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Hardly anyone who praises these settings to high heaven was even gaming in the 1990s.
Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)
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That’s another funny thing: so many of the people who defend shit like the official account posting gay pastel cozy porn art don’t even buy their products. How many people have bought the 2024 PHB when there’s so many ways to get into the game for free? That’s a problem Battletech has: you throw these faggots a bone (while throwing your established fans under a bus) and they don’t even give you money. They pirate your books and 3D print their mechs and you pander to them like marks.
I was wondering that, like even the groggiest and wrinkliest of grognards I’ve known have very little memory of al-quaddim. Most of those niggas don’t even remember oriental adventures that much.
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- Nov 15, 2021
It was obvious to me after running 4e throughout its entire lifespan that nobody actually played any of this stuff. The simple reason is that it takes for-fuckin'-ever to run a D&D campaign. In ten years of play, you don't have time to play through the dozens of class options, monster expansions, and setting boxes that people pretend they know inside and out. Those high-level monsters hardly ever happened, everybody crying about how this edition ruined the Ancient Black Dragon or that edition ruined the Remorhaz has probably never actually seen one, ever.
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- Dec 17, 2017
It really says something that the best part of Radiant Citadel wasn’t anything WotC did, but Mr Welch, in his fanmade Mystara timeline video, detailing exactly how the not!Roman Empire would conquer the city through a mixture of sabotage, previously established alliances, and superior military strength.
Summarized, an agent of the Thyatis finds a watcher willing to betray the Citadel due to her frustrations with one Watcher being able to completely deadlock anything, thus stifling any kind of innovation. She agrees to not do anything when the Thyatians invade and explain how the city’s defenses work in exchange for her people getting their own land to rule. Said agent then tells all of this to the emperor.
After getting over his complete and utter disbelief that there could be a magical flying city with poor defenses just waiting to be raped of its absurd wealth and treasures, he forms an alliance with a rival empire, Alphatia, the empress of which owes him a debt after he saved her life one time. This allows him to deal with the large amount of wizards in the Citadel. He then had assassins teleported into the Citadel, both to make sure the traitor stays true to her word (she does) and to kidnap (but not kill) several other Watchers to prevent the rest from raising the city’s defenses. After that, it was just a matter of using the Alphatian airships, magic, and wizards to land on the city and slaughter everything that fought back, kill anything not a human or demihuman, take everyone else as slaves, and stripmine the city between the two empires. Alphatia emptied the library, Thyatis got all the treasure, and the Thyatian agent got the elven artifact she was angling for the entire time.
After getting over his complete and utter disbelief that there could be a magical flying city with poor defenses just waiting to be raped of its absurd wealth and treasures, he forms an alliance with a rival empire, Alphatia, the empress of which owes him a debt after he saved her life one time. This allows him to deal with the large amount of wizards in the Citadel. He then had assassins teleported into the Citadel, both to make sure the traitor stays true to her word (she does) and to kidnap (but not kill) several other Watchers to prevent the rest from raising the city’s defenses. After that, it was just a matter of using the Alphatian airships, magic, and wizards to land on the city and slaughter everything that fought back, kill anything not a human or demihuman, take everyone else as slaves, and stripmine the city between the two empires. Alphatia emptied the library, Thyatis got all the treasure, and the Thyatian agent got the elven artifact she was angling for the entire time.
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- Aug 6, 2019
You’d have to be deeply invested into a campaign to see any of that unless you had a retarded DM. I’ve had campaigns with an ancient chromatic dragon and it’s never been something you can just mollywhop despite the plethora of tiktok beardmen proposing what they consider game breaking builds. Those high CR monsters were always meant to be a big time investment in an already large investment, not something that the fantasy avengers can wipe out in a round.
