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

[Glory To Arztotska]

It's never going away because pretending to be an elf and stealing orc loot will continue being fun. They can't take that away from you. They might take away Dungeons & Dragons specifically, but they can't take away dice and being huge dork.



I recruited for my game with an online ad. It's pretty easy to winnow out the ultra-leftoid faggots, just make sure it's the sort of game unappealing to them. A couple guys in my group are libs, but they aren't massive faggots.

Which service did you use for your ads? I've tried Reddit and Meetup and am no longer satisfied with those.

 

[The Ugly One]

Which service did you use for your ads? I've tried Reddit and Meetup and am no longer satisfied with those.

Meetup. This was years ago, though, I have no idea what it's like today.

 

[Adamska]

To them it is, because the concept of actual, legitimate level design with flow, rising tension, environmental storytelling, loops, verticality, coherence, etc. is apparently just that uncommon in the space, despite the fact that dungeons have had shit like that since their conception. [In fact, in the retro FPS mapmaking scene, making loops is considered a low level basic ass design convention that takes zero thought or effort because it's just such a given.] Nobody imagines dungeons as an experience, composed of emotions and flow and energy. No, just a "place". They don't conceptualize it beyond the physical. Makes sense, considering their... phillistinial nature

It's because they know on some level that this concept and game design principle isn't new, and they're attempting to sell themselves hard on "inventing" it. Marketing be like that, reinventing the wheel and trying to get the attention and plaudits for it. I expect that when the person they're shilling the ideas from dies, some other idiot will try to claim it.

It's a big factor in why they're damnatio memoriaeing everything Gygax cooked; it makes it easier for them to claim to invent these groundbreaking rules.

They need to find some way to sell their slop, and lore and settings take work, and game mechanics and refereeing are pretty mature at this point; if you use dice or cards, both have been tested pretty extensively. It's that latter fact that I suspect so many TTRPG shysters like Edwards ideas so much; makes it easier to shit out a game with no effort.

There's no reason for troons in any RPG. Just use some cybershit to troon out, put on a girdle of masculinity/femininity like in AD&D, then you're just who you want to be anyway.

Anyone insisting on troon shit after that should be publicly killed.

Effectively this, especially in cyberpunk and sci-fi settings. In a fantasy splat, they might need to beseech the gods or go on a quest, but it's still rather attainable.

It's not a bad character arc to go with for a motive; compare to a pauper trying to get the money to marry above their station, or to earn respect. But yeah, these cosmological and methods to make this work. Anyone who doesn't do this merely just enjoys the traditions of drag shows or likes the style. Or it's a cultural thing like in Glorantha.

 

[Brain Problems]

How difficult is it to get into CoC? I'm a big Lovecraft fan so I feel like the mythos stuff I've already got a leg up on but curious what veterans would say about the mechanics of the game itself? Also, what are your favourite scenarios? Everything I see says that Masks of Nyarlathotep is one of the finest TTRPG experiences a man can indulge in but also that it looks a bit more advanced as far as entry level stuff goes.

 

[The Ugly One]

How difficult is it to get into CoC? I'm a big Lovecraft fan so I feel like the mythos stuff I've already got a leg up on but curious what veterans would say about the mechanics of the game itself? Also, what are your favourite scenarios? Everything I see says that Masks of Nyarlathotep is one of the finest TTRPG experiences a man can indulge in but also that it looks a bit more advanced as far as entry level stuff goes.

It's an easy enough game to play, certainly less complicated than D&D or Traveller.

 

[Ghostse]

Unrelated to the current conversation; I got invited to a PBP game of Sorcerer by an acquaintance of mine. Lots of fluid roleplay using the framework of Sorcerer as a base.

Run. Get the fuck out.
PBP is a nightmare that never works out, and if this system has a sex book and the DM is "this is fucked up lets run it" it because they want to inject their fetishes into the game.

Do not enter this guy's magical realm.

As far as I'm aware the guy running this is pretty normal.

