#i got around to buying xanathars guide to everything

[henchmaxxing]

Thank god I passed my fuck-off big engineering test and dont have to look at boring tables anymore (support reactions and column stiffness) and can instead look at the cool fun tables (magic items and xp thresholds)

[negasonicimagines]

Someone to You

request: “could i request an imagine or one shot where ntw and yukio are dating and negasonic is kind of rude to reader and its because they liked each other and never really acted on it so now reader confronts ellie about it (and says something like they're happy about ellie's and yukio's relationship BC ITS SO CUTE!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH oh my god im okay now ) i know its a lot but it would make me really happy and i would really love to read it thank you! :) <3”

notes: this is soooo cute! this is a yukisonic x reader imagine, hopefully the requester doesn’t mind (they didn’t specify poly but I’m Like That so…) don’t forget that the names in text messaging are always what you have the person saved as/what they have you saved as, meaning that if it says “Ellie the Mystical Unicorn: beanie babies are super gr8” that the reader has Ellie saved as  “Ellie the Mystical Unicorn” in their phone. You’ll notice in this story that it changes! Also…. Can you tell I wanna go on a date to a fair? Also, Y/S/N stands for Your Ship Name (with Ellie)!

Someone to You - BANNERS

warnings: none!

Water. Ellie was soaked in water. Thankfully, it was just a shower pipe that burst after just one more of her rude comments pushed you over the edge. You wish it’d been one going from the toilets to the sewers, but Ellie was lucky that day.

“Mx. L/N, Miss Phimister, see me after class,” Professor Xavier says, before going back to teaching. Once he’s wrapped up the lesson and everyone’s been dismissed, the two of you approach his desk. “What happened?”

“Ellie made one too many asshole remarks to me and I snapped,” you honestly explain.

“Well, maybe I wouldn’t be such an asshole if-”

“Girls, language.” He looks between the two of you. “It looks like the two of you need to talk this out. If you can’t, then it’s detention for you both.”

“I’ll take the detention,” Ellie declares.

“Good thing it isn’t just up to you, then, huh? C’mon, Phimister, what’s your deal? We used to be such good friends, and then one day you just decided you hated me.”

“I decided I hated you? Try the other way around, you fucking liar.”

“I’m not lying!”

“Well, I’m not either!”

“Take it down a notch,” Charles says, apparently having appointed himself the moderator of this discussion. “One at a time, explain your side of the story. Who wants to go first?”

“Me,” Ellie says, and you let her. “Last year. We were roommates, and we became friends. We were always partners in all the classes we had together. Sparring in P.E, our project for the science fair, that play we had to write for English… And then, one day in P.E, you picked Bobby. After that, you started listening to your music louder, sitting with Kitty and Bobby at lunch, and… You ditched me.”

“Ellie, I- I don’t know what to say. It wasn’t like that at all. I- I had a crush on you. Still kind of do, though it’s shrunk significantly since I heard you got with Yukio. I’m happy for you guys. But, um… Yeah. Last year we were roommates, and we were attached at the hip, and you- You started avoiding me, too. Always texting your Instagram mutuals when we were talking, barely paying attention to what I was saying, if at all. Subtweeting me.

“You joined the photography, poetry, and DND clubs, and while I was happy you were branching out, you never asked me if I wanted to join them with you, or anything like that, so I assumed you didn’t. I’m stupid and insecure like that, I guess. And then you just started being so mean to me. It hurt, a lot. So, I withdrew completely.”

“Oh,” Ellie says. “I- I had a crush on you, too. Part of the reason I’ve been such an asshole, I guess. I was messaging those mutuals because I needed advice. The subtweeting wasn’t okay, and I should’ve known better than to assume you’d just follow my lead, especially if my lead means being more social. I’m sorry, Y/N.”

“I’m sorry, too, El.”

She pulls you into her arms tightly.

“Beautifully done, girls. Some of my colleagues could learn from you.”

The both of you had nearly forgotten he was there, so wrapped up in each other.

“Hey, you should come with me and Yukio to the fair tonight. It’s supposed to be a date, but I don’t think she’ll mind,” Ellie offers.

“You should ask her, first. I wouldn’t want to be a bother.”

She goes to argue, but knows you, and that there’s no changing your mind.

“Alright,” she says, going on her merry way. 

She enters the dorm she shares with Yukio, the class she just had having been her last. “Hey, babe, would it be okay if Y/N tagged along on our date?”

“I thought you’d never ask. I’ve been meaning to say that I think they’d make a good third, if you ever wanted one,” Yukio replies, chipper as always but ultimately nonchalant as she flips through Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

“I- I didn’t mean it like that, and I didn’t say it to them like that, but, uh, really?” Ellie asks, a bit flustered.

“Yeah, why not? They’re super nice and funny!”

“O- Okay. I guess I’ll text them, then.” Ellie changes into dry clothes.

“You do that,” Yukio replies. “Tell me what they say, okay?”

“Alright,” Ellie says, texting you.

Ellie💔: Hey! Yukio said yes to you joining us

Y/N💔: Coolio! :-)

Ellie🖤: Uh yeah and she said if you wanna join us in like… A date-y way that would be nice

Y/N💞: Do you want me to?