Time is a big thing with D&D, and part of why I can’t stand the 3.5 generals. I like a lot of settings like dark sun, but you have to spend a lot of time to get enjoyment out of them. There’s no instant gratification and I don’t trust anyone who says they’ve played every prestige class in the 3.5 generals because how? As time consuming as it is to progress towards, how do you just casually get to that point unless you’re making it up or have a terrible DM?
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- Dec 13, 2022
They consider tournament play and one shots/mini campaigns that start at a high level to be equal to moving a character from level 1 to 20 through regular play.
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- Aug 6, 2019
That reminds me of that FNM for D&D WotC tried pushing that shat the bed. You could just come and go and not commit to anything.
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- Nov 4, 2017
I was just thinking about that one with Radiant Shitadel talk, ty for posting.
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- Nov 26, 2018
That could've worked tbh if 5e tourists weren't insufferable and enough DMs could be convinced to DM for it.
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- Jun 4, 2018
It amazed me how poorly the Radiant Citadel was conceived and designed. I mean, it shouldn't have, considering the current quality of writers, but nobody considered 'hey, how do we at least make this a tough nut to crack for the murderhobos?'.
If this was their attempt to replace Sigil (as I've speculated), it was hilariously inept.
If this was their attempt to replace Sigil (as I've speculated), it was hilariously inept.
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- Dec 28, 2014
On top of that a good chunk of the people who actually buy that are going to take one step into the place, see the AIDS on the wall, and just walk right out, including long-term customers.
I honestly didn't even recognize that name at all. I barely remember Oriental Adventures. I didn't even buy it at the time, but I ripped a few minor monsters from it and some weapons. Never even ran it, it was just something from a faraway land mentioned but never visited.
I think the only real use I had for it was someone wanted to be a ninja type (fuckin weebs man).
It's not that I didn't like it or anything. It's just that it wasn't really compatible with my mostly generic Greyhawk-based milieu which used the map and some of the basic lore but wasn't really loyal to canon.
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Henri Barbusse
kiwifarms.net
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- Nov 2, 2022
I remember Al-Quadim from the video game.
strawberry15
kiwifarms.net
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- Oct 20, 2023
Al-Qadim was very good and an interesting take on race. Planescape cannot sell well because the jargon and worldbuilding is too much for a person.
I dm'ed a 2e planescape game for a year it was hard. I found out it is better to run a material plane game with a side planescape adventure better.
when you enter planescape, first you are hit with many rules (magc +1 sword from inner planes will not work on outer planes, priest with LG alignment god is losing 9 levels in abyss, divination works differently in x numbers of planes and not works in y number of planes.)
Sheer magnitude of rules is baanced by sheer number of worldbuilding (demons dont accept silver berk, do you have greens(copper pieces are called greens because demons touch makes it rust quicker.)
then you add accesories, planes of law, chaos etc and each of them feels like more than accesories. Then there is also the fact that it is an absurd challange to DM a game of planescape in full potential. Do you really think you are gonna play with a party who is going to visit many outerplanes, many inner planes, demi planes, material planes in a game?
It is hard and at sometimes unrewarding. PHB+ Manual of Planes is enough for a side adventure.
In my homebrew campaign, there was a 10 session side adventure about finding a necromancer who wrote a horrible book because the owner of the book was too powerful so they wanted this guy do side with them so they could deal with the necromancer.
First they found a scroll that has plane shift spell in it, that was a 5 session adventure in itself. then they came out in Ysgard where they fought with trolls and save a village and with that they secured a meeting with a norse panteon god. then with his blessing the party continued to Hel, second dimention of the grey wasted by travelling the roots of Ysgard. From there they tried to find a way to the 3rd layer so they could go to the city of Hekate, in it they found the necromancer and persuaded him to come with them. This was the only time in 3 years that my players did Planescape stuff and it was far more rewarding then any Planescape i have Dm'ed.
Edit: Birthright is a great game and while ravenloft is a great adventure, as a setting it is a bit mid.