> DMs a ttrpg
> pretty normal
Pick one my dude.

Also, I can't sugarcoat it, I'm wondering if the hobby is going to go the way of the dodo sometime soon, like within 5-10 years. At the very least where I live the lion's share ofthe friendly local game stores have become unfriendly LGBTQI pity parties, maybe save for the biggest one but it's also the most bland and corporate.

No. It might retract to where it was around say 2000, but it won't go anywhere.

 

[Glory To Arztotska]

It's a big factor in why they're damnatio memoriaeing everything Gygax cooked; it makes it easier for them to claim to invent these groundbreaking rules.

I hate these bottom-feeders so much.

@Ghostse Noted.

 

[Overly Serious]

How difficult is it to get into CoC? I'm a big Lovecraft fan so I feel like the mythos stuff I've already got a leg up on but curious what veterans would say about the mechanics of the game itself? Also, what are your favourite scenarios? Everything I see says that Masks of Nyarlathotep is one of the finest TTRPG experiences a man can indulge in but also that it looks a bit more advanced as far as entry level stuff goes.

It's simple enough (though by the standards of some modern RPG systems it might as well be trying to solve the Kotzig's Conjecture). Game balance isn't that difficult because unlike a lot of games the PCs aren't really supposed to fight the monsters that much. And it has the nice advantage that the core book contains pretty much everything you need to play - a bestiary of monsters, comprehensive character creation and rules covering arcane books, some spells, etc. The 7th edition even includes rules for both 1920's setting and modern. Originally modern was a separate supplement.

As a big Lovecraft fan you'll get into it quick. Read the core rules a couple of times to make sure you properly understand things like combat and injury. Understanding madness can take a couple of extra scans of the page but it's nothing any reasonably intelligent person wont get their head around.

Note there is another more recent Lovecraft based RPG called Arkham Horror (confusingly shares a name with a board game series as well). But that's more focused on pulp action and (a) you can do that with CoC if you want to already (there are pulp rules for it) and (b) they sanitised the setting because racism is bad. I mean, the CoC book isn't filled with pages saying it's a good thing, but they decided including racism and sexism in the 1920's setting was bad. In fact one of the default pre-gen characters is a Black woman on a sports scholarship to a prestigious American university with a White boyfriend. It also lectures you in places in the text and tries to make insanity not so bad because people with mental health issues shouldn't feel targeted.

So I stick with CoC even if I'm not a huge fan of percentile systems. Seriously, grab it - you'll have a blast. I've never played Masks of Nyarlathotep but it's the legendary adventure for the game so if you grab it as well you probably wont go wrong. I always write my own though - I'm a big Lovecraft fan, too.

 

[Adamska]

I hate these bottom-feeders so much.

@Ghostse Noted.

Speaking of bottom feeders, behold, the laziest cash grab yet!

Cynically exploiting a pop-culture success as one of its main drives suspiciously quickly after it finished? Check.
Using a modified FATE system that was crapped out by some other writer to avoid doing any work at all? Check.
Literally tracing assets from an IP and hoping to god they don't get sued? Check.
Using gay as an affinity scam? Check.
Throwing barely cooked ideas as extras that likely came from failed submissions to other collabs? Check.
Collaborating because they couldn't even fill the page count needed for a book at all? Check.
Despite this and having three other writers collabing still being too fucking lazy to actually come up with any ground settings? Check
Bragging about GMless systems and standard Bondage Clown Talking points from the Forge's rotting taint? Check.
Supporting religious fundies that'd personally kill them for multiple reasons? Check.
Abusing sweatshop labor in China and crying because it's going up, thus proving they're enemies of the worker? Check.
Using that excuse to explain delays? Check.

Like fucking hell it's almost a joke man.

 

[Halbschwanz]

"make the dungeon loop" is good, it isn't earth shattering

Consider that pre-internet, you might have started running an RPG at the age of like 12-13. Most of the guys running games did not consider themselves game designers. It was just playing the game but you had a bit more legwork than your players. With the proliferation of theater shitters and profiteers in the hobby, they had to find a way of staving off the embarassment of being invested in "just playing a game."

