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

[The Bogwater Flows On]

Fuck man, my first DM did 7 -8+ hour long sessions from like 8 to 1 in the morning where half of it was him just talking for a good two or three hours and then combat where we didn't even get gold coins after. Then more dialogue that didn't even matter because the ending was scripted and there was nothing we could do to change it. I'm getting green with envy man. I don't know what Critical Role is but after constantly hearing how bad it was and then finally looking it up I think that was the best way to describe it, minus the production value. Nigger didn't even let us go to merchants when we entered towns. It was entirely scripted, I'm getting MATI just remembering.

Holy shit, the GM I had for Black Crusade ages ago pulled shit like that towards the end. It was obvious he wanted to write out his fanfic, which isn't a problem to me; I like autistic shit like that. However, our last two sessions were like 8 hours of us being talked at about random shit with little to no input from us.

Another note: he was co-GMing with his girlfriend, and they had a messy breakup. I feel he was using us to check the notes he had left over or something. IDK, I got so bored during the final session, I played XCOM while listening in the hopes of hearing something interesting or having someone go "Yo dude wake up!"

 

[The Mighty Bundus]

My favorite session of the last campaign i did with him. Was when I was the only one who showed up, and we last left off trying to help a terrorist we met escape prison after he murdered a guy. He originally planned on having a court scene (kill me now) but instead I actually got to decide what I was going to do. It was really fun sneaking through the facility and disabling the cameras.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Today I learned that there are DnD, Pathfinder, and Starfinder comic books. Including some Eberron ones.

Are they any good?

 

[Rapier Ape]

Today I learned that there are DnD, Pathfinder, and Starfinder comic books. Including some Eberron ones.

Are they any good?

There have been quite a few various ones. I remember looking through some Forgotten Realms ones a while back centered around Drizzt and Zak (I kinda loathe FR nowadays)
The artwork itself was pretty solid aside from Zak being super saiyan buff.
There are a few old school D&D adjacent comics. If you've never looked into Elfquest thats one. It was recognized enough to where a few of the characters were actually ported over and statted out in the Gazateers.
But hell they statted out Jareth the Goblin King from Labrynth as well.

 

[RSU 1741]

Today I learned that there are DnD, Pathfinder, and Starfinder comic books. Including some Eberron ones.

Are they any good?

In general? No. Most of them have solid art, but that's it. Some Pathfinder comics have decent shitposting potential (the Goblins series back when Paizo wasn't fruity central) and the D&D 4th edition comics are surprisingly amusing at times, despite middling art.

If you want "generic fantasy comics with good art and somewhat decent plotlines" I'd suggest to check the translated books from French publisher Soleil (the creatively named Elves, Orcs, Dwarves series) . They're kind of considered low-tier slop in Europe, but they're adequate fantasy stuff, more grounded than usual.

 

[Bad Joss]

Today I learned that there are DnD, Pathfinder, and Starfinder comic books. Including some Eberron ones.

Are they any good?

I liked the older comics a lot, and have read through them at least twice. They're just called "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons" and its kind-of sequel "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms". I like older, cheesy comics from that era, so I had a blast. That era of late 80s/early 90s, where all the women have perms and the men have ponytails. They're pretty light-hearted, so don't go in thinking there's going to be some great plots or anything. They're also a decent introduction to the world of Forgotten Realms if you wanted friends to play and meet characters from that era. The first series takes place almost exclusively in Waterdeep. Or, you could also steal ideas from them for adventures. When I read them there were a few plots that I liked for generic adventures, and the premise of the second series would make a good round-robin DM type game, where the team is tasked with disposing of a dangerous and evil artefact every adventure.

The Dungeons and Dragons comic made for Fourth edition (Again, I think it's just called Dungeons and Dragons) is also okay. I like the characters, but it has some millennial dialogue still. It's worth trying from the library or something.

The main Pathfinder comics I could not get into. I bounced off of the artwork, and the scans they used for the digital version had a border/margin that took up about half the page so it was miserable to read.

 

[Red Dragon]

Have you guys seen Neon Odissey?

I'll refrain from copying the site and just leave the link, so you lot can witness this 'wonderful' idea in full: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey?ref=1ghibh

YES, it's a D&D5.5 reskin - because god forbid playing any other system ever, right? And it comes complete with a bunch of bloat:

Spoiler: Features!

And, obviously, a huge selection of new fetishes races:

Spoiler: Freaks!

Has Traveller finally met a worthy challenger???

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

Have you guys seen Neon Odissey?

I'll refrain from copying the site and just leave the link, so you lot can witness this 'wonderful' idea in full: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey?ref=1ghibh

YES, it's a D&D5.5 reskin - because god forbid playing any other system ever, right? And it comes complete with a bunch of bloat:

Spoiler: Features!

View attachment 8975153

And, obviously, a huge selection of new fetishes races:

Spoiler: Freaks!

View attachment 8975159

Has Traveller finally met a worthy challenger???

This is basically someone wanting to play BESM but not wanting to learn a new system.

 

[Juke and Jam]

Have you guys seen Neon Odissey?

