Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[CleverNickName]

I was gonna post this in the "Today I Learned" thread, but it seemed off-topic so I'm dropping it here among the pineapple tidbits.

If you didn't already know: LadyTiefling, aka DungeonMasterKelsey, has a bunch of fun random loot tables for just about any occasion over on her Instagram.

 

[Deset Gled]

I was gonna post this in the "Today I Learned" thread, but it seemed off-topic so I'm dropping it here among the pineapple tidbits.

If you didn't already know: LadyTiefling, aka DungeonMasterKelsey, has a bunch of fun random loot tables for just about any occasion over on her Instagram.

I'll give you that those are entertaining and creative. But in actual play, I see multiple items with the potential to completely destroy a game night by sending the characters on a wild goose chase because of something that must be an important clue related to the plot. Use at your own risk.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

I can understand people feeling disappointed about not being able to find new content for the older editions of D&D. I'm in this camp: I love the old BECM rules and the Mystara setting, and it makes me sad that those days are gone forever.

This is something I truly don't understand. Let's say that you, like me, enjoy 1e (AD&D). Or, like you, enjoy Basic (BECMI, RC, B/X). Or OD&D. Or 2e.

Here's the thing. All the TSR-era products are interoperable. As I've written before, B2 is a module written for OD&D rules that was published and used with Basic, and ran by people playing with AD&D. With minimal effort, you can use all of the TSR-era products that you want with any of those systems! Any TSR product for OD&D, Basic, 1e, and 2e.

But wait, there's more. There was also a wealth of 3PP published back in the day. All of that 3PP? Yep, you can use that as well. Everything from Dragon and Dungeon Magazine articles to modules like The Clockwork Mage to The Compleat Adventurer.

But wait, there's even more. People today still release all sorts of OSR product that you can use, and have been doing so consistently for years. They do it for pay, and they do it for free.

New content? Find me a single person who has used every last bit of all the content that is already out there ... just one. There's multiple lifetimes of gaming available- far too much for any table to play through if they had all the time to do so.

And all of that is before we even start to think about homebrew- which is really the origin of the hobby. I honestly don't understand this objection.

Which means, IMO, that this isn't the actual objection. The actual underlying issue is a little different- it's not the lack of material. It's that people are using this as a placeholder to complain about how not enough people share the same gaming preferences as the person making the complaint.

TLDR; I know that I can get mushrooms on pizza at every pizzeria, but why isn't there more support for mushrooms on pizza?

 

[CleverNickName]

I'll give you that those are entertaining and creative. But in actual play, I see multiple items with the potential to completely destroy a game night by sending the characters on a wild goose chase because of something that must be an important clue related to the plot. Use at your own risk.

Meh, my players will hyperfixate on the most mundane stuff and derail the plot all by themselves, no matter what random stuff I end up putting into the game. Most recently, they lost almost an hour and a half over an empty bottle they found in the corner of an abandoned building. It was just a piece of trash. I even described it as such: "The room is empty except for a pile of trash in the corner."

But no.

We need to know: what's in the trash?
Oh, just an old bottle and some straw?
What kind of bottle was it?
What did it used to have in it?
The label is too faded to read? Let's have a round of Investigation checks to figure it out.
Oh interesting, it's in a language nobody recognizes! Let's cast comprehend languages...
Ah, it's written in Halfling, gotcha. Well, what's it say?
It's just the name of a vineyard on it? Let's have a round of History checks to see if anyone recognizes it.
Hmm, better take it into town and ask every single merchant we ever meet about the piece of trash we found.
And so on.

I guess my players are hoping that if they focus on something long enough, and stare at it hard enough, and make me describe it to painstaking detail, it will somehow become important. But it's just a piece of trash. It was always just a piece of trash, and it will continue to be a piece of trash. They are carrying around a Bag of Holding full of other peoples' trash.

 

[TiQuinn]

Which means, IMO, that this isn't the actual objection. The actual underlying issue is a little different- it's not the lack of material. It's that people are using this as a placeholder to complain about how not enough people share the same gaming preferences as the person making the complaint.

I agree. The game content is out there. The communities for people with shared interests are out there. The ability to find a game has expanded with online gaming.

What's left seems to be self-imposed barriers, or the feeling that because the precise current edition of D&D itself (and let's face it, it always comes down to that one game) doesn't mirror their preferences, be it the playstyle, the artwork, or the writing, it's an affront.

 

[RealAlHazred]

--

STONKS

Makes a guy wonder what will happen in a few more years.

Line will go up.

 

[Scribe]

We need to know: what's in the trash?
Oh, just an old bottle and some straw?
What kind of bottle was it?
What did it used to have in it?
The label is too faded to read? Let's have a round of Investigation checks to figure it out.
Oh interesting, it's in a language nobody recognizes! Let's cast comprehend languages...
It's just the name of a vineyard on it? Let's have a round of History checks to see if anyone recognizes it.
Hmm, better take it into town and ask every single merchant we ever meet about the piece of trash we found.

My face drops with each line. I love it.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

Meh, my players will hyperfixate on the most mundane stuff and derail the plot all by themselves, no matter what random stuff I end up putting into the game. Most recently, they lost almost an hour and a half over an empty bottle they found in the corner of an abandoned building. It was just a piece of trash. I even described it as such: "The room is empty except for a pile of trash in the corner."

But no.

We need to know: what's in the trash?
Oh, just an old bottle and some straw?
What kind of bottle was it?
What did it used to have in it?
The label is too faded to read? Let's have a round of Investigation checks to figure it out.
Oh interesting, it's in a language nobody recognizes! Let's cast comprehend languages...
It's just the name of a vineyard on it? Let's have a round of History checks to see if anyone recognizes it.
Hmm, better take it into town and ask every single merchant we ever meet about the piece of trash we found.
And so on.

I guess my players are hoping that if they focus on something long enough, and stare at it hard enough, and make me describe it to painstaking detail, it will somehow become important. But it's just a piece of trash. It was always just a piece of trash, and it will continue to be a piece of trash. You are carrying around a Bag of Holding full of other peoples' trash.

Lets
Roll
Up
New
Characters

So you made them roll up new characters? Kind of harsh, but not entirely unfair, I suppose. Those characters are too busy investigating that bottle to adventure now.

 

[CleverNickName]

Which means, IMO, that this isn't the actual objection. The actual underlying issue is a little different- it's not the lack of material. It's that people are using this as a placeholder to complain about how not enough people share the same gaming preferences as the person making the complaint.

I wonder if it's even more broad? They aren't actually upset about an old edition of D&D or an older game; they are upset that those days are gone forever.

I remember when The Isle of Dread was the "cool new thing," and I remember when I was the "cool DM," and my friends couldn't wait until the weekend so that they could come over to my house and play for hours--but now? Mystara isn't cool anymore (in fact, I've learned it was rather problematic), my teenage nieces and nephews think I'm an old dork (because I am), and nobody comes over to play D&D anymore (we're on VTT now).

It's bittersweet for me, but I think that for some folks it's mostly bitter. Growing old is uncomfortable and change is scary, and it's hard to make friends as an adult. I think some folks are really struggling with that.

 

[CleverNickName]

So you made them roll up new characters? Kind of harsh, but not entirely unfair, I suppose. Those characters are too busy investigating that bottle to adventure now.

Hey no fair cross-quoting me from two different threads!

For those who might be confused:

The first quote was just me teasing my players about that stupid bottle they carry around like a deranged relic.

The second quote was from the "describe your last gaming session in five words" when I was approached at a party by someone from an older gaming group. She was asking me if I was interested in running a game again with her husband and of course I'm down for that.