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

[Adamska]

Eh, Cons are just a new thing that industry people use to suck themselves off. Vital in the old days for Tabletop due to the lack of size to the community, but nowadays obsolescent in the face of digital.

I didn't enjoy the one con I went to years back, so I'm fine continuing to miss going to any.

 

[Ghostse]

Eh, Cons are just a new thing that industry people use to suck themselves off. Vital in the old days for Tabletop due to the lack of size to the community, but nowadays obsolescent in the face of digital.

I didn't enjoy the one con I went to years back, so I'm fine continuing to miss going to any.

Pretty much this. I don't like one-shots so the drop in games don't interest me over much. I don't care hearing about Felicia Day talk about how imporant she is to "geekdom", or whatever nonsense topics they had - and that was before things went right into the shitter with the full wokeness and now you have shit like "Queer Representations through Wizard Subtypes" and "The racial implicatoons of Tensor's Floating Disc ".

The shop areas were sort of neat but I don't need to spend $50 to not buy whatever Roll to Learn How All Whites Are Racist games are out now, since probably anything good or interesting is banned.

 

[You Bastard Guy]

Don't you be badmouthing Rifts.

Perish the thought. But Rifts has been a thing since I was in high school, and I don't recall anyone ever even talking about it. I only knew it existed because of the ever-growing dusty pile in the back bin of my FLGS.

 

[Snekposter]

Felicia Day

Someone remind her that she once VA'd a character whose primary character trait was "I punch things".

 

[ZMOT]

Pretty much this. I don't like one-shots so the drop in games don't interest me over much. I don't care hearing about Felicia Day talk about how imporant she is to "geekdom", or whatever nonsense topics they had - and that was before things went right into the shitter with the full wokeness and now you have shit like "Queer Representations through Wizard Subtypes" and "The racial implicatoons of Tensor's Floating Disc ".

The shop areas were sort of neat but I don't need to spend $50 to not buy whatever Roll to Learn How All Whites Are Racist games are out now, since probably anything good or interesting is banned.

I'd assume those booths and panels will either be dead empty or filled with the types you'd want avoid by a mile anyway, probably can smell them that far too. I think that's what pretty much happened at PAX after it trooned itself out.

the vast majority will just visit the mainstream stuff to buy and test new games, meet the people behind it etc. the more they push out those (which they won't because they bring in the money, imagine telling someone like asmodee they aren't welcome) the less people are gonna visit. not to mention in that case inevitably an alternative will spring up because the demand is clearly there, board games especially have been growing steadily to the point it's just a matter when and how hard that bubble will pop.

 

[Corn Flakes]

I don't like one-shots so the drop in games don't interest me over much.

I never GM'd a whole campaign, but I helped run con games for a very long time. One shots and demo games at cons used to be a lot more fun. They can still be if you're lucky, but it had already started turning into a chore by the time 2016's cons rolled in. There have always been idiots, but con goers in general just got a lot more hostile and argumentative, even if you're running the most sanitized module ever.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I suspect the Rifts books are being bought for source material and converted into other systems.

Savage Worlds, for example.

 

[Ghostse]

I'd assume those booths and panels will either be dead empty or filled with the types you'd want avoid by a mile anyway, probably can smell them that far too. I think that's what pretty much happened at PAX after it trooned itself out.

the vast majority will just visit the mainstream stuff to buy and test new games, meet the people behind it etc. the more they push out those (which they won't because they bring in the money, imagine telling someone like asmodee they aren't welcome) the less people are gonna visit. not to mention in that case inevitably an alternative will spring up because the demand is clearly there, board games especially have been growing steadily to the point it's just a matter when and how hard that bubble will pop.

The panels are shit, the guests are shit, and merchants are spotty, and now the smelling, underwashed, balding neck beards are wearing dresses and screech if you don't use their made-up pronouns..... but you still have people dropping money on tickets because "Its the Con!". You can get the frog to a pretty roiling boil before the whole thing breaks down.

I don't really know what happens to a convention after they troon out; I stop giving them braincycles when they do. But that sounds like a reasonable estimation of the result and process otherwise.

I mean you have the previously mentioned Origins who took time from gaming to specifically call out for racial justice for blacks, from a convention for GAMING.... but because they didn't specifically mention Black Lives Matter the whole convention got both big- and little- C Canceled. If you don't literally toe the exact line, say the exact right words, donate to the right DNC fundraising arm, you are fair game.

Hell, I am finished doing any future business with Exalted Funeral after they sent out some marketing email earlier this year that included a bunch of Faggot Literature for sale. It wasn't even RPGs or even books blovating about RPGs, just collections of essays by "queer voices".
I wish they'd spend as much time shipping out orders as they do advancing the CURRENT YEAR narratives.

