#Tabletop Roleplaying Games

[vexwerewolf]

The thing is, D&D is not a game.

I know that sounds insane, but hear me out: D&D is not a game, it is a games console. You don't actually "play D&D." You play "Dragon Heist" or "Tomb of Annihilation" or "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" or "your GM's homebrew campaign" or "the plot of Critical Role Season 1 reconstructed from memory" on D&D.

For quite a long while now - possibly literal decades - D&D hasn't even been the best games console, but it's been "the one everyone knows about" and "the one my friends have" and in fact it's "the one whose name is almost synonymous with the entire medium of TTRPGs," like how "Nintendo" or "Playstation" could just mean "games console" to people who didn't understand games consoles. They might not have heard of a "tabletop roleplaying game," but most people have heard of "Dungeons & Dragons."

For this extended metaphor, D&D is Nintendo back in the 90s, or Playstation in the 2000s. Sometimes you say "oh let's go to my house and play Nintendo" or "c'mon dude I wanna play Playstation" but you're not actually playing Nintendo or Playstation, you're playing Resident Evil or Super Mario Bros or Jurassic Park or Metal Gear Solid or whatever on a Nintendo or a Playstation.

Now, this metaphor is going to get even more tortured, but remember how when the PS2 and the original X-Box came out, they used a standardised DVD format, but the Nintendo console in that generation, the Gamecube, used discs but they were this proprietary tiny little disc format that they had control over? That essentially meant that it was really difficult to make third party titles for the Gamecube that did literally anything that Nintendo didn't want them to do, and also essentially gave Nintendo an even greater ability to skim money off the top of any sales?

So that must've seemed like a smart business decision in their heads. But the PS2 and the X-Box used DVDs. This was a standardized format which gave Microsoft and Sony way less control over who made games for their consoles, but that actually turned out to be a good thing for gaming, because it meant that the breadth of games that you could play on their consoles was massively increased even if some of them were games Microsoft and Sony didn't really approve of. (Also it's worth nothing that the PS2 and the X-Box could just play DVDs, which meant if your household was on a budget, you didn't need a separate DVD player - your games console could do it for you! This was actually a huge selling point!)

What Wizards are currently trying to do now is kinda-sorta the equivalent of Sony suddenly announcing that the PS5 will only accept a proprietary cartridge format they hold the patent on, will control the content of and charge money for the construction of. This possibly seems like it could be a moneymaker in your head because you hold market dominance (apparently the PS5 has 30 million units shipped compared to X-Box Series X 20 million units) and so many people make games for your console, but what it actually means is game devs and publishers will abandon your product. If it takes so much more work, the scope of what they're allowed to do is so much more limited and they're going to make less money off of it, they just won't bother. They'll go make games for the X-Box or PC instead.

To use another computer metaphor, D&D is Windows - it might not be the best system but it's the system most people are familiar with and so it gets the most stuff made for it, but there's is an upper limit on the bullshit people will take before they decide fuck it and get an Apple or learn how Linux works.

TTRPG systems are a weird product because you're not selling people a game, you're selling people a method to play a game. All the actual games are created by the community - even prewritten campaigns needs to be executed via a game master. Trying to skim money off the community will mean they'll eventually give up on you.

[fantastictalesofadventure]

𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞! 👀 👀 👀

[ursulakleguin-stan]

hey everyone check out my friend’s super cool TTRPG, The Treacherous Turn, it’s a research support game where you play collectively as a misaligned AGI, intended to help get players thinking about AI safety, you can get it for free at thetreacherousturn.ai !!!

[dailydungeondelves]

Some of my favourite comics which got the colour treatment

[yodawgiheardyoulikemecha]

Cover art from the 1st ed. Heavy Gear rulebook.

[wanderingandfound]

While I wasn't familiar with any of the players in the four hour plagiarism YouTube video (besides the Sherlock Is Garbage and Here's Why guy), coincidentally a blog post came out today about a book full of plagiarism within the TTRPG scene. And in this case I was familar with the plagiarizing author. I followed her on Twitter for a while (her personal account seems to be gone now) and while she could be... acerbic is one way to put it, shit-stirring is another, she had some insightful posts. Somebody doesn't need to be nice to have a point. This is disappointing.

[drakoniques]

Grab some potatoes and molasses! 🍂🐸🍬

BEYOND THE BROOK, an Over the Garden Wall inspired actual play series, is coming soon to Kickstarter.

Sponsored by Die Hard Dice!

Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/drakoniques/beyond-the-brook-over-the-garden-wall-inspired-actual-play

[tabletopgayventures]

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Tabletop Gay-Ventures!

My name is Asunder and I’ve decided to start a blog about the various tabletop roleplaying games I’ve collected over the years.  I need to share this with anyone and everyone I can.  My overall goal for this page is to share what I know, share opinions, reviews and homebrew.  I want to expand people’s tabletop experiences and expand mine as well.  I might even talk about other things, like board games or books, or start a youtube channel.  

This page will not focus on any edition of Dungeons and Dragons or on Pathfinder 2nd Edition.  There are a lot of people who talk about D&D and also good folks who talk about Pathfinder.  I want to bring attention to smaller ttrpgs that might be overlooked.  Might do Call of Cthulhu, Anima, Overlight, Glitter Hearts, or something else!  I have over 100 games and I’m planning to get even more!  

I plan to go over each game’s system, setting, overall rules, player options, referee options, design/aesthetic, my opinions,  safety tools, and homebrew ideas.  Some of these games will be complicated, some will be simple, some won’t even have a game master.  Let’s find out which is which together!

Here's a link to my current list of games Here's a link to my lexicon of ttrpg terms

Please reblog and follow me @~@

Shout out to my mentor, Maigen Thomas, for making my pfp and giving me the kick in the butt to do this! You can find her here: https://maigenthomas.com/

Also shout out to my favorite local gamestore, Games of Berkeley! They've been huge in helping me find all kinds of interesting games both new and old. You can find them here: https://www.gamesofberkeley.com/ They deliver!!!

Also also! I made an Instagram. Might post bits of the reviews there or even draw some art and post it on both. Dunno yet! Here's the link: https://www.instagram.com/tabletopgayventures/

[mrkapao]

The Kickstarter for my copy of 'HENSHIN! A Sentai RPG: Guest Star Expansion' from Cave of Monsters Games came in last week!

Also picked up the main TTRPG book with the 'Rider Konchu' (Kamen Rider) and '3 Minutes' (Ultra Man) books.

[bryanharryrombough]

Meguey Baker was diagnosed with breast cancer in July 2022. She's been through her first round of surgery and radiation, and is readying herself now for round 2.

[nivenus]

In just under an hour, the pre-game social for our next session of "On a Pale Horse," an ALIEN RPG campaign begins! 30 minutes after that we'll start gaming. Spectators are welcome!

[fantastictalesofadventure]

When those PCs have low perception scores...

[laureliere]

New character portrait pack consisting of 6 character portraits - Found By the Hearthside!

Available on my ☕ ko-fi.com/s/87c5c86007

[dailydungeondelves]

Om nom nom ideas