Ellie🖤: Maybe a little (yes djsldkls)

Y/N💞: Then maybe I’ll consider (I’d love to eakljaskd)

“They said yes,” Ellie says, astounded, and Yukio perks up.

“That’s great!”  Yukio cheers, getting off the bed and embracing Ellie, the two sharing a kiss.

A couple hours later, Ellie and Yukio meet you at the door of the school.

“You look great,” Yukio compliments you before Ellie can say the same thing, but sound significantly dumber.

“Oh, thanks,” you respond with a blush. “You, too. Both of you!”  

Yukio takes the hands of both of you, pulling you out of the house so you can walk to the bus that’ll take you three into town.

“So, I’m thinking we pick our favorite rides, so we can make sure we get on them, and then afterwards we can play whatever games they have.”

“Sounds good to me,” Ellie says, and you nod.

“So, Y/N, you first. You’re the guest of honor,” Yukio decrees.

“Oh, jeez… I like the Tilt-A-Whirl a lot.”

“Good pick! I definitely wanna go on the ferris wheel. What about you, Ellie?”

“Hmm… I heard Rogue say the Himalaya is fun.”

“Alright. Any more ideas, anyone?”

“Maybe the Gravitron?” you offer.

“Yeah!” Yukio encourages, and Ellie nods. The three of you make it to the bus stop, sitting in the back row so that you can all sit next to each other, all holding hands. The bus stops in town, and the three of you get off, walking to the fair. You each buy your own wristband.

“This is gonna be so much fun, I’ve never done anything like it before!” Yukio excitedly says, swaying yours and Ellie’s hands, held in her own.

“I admire your attitude, Yukio. Not having done anything like this before is exactly what’s making me nervous,” you admit, while commending her for her free spirit.

“I’m pretty nervous, too,” Ellie adds.

“But there’s no need to be! I like Ellie, Ellie likes Y/N, I like Y/N, and Y/N likes us. Right?”

“Right,” you and Ellie agree, nodding. It does help to ease the tension a bit.

“Come on, you two. A smile wouldn’t kill you, would it? Which ride first?” Yukio wonders.

“I think we should save the ferris wheel for when the sun is setting,” you suggest.

“That’s a beautiful idea,” Yukio agrees. “The line for the Gravitron looks shortest, so maybe that one?”

“We don’t have to do my suggestion first,” you tell them.

“But it’s the easiest,” Ellie reminds you. “Might as well.”

“Alright,” you agree, and the three of you get in line.

It’s an enjoyable ride, you liked the ones that you understood the science behind. The three of you get off the ride, and you stumble a bit. The two rush to catch you.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been this supported in my life,” you joke.

“Well, get used to it, cutie,” Yukio says, giving you a quick kiss to the cheek. You blush, and all of you proceed to the Himalaya, squeezing into a cart. The cart races around the track, swaying the three of you back and forth in the cart, pinning either Ellie or Yukio (you’re in the middle) to the side.

After that, it’s the Tilt-A-Whirl. The three of you share one of the giant, chair-like carts, spinning upredicatably. You giggle wildly, enjoying the way your stomach drops with every turn.

The ride eventually ends.

“I wanna go again!” Yukio cheers, and you nod. The three of you get back in line, waiting for your turn. You enjoy the ride once more.

“One more time,” Yukio says. “Y/N is so cute when they’re happy!”

You feel your face heat up and find yourself smiling bashfully.

“See?” Yukio gestures towards you, and you hide your embarrassment in your hands. “Oh, no, I think I broke them.”

“We should probably slow down a bit,” Ellie replies, and you shake your head.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m just not used to lots of affection,” you admit, finally gaining the courage to remove your hands from your face.

“Aw,” Yukio pouts. “Well, you deserve it.”

You scoff, shaking your head again.

“Oh, hey, it’s getting close to sunset. We should get in line so that we’ll be on it then,” you remind your dates.

“Right,” Ellie agrees, taking your hand quickly and pulling you along. You grab Yukio’s, and the three of you make it to the slowly-moving line.

“We haven’t taken, like, any pictures!” Yukio realizes.

“Well, now that we’re in line we can take a few,” Ellie shrugs. She pulls you forward so that you’re in between the two of them as opposed to behind them. “Yeah, thought you were gonna be sneaky and not get in any pictures, did you? Well, that’s not gonna fly this time. I had, like, no pictures to cry over when we had our little friendship break-up, so… Let’s get snapping.”

You scrunch your face up at her playfully, and Yukio gets a picture.

“No, ‘Kio, don’t listen to Ellie, she’s evil,” you implore.

“Oh, yeah. So evil that you went on a date with me,” Ellie retorts, sliding an arm around your waist. Yukio puts an arm around your waist as well, and you decide to put your arms around their shoulders. Yukio takes one picture, sliding to a couple other Snapchat filters before switching to Instagram and getting a couple pictures with some of those filters, putting them on their respective Stories, as well as saving them to her camera roll. “My turn,” says Ellie, and she uses her phone to take pictures, following in the same fashion.

“Alright, now you, Y/N.”

“I think we have enough pictures in this spot,” you laugh. “I’ll get some on the ferris wheel.”