I never GM'd a whole campaign, but I helped run con games for a very long time. One shots and demo games at cons used to be a lot more fun. They can still be if you're lucky, but it had already started turning into a chore by the time 2016's cons rolled in. There have always been idiots, but con goers in general just got a lot more hostile and argumentative, even if you're running the most sanitized module ever.

If you've GM'd a whole campaign, you've never actually GM'd a campagin.

Kidding aside, My guess is people are more comfortable feeling entitled and expressing that entitlement, especially in a "no future engagement" enviroment like a con one-shot.

 

[anti SJW]

I never GM'd a whole campaign, but I helped run con games for a very long time. One shots and demo games at cons used to be a lot more fun. They can still be if you're lucky, but it had already started turning into a chore by the time 2016's cons rolled in. There have always been idiots, but con goers in general just got a lot more hostile and argumentative, even if you're running the most sanitized module ever.

Now all the con games for the more popular RPGs are organized play events. You make a character under certain rules and gain XP and level up between games. You have to post your character updates between events and all that.

I don't like that system.

I like the old way where you are given a pre-made character when you sit at the table.

 

[Corn Flakes]

If you've GM'd a whole campaign, you've never actually GM'd a campagin.

I'll have you know I've played all the way through two, I'll say it again, two whole campaigns. In my 25+ years of playing RPGs.

I still don't know how the GMs did it. At the end of these campaigns (one lasted a year and a half and the other two and a half years) it felt we had started decades ago.

Now all the con games for the more popular RPGs are organized play events. You make a character under certain rules and gain XP and level up between games. You have to post your character updates between events and all that.

I don't like that system.

I like the old way where you are given a pre-made character when you sit at the table.

Yeah, my GM and I usually go for the "here's your character, sit down and let's roll some dice" approach, and it was getting harder and harder to get con staff to agree to letting us do it. Ironically, our tables always had more people watching than the "bring your own character" tables because the games ran very quickly.

 

[Adamska]

Never tried a con game mainly because I never bothered with cons, but from what I understand of it, you have crybaby douchebags who can't take a death and DMs basically held at gunpoint by retards who never ran a game but will punish you for when lady luck has things just happen. At least nowadays.

In other news since I want to bring it up, I finally got to experience a game of Cyberpunk; I only had to run the fucker myself since it always either died during Char Creation or right before Session 1.

It was a fun experience doing a staggered character introduction, since there is no way a Corpo is hanging out with Nomads, Rockers, and Solos casually. Very much like how intuitive the system is; reminds me of an even simpler Whitewolf in someways.

 

[Starscreams Cape]

Never tried a con game mainly because I never bothered with cons, but from what I understand of it, you have crybaby douchebags who can't take a death and DMs basically held at gunpoint by retards who never ran a game but will punish you for when lady luck has things just happen. At least nowadays.

In other news since I want to bring it up, I finally got to experience a game of Cyberpunk; I only had to run the fucker myself since it always either died during Char Creation or right before Session 1.

It was a fun experience doing a staggered character introduction, since there is no way a Corpo is hanging out with Nomads, Rockers, and Solos casually. Very much like how intuitive the system is; reminds me of an even simpler Whitewolf in someways.

Sorry, some con musings ahoy...

I ran a couple of games at Gencon, but the last time was 2017. Generally it was always a positive experience, the only hiccup being a slightly autistic teenager who thought I had time to sidetalk with him the entire time. I dealt a firm, fair and fatherly rebuke to him. I got a lot of plaudets after it was over with how I handled things, not letting it sidetrack the game or make things awkward.

You see here is the thing about cons. About 60-70% are people who really don't care about the woke shit. But just like everywhere else, the squeaky wheels get the grease. Those same 60-70% are mostly cowards, too. If cornered they'll agree with all that bullshit just to take the heat off. But if you get them all at a table together you're going to have a pretty normal game.

Now, I've played in some real stinkers, too. But not because they were woke, but because they were run by megalomanical GM"s. I once threw $10 at a GM as we fled his horrible game 1hr in. Terrible and creepy as he was, we still felt bad.

I would also say that cons are probably only as fun as the people you go with. I am fortunate enough to have always gone with my best friends and, more recently, wife & kids. At a large con you'll find ways to have a great time regardless if you are in good company.

 

[anti SJW]

 

[Corn Flakes]

Sorry, some con musings ahoy...

I ran a couple of games at Gencon, but the last time was 2017. Generally it was always a positive experience, the only hiccup being a slightly autistic teenager who thought I had time to sidetalk with him the entire time. I dealt a firm, fair and fatherly rebuke to him. I got a lot of plaudets after it was over with how I handled things, not letting it sidetrack the game or make things awkward.

