Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[The Demon Pimp of Razgriz]

FATAL clearly.

How much worse is the "5E is the TTRPG Base game" than d20/3.5 was? I have a copy of the Starship Troopers TTRPG based on 3.5/d20.

At least D20 was an actual system, designed to be used with multiple game types, which is why you had D20 versions of so many different games, from the aforementioned Call of Cthulhu to Big Eyes Small Mouth. 5e is made for 5e, and you can't just shoehorn that system into every damn genre under the sun.

 

[Corn Flakes]

The durability of the player characters isn't really the big issue for me when it comes to trying to do something more horror-related with 5e (or D20). It's the levels system. Having abilities, skills and powers locked behind level thresholds when the characters are meant to be squishy and easily killed completely breaks the system. And spending a whole campaign at level 3, with level 3 skill caps and character options is just fucking boring.

So you gotta rip out the whole concept of levels and introduce some alternate form of progression to reward survival. And at which point it's just easier to play World of Darkness. Or GURPS, for that matter.

 

[Snekposter]

So you gotta rip out the whole concept of levels and introduce some alternate form of progression to reward survival. And at which point it's just easier to play World of Darkness. Or GURPS, for that matter.

Funnily enough I helped a buddy homebrew up a system based on WoD for his homebrew setting precisely for that reason. Worked out pretty damn good if I say so myself.

 

[Judge Dredd]

The durability of the player characters isn't really the big issue for me when it comes to trying to do something more horror-related with 5e (or D20).

Here I go simping for Savage Worlds again...

Character power is overstated as a problem when it comes to horror for a couple of reasons.

First, people have the idea that in horror games (especially Lovecraft) the PCs should end the game dead, insane, or both. This is not true. In most horror fiction (including a lot of Lovecraft) the characters "win", survive, or achieve some victory even if it minor.

Second, Savage Worlds works well for horror despite stacking the deck heavily in the players favour. I think the reason for this is that enemies are always a threat. A zombie in Savage Worlds can get lucky with exploding dice and ruin a PCs day. In contrast, a single zombie in DnD can't kill a PC unless it spends several turns attacking.

It's not that the PCs are powerful or durable, it's that the rules can result in monsters that are zero threat.

Third, DnD has magic. Spoony's video on Cthulhu-Punk is a great example. No one players GURPs Cyberpunk, only ShadowRun, but the magic in ShadowRun renders the supernatural elements of Cthulhu-Punk moot. Part of the reason I'm hesitant to run Ravenloft for people is because everybody knows it already.


All of these things can be fixed with fudging and houserules, but like you said, just play something else at that point.

 

[anti SJW]

WOTC cares about the old setting so much, they misspelled Krynn. Twice.

 

[anti SJW]

 

[Adamska]

View attachment 3746617

WOTC cares about the old setting so much, they misspelled Krynn. Twice.

Mispelled Krynn and the people on the cover just internally make me wince due to their fucked facial expressions they have. Also has the same energy as a mediocre flop of a young adventure novel and does not draw me in. 2/10 will not buy.

 

[Ghostse]

I saw this doing the rounds and was reminded of this thread.
https://twitter.com/DMDMStudios/status/1574854269576089613
View attachment 3742459

Oh yeah I meant to give this non-shitpost answer but forgot.

The problem is that's all well and good when you're playing solo. But D&D is multiplayer.
"I don't own half-life... you'll buy me a copy? How the hell do I use this code? What's Steam? Oh, I don't have a computer I only have an ipad. Oh god these graphics are so old, can't we play something that works in 4k?"

So if you want to play with friends, sometimes you have to mod Skyrim because everyone has that installed and just mail them the zip with your 10,000 mods, because there is a user-friendly accessible mod-manager.

 

[Judge Dredd]

View attachment 3746617

WOTC cares about the old setting so much, they misspelled Krynn. Twice.

I remember a lawsuit a while back where WOTC tried to fuck over the Dragonlance authors without technically breaching contract. They hate them and the setting for some reason (I'm guessing politics), but they know it prints money.

Also, that cover is terrible. The art is well rendered and all, but it says nothing about the setting. It reminds me of that Eberron cover that was just a portrait of an elf.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

To be honest I'm surprised they haven't tried to cancel Larry Elmore.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Also, that cover is terrible. The art is well rendered and all, but it says nothing about the setting. It reminds me of that Eberron cover that was just a portrait of an elf.

I used wonder why people said Magic the Gathering cards had generic, wimpy art these days. That illustration made me realize the folly of digital art. Where is the fucking contrast, man?

 

[Brain Problems]

I used wonder why people said Magic the Gathering cards had generic, wimpy art these days. That illustration made me realize the folly of digital art. Where is the fucking contrast, man?

It looks like functional amateur art for an independent computer game made 10 years ago. It's bland and inoffensive but looks shitty and boring and manages to be condescending with its borderline Burger King Kid's Klub diversity quota front and centre. Why make something dynamic and interesting when you can pay someone a couple hundred to deliver corporate DIE approved content that won't get you screeched at on twitter?

 

[Adamska]

A smart person would've have them fighting an encounter in the adventure or traversing a section of a dungeon to get the tone right. A stupid person thinks that their OCs will sell it all.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I'd love to know where they got that image, though. Because on the preorder page (seriously? We're preordering fucking D&D modules now? Is Hasbro that desperate for money?!), it's this image:

It's still kind of "eh", but it's better than what was in that social media announcement @anti SJW posted. Couldn't they have used, you know, the actual cover instead of someone's speedpaint practice?

 

[BIG BILL HELL'S]

(seriously? We're preordering fucking D&D modules now? Is Hasbro that desperate for money?!)

Compound interest is a hell of a drug.

 

[anti SJW]

Link to tweet.

WOTC also mis spelled Solamnia. I wonder if they will respond being called out by one of the creators of the setting.

 

[anti SJW]

There's not enough facepalms in the universe for this shit.

 

[Ghostse]

View attachment 3751857

There's not enough facepalms in the universe for this shit.

Jesus tapdancing christ.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

They're just hell bent (heh) on erasing any kind of moral entity from the game.

I remember having a bit of a geeky cosmological discussion at one point, and I made the conjecture that yes, a devil could be redeemed and an angel could fall -- but in doing so, they would cease to be what they were and change into something wholly different, because their identities and essence are so wrapped up in their makeup. A devil that becomes good, stops being a devil. He might become an angel, or an archon, or whatnot; but he would no longer be a devil.

Remember, good and evil in D&D settings are tangible forces, not just philosophical concepts. The old Order of the Stick gag about measuring evil in kilonazis is more apt than people might think.

The idea of outliers isn't terrible, but we all know they won't stay outliers.

 

[Ghostse]

The idea of outliers isn't terrible, but we all know they won't stay outliers.

I'll begrudgingly give PF2 some praise and say that part of the PHB Core Rules they nailed - when describing the races they say what the average Elf is like, and when people notice you are an Elf they will expect you behave in a certain way. Your Elf doesn't HAVE to behave that way, and not every elf needs to or will behave that way, but they are acknowledged as outliers.