“Smart thinking,” Ellie says, and the three of you step forward. The sun is beginning to set, and you three are next up. You board the ride, enjoying the way the wheel steadily takes you to the top. You admire the world below you, trying not to be scared of descending towards it at a rapid pace from here.

Ellie and Yukio squeeze your hands, you must not have been hiding your nervousness very well.

“Eee! Golden hour pics!” Yukio squeals enthusiastically. Her cheer improves your mood significantly, it usually does. All of you take turns, taking selfies together, as well as pictures of the world below. You all enjoy the closeness before the ride ultimately ends.

“Game time,” Ellie announces, and you three explore the game aspect of the fair.

“I’m gonna rescue a goldfish,” you decide upon seeing them all crowded together in a tank, after playing a few different games.

“Do you have the means to keep it?” Ellie wonders.

“No, Ellie, I thought I’d just win the goldfish and keep it in a bag forever,” you snark. You were more comfortable around her than most, and you’d nearly forgotten this was a high-stakes date and not a fun hangout. She and Yukio both snicker at your comment. “You brought a bottle of water, right, Yukio?”

“Oh, yeah, why?”

“Could I have a sip?” you request.

“Sure,” she brightly replies, passing you the bottle. You take a sip, and spit it out.

“What the fuck was that for?” Ellie cries out.

“Watch and learn, doofus,” you respond, and the water hasn’t touched the ground. You float it up and under your jacket, keeping it between you and the article of clothing.

“8 balls for a dollar, 20 for $2!” the man calls out. You hand him a dollar, and he gives you a small basket. Ellie and Yukio are confused when you take off the jacket and the water is gone.

It’s in your hand, they realize as you wet the ball without the man noticing. You toss it, and by controlling the water, you manuver the ball into one of the bowls.

“Alrighty then. Pick one, little lady,” he tells you, and you do. He fishes it out and puts it into a bag of water. He sighs. “Goldfish like having friends, y’know,” the man says to you. “Normally upon winning, your turn is over and you have to buy more balls… But, I have a surplus of goldfish. If you wanna win a couple more for your friends, go ahead.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, why not? Just don’t tell my boss.”

You win two more fish with the same method, letting Ellie and Yukio pick out theirs.

“We should probably get going,” Ellie says. “I read online that if goldfish shake too much, it can break down their immune system.”

“Absolutely right. Thanks for liberating a few of these little fish,” the man tells you. “See you next year.”

The three of you leave the fair, taking a cab home. Manipulating the water, all of your goldfish hover just above each of your hands in their bags, not shaking with the subtle tremors of the car.

“So this is why you wanted to help me with a job,” Wade, perched outside the entrance, discovers. “Here’s your cut, kid.” He hands you a thick wad of money.

“You did what?!” Ellie is deeply concerned.

“Don’t worry! They just helped rescue a kidnap victim,” he quickly explains.

“You’re all about rescuing, aren’t you?” Yukio praises, and you can feel your cheeks heat up. She kisses you on the cheek, impressed with your heroism.

“Yeah, I was planning to rescue a fish or two either way,” you admit. “But it was fun impressing you guys with my super cool water powers at the same time.”

“Ooh, were you all on a date? Thank god, I no longer have to worry about the Yukisonic and Y/S/N shipping war.”

“And who exactly is on either side?” Ellie interrogates, an indignant expression on her face.

“Well, I personally liked both very much, but Yellow was a big fan of Yukisonic and White likes Y/S/N. And they do not shut up, even when I’m asleep.”

You feel for him, but Ellie’s mostly annoyed.

“Anyways, I’m a bit chilly. I’m gonna head inside. Nice bumping into you three.” Wade heads in, and you find yourself facing the two girls, goldfish still floating.

“Well, you know what they do at the end of first dates…” Yukio shyly says, and you furrow your brows. You hadn’t really been on many dates.

“But who should get to?” Ellie wonders. Context would be nice, but you stand and wait for them to come to a conclusion.

“Both, at once?” Yukio replies. This is quickly becoming a worrying conversation.

“Why not?” Ellie shrugs.

You find yourself on the recieving end of a kiss on each cheek, flames bursting from each pair of lips on your skin. Once they pull away, you put your cool hands on your cheeks, happily bewildered.

“Let’s go on in,” Yukio reminds ou and Ellie. “We need to rest up for our pet store date tomorrow.”

[askmerriauthor]

Hey Merriauthor, you post a few bit about D&D. My best friend and I really ant to get into it, but there's only us two and we have no idea where to start (the closest we have for reference right now is The Adventure Zone) . Would you be able to give us any starters on D&D and how to get into it?

Honestly, you can get along pretty well with a two-player game in some situations.  It depends a lot on what edition you’re running and what modules you’re using.  I’ve run quite a few one-on-one sessions with friends before, though I personally find a group of at least three players is the most  comfortable.

The current version of D&D is 5th Edition (casually abbreviated to 5e).  I’ve played every previous edition (except 4th) and spent much of my time in 3rd/3.5th and Pathfinder.  With that in mind, I��m all too eager to endorse 5e as being the most newbie friendly version of the game - it’s very easy to pick up and run with, has greatly streamlined the mechanics for convenient play, and keeps a good balance between raw dice-rolling-numbers and narrator-driven storytelling.