You see here is the thing about cons. About 60-70% are people who really don't care about the woke shit. But just like everywhere else, the squeaky wheels get the grease. Those same 60-70% are mostly cowards, too. If cornered they'll agree with all that bullshit just to take the heat off. But if you get them all at a table together you're going to have a pretty normal game.

Now, I've played in some real stinkers, too. But not because they were woke, but because they were run by megalomanical GM"s. I once threw $10 at a GM as we fled his horrible game 1hr in. Terrible and creepy as he was, we still felt bad.

I would also say that cons are probably only as fun as the people you go with. I am fortunate enough to have always gone with my best friends and, more recently, wife & kids. At a large con you'll find ways to have a great time regardless if you are in good company.

Unfortunately, one bad actor can really sour the experience for everybody else. Maybe it's just the cons/LGS events we have here attracting all the college kids in town, but we have seen an increase in these "bad actors". It's not unplayable, at least it wasn't until early 2020 when we had to stop it due to coof issues, it was getting a little less fun to run because every demo game we ran had a 1-in-3 chance of some asshole with a sidecut and at least four piercings complaining up a storm for the stupidest reasons.

And I'm not kidding about the reasons being stupid. This one weedy guy in 2019 pitched up a huge tantrum because the goblin stronghold the party was exploring (and killing a lot of goblins along the way) had a carrion crawler trapped in a grated hole that served as trash disposal for the goblins. His beef with the whole set-up? He considered it animal cruelty.

 

[robobobo]

This one weedy guy in 2019 pitched up a huge tantrum because the goblin stronghold the party was exploring (and killing a lot of goblins along the way) had a carrion crawler trapped in a grated hole that served as trash disposal for the goblins. His beef with the whole set-up? He considered it animal cruelty.

What? They're giant caterpillars, that was probably the world's happiest carrion crawler if people were dumping free food on it.

 

[Wallace]

Neckbeards view cons as a way to assert nerd cred and to force people to interact with them. The troonery is just a means to an end. Put on a dress, and now you can be an odious creep and the con staff can't do anything or you'll scream transphobia.

 

[Corn Flakes]

What? They're giant caterpillars, that was probably the world's happiest carrion crawler if people were dumping free food on it.

I know! The GM knew, too. That's why he put that thing there!

Everybody else around the table thought it was clever, too. Goblins might be fine living in filth, but even they have to keep the passageways clear in order to move around and store their food and their gubbins. But that kid was livid about it even after we explained it to him. So the party had to keep going without the wizard after he flounced out of the store we were doing the demo at. Left us with the bill for his ginger ale too, the asshole.

 

[Capsaicin Addict]

I know! The GM knew, too. That's why he put that thing there!

Everybody else around the table thought it was clever, too. Goblins might be fine living in filth, but even they have to keep the passageways clear in order to move around and store their food and their gubbins. But that kid was livid about it even after we explained it to him. So the party had to keep going without the wizard after he flounced out of the store we were doing the demo at. Left us with the bill for his ginger ale too, the asshole.

That's weirdly hilarious because I like to insert critters like gelatinous cubes and otyughs for similar purposes. In the game I'm running, the party managed to parlay with a very well-fed otyugh (he'd moved into a part of the cave complex they'd cleared a few days ago, collected all the bodies, and stashed them for snacks). God, they were weirded out because the otyugh insisted they 'bring him more treats' if they came back.

 

[Aqua Panda]

So there are now musing online that TSR has cut ties with Ernie Gygax. Can't confirm but will try and edit something in if I can find something concrete.

Really disappointing if true that TSR bent the knee. Also, really fucked just how far gone the community is if people on Twitter can now gatekeep it so badly.

 

[Brain Problems]

So there are now musing online that TSR has cut ties with Ernie Gygax. Can't confirm but will try and edit something in if I can find something concrete.

Really disappointing if true that TSR bent the knee. Also, really fucked just how far gone the community is if people on Twitter can now gatekeep it so badly.

They're being pilloried in the "mainstream" media. The most interesting part is that at this stage there is literally nothing they can do that will make this go away considering the entire thing was a fucking set-up from the beginning. They should have just gone ahead and ignored everyone and remembered that the 12 psychos on twitter may sound loud and scary but they aren't your customers and they were never going to like or buy your shit in the first place.

They can sacrifice Ernie to Moloch if they want but the rainbow-haired xhe-twinks and balding bearded bespectacled betas that defend them made up their minds long before this non-troversy ever occurred. Personally I would be happy to support them but just want to know the book is any good before buying it.