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- Dec 17, 2019
I think we talked about this a while back the last time it was brought up, but a murderhobo party probably isn't going to waltz through and take over the fag citadel without a problem. Yes, the design of the super duper you can't touch me shield is absolutely retarded (yes let's base the activation of our shield around getting fifteen different Speakers to come together and agree to power it up all at once, leaving us completely screwed if even one of them is captured or killed), but the splatbook states that if shit hits the fan, the party would be facing (bare minimum) a dozen archmages, twenty mages, and a large number of veterans, as well as whoever else the DM decides happens to be in town that day. On top of that, one of the Speakers is also an ancient brass dragon (and a jeet), so, y'know, have fun with that. It's obvious from the design that they wanted to ensure that no party of chuds would be able to go on a murderous rampage killing all the fags and darkies in their way, not only by filling the citadel with far too many powerful enemies to kill all at once, but also by erecting a completely impenetrable "fuck you I win" shield if they even try an external assault.
That said, it's laughably retarded how much power is invested in the Speakers, opening up quite the opportunity to destroy the citadel through political maneuvering. Any Speaker can simply shut down all of the transports to and from the city, and only the Speaker who did so can reactivate them. This basically means that a single Speaker could hold the entire city hostage until he gets his way, and then keep doing that over and over. Yeah, supposedly this shouldn't happen because something something only the good and pure and noble and right thinking can become Speakers, but anyone with half a brain knows power corrupts. And it doesn't seem like there's any process to remove a Speaker, with the rules only mentioning that their term ends either after ten years, they voluntarily step down, or they die. Maybe that dragon could bite the guy's head off, but good luck getting any cooperation after that. Furthermore, if any Speaker dies or leaves the citadel and a replacement isn't found, literally everything starts to shut down thirty days later. It's ridiculous that pretty much the entirety of the citadel's functionality rides on the continued existence and cooperation of a few people, but obviously the writers were too busy creating their fag utopia to think about the consequences of its commie design.
Thus, through some acts of subterfuge, likely backed up by a suitable army and powerful spellcasters, a sufficiently motivated party could take control by removing Speakers from the board and allowing the army to attack unhindered, as in the example from the video above. Imagine mind-controlling multiple Speakers to keep crippling trade until their nonsensical demands are met, or kidnapping one and replacing them with a simulacrum so that the citadel eventually stops functioning and nobody can figure out why. It still wouldn't be a cakewalk, but it would certainly be doable. You could even position yourselves as the citizens' saviors by freeing them from a totalitarian regime that is more concerned with their petty squabbles and maintaining their vast wealth than the needs of the populace (before taking the treasure yourself, of course).
Aib Ld
kiwifarms.net
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- Nov 22, 2017
So I made a villain my players love to hate. It worked too well. They are powered by sheer spite to bring his death no matter the costs.
They forgot to get a few items in some previous sessions that are required to beat him and thought "Oh well, it will be a harder fight." Then they were surprised on seeing the villain stacking the deck so he gets all the advantages he can get on the battlefield.
They are a bit pissed on him for personal reasons like him killing one of the player character's friends, but I never seen them powered so much by spite at seeing him reacting to their actions. Like the absolute audacity and gall of him not lazily sitting on a throne waiting for the heroes to arrive like every other big villain.
I do intend for the players to escape since the odds are so heavily stacked against them on battling him anyway since spite will be not be enough. But I feel like wanting to give them a little treat even on the loss instead of "shits fucked".
I've done some despicable villains but none of them ever got idea throwing like wanting to suicide bomb his ass among the pcs. They didn't care about winning, they want him to lose.
They forgot to get a few items in some previous sessions that are required to beat him and thought "Oh well, it will be a harder fight." Then they were surprised on seeing the villain stacking the deck so he gets all the advantages he can get on the battlefield.
They are a bit pissed on him for personal reasons like him killing one of the player character's friends, but I never seen them powered so much by spite at seeing him reacting to their actions. Like the absolute audacity and gall of him not lazily sitting on a throne waiting for the heroes to arrive like every other big villain.