You don’t need to buy a bunch of expensive books since the majority of base resources are available for free online in the form of wikis.  My two go-to sites are Roll20 and Engl393.  Roll20 has the basic no-frills information while Engl393 has the expanded info - both are excellent references and great to keep on hand whether you’re prepping for a game or need to look something up mid-play.

If you’re completely brand new to playing tabletop RPGs, I’d suggest picking up a starter module.  For D&D 5e, that would be the “Lost Mine of Phandelver” box, which you can find online or in most chain book stores that sell RPG books.  The box contains everything you need to play through a pre-built story - it’s designed to ease both a newbie DM and newbie players into the game, teach the mechanics, and tell a fun adventure all in the same process.  If you buy this box, you won’t even need to get the other core books to begin playing - it’s got everything bundled up and ready to go.  It even comes with dice!

Once you’re comfortable with the system, I’d suggest picking up some core rule books to expand your knowledge of the game.  You really only need three - the Dungeon Master’s Guide, the Player’s Handbook, and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. The DMG is the base rulebook for the person running the game, which is used to cover all the nitty-gritty mechanics and a lot of the general setting of the standard D&D lore.  The PHB is what the players use - it covers character creation, items, and general gameplay.  If you’re in a larger group, it’s not at all uncommon for there to be two or three copies of the PHB floating around the table at any given time.  XGtE is an expansion for the game that covers both of the previous books - it further elaborates on mechanics, lore, and other features the first books otherwise skimped on.

Books and props aside, it’s best to keep in mind that you don’t need to buy a bunch of expensive texts or having amazingly detailed miniatures or any of that stuff.  Tabletop RPGs - D&D especially - thrive as “theater of the mind” experiences where your imagination does the bulk of the work.  Once you feel comfortable enough, don’t be afraid to break away from the written rules and do your own thing.  Write your own stories, homebrew your own rules, and really personalize an adventure to your own style.

I think I’ve rambled enough for basic starting information.  If you have any specific questions I could address, I’d be happy to help.

[simul16]

The Illusion of a New Edition

So, I've spent a few days thinking about that controversial gaming video on YouTube and have a few thoughts.

No, I'm not talking about the video where Cody from Taking20 says he's quitting Pathfinder 2 because of what he calls the 'illusion of choice'. When I first saw that video, I basically nodded in agreement, because Pathfinder, both 1 and 2, are designed for a particular kind of player who appreciates optimal play and 'builds'. Because a game gets the kind of players it designs for, that lends itself toward a playstyle where you as the DM see your players doing the same thing over and over again simply because it's the most efficient way to get through combat, even when that thing stops being 'fun'.

(I could have a few things to say about the cavalcade of response videos that came out after Cody's video, ranging from 'we've got to stick together as Pathfinder Youtubers' to 'D&D 5E has the same rules, why are you complaining?', but ultimately all of those videos boiled down to either inadvertently or deliberately missing the point in order to maintain a pre-determined opinion: that the style of play the video-maker likes is the best style of play, and since Pathfinder is designed for that style of play it must be by default the best game. Mostly it boils down to my standard screed on how optimization is a bad play style that drives out other play styles, though, so it wouldn't be especially fresh or new as a take.)

No, the video I watched that got me thinking was Treantmonk's "Winter is coming for D&D 5E", where he talks about the likelihood that sometime in the near future -- not the immediate future, but not that far off, either -- D&D will retire 5th Edition and bring out 6th Edition, or at least a revised version of 5E. I have a lot of problems with his analysis, and a good number of the individual points Treantmonk tries to make directly undermine the overall point he wants to make, but let me lead off by saying that it wouldn't surprise me in the least if there is someone at Wizards of the Coast, possibly even Jeremy Crawford, one of the lead designers of D&D Fifth Edition, who spends some amount of his workday thinking about what a 6th Edition would look like and what the circumstances are that would necessitate the release of a new D&D edition. "Failing to plan is planning to fail" and all that. But it's a far cry from saying that someone is actively considering what a 6th Edition would look like to claiming that 6th Edition is right around the corner, and there are good reasons to think that 6th Edition, whatever it looks like, isn't just right around the corner but probably isn't coming along for quite some time. In other words, I believe that the 'gap' between 5th and 6th Editions will likely be larger than the gap for nearly every other set of editions of D&D, with perhaps only the gap between AD&D (2nd) and 3rd Edition D&D being greater.

