D&D General I’m Trying to Love D&D Again—and I’ve Got Some Complaints. Young Grognard posting.

cranberry said:

Oh, I don't think I'm that bad.

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I say this fully teasing - who the viewer identifies with in the video is telling.

Morrus said:

Like... in secret?

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Beer, wine, or moonshine homebrew?

More random thoughts.

3PP distrust goes back for me no actual distrust of add on books go back to me to 2E when the “Complete Paladin’s Handbook” Where a subclass of paladin got a +5 holy avenger right out basic training. 3pp may not fit the campaign, power level may be off compare to rest of the group, or Oofta likes so I must hate it.

Homebrew content problem can be is not balanced. Hey I gave my brother Captain American shield at 2nd level. Or in West Berlin a 1E game I sat in on, the 1st level wizard ruled combat and by 5th he had a keep. And most new dms will not claw back bad homebrew.

Vashvet “… Nobody, and I mean nobody, is making a “living” doing Paid DM. At best it’s offsetting some of the costs. A player can show up for free, having put virtually nothing into the game while the DM has already spent a few hours of their time and probably money into it.”

Didn’t GennyLi or GenniDi have a you tube vid where actual paid dms where covering cost to full career?

Koloth..” and the 5x7 ziplock set(Star Fleet Battles).” Which so became Star Fleet lawyers after so many add ons. I got started with the black box. End with the captains edition.

cranberry .. However, I'm starting to worry about natural attrition. One of my guys has constant health problems, … There two empty seats in my game group. 3 or more in my FLGS. And one was not natural.

jasper said:

Didn’t GennyLi or GenniDi have a you tube vid where actual paid dms where covering cost to full career?

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Yup. Some folks actually do make a living at being professional game masters.

Ginni D has actually done a couple of videos on the topic, I think this one is the first:

...m... said:

...actually, that $1.5MM is the total across all thirty megadungeon month projects: kobold press' hastening doom is sitting at $50K right now, not bad for a softcover supermodule and seventh place in the crowdfunding campaign as a whole...

...the two frontrunners (around $400K each) are the both highly-anticipated flagship remakes of classic megadungeons, goodman's castle whiterock and troll lord's castle zagyg, followed in third/fourth place (around $150K) by monte cook games' jewel in the sky cypher megadungeon and rowan, rook + deckard's die metadungeon, then loki battle mats at $75K, and finally ghostfire's lairs of etharis 5.24 remake saddled up shoulder-to-shoulder with kobold press around the $50K mark...

...the remainder are mostly small-scale indie publishers, some more prominent than others, the majority collaborative tie-ins with goodman's castle whiterock campaign...

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I stand corrected, I apparently misunderstood what I was seeing on the Backerkit site.

As a small scale 3rd party publisher and freelance designer I'd like to add in a couple thoughts:

1) Most DMs don't have my books. If you want the DM to include stuff, buy them a copy of whatever you want as a gift. Why, yes, some people may see that as a bribe. But mostly it's a way to get them to look at what you're trying to accomplish while also giving them access to more neat toys. Also it means another sale, which supports people you want to keep creating content. Win/Win!

2) As an "alphabet" person... YIKES.

3) I feel like you may be giving off a lot of signals to the groups you're trying to play with that are raising some red flags. Especially if this is your tame version of the ranting, which you specified it was and the 'Real One' is much more... expressive. Not that you're -trying- to. But it may be why you're seeing such a harsh mismatch of intention.

I'm gonna go out on a limb, here, and say: Maybe you do need to talk Politics with a potential group and find one that ascribes to something somewhat closer to your political identity. As they're more likely to be on the same wavelength in a lot of things. After all, personality predates politics. Who you are, at heart, dictates the ideas you support and influence into the world.

Might be a helpful bellweather for ya.

Certainly helps all us "Alphabet" people.

jasper said:

3PP distrust goes back for me no actual distrust of add on books go back to me to 2E when the “Complete Paladin’s Handbook” Where a subclass of paladin got a +5 holy avenger right out basic training.

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There's no such kit in that handbook.

The one that comes closest is the Ghosthunter kit, which has the following as a special benefit: "Holy Sword Availability: The Ghosthunter's deity might give the Ghosthunter an opportunity to acquire a sword +3 Purifier (see Chapter 6) at some point before he reaches 6th level. The DM determines the circumstances, as per the guidelines in Chapter 2; remember that availability does not guarantee acquisition."

The only other one that comes close is the Wyrmhunter kit, which has a special benefit where, if they're "primarily responsible for killing, banishing, or otherwise eliminating a principal foe of Wyrm or Great Wyrm level" then their deity gives them a gift, one of which could be (but isn't guaranteed to be) a magical gift, of which an example is a normal sword becoming a holy sword (which doesn't have to be a holy avenger, since Chapter 6 introduces several different kinds of holy swords).

Steampunkette said:

As a small scale 3rd party publisher and freelance designer I'd like to add in a couple thoughts:

1) Most DMs don't have my books. If you want the DM to include stuff, buy them a copy of whatever you want as a gift. Why, yes, some people may see that as a bribe. But mostly it's a way to get them to look at what you're trying to accomplish while also giving them access to more neat toys. Also it means another sale, which supports people you want to keep creating content. Win/Win!

2) As an "alphabet" person... YIKES.

3) I feel like you may be giving off a lot of signals to the groups you're trying to play with that are raising some red flags. Especially if this is your tame version of the ranting, which you specified it was and the 'Real One' is much more... expressive. Not that you're -trying- to. But it may be why you're seeing such a harsh mismatch of intention.

I'm gonna go out on a limb, here, and say: Maybe you do need to talk Politics with a potential group and find one that ascribes to something somewhat closer to your political identity. As they're more likely to be on the same wavelength in a lot of things. After all, personality predates politics. Who you are, at heart, dictates the ideas you support and influence into the world.

Might be a helpful bellweather for ya.

Certainly helps all us "Alphabet" people.

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If there was a slow-clap reaction I would have given that.

Interesting addition to the 3PP conversation: I own the Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide 2 and the Pathfinder 2e Player Core 2. The ToV one explicitly says it is at the GM's discretion whether these new classes, subclasses, etc will be allowed. The PF2e one is (IIRC) a little more subtle by tagging the ancestries as Uncommon or Rare - which already signals something the GM must approve. And both of these are FIRST PARTY books. So it definitely makes sense that the GM would have say on whether a player can use 3rd party content.

However, for a well-functioning table, this should be resolved at session 0 if the GM (for story, balance, or other reasons) wants to limit options.

djotaku said:

Interesting addition to the 3PP conversation: I own the Tales of the Valiant Player's Guide 2 and the Pathfinder 2e Player Core 2. The ToV one explicitly says it is at the GM's discretion whether these new classes, subclasses, etc will be allowed. The PF2e one is (IIRC) a little more subtle by tagging the ancestries as Uncommon or Rare - which already signals something the GM must approve. And both of these are FIRST PARTY books. So it definitely makes sense that the GM would have say on whether a player can use 3rd party content.

However, for a well-functioning table, this should be resolved at session 0 if the GM (for story, balance, or other reasons) wants to limit options.

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Definitely. The idea of a brand new player showing up with the expectation that the DM will integrate all of their preferred 3PP just strikes me as really entitled, and kind of oblivious to all the work the DM is already doing to make the game happen, and to the cost in time and actual money involved. And I write that as someone who really tries my best to incorporate player ideas.

OP, I would really temper that expectation; I suspect it hinders you more than you realize.