I'll refrain from copying the site and just leave the link, so you lot can witness this 'wonderful' idea in full: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey?ref=1ghibh

YES, it's a D&D5.5 reskin - because god forbid playing any other system ever, right? And it comes complete with a bunch of bloat:

Spoiler: Features!

View attachment 8975153

And, obviously, a huge selection of new fetishes races:

Spoiler: Freaks!

View attachment 8975159

Has Traveller finally met a worthy challenger???

This post gave me AIDS.

 

[p1138]

Have you guys seen Neon Odissey?

I'll refrain from copying the site and just leave the link, so you lot can witness this 'wonderful' idea in full: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey?ref=1ghibh

YES, it's a D&D5.5 reskin - because god forbid playing any other system ever, right? And it comes complete with a bunch of bloat:

Spoiler: Features!

View attachment 8975153

And, obviously, a huge selection of new fetishes races:

Spoiler: Freaks!

View attachment 8975159

Has Traveller finally met a worthy challenger???

Christ, 8 million dollars for a D&D re-skin.

Meanwhile Hasbro on the record called D&D "under-monetized". It was the same shit with Matt Colville's Strongholds and Followers book that got a couple million on kickstarter. It's almost as if their customer base is clamoring for something that could be considered actual content yet Hasbro/WotC just refuses to do anything about it on their end.

 

[Ghostse]

Have you guys seen Neon Odissey?

I'll refrain from copying the site and just leave the link, so you lot can witness this 'wonderful' idea in full: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/legendsofavantris/neon-odyssey?ref=1ghibh

YES, it's a D&D5.5 reskin - because god forbid playing any other system ever, right? And it comes complete with a bunch of bloat:

Spoiler: Features!

View attachment 8975153

And, obviously, a huge selection of new fetishes races:

Spoiler: Freaks!

View attachment 8975159

Has Traveller finally met a worthy challenger???

Suffer.
Not.
The Furry.
To Live.

Why do we have to keep repeating this lesson?

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Hasbro/WotC just refuses to do anything about it on their end.

They've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas!

 

[Corn Flakes]

This is basically someone wanting to play BESM but not wanting to learn a new system.

Which is really dumb, considering 5e characters are basically shounen anime protagonists already.

 

[p1138]

They've tried nothing and they're all out of ideas!

You'd think after damn near 20 years, 2 failed VTT projects, a failed TV channel, and a laser focus on trying to come up with a way to nickel and dime players with microtransactions, that they'd eventually figure out that maybe they could go back to their roots and actually produce shit for people to buy since people keep buying third party content... nope instead they tried to come up with an excuse to take money from the third party content creators.

Hell, it's not like the players even give enough of a shit to distinguish between good and shitty content. Just something other than the annual bullshit book that's 50% randomization tables for nonsense.

 

[Corn Flakes]

You'd think after damn near 20 years, 2 failed VTT projects, a failed TV channel, and a laser focus on trying to come up with a way to nickel and dime players with microtransactions, that they'd eventually figure out that maybe they could go back to their roots and actually produce shit for people to buy since people keep buying third party content... nope instead they tried to come up with an excuse to take money from the third party content creators.

Hell, it's not like the players even give enough of a shit to distinguish between good and shitty content. Just something other than the annual bullshit book that's 50% randomization tables for nonsense.

WotC and Hasbro's asses are permanently chapped by the fact the main audience for mainline D&D products (that is, not lifestyle merch or accessories like apparel) is, has always been, and will forever be GMs. That means for every table out there, there are on average 2-4 people playing "their" game without paying a dime to them. It's no surprise they brought Beyond and have been trying to push subscriptions and microtransactions for player options, because that's the only way they can try to monetize that "dead" part of the playerbase.

And yet, you can fill the shelves with a billion character option books, but unless the players buying them find a GM who's willing to accept content from those books, and has adventures they want to GM, it's all for nothing. In their refusal to cater to GMs, and in their insistence in pushing game styles that have a high incidence of GM burnout due to high prep/balance requirements, they keep missing the fucking point. I can't wait to see how far they try to push their "AI DM" idea before they realize how stupid it is.

 

[p1138]

WotC and Hasbro's asses are permanently chapped by the fact the main audience for mainline D&D products (that is, not lifestyle merch or accessories like apparel) is, has always been, and will forever be GMs. That means for every table out there, there are on average 2-4 people playing "their" game without paying a dime to them. It's no surprise they brought Beyond and have been trying to push subscriptions and microtransactions for player options, because that's the only way they can try to monetize that "dead" part of the playerbase.

And yet, you can fill the shelves with a billion character option books, but unless the players buying them find a GM who's willing to accept content from those books, and has adventures they want to GM, it's all for nothing. In their refusal to cater to GMs, and in their insistence in pushing game styles that have a high incidence of GM burnout due to high prep/balance requirements, they keep missing the fucking point. I can't wait to see how far they try to push their "AI DM" idea before they realize how stupid it is.