How can I be so certain of this? Some of it is from data provided by Treantmonk himself. For instance, Treantmonk points out that the D&D 5E 'core books' (the Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual) still show up as Amazon 'best sellers' (though it took me awhile to find the actual category in which they are best sellers -- 'Puzzle & Game Reference'). This is maybe a bit misleading, as the Pathfinder 2E core books aren't ranked by Amazon in the same category, and even the Player's Handbook's ranking is a bit confusing -- #1 in Puzzle & Game Reference, but #2 in Dungeons & Dragons Game (behind Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, which isn't listed in the Puzzle & Game Reference category), but the best apples-to-apples comparison I can find based on the Amazon data suggests that D&D is still far outselling Pathfinder, even though Pathfinder 2E is a newer edition: the 5E Player's Handbook is still in the top 100 bestsellers among all books on Amazon (#1 as I write this is "Promised Land", Barack Obama's autobiography) despite having been published in the late summer of 2014, while the equivalent Pathfinder 2E book, the Core Rulebook, is just barely in the top 11,400 best-selling books on Amazon despite being less than 18 months old. This argues against a 6th Edition partly because at least part of the accepted wisdom for the reason 5th Edition was released was to try to regain the top-selling RPG slot from Pathfinder, which had eclipsed D&D Fourth Edition in sales. If Pathfinder 2E had stormed out of the gate and performed well enough to re-create the original Pathfinder's ascendency over D&D, there would be a more obvious reason for Wizards of the Coast to consider coming up with a new D&D edition to fight for that RPG crown. But with 5E not only regaining the RPG crown from Pathfinder, but also seemingly easily fending off a challenge from a new, improved Pathfinder in Pathfinder 2E, that pressure is effectively non-existent: why mess with success? (And if anything, Cody's video lends further credence to the idea that there's no reason to replace D&D 5E, as Cody explicitly points out that the game he's most likely leaving Pathfinder 2E for, and the game with fewer of the problems he has with Pathfinder 2E, *is* D&D 5E.) Treantmonk continues, though, with an analysis that boils down to 'here are the reasons I wish I was right' instead of the reasons he's actually accurate in his prediction.

His first major point is in discussing the difference between 'fluff' and 'crunch' in RPG books, and making the blanket assertion that "crunch sells better than fluff". You can argue that he's correct in a very limited sense -- consider a book with 100% crunch, an RPG expansion book full of new race, class, and other mechanics, versus a book with 100% fluff, a book which is just background, story, and other narrative items wholly divorced from mechanics. It seems pretty clear that players would certainly look through the crunch book looking for interesting things for their current characters or ideas for new characters, and would likely buy the book if they found them -- that's a pretty clear market for a 'crunch' book. Whereas, for a wholly fluff-based book, players would likely only consider buying the book if they're playing in a setting where they really enjoy the setting, want to know more about it without bothering their DM, and are convinced that the setting details as expressed in the fluff book are the same as those used by their DM. There's still a market there, but particularly if you are a mechanically-focused player, and you game with others who are mechanically focused, you'd easily see much less excitement for such a book than for the strictly crunchy mechanics book.

So although our thought experiment above suggests that a 100% crunch book would likely have a larger audience and thus larger sales than a 100% fluff book, you might expect to see that books Wizards of the Coast has already published that don't contain mechanical game content do appear to not sell quite as well as books that do contain mechanical game content -- but you'd be wrong about that. As an example, while "Heroes' Feast: the Official D&D Cookbook" isn't selling as well as the Player's Handbook (the latter, as discussed, is in the top 100 best-selling books, while the former is 'just' at #160 on that list), it's selling better than the Dungeon Master's Guide (#192), the Monster Manual (#232), and even Xanathar's Guide to Everything (#284), the last 'big crunch' book released for D&D 5E. "Heroes' Feast" is currently selling far better than any Pathfinder crunch book, and as I write this, the book is oddly the #1 bestseller in the category of 'Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Television' and #2 in 'Party Cooking' (with the #1 book being Snoop Dogg's cookbook). I don't think anyone at Wizards of the Coast is regretting their decision to publish a cookbook with no races, classes, or feats in it.

And therein lies the rub: no book is 100% crunch or 100% fluff, and fluff does appeal to some consumers. As a proportion of fluff to crunch, D&D 5E books generally fall higher on the fluff side of that balance scale than Pathfinder books do, but this hasn't caused them to be poor sellers. And while one could argue whether Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is selling better now because it's new versus whether it has a higher proportion of crunch to fluff than earlier books like Volo's Guide to Monsters or the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, the truth is that Wizards of the Coast can successfully sell high-fluff books to their audience, at least in part because they've cultivated an audience that can appreciate books with a higher fluff content. Now if Paizo tried publishing a Pathfinder cookbook and the book sold horribly, Treantmonk would likely point to the failure of that book as proof of his thesis that fluff doesn't sell as well as crunch, but really, all he's doing is showing that his thesis primarly holds for an audience that looks for crunch over fluff, which the Pathfinder audience clearly does -- Pathfinder is the game that makes breaking campaigns fun, and the audience they have, which is the audience they've designed to attract, is that proportion of gamers who look for some practical way to break their game rather than some entertaining way to impart practical information of no use to the game proper but which might be a great thematic addition to a special gaming event.

(Hold onto this concept of perspective-blindness -- that Treantmonk is writing things he thinks are true in general but are mainly true from his limited perspective -- because it's a common thread in the points he makes, and thus in my critique of them.)

Treantmonk then moves on to say that increasing crunch in a game leads to 'bloat', where greater and greater rules complexity (as expressed by having more rules available to choose from) results in players who have access to all the rules options developing characters that are always going to be 'better' than the characters developed by new players who only have access to the core options in the Player's Handbook. There's a lot to unpack here, but I'll simply point out that in both cases where Treantmonk tries to illustrate his 'tons of rules and options' point with a video image, he uses an image consisting of a large number of rulebooks...from D&D Third Edition. That all by itself should be a red flag for his general argument here.

