#do i have enought buffer tags on this yet?

[doing-that]

Can you expand on why nights is so bad? I'm not trying to be defensive about it, I haven't heard it and I'm just curious since the main taz product is generally pretty good

it’s entirely because travis is not a good dm. his methods stifle player inventiveness and just roleplaying in general. im judging him on a super unfair level but i live with a gamedev and am a storyteller for a living, this is how my mind works now. more in detail under the cut

its definitely super unfair to judge travis like this since 1. its his first time properly dming and 2. in this instance he’s being compared to griffin whos a video game journalist for a fucking living and therefore knows a buttload of stuff about what makes good games and mechanics and what makes good story on top of that because it’s his JOB, not to mention he makes up game shit for coolgames inc on the weekly too so he’s got the biggest leg up for being a dm in the world but like....

before i listened to nights id see people online talking about how hes such an amazing dm and w/e but heres the thing... hes... not...? a good dm... everything is tedious puzzles and maps and mazes which can be good and fun if theyre executed well, but he has to spend the whole time explaining it all so much that he straight up gives away the answers or makes the answers something the characters could never find out on their own or have to get by sheer luck. having an npc guide you while giving you literal answers through a whole dungeon? not fun. making your players blast boxes until they hit a random correct one? not fun. these things could have been made good if he knew how to execute them properly but he doesn’t. he keeps making puzzles that his players can’t solve, or that he won’t let his players solve.

also through npcs or just straight up talking too much hes constantly telling the others what to do. like people criticized griffin of railroading?? yeesh! practically every turn in nights is travis telling the others exactly what they need to do. in the newest episode he gave a major character role to a guest player who knew nothing about dnd (a horrible mistake!) and had to tell the boys out of character in excruciating detail exactly what to do and exactly what the plot was rather than let everyone roleplay and find it out organically.

his storytelling is also very poor. his worldbuilding? excellent! so much detail, such intricacy! i love the world hes created for all of this! if only i could see it at all whatsoever! he describes nothing in any detail beyond what is bare minimum necessary and most of the time he opts to just tell everyone exactly what’s happening rather than let them do it. classic case of something in desperate need of “show don’t tell”.

it’s very interesting, at first I thought that the reason I didnt enjoy nights like i enjoyed taz classic was because he adhered too much to the rules of dnd, since classic goes so wet and wild, but as this has gone on and i’ve talked to my friend who develops games and mechanics for like... a living... it’s become pretty clear to me that the rules are being adhered to pretty equally. it’s just the way the story is executed that stifles the players

and it’s all so upsetting to me! i love trav and I was very hopeful for this thing. I love all of the boys characters and i was really into trav’s npcs (tara especially!) but there’s really no heart in any of this. i know they all care a lot but it doesn’t feel like it. my job is to take stories and concepts and envision them in my mind so i can bring them to visual life and this...? i can’t see anything, there’s just nothing to imagine in it. it’s not good to listen to.