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

[AnOminous]

Adventurers were supposed to be paranoid and careful (hence how long it took to move through dungeons), because finding traps was difficult (up to level 9 a thief would find any given trap on a toin coss) and they were dangerous to disarm (failure resulted in the trap being sprung on the thief), and both rolls were made in secret by the GM.

Some of these were dumb and bogus, like the classic poison needle chest. If you already detected a poison needle, why the fuck would you put your hands in front of it? Just hit it with a hammer and set it off. Maybe you'd mess up the contents if they were fragile but I generally wouldn't require a dice roll for not accidentally cutting off your own dick.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Some of these were dumb and bogus, like the classic poison needle chest. If you already detected a poison needle, why the fuck would you put your hands in front of it? Just hit it with a hammer and set it off. Maybe you'd mess up the contents if they were fragile but I generally wouldn't require a dice roll for not accidentally cutting off your own dick.

And you shouldn't. Like, there was nothing in the game saying that you had to disarm a trap. If a trap was detected and the players knew how to set if off safely, they were free to do it. All they had to do was describe to the DM what they wanted to do and the DM would describe the outcome. If you wanted to trigger that poison dart trap by tripping the wire with a Standard-Issue 10' Adventuring Pole (one of those items that have been in D&D since the beginning for a reason), there really wasn't anything in the rules preventing you. All the DM could do if they really wanted to fuck you over was to design traps in such a way you couldn't safely trigger. But that was just in bad form.

Also, some traps just couldn't be disarmed, only sprung or bypassed. Like, you don't really disarm a collapsing floor over a pit of spikes. You can either bypass it as it stands or activate it and then go around the hole. There was a lot more context to encounters than just "making sure the players spend X resources before they walk into the boss encounter".

 

[Adamska]

Amber DRPG

Amusing, since I've only heard awful things about this game, and it's looking like most of it's genuine given what I've skimmed personally. Ranging from how it requires you to read all ten novels to even know what the hell is going on in the book at all to how disjointed it is to read to how shit the little mechanics in it are.

For those wondering, you start with 100 points to spend on abilities, and you bid on your skills against other players for the right to ranks. So why is that bad? Because your rank in a skill is all that matters; no matter how hard you improve in a skill, you will never outdo a person who is even a single rank higher than you. So what's going to happen is you will blow most of your skills warring with the other players, which can get as bad as you blowing most of your points on a single skill. I mean, you can fetch further skills by downgrading your ranks in others, but again, you will always lose now in that skill, but even moreso.

Oh by the way, the game's crawling with DMPCs since the books are following godlike entities of bullshit power. You are forever the tool of these cunts, since even if you rig the game completely in your favor you will just fucking lose 99/100 times. No matter how much you hone the skill you have, you just straight lose if they're a single rank above you, even if they put no points to it.

It isn't challenging, you're just puppets in the DM's fanfic of an obscure book series, since the GMPCs and the nature of the setting means you are even more restricted than any complaints you might have about characters like Eleminster. At least if you actually choose to play that game as it's written.

 

[Loose Goose]

All it is is a gimmick. Amber is the logical endpoint of a lot of hobbyist waffling about why using dice is a lowly form of gaming, and why pure ROLEplayers are above that.

The game is not unplayable, since a lot of it is supposed to rely on manipulating other PCs/NPCs into doing your bidding or being absent while you doublecross them, and that doesn't require too many dice. But is it better for using no dice at all? No.

 

[AnOminous]

There was a lot more context to encounters than just "making sure the players spend X resources before they walk into the boss encounter".

Though if you really wanted, you could still force the action with "you need the red key to do X." It would just get boring if you did that for everything.

The game is not unplayable, since a lot of it is supposed to rely on manipulating other PCs/NPCs into doing your bidding or being absent while you doublecross them, and that doesn't require too many dice. But is it better for using no dice at all? No.

I've had campaigns where there was little to no dice-rolling, but a general rule has always been that when the knives come out, the dice come out. If you decide diplomacy has failed and it's time for fighting, that's not always going to turn out how you planned.

 

[WhatIsThePunchline]

Isn't anything organic pretty much irregular by definition?

Don't play with it in a casino. For normal gaming night it's fine. It's not like regular dice is more than roughly balanced anyway.

 

[AnOminous]

Don't play with it in a casino. For normal gaming night it's fine. It's not like regular dice is more than roughly balanced anyway.

They are if you test them for it and throw away the ones that aren't.

 

[kcbbq]

Amusing, since I've only heard awful things about this game, and it's looking like most of it's genuine given what I've skimmed personally. Ranging from how it requires you to read all ten novels to even know what the hell is going on in the book at all to how disjointed it is to read to how shit the little mechanics in it are.