There is one good point Treantmonk makes here, though -- he points out that, in order for an edition to have long-term success, it must successfully attract new players throughout its lifespan, and that traditionally, game systems like D&D (prior to 5th edition, at least) and Pathfinder (in their first edition) did in fact develop greater and greater rules complexity and 'bloat' which was identified as a reason why new players were turned off of the game. The flaw in Treantmonk's argument, though, is again in assuming that D&D 5th edition works in this same way. He does point out that D&D 5e has deliberately slowed the pace of high-crunch books like Xanathar's Guide to Everything and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, but immedately loses whatever rhetorical points he earned by making this observation by insisting "this hasn't been the best model for short-term sales" (umm, did we miss that Tasha's is currently the top-selling D&D book, period, which means it's selling better than any Pathfinder book and probably every RPG book currently in print, at least on Amazon?), as well as insisting that even this slow pace of releases is causing a reduction in uptake of new players by forcing new players to have to exist with the sub-optimal choices in the core books rather than the 'obviously superior' options in the new books.

Does Treantmonk not watch his own videos? His 'quick and dirty' guide to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (posted a week after the release of the book) suggested that he didn't think Tasha's was as 'good' as Xanathar's Guide, which jibes with the reactions of other optimizers posting online who seemed disappointed that some of the clearly breakable mechanics that existed in these subclasses in their playtest forms (available via the Unearthed Arcana feature on WotC's website) got 'nerfed' for publication.

To begin with, the simple strategy of putting out a 'big crunch' book only once every three years or so rather than multiple times per year immediately reduces the rate of 'bloat' in the system as Treantmonk defines it -- if you don't publish rules as quickly, it takes longer to get to the point where you can't deal with the overwhelming number of options you have in deciding what to do with your characters. Plus, by taking longer to publish and submitting the ideas to effective public playtest via Unearthed Arcana, the developers can ensure that they don't accidentally push the power envelope farther than they intend by releasing something clearly not ready for play, and thus keep 'core' options competitive with the newer options available in these crunchy books. Both of these strategies are part-and-parcel of an overall desire to continue to maintain the existing edition for as long as it remains viable, which clearly is still the case, given what sales information we have access to. However, a bigger point is simply that new players aren't just introduced to D&D by people who are long-established players any more: in many cases, a new player wants to try out D&D after having seen it played online on a show like Critical Role or Dice, Camera, Action!, or has heard a reference to it in a news article or some viral content, or even by encountering it through some of those zero-crunch works like Heroes' Feast. These players aren't as likely to immediately go out and try to find an established group and join that group -- they may decide to put together their own group based on what they saw online, or go to a convention where they might play D&D Adventurers League games with other new players, and while the existence of new rules sources like Tasha's might occur to them (especially in the dealer room of said convention), the characters they're playing may just be pregenerated characters using the tried-and-true mechanics in the Player's Handbook, or even just using stuff from the freely available Player's Basic Rules -- there's nobody to suggest that they're playing the game the wrong way if they're not using the latest and greatest rule book, which either Treantmonk or his players likely would be doing if those players were playing at his table. Again, this is a case where Treantmonk is mistaking his personal experience of RPGs for the universal one, which truly isn't the case, and certainly isn't the case for D&D 5E.

Treantmonk's conclusion is a masterclass of projecting your own needs into your argument and all but ignoring the stated justification you've made for proposing your argument. He accepts that Critical Role and similar online shows have enticed people into trying out D&D, but insists that WotC has to 'do more' to convert those curious observers into new players. However, his means of doing this is to suggest that WotC either release a revised Fifth Edition Player's Handbook to give experienced players something to be excited about, which has very little to do with bringing new players into the game, or release an entirely new Sixth Edition ruleset which effectively does the same thing (but at least pays lip service to the idea that 'it should be easy for new players'). This shouldn't be surprising -- as I've previously stated, optimizers are more than happy to make bad-faith, self-serving arguments in favor of an outcome they want, and Treantmonk's video essay comes across as just more of the same here, ignoring the many ways in which the D&D game has itself changed and in turn has changed the hobby of RPGs in new and interesting ways, but also in ways that threaten to leave older players who still view the game as an exercise in optimization behind.

There is one other thing from Cody's videos I want to highlight, specifically in his follow-up video where he explains how Pathfinder 2E embodies the thing he calls 'illusion of choice': he points out that the problem where Pathfinder players are incentivized to do the same optimal tasks over and over again in every combat doesn't come from being a 'munchkin' or having some kind of 'rules mastery'; it simply comes from having an idea for a character (like a ranger who shoots a bow) and taking the options that appear to best support that idea. Doing so makes them extremely effective at doing the one task they've set themselves up to do, while seriously hampering their effectiveness in most other situations, and in many cases the game refuses to throw up tactical roadblocks that would make the choices they've chosen less optimal than they 'should be'. Pathfinder 2E thus plays like 'baby's first optimization challenge', and leads to players who either embrace that playstyle, or grow bored with doing the same optimal tasks over and over in every combat, and preferring combat to every other means of resolving conflict in the game because it's best supported in the rules, and decide to either stop playing Pathfinder (as Cody seemingly has) or stop playing RPGs altogether. *This* is the real roadblock preventing curious people from becoming new and regular players of RPGs: that the game won't support the kinds of characters and the kinds of play experiences they want, but will rather try to train them into thinking that the kind of characters and the kind of play experiences the game is designed to deliver are the optimal ones, the ones the player should want.

