and run off in a different direction lol.

I'm always happy to talk about past communities and hyperfixations I've been in and had! But don't expect me to cater my posts to what you want. :p

[pangolinheart]

Oh, thank you for taking the time to write this up, and for the interesting insight! The big bang story sounds like a good read with an interesting concept, so I'll definitely have to keep an eye out for it! Writing for exchanges or events or as gifts for friends are really the only writing I do anymore (and the most fun kind - though I haven't done one in many years.) The concept for this one sounds like something up my alley, so maybe I'll peruse the tag this coming April!

Writing is hard work, so I'm always impressed by people who put the time and effort into it! It's a skill you have to constantly practice, so I always assume that people who write a lot must have a lot of passion for it. One of the reasons One of the reasons I gave up on my own writing was because of a (good!) piece of advice I was often given: you should write for yourself and because you love it, not for other people to read. Even though I've done it on and off since I was in elementary school, writing is still a slow, difficult, and painstaking process - less like "flowing," as some people describe it and more like taking a pickaxe and prying individual words out of a stone wall, then trying to cobble together sentences and stories using Elmer's glue and string. I was never happy with the end result, no matter how much I reworked and edited. Everything always looked so much better in my head! Then I would be so mortified by it that I would have to work up the courage to go back and edit it, which is kind of silly in retrospect (I definitely wouldn't count myself among my own readership lol). While it was an interesting challenge sometimes, I'm not sure that I could really call it fun, or say that I "loved" it. The part I mostly enjoyed was having something I could share with other people - though most of the time I only shared it with a handful of friends, who tried to be encouraging. I recognize that's not always a healthy place to create from, so I figured writing wasn't for me. Once in a very long while I'll get the inexplicable urge to type something up, but usually it's not accompanied by a corresponding idea of what I want to type up. (I did write one thing this way but only posted it because the tag was so dead I felt like I didn't have to worry about anybody seeing it so it wouldn't be too embarrassing.)

I definitely enjoy little ask games and character questions - it's a nice way to connect with people and usually doesn't require the envisioning of a scenario. But I don't know if I'll ever do any real writing for Rhiki. I don't even have a backstory for her after all this time, so it's hard to say if she has any "selling points" or quintessential features that define her or make her unique. I'm not sure she would even be fun to read about. (I had, like, 1/3rd of an idea during ShB but by the end I realized that fundamental lore made it logistically unfeasible. Plus I couldn't think of any satisfying way for it to end.) Coming up with interesting concepts for characters has never been a particular strong suit of mine (which is why I'm terrible at TTRPGs like D&D). That's what got me wondering about how other people generate and develop characters and stories, and what other people find interesting about the things that they read, and I really appreciate the responses I've gotten! Though you're right, it is quite difficult to apply most advice to your own work.

I hope this didn't sound like complaining! I'm just turning things over in my mind. It does mean a lot to me that you replied to my post, though! I'll definitely keep doing little ask games and things as long as people keep sending them. Maybe I'll do some thinking about trying writing again, though I can't say if I'll work up the courage or if I do what form it will take. But you've given me some things to mull over, so thank you!

Writers are so powerful... How do you come up with things to write?? Where do the ideas come from? How do you know what people want to read? I will never understand.

[22degreehalo]

Yes, I agree with this. Maybe I'm too sensitive, but ttrpgs that hyper-emphasise things like 'rules light!' or 'puts story first!' as though they're universally positive things just sort off make me feel a bit... weird?

It's the same sorta vibe I get from people who say that the most important aspect of a game to them is 'fun,' particularly in response to people critiquing flaws or even just critically analysing a game in a neutral way. I'm pretty sure I know what they're trying to say - either than the overall experience isn't hampered by those flaws, or that they prefer gameplay styles that allow them to play in a relaxed and non-analytical way. But it usually ends up containing at least a note of defensiveness or condescension, like they're claiming that their priorities are superiorly Wise compared to these other losers getting lost in the weeds about things that don't matter. Which is why I've started really emphasising that when people complain about e.g. graphics or low difficulty, they are ALSO saying that these factors make the game less fun for them!

Y'know, I think the issue is the same as what I've seen people complain about visual novels: a lot of these people seem weirdly hostile to the medium, and like they're trying to make their ttrpg as minimally ttrpg as possible. Like a kind of cultural cringe, in an attempt to assert their product as either 'not actually serious lol' or 'true art.' Obviously it's not like more rules = better, but when people try to reduce the rules and numbers and rolling to as close to 0 as possible, I sorta start to wonder... do they even want to make an rpg? Or do they just want some collaborative creative writing prompts? Because you can do that!

And just. Personally, I like a lot of rules and numbers and categories! Partly because I'm autistic and all those things are very Satisfying, and partly because I get so much more inspired through restrictions. I adore emergent narratives and trying to make stories out of interpreting semi- or entirely random events! That's what I go to ttrpgs for! If I wanted total story control, I'd just write one myself?

If anything I think the conflict is just between like... ttrpgs more based around being given a challenge and trying to overcome it, vs just seeing what happens. But there is a continuum between those things, and the numbers are ultimately supposed to represent actual narratively relevant things. The high numbers games are just more sorta aware of that gameplay/narrative interaction usually I think. There's nothing necessarily stopping you from playing a combat rpg and losing and sitting back in satisfaction because yep, the way that interaction turned out made perfect sense!

So I guess uhh once again maybe it just goes down to a thing where a bunch of autistics do something rly obscure amongst themselves and tend to emphasise Numbers and other ~masculine coded~ things, and then more neurotypicals find out and wanna join in but confuse the autistic dominance for Gross Straight White Males (which isn't entirely wrong usually but) and immediately set themselves up in defensive opposition to them. And then autistics like me get uncomfortable because like yes I'm happy to have more non-combat-focused ttrpgs but also like. Numbers good. 🥺

I suppose what annoys me about tabletop RPGs whose primary pitch is “puts the story first!” is that it fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between the rules and the narrative. The defining feature of tabletop RPGs is that interpreting the outcomes of the rules produces a story, and in this sense, all tabletop RPGs “put the story first” – the idea that some tabletop RPGs are About Stories and some tabletop RPGs are Not About Stories is a false dichotomy.

The trouble is that game rules are opinionated about the kinds of story they want to produce, and folks end up conflating “this game’s rules want to produce a different kind of story from the one that I want to tell” with “this game’s rules don’t produce stories at all”, which is not a constructive way to frame things; keep up with that line of thinking and you’re on a short road to becoming one of those dogmatic weirdos who thinks there’s exactly one correct way to pretend to be an elf.