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I agree that suggesting VTTs invalidate actual TTRPGs played through them is a bit ridiculous. After all, I don't believe there is an RPG that only exists through a VTT, so there's not even really a distinction to be made at all.

But, I will note that game feel is a thing and VTTs do introduce a different game feel from playing physically. The desire to roll physical dice is a consequence of moving to VTTs, for example.

I don't believe the difference there though is stark enough to count as a meaningful difference, but it is there, and is why I personally think the ideal is going hybrid. Physical table based but with full computer integration. Upending TVs to use as infinitely useful maps you can put minis and physical terrain parts on and such.

Also useful if you like to integrate art into your game. One of my players, if they had such a set up, would abuse the hell of that function as they love to give us artsy vignettes of the locations we visit when they GM.
 

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But all TTRPGs have limitations in their "engines". I'm thinking back to how old editions variously handled (or didn't) skills. Or how every edition has handled (or didn't) specifically stealth. Having tried to run a campaign on Roll20, I can tell you there's a lot of limitations in that engine where I had to stop and figure things out on my own. "The rules don't cover this, we gotta figure parts of this out on our own" is kind of one of the key things that separates RPGs from board games. Or computer games, for that matter.
It isn't the same thing. You did not have to stop playing OD&D to determine if you could sidle up to the guard and get him drunk so your buddies can sneak past. The GM figured out a way to do that all within the framework of the game. You have to break from the framework of NWN or Minecraft to resolve that situation and revert to a different game system.
 


Yeah, I don't think anyone is sitting here saying that MMORPGs are TTRPGs, just that the act of playing a TTRPG can be done within framework of an MMORPG, and any definition of the activity of playing a TTRPG that deliberately excludes those examples isn't inclusive enough to be worthwhile.
I disagree, in that (unless you're at an old-school LAN party) you can't play an MMORPG as a TTRPG because you're not all at the same table.
 

I agree that suggesting VTTs invalidate actual TTRPGs played through them is a bit ridiculous. After all, I don't believe there is an RPG that only exists through a VTT, so there's not even really a distinction to be made at all.
But if such a game existed (and I think there was one planned for Roll20, maybe?) would it not be a TTRPG simply by virtue that it was built to be played on Roll20?
 


I disagree, in that (unless you're at an old-school LAN party) you can't play an MMORPG as a TTRPG because you're not all at the same table.

If I were Bill Gates rich I would spend some of my mad money paying someone to break into your house and swap all of your tables with Ottomans or fine carpets.
 

So, we're saying that the only thing that can be a tabletop RPG is if it has a table a dice? No other mechanics meet the definition?
Pretty much yes, for my part, plus that during play the participants are gathered at said table. (the dice are optional)
 

Changing tacks, here's an unpopular opinion:

The MCU has always been, and continues to be, still really damn good for the most part.

Counterpoint- The opening sequence was the best part of Secret Invasion. :)

(In all honesty, I think that the MCU is fine, overall. Heck, Ms. Marvel was genuinely awesome and fun. While none of the recent movies have been knock-down great, most of them have been good, and only Eternals was ... not good. I think that we are seeing is just a combination of the natural let-down after the culmination of the Endgame, and ... well, between the movies and the series, a lot of it doesn't feel like "fun discovery" but feels more like "doing homework." Secret Invasion ... that felt like assigned reading to me.)
 

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