I have myself occasionally bemoaned the idea that some D&D 5E DMs allow patently outlandish things to happen at the gaming table, even things that are, on their face, violations of the existing game rules. But having taken some time to experience play with less experienced players, I've come to realize that this option -- the option to do something interesting that the rules don't explicitly support but that the player finds satisfying -- *is* the core of turning curious people into regular players. I may not find it very satisfying when I sit down at a table with three other players who are playing:

Themselves with a sword and shield


A character with the most ridiculous accent I've ever heard, and


Deadpool

but I have to agree that, for those players, they each find something worth doing in the characters they've created and the game that results from their play. Not only isn't it my place to tell them how to find the fun in the game we're playing together, I find that if I relax my own preconceptions and let the game play out, that we still end up having a good time and telling an interesting story.

So no, D&D doesn't need a Sixth Edition or even a Fifth Revised Edition any time soon. D&D is going a fine job of meeting players where they want to interact with the game, instead of following the approach of other game systems which presume that there's one best way to play and requiring you to play that way to find any fun in the game at all, if you even can.

[scribefindegil]

lavenderfrostflower replied to your post “i’m doing … very Not Good. maybe the most Not Good i’ve been since the...”

I went to a movie with friends I hadn't seen in years over the weekend, and I'm going to buy a large stuffed dog after work today!

Friendship is so good and so are large stuffed animals!! Also I’m glad you answered this because it reminded me that you sent me your music to check out and I haven’t yet, so that’s something for me to look forward to!

roguelibrarian said

i've been internet friends with this one person for years now and we finally met in person and we hugged and skulked around in a used bookstore filled with cats

!! That is an Excellent way to hang out with an internet person and I am very happy for you!

animatedamerican said

I had a conversation in meows with a stray cat. I think we achieved a degree of mutual fellow-feeling.

I feel a deep kinship with both you and this kitty. 

limitlesspolydreamus said

I had a small child play Peek-a-Boo Runaway with me while I was putting books back at work the other day! It was very cute and brightened up my whole day!

ahhhh I love kids! I got to see my tiny three-year-old cousin recently and she’s so smiley and opinionated and chatty, and also she has purple light-up sneakers and if you comment on them she’ll jump up and down in circles while giggling

corvus-pica-pica said

I got to see my family and meet a Good and Excellent human who my human has spoken very highly of!! It was a very solid Christmas/NYE visit. :)

<33333

skittlestew said

Received a lovely Wonder Woman mug from a co-worker! Also tried a cute pseudo-D&D family card game with my roommates where we ended up adding rules and dice rolls to suit our reckless playstyle

ooh fun! What game?

sanasean said

A friend surprised me with a fanart of my ocs !

What a good friend!!!!

kmuttpaw said

In two days, I’m getting to see friends I haven’t seen in a year. And I’m getting to experiment with king cake recipes so another friend with a cinnamon allergy can enjoy them. Need one in the mail?

Ahhh friendship is so important!! I hope you and your friends get lots of good hugs if you are huggy people!! And you don’t need to send me a cake but I would love the recipe!

comicgeekery said

I got some nice comments on my fic. They made me very proud of my writing.

Good! Comments like that are so so important!

hirilelfwraith said

i've been reunited with my roommate's cat, and she's as sweet and soft and chubby as ever. she's sleeping on my bed right now

CATS ARE SO GOOD!!!

kieranczy said

a few friends of mine got together and we had a snowball fight! We built forts and everything. My team lost but it was still very fun

That sounds like so much fun! I love playing the in snow with people :)

amolecularmachine said

I got a brand new 5e Dungeon Master's Guide on Saturday!

Whoo!! I got the Player’s Handbook and Xanathar’s Guide for Candlenights, and I love having the physical books! It’s so much easier to look things up in them and I just like having d&d things on my shelf. Have fun with your DM’s Guide!

artisticthingem said

*sends hugs* i partnered with a t shirt printing store in my hometown to sell my artwork on their stuff!

Oh my gosh that’s so cool!!! I’m so happy for you!! Are they dinosaur t-shirts because if so I need to know how I can get one!

Thank you to everyone who told me about their Nice Things; they honestly helped a whole lot. We should do this more often.

[sharkyhat]

“The Black Company” Recap: Gylai, the Dragon Turtle.

The party made a deal with a Dragon Turtle in this session.

Starting from where we left off last week, the party and Damakos made their way to their ship, the ‘Liberty North’, with the intent of preventing an ambush on the Triton strike team heading towards the Sahuagin fortification in the middle of Luton Lake. They did some brief shopping and Birri acquired a second Javelin of Lightning, Arwn got a pair of Winged Boots, Artemis finally got magical weapons in the form of +1 arrows and a pair of Bracers of Archery, and Clay picked up some Gloves of Missile-Snaring. After this, we established that magical items are special and rare and will be changing to random tables to avoid power-creep and selective buying.