For those wondering, you start with 100 points to spend on abilities, and you bid on your skills against other players for the right to ranks. So why is that bad? Because your rank in a skill is all that matters; no matter how hard you improve in a skill, you will never outdo a person who is even a single rank higher than you. So what's going to happen is you will blow most of your skills warring with the other players, which can get as bad as you blowing most of your points on a single skill. I mean, you can fetch further skills by downgrading your ranks in others, but again, you will always lose now in that skill, but even moreso.

Oh by the way, the game's crawling with DMPCs since the books are following godlike entities of bullshit power. You are forever the tool of these cunts, since even if you rig the game completely in your favor you will just fucking lose 99/100 times. No matter how much you hone the skill you have, you just straight lose if they're a single rank above you, even if they put no points to it.

It isn't challenging, you're just puppets in the DM's fanfic of an obscure book series, since the GMPCs and the nature of the setting means you are even more restricted than any complaints you might have about characters like Eleminster. At least if you actually choose to play that game as it's written.

Much of what you're describing is stuff you're explicitly told not to do. A badly run game is going to be bad, no matter what the system is. There is no need to have read the novels, either.

All it is is a gimmick. Amber is the logical endpoint of a lot of hobbyist waffling about why using dice is a lowly form of gaming, and why pure ROLEplayers are above that.

No, it's for a game where the characters are at god-like levels of power and skill, usually can manipulate reality in some way pretty much effortlessly, and can often leave just by walking out of the universe. The level of power is beyond where random chance makes sense, because even if you spend zero points the character will always succeed unless something powerful enough is opposing them.

But beat on that straw man all you want.

 

[Sniper Monkeys]

I've been wanting to play PF1e again, but none of my friends GM it, and I don't like GMing. Being in a PF2e game for almost a year, I feel like my character stagnated like an algae-polluted pond. But none of my friends get why I hate the system so much, since GMs prefer it over both 5e and PF1e. Also the pronouns on the character sheet has me sneeding every time I open the damn thing.

Maybe it's just :autism: though. I can at least agree that 5e is a nightmare for GMs to run.

 

[Mexican_Wizard_711]

We don't have a WHF thread, so I'll post this here. It's another "Gatekeeping Bad" post.

 

[Snekposter]

We don't have a WHF thread, so I'll post this here. It's another "Gatekeeping Bad" post.
View attachment 5666976

Ah, I love Knights Errant. They're a bunch of kids with no land or title yelling "WITNESS ME!" as they charge at the enemy lines hoping someone important notices them before their luck runs out.

 

[Adamska]

Much of what you're describing is stuff you're explicitly told not to do.

I'm actually using the examples listed in the book itself where multiple players intentionally fuck themselves out of being able to Pattern or Logrus due to the GM being a lying little weasel and forcing them to burn bidding points to get ranks. By the way, that's a fairly important skill to have given you need to universe hop, and you need points to purchase other shit too.

Should I also use my skimmed knowledge to highlight how often he lies to his players so he can remove their items casually? You buy them not to have, but to make it so much harder for the GM to do that. Oh, how about the fact he also lies to them about their allies and connections since they don't pick shit? Maybe I should also point out how he favors evil characters and punishes good ones.

His best example is taking a noble character and having all of the allies and friends he has ruin him and gaslight him into being their slaves. The evil guy by comparison just has to watch out for knives in the dark at all times.

Oh, and that last example? Literally the page after his do's and don'ts that just come off as a pathetic figleaf to him being a shit GM. And he routinely breaks them from there afterwards. Repeatedly.

A badly run game is going to be bad, no matter what the system is.

Well no shit, but some systems intrinsically will make a terrible game more often due to flaws in design. This is one such system, as is PBTA due to its mechanical faults.

There is no need to have read the novels, either.

Don't know about that one chief, since his summary is more unfocused than some of the trippier aspects of the books themselves. It's also a sequel to the novels as well, so you do need to be familiar with it.

No, it's for a game where the characters are at god-like levels of power and skill, usually can manipulate reality in some way pretty much effortlessly, and can often leave just by walking out of the universe. The level of power is beyond where random chance makes sense, because even if you spend zero points the character will always succeed unless something powerful enough is opposing them.

You literally can't do this unless you pay for the skill or an ally who can, and the latter can still ruin you regardless of that.

 

[Battlefield2142EU]

Yes. Multiple D&D youtubers dropped a damage control video response to a hobby veteran saying the golden age of TTRPG being mainstream is coming to an end by mocking him. By reading off a similar script. Around the same time, there is a new Matter Mercer cancelation attempt before the release of his Dungeons and Dragons competitor game. Nothing suspicious about that timing at all.

