Recent content by Mercurius

There are only 30 or 40 actual tabletop rpg players. We just buy a lot of books.

Because Gygax. And really, it is quintessential Gygax: campy, a bit silly, but overall just fun in a I'm a bit of a square guy in the 70s, but am still taking in a bit of the funky psychedelia. As with anything D&D, the chromatic scheme is just default, not law. Do as thou wilt at thine own table.

There is accounting for taste. Some people just have bad taste.

Nice post. I did want to comment on your take of Frodo. I think part of Tolkien's point is that literally no one could have truly resisted the One Ring, which is why Gandalf and Galadriel refused it - they knew they'd eventually be corrupted, or at least be "benevolent fascists." Frodo did about...

That would make sense for Harn, as such a detailed and Medieval-realistic setting - so it probably drew a lot of the "world-builders first, gamers second" crowd of which I've always been a part of, even when I was more actively playing.

Not to veer too far from the thread topic, but what came to mind when I read this is that 4E combat was really fun at first, both in terms of when the edition came out and the first third of a given combat. But then it grew tiresome - again, both in terms of a long-term campaign and after the...

Wow, you sort of won the thread, @Retreater . I'd only add: Want to play fantasy RPG with a simple d20-based system and you ate and enjoyed psilocybin at some point and like a psychedelic 70s science fantasy tone, play Talislanta.

Well, I think that's the thing: Fringe is "ongoing/permanent casual" and also involves greater interest in RPGs as a whole, be it academic, aesthetic, or just keeping up with what's going on. It is casual (small-c) relative to diehard, but it involves lasting and more intense interest than my...

Back to the OP, and to address it more directly, as someone more in the 1970s, my interest emerged around the same time. I was interested in fantasy stories and mythology before discovering D&D, which was like a dream come true (you mean I get to play out the stories?!), but I don't know if I...

I agree with you and Pratchett, with a few significant caveats. One, see my Babe Ruth analogy above. No single baseball player changed the game as much as he did, but it was 100 years ago and is mostly felt today through how the game shifted due to his influence, not the "looming presence of...

Over the years I have come to realize that I firmly exist in a kind of nebulous, liminal zone of RPG fandom that could be described as the Fringe. I haven't played in about five years, and really haven't played in a long-term campaign (i.e. a year plus) in decades. My hey-day of RPG interest was...

I say this as a huge Tolkien fan, but I just don't think this question/inquiry is as relevant in 2025 as it was several decades ago. Or rather, its relevance depends upon age: and this inquiry seems mostly focused on those who have been playing D&D for 30+ years. No problem with that, but I...

It sounds like they're splitting up material to optimize chances that people buy both. "Most of X type of material is in this book, but some is in the other." Especially for those who want the setting/fluff stuff OR the splat/crunch stuff, but not both.

If you're into X, then play Dragonbane. If you're into Y, then play Shadowdark. If you're into Z, then play Pathfinder. And so on. "X, Y, Z" can be any specific or gestalt of qualities you feel like assembling, and of course include as many games as you like. I'd even suggest being vague as...

Well it has been awhile--maybe never--that I'd consider not buying a book based on the cover art, but here we are.