Much like Breadtubers having to pretend that Spongebob is some sort of deep introduction to anti-capitalism to avoid saying they simply enjoy cartoons as an adult, these same sorts of socially sensitive hipsters have to insist that liking elfgames makes you a professional, and that they're elevating the hobby instead of being content with RPG publishing being somewhere between fanfiction author and self published novelist for ease of entry. They forget at the end of the day that advice of this sort is simply meant to make playing a game more fun and isn't going to make you into the next Shakespeare or Shigeru Miyamoto.

 

[regginknurd]

Both Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford are leaving WOTC.

Story here.

Im not sure if this was addressed or not, but Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford have joined Darrington Press (the company started by the Critical Role people). I'm pretty sure the two of them essentially were forced to retire because Hasbro is liquidating the fuck out of everything WOTC has except for Magic the Gathering, but im not sure what this means for the ttrpg community.

Honestly, I love my liberlite Chris Perkins. Even after meeting him and following his carreer since 3rd edition (that's when I started nooticin' his involvement and name), he's only ever seemed like a polite canuck who didnt use his status or social media to sperg out about his political ideology. He always stuck to DnD shit and popcorn styled television shows. Jeremy Crawford is insufferable in person, though. I'm not sure what this will mean for everyone, but I hope he makes whatever game they are pushing as fun as 3 and 3.5 edition was for me for the next generation of gamers. I'm sure it'll be gay and broken, but I have hope for what Mr. Perkins contributes.

 

[Ghostse]

Im not sure if this was addressed or not, but Chris Perkins and Jeremy Crawford have joined Darrington Press (the company started by the Critical Role people). I'm pretty sure the two of them essentially were forced to retire because Hasbro is liquidating the fuck out of everything WOTC has except for Magic the Gathering, but im not sure what this means for the ttrpg community.

All that's missing is Joining Paizo so they can claim destruction of the 3 largest gaming companies.

 

[The Ugly One]

I'm pretty sure the two of them essentially were forced to retire because Hasbro is liquidating the fuck out of everything WOTC has except for Magic the Gathering

Jeremy Crawford: "You know, there are just too many white males in charge of everything!"
WotC: "Okay, you, Mike, and Chris are all fired."
Jeremy Crawford: "Noooooo I didn't mean me! Noooooo!"

Mearls was the only guy who understood D&D as a business and the players as customers. When they canned him so that Crawford could be even more of a smug, woke faggot, it was the beginning of the end.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Speaking of bottom feeders, behold, the laziest cash grab yet!

Some warning next time, the thumbnail of their video is a flashbang solar flare made out of Tumblr faggotry. 6x their goal for whatever the fuck this is...is harrowing as it is unsurprising.

Cynically exploiting a pop-culture success as one of its main drives suspiciously quickly after it finished?

Like a Fate of Cthulhu situation (that shit still makes me sneed) where they just use someone else's shit despite openly not liking it, or the the creator? In this case Star Wars?

Literally tracing assets from an IP and hoping to god they don't get sued?

Lol what? That's hilarious, which one specifically? I don't see anyone mentioning this.

Using gay as an affinity scam?

I'd imagine this is the average player if that's the case:

Kek.

I can hear the Autofellatio from here.

Throwing barely cooked ideas as extras that likely came from failed submissions to other collabs? Check.
Collaborating because they couldn't even fill the page count needed for a book at all? Check.

Truly a sign of health in the project and the talent needed to pull it off. I've nothing to say about the other points other than 17 people paid $275 for this shit.

 

[Adamska]

Like a Fate of Cthulhu situation (that shit still makes me sneed) where they just use someone else's shit despite openly not liking it, or the the creator? In this case Star Wars?

Oh it's even funnier when you realize they're Jews for Palestine and recommend not supporting RatCo because they don't want to support a millenarian death cult who seeks to genocide a people who experienced it in living memory still. They love product, but are totally ethical and not trying to grift at all on the one success that IP had in years.