I do intend for the players to escape since the odds are so heavily stacked against them on battling him anyway since spite will be not be enough. But I feel like wanting to give them a little treat even on the loss instead of "shits fucked".
I've done some despicable villains but none of them ever got idea throwing like wanting to suicide bomb his ass among the pcs. They didn't care about winning, they want him to lose.
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- Jun 4, 2018
Those are the best kind though. Villains your players love to hate.
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- Aug 23, 2018
So what did you do? I get he killed their friend and stacks the deck, but isn't that all villains?
It's what I did. I went there a few times since due to being the only place in town for TTRPG stuff that isn't the most mainstream slop.
They also were the only place left selling discount 40k, but other shops are doing that now.
I didn't know there was one. What was it? Was it any good?
Sounds like fun, and goes to my point about theorycrafting ways to overthrow their anti-chud system is far more interesting than anything the module does.
What about making the brass dragon the mole/traitor? I'm no expert on dragons. A DM I know loves dragons, and uses brass dragons as ways of dealing out puzzles to the PCs. Almost like a sphinx. Solve his riddles, complete his dungeon, or open his puzzle box and you get a prize.
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- Dec 17, 2019
At first glance, it probably wouldn't work since she's neutral good and basically written as the best and most noble character who would never ever betray the citadel. There are maybe a couple angles you could work with from the text, though. Her homeland of not-India is currently ruled by an angel that smote a demonic horde and then took control to prevent it from happening again; while she doesn't fight him, she doesn't agree with his strongarm tactics and opposes him through subterfuge instead. Also, it mentions that leadership has taken its toll on her over the centuries, and that it's wearing her out to continue managing it.
With that in mind, a clever DM could use these threads to craft an adventure where the dragon decides that she's tired of dealing with the wants and needs of a dozen different civilizations and would rather put an end to it so she can focus her efforts on her homeland instead, working with the adventurers to destroy the citadel. It would suit her crafty nature and allow for plenty of opportunities for stealth and deception. It could also work if you wanted less of a murderhobo tone to things; she likely doesn't want people to die or suffer so she would enlist your party to help her evacuate the populace before it goes down for good.
I don't think this is anywhere close to what the writers had in mind when they published that book, but it's way more fun.
Aib Ld
kiwifarms.net
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- Nov 22, 2017
Sabotage, establish allies, manipulation, stiffling competition that can fight back, and so on. Whenever he shows up, my players treated this guy seriously. He did leave a very good first impression by catching them on a verbal slip when they were lying to escape some guards so everyone had that realizing thought of "Oh shit, he's smarter than us".
Everytime he appears or they come across him, it was a scramble to keep a closed circle among themselves so nothing slips. When he leaves or they leaves, it was a sigh of relief. He was actively acting around in the world, instead of magical teleporting offscreen. The funny thing is that he appeared four times yet that was enough for the players to get somewhat paranoid.
The first thing that tipped them off on the true gravity of the situation was wondering where their spies to check on the villain. They themselves went to check on one of the homes of their friends, revealing said friend was brainwashed to be on villain's side. And it wasn't a typical brainwashing. No, it was actual brain cutting and tampering stuff so for all definitions, their friend is dead. They are looking at somebody else in the friend's body. They know it's their friend but it's not him him anymore.
The villain never spoke a single word but I put extra care on describing his emotions, his body language, his servants speaking in his stead- still giving him an arrogant personality and that was the launch where my players hated him on sight after the first appearance.
Henri Barbusse
kiwifarms.net
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- Nov 2, 2022
It's from around 1993/1994 and the last time I played it was in the previous century, so my memory isn't perfect, but it has problems, since it's an action game with some D&D elements. Compared to the other D&D games coming out around that time, like the first Dark Sun game or the Ravenloft game, it's very underwhelming.