 

[kcbbq]

Well no shit, but some systems intrinsically will make a terrible game more often due to flaws in design. This is one such system, as is PBTA due to its mechanical faults.

I'm sorry I made you upset for liking a niche system you have no intention of ever playing.

 

[AnOminous]

Yes. Multiple D&D youtubers dropped a damage control video response to a hobby veteran saying the golden age of TTRPG being mainstream is coming to an end by mocking him.

What golden age of being mainstream? Being mainstream is when it became utter shit by catering to blue hairs and hypersensitive faggots who hate everything that made it worthwhile in the first place.

 

[iScream into the void]

What golden age of being mainstream?

Golden age of tourism more like.

 

[Battlefield2142EU]

https://archive.ph/KdDwE

Catalyst fucked over fan 3D printing and confirm trannies are the most important group in the TrannyTech universe.

 

[Adamska]

I'm sorry I made you upset for liking a niche system you have no intention of ever playing.

I'm more sorry your defense didn't work out due to the book itself sabotaging you honestly.

Yes. Multiple D&D youtubers dropped a damage control video response to a hobby veteran saying the golden age of TTRPG being mainstream is coming to an end by mocking him. By reading off a similar script. Around the same time, there is a new Matter Mercer cancelation attempt before the release of his Dungeons and Dragons competitor game. Nothing suspicious about that timing at all.

Is it a bad time to also mention this? Probably not, so here you guys go: DnD decided to make a horrible one-shot where you magical realm your way into a Tarrasque's vagina.

Really speedrunning any% away the player base with braindead decisions like this. At least they're mostly off the hook for the VR game.

 

[Corn Flakes]

Is it a bad time to also mention this? Probably not, so here you guys go: DnD decided to make a horrible one-shot where you magical realm your way into a Tarrasque's vagina.

Really speedrunning any% away the player base with braindead decisions like this. At least they're mostly off the hook for the VR game.

You know, I could more or less understand it if the concept of the adventure was exploring the entire corpse of a dead Tarrasque or some other creature. Like, there have been plenty of good adventures/maps set in those that worked well, with varying levels of gross-out to pick from.

But being so specific about it being the dead, preserved vagina of a creature that is stated to be unique and therefore unlikely to even have genitals is... anyone else getting some Ed Gein vibes out of this shit?

 

[ZMOT]

Ah, I love Knights Errant. They're a bunch of kids with no land or title yelling "WITNESS ME!" as they charge at the enemy lines hoping someone important notices them before their luck runs out.

I was thinking of shadowrun for a second and going WAT

Yes. Multiple D&D youtubers dropped a damage control video response to a hobby veteran saying the golden age of TTRPG being mainstream is coming to an end by mocking him. By reading off a similar script. Around the same time, there is a new Matter Mercer cancelation attempt before the release of his Dungeons and Dragons competitor game. Nothing suspicious about that timing at all.

maybe, but I'd attribute it more to an "influencer" trying to make waves and faceplanting because he's retarded.

there's a reason it didn't blow up, lot of bad takes, conflating "dnd" with "TTRPG", knowing fuck all about the history of DND nor TTRPGs while calling himself the "dnd historian" and other stupid shit like getting modern social media dynamics wrong. it literally reads like a fluff(er) piece kvetching about people not feeding dnd and propping up wotc in the process. fucking no-game secondaries...

for example:

This influx of gamers created a rising tide that lifted all boats. Novice gamers started out playing D&D 5E, yes, but went on to discover other great games.

lol

But recent developments make clear that this radiant golden age is ending, as surely as the steam engine ended the age of sail, or hobbits bearing a ring ended the Third Age of Middle-earth.

lol (and that's just the intro)

But what is Candela Obscura? (If asked, Aunt Sonja might guess Candela Obscura was a potpourri scent.) The brand recognition that drove people to Critical Role is gone.

apparently people watched CR for dnd, not the other way around

TTRPGs will become less interesting. Less exciting. Less creative. And despite all the new systems, it will also grow less diverse as it becomes even harder to make money in a TTRPG community broken into factions.

yes, let's all feed the 5e blob (and thus wotc), how interesting, exciting and creative. and of course the fucker doesn't even know the meaning of diverse

when a twat like mike mearls calls you wrong, you know you fucked up.

source: https://www.facebook.com/ben.riggs.writes/posts/10168399913785285
(also why do I have to dig up the source myself, only one linking it was dungeon craft. jfc get your shit together you nigger reaction youtubers)

But being so specific about it being the dead, preserved vagina of a creature that is stated to be unique and therefore unlikely to even have genitals is... anyone else getting some Ed Gein vibes out of this shit?

"you gonna explore the kaiju stink ditch, and you gonna like it"