It really is insane at this point. Paizo had the right idea with some of their products. Actually produce adventures, they'll get bought. Will they generate a billion dollars in sales? No, but it's better than nothing and shouldn't cost a fortune either. For people actually playing in person? Maps and standees for NPCs and monsters. It's another cheap product that yes only DMs will buy but again it's better than producing and selling nothing, and makes life easier for DMs to at least try shit without the burnout. For the online players? Package the adventures up into modules for VTTs, again it's not that hard to do, shouldn't cost a fortune, and even if sales aren't amazing actually publishing more than 1 adventure a year so you can reach people looking for different types of experiences can provide some revenue.

Yeah GM burnout is a thing, but they can produce products that make GM'ng for pre-made adventures even easier for GMs to actually try since there's always been a huge hurdle getting people to GM even a one shot. More GMs means more games being played, which should attract more players, which again should mean more GMs, and thus more customers.

But even with their focus on the player side of things, they've still never gotten that right either because their dream is to sell a player a +1 sword for $1 like it's a videogame.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Have you guys seen Neon Odissey?

No, but I'm interested. A 5e sci-fi reskin could be interesting if it's halfway competent.

Why do we have to keep repeating this lesson?

Because sometimes they're cool, and because they know their audience and what they want.

And, obviously, a huge selection of new fetishes races:

I like these. Well, most of them. ...two of them. ... Look, the dinosaur man is kinda rad and I'd play that.

Seriously though, the first one looks like it's trying to be that cat woman from the she-ra reboot. The slime/jelly person reminds me of a player in played a slime once.

3 of the 4 guys having their shirt open showing off abs screams woke/fetish bait though. Also the art styles don't look coherent.

Hasbro/WotC just refuses to do anything about it on their end.

My speculation.

1: They're doing the AAA gaming/Hollywood tactic. Something has to make a billion trillion dollars, or it's an obscure failure not worth their time.
2: All their modules and products have failed. It's all but confirmed 5.2024 was a flop. The recent modules have been shit. The OGL chased away many players who aren't coming back. OSR has raised the bar for editing and layout so they can't just churn out shit and have it sell.


Unrelated. I watched some videos of some analogue horror themed games/adventures, and they seem to drop the ball. Any good ones?
(One of the videos was a review of Public Access. The game sounded bad. He says he doesn't want to say what happens when you run out of retcon points for fear of spoilers. Anyone know what happens?)

 

[Dante Alighieri]

You'd think after damn near 20 years, 2 failed VTT projects, a failed TV channel, and a laser focus on trying to come up with a way to nickel and dime players with microtransactions, that they'd eventually figure out that maybe they could go back to their roots and actually produce shit for people to buy since people keep buying third party content... nope instead they tried to come up with an excuse to take money from the third party content creators.

Hell, it's not like the players even give enough of a shit to distinguish between good and shitty content. Just something other than the annual bullshit book that's 50% randomization tables for nonsense.

WotC and Hasbro's asses are permanently chapped by the fact the main audience for mainline D&D products (that is, not lifestyle merch or accessories like apparel) is, has always been, and will forever be GMs.

But even with their focus on the player side of things, they've still never gotten that right either because their dream is to sell a player a +1 sword for $1 like it's a videogame.

It's because they have to focus on line-go-up versus just being happy making a more or less steady profit making adventures. They could easily make physical merch for a wider audience which does exist, as well as make regular adventures for DMs to buy and run. They can do tons to make money while being incredibly consumer-friendly. They just don't, because they're suits.

They fucking had a gold mine when Stranger Things came out, and they wasted it.

 

[Ghostse]

I can't wait to see how far they try to push their "AI DM" idea before they realize how stupid it is.

I know that Woketards will fuck it up, but I can see if you essentially packaged CYOA 'solo adventures' behind an 'AI DM' that would take your action descriptions and square-pen them into approximate round-hole of the decision tree.

The major problem with this is you can't do the usual LLM model of just allowing it to hallucinate whatever is the most likely response at the moment, you need to give it actual context, memory, and call back. You would need buckets of "firm" data behind the fuzzy model.
additionally, you'd have to hire talented writers who can write branching stories that are still engaging.

Yeah GM burnout is a thing, but they can produce products that make GM'ng for pre-made adventures even easier for GMs to actually try since there's always been a huge hurdle getting people to GM even a one shot. More GMs means more games being played, which should attract more players, which again should mean more GMs, and thus more customers.

4e tried to solve that problem with module layouts that no game before or since has equaled.

Because sometimes they're cool, and because they know their audience and what they want.

nigga you are playing Gorge World, your opinion is invalid.

The only cool furry is one who is yiffing in hell.

 

[Dante Alighieri]

I know that Woketards will fuck it up, but I can see if you essentially packaged CYOA 'solo adventures' behind an 'AI DM' that would take your action descriptions and square-pen them into approximate round-hole of the decision tree.

The major problem with this is you can't do the usual LLM model of just allowing it to hallucinate whatever is the most likely response at the moment, you need to give it actual context, memory, and call back. You would need buckets of "firm" data behind the fuzzy model.
additionally, you'd have to hire talented writers who can write branching stories that are still engaging.

They just need to make a MUD.