As they boarded the ship, Damakos mentioned needing a crew for the sails and other manual labor and Birri offered 1 gold piece to volunteers. 50 silver pieces to start, 50 upon completion of the task. They got six commoners in need of work and set sail. The first two days saw no encounters and the team trained in new languages and kits for two days without interruption.

We’re using “Xanathar’s Guide to Everything” for downtime activities and learning new skills and stuff. Clay is learning to use Thieves’ Tools, Temuta is learning Weaver’s Tools, and Arwn and Sheila are learning Tinkerer’s Tools.

The dawn of the third day, however, I rolled for a planned encounter. The area they were in was where the Water Plane replaced the Material Plane. There were dangers in the water. Using a table higher than the party’s level range in “Xanathar’s”, I rolled a 99 on the Aquatic Encounter Table for parties level 11-20.

A Dragon Turtle. Fitting for the dangers of another realm. It was about to attack the ship.

As it approached, Birri used her Paladin ability of “Abjure Enemy” to halt it and frighten it. With a Wisdom save of +7, I rolled a 3. 10 against Birri’s 15 DC. I’m a DM who prefers to let the dice make for a better story in moments of “Cool”. The Dragon Turtle stopped and glared at the party, unable to approach or move because of “Abjure Enemy”... for one minute. Ordering Damakos to run, the Tiefling put all his effort into keeping the ship moving as the Dragon Turtle follows. For two days, he kept the ship going as fast as he could, suffering from two levels of Exhaustion by the end of it, but Birri and Temuta ultimately devised a plan...

Try and appease it. They didn’t know it collected treasure and could be bought by treasure. I DIDN’T EVEN KNOW UNTIL I READ THE MANUAL. It made the moment so much better because they unknowingly played to its nature.

Damakos halted the ship, Temuta conjured sheep to feed the Dragon Turtle as an offering, and Birri made an offer: treasure in exchange for its help against the Sahuagin. With a high Insight roll, he knew the Dragonborn was telling the truth about the treasure the Sahuagin probably had stashed in their shrines. They knew Sahuagin used their pillaged goods in shrines for Sekolah, so gold and other items may be waiting to be claimed. During the conversation, they learned the Dragon Turtle not only devoured a bulk of the Triton force, but a Sahuagin force as well - establishing its dominance in the watery region. The strike team was gone, but a bulk of the Sahuagin forces in the area were as well. They also offered to speak with the Council to give it more treasure as well as possible control of Luton Lake, complete with a toll for passing to build up its horde. It was enough to have it follow them without aggression. They planned to use the Dragon Turtle to ABSOLUTELY WRECK THE SAHUAGIN FORT IN LUTON LAKE.

At this point, I’m all-in with this idea. I’m giving my players a kick-ass moment in the story despite how I initially planned for the last few sessions of this arc to go. I decided it was time to introduce the one leading the Sahuagin on their warpath - “He-Who-Is-Called”. In the middle of Luton Lake, in the waters above the fortification they built around... something... sending off pulses, the ship with the wandering Black Company recruits stared down a large Sahuagin flanked by two Jaws of Sekolah. All three were on the backs of fiendish sharks. On the shores, hundreds of Sahuagin warriors and dozens of Sahuagin priestesses bowed. Even Barons bowed in his presence. Four arms, a large trident, adored with shark-teeth and similar armor to the Jaws of Sekolah - quite imposing. I had planned for this battle to take place in the city of Glyndon, but with the recent developments, I decided the battle was to occur here next week. The party had a back-and-forth with him; words about this war being about survival of the fittest and drowning those who didn’t know how to survive like the Sahuagin. The war being brought to the group’s homeland because this Sahuagin was told to do so by a devil-shark in the Nine Hells. There was no way they would or even could find a middle-ground in this and prepared themselves for the war that was to come in that lake.

I wanted to add tension. A race against the clock. The Sahuagin raised the trident and a pulse was sent off it, visible rippling through the air, and surrounded the head of the Dragon Turtle. Dominate Monster. The Dragon Turtle failed and was now under the control of the champion of Sekolah.

This is a modified effect of the trident Drown from “Princes of the Apocalypse”. The trident itself is slightly modified.

Held actions go off and Artemis and Clay fire at “He-Who-Is-Called”, but don’t break his concentration. Arwn uses his Spiritual Weapon and Necromancy + Death Cleric effects to cause enough damage that he could only maintain concentration on a Natural 20. He used a Legendary Resistance. This was the first true “Boss Monster” in the game. Legendary Resistances, Legendary Actions, and Lair Actions.

I cannot wait for next week’s battle. A Paladin, a Cleric, a Ranger, a Gunslinger, a Thief, a Druid, and two NPCS in Sillian, a Fighter-Ranger, and Damakos, a Storm Sorceror who is suffering from two levels of exhaustion, against Sekolah’s personally-picked champion on his turf, two ‘Jaws of Sekolah’ blackguards with fiend-shark mounts, and a motherfucking Dragon Turtle. At level 8. The battle, however, is absolutely winnable. The wildcard in play - by the party, mind you - is the Dragon Turtle.

Welcome to the Black Company.