Lol what? That's hilarious, which one specifically? I don't see anyone mentioning this.

If you look at the eye rape that's their thumbnail, look at the ship in the background. That's a traced X-wing missing the top prongs.

I'd imagine this is the average player if that's the case:

View attachment 7529543
View attachment 7529549
Kek.

Again, I'd not be shocked if this was from a rejected script from Thirsty Sword Lesbians. It has all the energy of it.

Some warning next time, the thumbnail of their video is a flashbang made out of Tumblr faggotry. 6x their goal for whatever the fuck this is...is harrowing as it is unsurprising.

Speaking of unsurprising, let's play a game:


Nattie or HRT?

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

How difficult is it to get into CoC? I'm a big Lovecraft fan so I feel like the mythos stuff I've already got a leg up on but curious what veterans would say about the mechanics of the game itself?

Being a fan of the universe is the half the job, that's probably why it's my favorite RPG, so you should be fine with trying to get into it. It uses the Basic Roleplaying System (BRP) so I recommend looking into that first then into what CoC does with it. Since they're both made by Chaosium they use it very well. Also, they have a quickstart PDF so you can get a basic idea of what it offers (Dhole's House is also good, been around for decades iirc) as well as the editions. Worth mentioning that you should have the mindset of an average guardsmen, you competent against fellow mortals but fighting Eldritch beings from beyond the stars is bad for everyone's health.

Everything I see says that Masks of Nyarlathotep is one of the finest TTRPG experiences a man can indulge in

Not sure if it's the finest per say but it's certainly up there as one of the best. If nothing else, get MoN, you can run it on the 7th Edition or "Pulp". Speaking of which, you should also look into the different versions of CoC, for now I suggest 7th. Pulp is...the easiest way I can describe that version is Coc normally is playing like playing a suvival horror, no shit right? Never played Pulp myself but I have had it described as "you're trying to get your 5e friends to try something else for once" if that makes sense. You play CoC to be an investigator slowly unraveling a plot, you play Pulp if you want to be like Caleb from Blood but toned down, it's a more actiony, "standard RPG" style game that you can probably find more success in introducing people to. Again, haven't played that version so I might be horrifically wrong.

 

[Ghostse]

Oh it's even funnier when you realize they're Jews for Palestine and recommend not supporting RatCo because they don't want to support a millenarian death cult who seeks to genocide a people who experienced it in living memory still. They love product, but are totally ethical and not trying to grift at all on the one success that IP had in years.

If you look at the eye rape that's their thumbnail, look at the ship in the background. That's a traced X-wing missing the top prongs.

Again, I'd not be shocked if this was from a rejected script from Thirsty Sword Lesbians. It has all the energy of it.

Speaking of unsurprising, let's play a game:
View attachment 7529614

Nattie or HRT?

I want them both to die.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Oh it's even funnier when you realize they're Jews for Palestine and recommend not supporting RatCo because they don't want to support a millenarian death cult who seeks to genocide a people who experienced it in living memory still.

Audibly wheezed at that.

If you look at the eye rape that's their thumbnail, look at the ship in the background. That's a traced X-wing missing the top prongs.

Realized that after editing my post, not even subtle.

Minor differences but still very "totally not X-Wing." I can imagine the arguments for it, probably something along the lines of "It's a reference! It's supposed to be recognizable!"

Thirsty Sword Lesbians.

RIGHT? I neglected to ask if this was made by the same studio, it's not so I just didn't mention it but it's still very "Evil Hat." Hell I even mentioned FoC because it looks like something they'd make.

Nattie or HRT?

Silly skull patch man, women don't exist in the TTRPG industry! Willingly and for the enjoyment of the hobby anyway...

 

[Glory To Arztotska]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's RatCo?

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Pardon my ignorance, but what's RatCo?

Disney I believe. I remember Adamska mentioned them as RatCo in the Star Wars Griefing Thread. Fucking $864 million dollars...