D&D 5E What is Quality?

[Ovinomancer]

I find that the inspiration mechanic is good but tracking it is rough. The DM has A LOT to do and tracking if the players are playing their characters gets a bit much and (can also lead to spotlight hogging). I find that @iserith's method works quite well to address this issue (certainly for my group).

This is an example of "it's not a problem. Oh, yes, here are the houserules I used to fix it."

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Am I the only one that has no problems with Inspiration as written? I didn't actually know that this was an issue. I missed that.

I like the idea. I like the mechanic. I just don't always remember to use it on both sides of the screen.

I can tell you that I have (as a player) gone 3ish sessions without using or getting an inspiration, for another player to say "Hey, I have the box marked are we using inspiration in this campaign?" and even the DM was like "Shoot... yes, in theory but I forgot"

On a DM side I tried to make it 'easier' in that ANYONE could give an inspiration to some one else when they did something cool... we also forgot and didn't really track that.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

That rather contradicts your own point though. BvS made nearly $900M. Whatever you or your social circle thought of it, it made a ton of money. By your own reasoning, it is therefore a quality movie. Yet you say it is not.

I constantly wish for 1/20th of the success of such failures... I often wonder if everyone on the internet are billionaires that look at 900 million and say "Chump change"

 

[payn]

I like the idea. I like the mechanic. I just don't always remember to use it on both sides of the screen.

I can tell you that I have (as a player) gone 3ish sessions without using or getting an inspiration, for another player to say "Hey, I have the box marked are we using inspiration in this campaign?" and even the DM was like "Shoot... yes, in theory but I forgot"

On a DM side I tried to make it 'easier' in that ANYONE could give an inspiration to some one else when they did something cool... we also forgot and didn't really track that.

I was just thinking about how to make inspiration more noticeable. Maybe getting a chit with a very bright colored side and a dull colored side you flip. Something that really sticks out. For VTT you can have some coding that makes the box you mark glow or flash when you have an available point.

Just food for thought.

 

[Maxperson]

I had my casio for ... I don't know ... 20 years? I had to replace the battery a few times but despite being abused it kept running. I only got rid of it once I got a cell phone. I have no idea how long either one lasts on average. Do you have any actual evidence to back up the claim?

Beyond that, longevity is only one measure of quality, of many. For you a Rolex may be higher quality based on what you value and what you decide to give weight to. I used the timer and stopwatch functionality of my Casio on a regular basis so for me those were big factors in product quality.

But I guess that's kind of my point. After a certain point of basic functionality, all claims of quality of subjective.

Yes and no. For something like a roleplaying game, which is more complex and pretty much of the mind, it's going to be very subjective and not much else. For something like a watch or other physical product, materials are an objective measure. We've all(I assume) experienced cheap public restroom toilet paper. And then the stuff you buy for your homes. The quality difference in the papers is measurable. Even among the different stuff you buy, there are different qualities of paper. Some people might prefer(subjective) lesser quality paper, but that doesn't make that paper higher quality. It just means that they like the lower quality stuff.

Casio vs. Rolex is like that. Casio's are not designed to last a lifetime like a Rolex is, but then few people probably want to wear one watch for their entire lives, so even though it's measurable that the average Casio lifespan is 10 years and the average Rolex is a lifetime, do you really need or want the higher quality lifetime of the Rolex? That's an opinion which will vary from person to person. Similarly, the quality of materials used to make the Rolex is objectively higher than the Casio, but whether that's better for you personally is going to be subjective. Even if I determine that the Casio is better for me personally, the quality of the Casio materials isn't going to suddenly become better than those in the Rolex based on that subjective opinion.

 

[Mort]

This is an example of "it's not a problem. Oh, yes, here are the houserules I used to fix it."

Not in the least. It is a good mechanic but has problems is a perfectly valid statement.

You'll notice I absolutely did not say "it's not a problem" I said good but could use a fix. That is quite different from "it's not a problem."

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Obviously branding matters, I just don't believe branding alone can account for the success we currently see.

It can account for the vast majority of it. You completely fail to appreciate the margin of difference in how much D&D is known compared to all other RPGs.

You bring up DC. That's a poor comparison on multiple levels (@Morrus illustrates another level). Imagine if there were a situation where most of the public, including young people and nerds, like fairly serious nerds, only knew about DC comics heroes. Next would be Marvel which a micro-generation from the '90s had a few people who knew about it, but wasn't very popular.

That's where D&D is. Nobody outside of ultra-nerds and a micro-generation who has some familiarity with World of Darkness knows about other RPG. Even Pathfinder was basically only known to people who were existing D&D fans and thus ultra-nerds. Even when journalists mention other RPGs, they describe them with reference to D&D. I saw an example of this with Joss Whedon trying to explain how Firefly was inspired in part by what seems to be a Traveller campaign, but the journalist didn't even record what the RPG's name was, and just explained that it was a "sci-fi RPG" and referenced D&D to explain what an RPG was.

D&D has no competitors brand-wise. No competitors for mind-space with the general RPG-playing public. Given how popular D&D is right now, another company, willing to spend tens of millions, could probably nab double-digit percentage of D&D's market share with a sufficiently well-produced and marketed RPG. But they'd have to spend tens of millions marketing a pen and paper RPG, and there'd be absolutely no guarantee that they'd succeed. It doesn't help that where projects might stand a small chance of making some ground, where they do breach the "mid-nerd" barrier from the aphotic ultra-nerd depths, at least temporarily, are often badly handled. For example, the new Marvel RPG, which would potentially stand to make some ground, is absolute trash-fire mechanics-wise, extremely crunchy, badly-designed, not enjoyable to play (by most reports), and generally godawful. It's a great design if you want to ensure anyone coming from outside RPGs or from D&D goes "Uhhhh no thanks".

With a lot of IPs, that would mean people would just shoot that product dead and pass the licence on to someone else. But instead, because it's an RPG and there was never any serious expectation of making money, Marvel has done nothing.

But anyway, point is, D&D is virtually a monopoly. It doesn't operate in a monopolistic manner nor attempt to harm competitors, because it doesn't have any, it's just a blue whale compared to a bunch of remoras. Even Pathfinder now is, at best, a dolphin (even at its strongest, all it did was take half of D&D's audience away, it didn't grow the audience of RPGs at all).

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Also also:
Some people have lost weight eating nothing but McDonald’s. They just watched their calorie intake and exercised.

I mean people are all diffrent... I am fat. I have always been at least slightly overweight. My mom and dad are both overweight (in fact the only members of there immediate families that are not are smokers).

I did 3 1/2 months on a slimfast like 'shake' diet. I did over a year counting points on weight watchers... neither helped much (10-20 pound fluxuation)

mean while my buddy Matt out eats me every single time we are together (I split a pizza with his brother and we get a medium... he eats a large AND gets wings) he is also less active then me (he sometimes spends days playing on his computer, ordering delivery and not even going out... I have a dog that has to be walked at least 5 times a day and I try to do some stuff on top of that... and I live in a 2 floor that I NEED to use the stairs...

Matt has NEVER been overweight.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I was just thinking about how to make inspiration more noticeable. Maybe getting a chit with a very bright colored side and a dull colored side you flip. Something that really sticks out. For VTT you can have some coding that makes the box you mark glow or flash when you have an available point.

Just food for thought.

in my ppre covid store gaming days we bought wood cut chips... we still forgot them half the time

 

[Morrus]

Also also:
Some people have lost weight eating nothing but McDonald’s. They just watched their calorie intake and exercised.

Well sure. If you live on just one bite of chocolate a day you'll lose weight. Obviously volume is a factor.