Various tabletop stuff not deserving its own thread

[Rand]

proooooooofs?

Feel free to dig through all of Gygax's ramblings from 1975 to 1985.
I expect it was one of his columns in Dragon Magazine of the era, but I don't have an index for them.

This is from 2nd edition, after all of Gygax's revisions since '77

I've never heard that once before

You've heard it now.
And it says it outright, if in a roundabout way.

[Classix]

There is another website:
https://www.heroforge.com/

This one has more 'caster/Priest idea' features I like. Thank you sir.

[Rand]

I dislike "Wisdom" as a stat for a variety of reasons.
Here's what I've come up with instead, along with what I feel are better names for stats:

Physical:

• Power: Applied physical force.
• Finesse: Speed and precision.
• Vitality: Endurance and physical toughness.

Mental:

• Intellect: Logic and knowledge.
• Awareness: Perception and intuition (noticing illusions).
• Presence: Social influence and charm (resisting fear or domination).

(Yes, this is basically the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, with different names, and without "Luck".
It was a good system made by talented guys.)

So what stat is for clerics? Generally presence, as the gods prefer people that can spread their faith and represent it well.

[rusty_shackleford]

I dislike "Wisdom" as a stat for a variety of reasons.
Here's what I've come up with instead, along with what I feel are better names for stats:

Physical:

• Power: Applied physical force.
• Finesse: Speed and precision.
• Vitality: Endurance and physical toughness.

Mental:

• Intellect: Logic and knowledge.
• Awareness: Perception and intuition (noticing illusions).
• Presence: Social influence and charm (resisting fear or domination).

(Yes, this is basically the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system, with different names, and without "Luck".
It was a good system made by talented guys.)

So what stat is for clerics? Generally presence, as the gods prefer people that can spread their faith and represent it well.

Mmmm, no, not very wise.

[Acrux]

I can't find the original source, but apparently Mike Mearls shared some data about how poorly D&D 5E is selling.You can see that the Tasha's Cauldron when initially released was ranked pretty high (#5 overall). The 2024 books are all starting off way down the list on initial release.

This combined with Hasbro not even mentioning D&D in their last quarterly earnings makes me think things are pretty bad for them right now.

[Rand]

Also posting here because **** Andy Collins and the ***** brigade at WOTC.

[Vergil]

How come Starfinder isn't more popular? I can't recall even seeing a single video game based off of it even.

[Oyster Sauce]

How come Starfinder isn't more popular? I can't recall even seeing a single video game based off of it even.

Starfield came out like a year ago

[Vergil]

How come Starfinder isn't more popular? I can't recall even seeing a single video game based off of it even.

Starfield came out like a year ago

Starfield may not have humans but it doesn't have elves either.

[rusty_shackleford]

How come Starfinder isn't more popular? I can't recall even seeing a single video game based off of it even.

Science-fantasy mashup has never had much fanfare, not in the way Starfinder does it anyways. Starfinder is less like Traveller(or even WH40k) and more like Spelljammer… actually I'd compare it to Dragonstar but I don't think many know of it.

[Vergil]

Science-fantasy mashup has never had much fanfare.

Unfortunate. I think it could be cool...

[UltraFan123]

Starfinder is basically sci-fi that has relatively few fantasy elements sprinkled here and there. I would compare it more with Star Wars or Dune since even Spelljammer has more proper fantasy elements in comparison.

[rusty_shackleford]

Anyone used Chronica or something similar?
https://chronica.ventures/

[rusty_shackleford]

What's the reason tabletop RPGs never adapted to action point systems like computer RPGs did?
Doesn't really add much bookkeeping honestly

[Cipher]

What's the reason tabletop RPGs never adapted to action point systems like computer RPGs did?
Doesn't really add much bookkeeping honestly

I would wager that the opposite is also true. What's the real difference of having an action and a quick action. Or standard, move and swift. Or 3 action points?

Some games even eschew of move equivalent actions altogether, and as long as it is your turn, movement is considered part of any action you take. Action Points really shine when you get really granular, which works better when the computer does the math, like with original X-COM/Xenonauts types.

If moving costs the same as attacking twice then that makes static slug fests more appealing, as attacking twice is more visceral and esoterically 'fun' than moving and attacking. If moving is assumed to be part of your action or you have a specific % of 'Time Units' dedicated to it, then it doesn't create analysis paralysis or trade offs which was one of the best things 4e did right, making it so there were a lot of movement options, both voluntary and forced movement, which also incentivized the DM to make obstacles and other such hazards instead of "flat combat map".

AD&D 2e is one of those games where you get 1 action, and movement is understood to be part of your action, which makes it more easy to understand and also more flexible when Players want to be creative. I do see ways where a system could leverage good action economy through action points, but again in my opinion in order for that to be worth it, you have to get really granular and at that point it does involve more bookkeeping than most would find desirable in pen and paper as opposed to letting the computer do the heavy lifting.

[rusty_shackleford]

Reversible spells were cool.

[UltraFan123]

****, I just found out that Trench Crusade - a game with huge potential - just decided to flush itself into the toilet because the creators are libtards who couldn't keep their opinions separate from business and went full mask off.

At least TC showed us that we are capable of funding and creating our own war games if the core idea is good enough, tho the negative is that seeing how a rising game with such a huge traction and momentum just committed suicide in such an embarrassing way, people will now be more suspicious and cautious about what future games they may want to help fund.

Is a real shame.

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

****, I just found out that Trench Crusade - a game with huge potential - just decided to flush itself into the toilet because the creators are libtards who couldn't keep their opinions separate from business and went full mask off.

At least TC showed us that we are capable of funding and creating our own war games if the core idea is good enough, tho the negative is that seeing how a rising game with such a huge traction and momentum just committed suicide in such an embarrassing way, people will now be more suspicious and cautious about what future games they may want to help fund.

Is a real shame.

What happened this time? I know there we’re banning everyone left from Mao in discord a while back.

[UltraFan123]

****, I just found out that Trench Crusade - a game with huge potential - just decided to flush itself into the toilet because the creators are libtards who couldn't keep their opinions separate from business and went full mask off.

At least TC showed us that we are capable of funding and creating our own war games if the core idea is good enough, tho the negative is that seeing how a rising game with such a huge traction and momentum just committed suicide in such an embarrassing way, people will now be more suspicious and cautious about what future games they may want to help fund.

Is a real shame.

What happened this time? I know there we’re banning everyone left from Mao in discord a while back.

I learned that the creators pussied out and publicly announced that they are leaving X/Twitter and moved to the PedoSky eco-chamber, which was already a move that apparently shaved like 80% of their previously loyal playerbase.

What makes this even funnier is that the 20% playerbase they did retain are the braindead leftards who are babbling **** like "why is Trench Crusade so Eurocentric!?" and "where is the atheist faction in this game about heaven and hell!?" all over X/Twitter.

In fact I learned about it because they recently revealed the game world map which was blasted by wokies for leaving in-game Europe "intact" while the middle east and North Africa - which were closest to Jerusalem - were ravaged by demonic hordes.

I could make and entire thread making fun of such baseless criticisms, but I think we all get the idea. And we also know that sooner rather than later the creators of Trench Crusade will go and make their "public struggle session apology" to remake their "problematic" game that will now begin its decline into obscurity.

[Cloharp7]

****, I just found out that Trench Crusade - a game with huge potential - just decided to flush itself into the toilet because the creators are libtards who couldn't keep their opinions separate from business and went full mask off.

At least TC showed us that we are capable of funding and creating our own war games if the core idea is good enough, tho the negative is that seeing how a rising game with such a huge traction and momentum just committed suicide in such an embarrassing way, people will now be more suspicious and cautious about what future games they may want to help fund.

Is a real shame.

What happened this time? I know there we’re banning everyone left from Mao in discord a while back.

I learned that the creators pussied out and publicly announced that they are leaving X/Twitter and moved to the PedoSky eco-chamber, which was already a move that apparently shaved like 80% of their previously loyal playerbase.

What makes this even funnier is that the 20% playerbase they did retain are the braindead leftards who are babbling **** like "why is Trench Crusade so Eurocentric!?" and "where is the atheist faction in this game about heaven and hell!?" all over X/Twitter.

In fact I learned about it because they recently revealed the game world map which was blasted by wokies for leaving in-game Europe "intact" while the middle east and North Africa - which were closest to Jerusalem - were ravaged by demonic hordes.

I could make and entire thread making fun of such baseless criticisms, but I think we all get the idea. And we also know that sooner rather than later the creators of Trench Crusade will go and make their "public struggle session apology" to remake their "problematic" game that will now begin its decline into obscurity.

To be fair, they should have placed the Hellgate epicenters in other places to better reflect the modern day world.

You know, the entirety of California, Manhattan NYC, Davos, Bruxelles, London, Beijing, Jerusalem, ...

[Unhelpful Contrarian]

The absolute state of Pazio.

[UltraFan123]

Good riddance!

[DagothGeas5]

Good riddance!

I recall seeing him when watchng the A Team on youtube and, at least the earlier episodes, I really liked the whole team, is he a bad apple then? I recall seeing some sort of cartoon mascot around that is linked to him in some way and people seemed to hate the character a lot, but that is all that comes to mind.

[Jordy]

I recall seeing him when watchng the A Team on youtube

Surely you don't mean...

[ArcaneLurker]

You just know that a liberal white woman in Seattle with blue hair and a nose ring wrote that.

Sadly this insane "stop treating monsters as monsters! Let's all get along!" mentality has been creeping into Japanese games too. Final Fantasy XIV turned to it over the last few years with the apologism for the savage beast tribes and demonization of humans defending against them, and then scrubbing the "beast" noun and just calling them all "tribes". Just this last week, I was playing through the new Granblue Fantasy story event which was about "awww, maneating goblins are ackshually people too and just want to get along!"

In fairness, the subhumans of our fairy tales are actually preferable to the real subhumans that Leftists already want to sacrifice the world on an altar for.

[DagothGeas5]

I recall seeing him when watchng the A Team on youtube

Surely you don't mean...

I may be butchering the name I think as I went so search for it but couldn't find it XD I recall there was a paladin, a wizard and a dwarf fighter. The dwarf was from clan "Thunderbottom" and I still fondly recall his introduction where the player said that his character's father was so devastated in grief that he stopped drinking, which I found absolutely hilarious especially with how it was delivered XD

[Jordy]

I recall seeing him when watchng the A Team on youtube

Surely you don't mean...

I may be butchering the name I think as I went so search for it but couldn't find it XD I recall there was a paladin, a wizard and a dwarf fighter. The dwarf was from clan "Thunderbottom" and I still fondly recall his introduction where the player said that his character's father was so devastated in grief that he stopped drinking, which I found absolutely hilarious especially with how it was delivered XD

Was it partly animated and infront of an audience?

[Acrux]

I recall seeing him when watchng the A Team on youtube

Surely you don't mean...

I may be butchering the name I think as I went so search for it but couldn't find it XD I recall there was a paladin, a wizard and a dwarf fighter. The dwarf was from clan "Thunderbottom" and I still fondly recall his introduction where the player said that his character's father was so devastated in grief that he stopped drinking, which I found absolutely hilarious especially with how it was delivered XD

You're thinking of the Penny Arcade D&D podcasts. Yes, he was the DM for those for several years.

The good riddance is that he's a superlibtard who helped usher in modern D&D awfulness.

[UltraFan123]

Basically, he was someone with such tenure and high-ranking position yet he either didn't do nothing to slow down the corruption, or he helped to accelerate the corruption.

Only now that the DnD brand is undeniably crashing down and burning that he decided to leave or was kicked out. Either case, too little too late.

[DagothGeas5]

Was it partly animated and infront of an audience?

It wasn't, but I know they did a spin-off after the dwarf left, but things were never the same after that and I felt it fell off to me I know they really pushed for cartoon things for the spinoff and a grandma character there was very hated because her player metagamed a lot, but I can't say I recall it happening so I can't say. I did notice her becoming a sort of mascot out of nowhere much like the likes of Drizzt and it felt strange, at least to me.

You're thinking of the Penny Arcade D&D podcasts. Yes, he was the DM for those for several years.

The good riddance is that he's a superlibtard who helped usher in modern D&D awfulness.

That is horrific, had no idea. Thank you for telling me! And yes, Penny Arcade sounds very familiar so it must be that. I recall it was a live show in front of an audience, but the name rings a bell. Thank you for letting me know, however heartbreaking the news is as I really liked the guy (was always amazed at how fast he could count the dice, he would pick it up and have already the numbered thing in his head while doing the gesture as if he didn't do the calculus at all).

Basically, he was someone with such tenure and high-ranking position yet he either didn't do nothing to slow down the corruption, or he helped to accelerate the corruption.

Only now that the DnD brand is undeniably crashing down and burning that he decided to leave or was kicked out. Either case, too little too late.

Was about to post when I saw you posted also, thank you also for the information