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I really hate that questions of sexism become deflected to questions of character. It's like the racist guy pointing out that his black friends love him. I don't know Gary's soul. I never met the man. I am not here to judge him as a human. We're all clever apes doing our best in a complicated...

Big disagree. It's always a good idea to call out sexism. You should do it every day, until sexism doesn't exist anymore (so basically forever), and you can always fill your daily quota of calling it out by looking at people in history who did sexist things and pointing out how it was bad and...

I just bought the Uncaged Anthology, 'cuz it's 5e and I'm nothing if I'm not basic as hell. Holy moly, these products are beautiful and so VERY well written. I'd been thinking about where my next adventure is coming from, and this anthology is a serious contender. Only $13, too! Hell, just did...

Feels like Don Quixote to me. If the windmills he tilted at posed half the threat he thinks they do, he'd be a hero. Too bad he's only heroic in his own head, crowing about his giant-slaying while doing absolutely nothing to help anyone.

One of the things I keep realizing is that the vile elements of a lot of fantasy that was popular when I was coming up and a little before were not considered vile by all of the kids reading them (or the adults they have become). Folks like Elon Musk and Peter Thiel do think about the stuff...

I am already so exhausted by the next 4 years or so. Hey, as an antidote to centering utter lunatics, can someone recommend to me a D&D or TTRPG product with a strong feminist stance / message? Maybe we can talk about people doing good work in this space instead of the nefarious blowhards.

In 2024, getting to cast two fireballs on the same turn isn't TOO hard. You just need to be a thief with a necklace of fireballs. Fast Hands lets you use the Magic action as a bonus action, so you use that bonus action to chuck a bead from the necklace...and then do it again with your action...

I am a big user of group checks. I think the Stealth situation is interesting. On the one hand, yes, a single failed check could fail a stealth situation, and so if you want a stealth situation, you get your stealthy party members to sneak on ahead of those who are more boisterous. This is an...

The spell doesn't mention any issue with moving through the space, so RAW, anyone can move through the space for any reason. The spell cannot block a doorway for you, and it can slide past enemy defenders as well, as long as its move doesn't end in an unoccupied space. (also, you can't send the...

I love how weapon masteries add a bit more character to your weapon choices. It's another decision point, but one that pays off, I think. My character in my Sunday game is a gnome fighter who wields a glaive - something that is not a good idea in 2014, but is perfectly viable in 2024. One of...

Listen, I am sure there is the seed of a good reason behind every decision someone thinks is bad. Like, I'm sure that sleep was considered OP by some metric and so they had to hit it hard with the nerf bat and now make it kind of a bad idea to cast if there's more than one monster in the...

Yeah, agreed. Close enough to backwards compatible if you squint. Not significantly worth worrying about where it's not. And I like the flexibility. My groups generally like the weapon masteries (even though they do slow things down a bit). The dumb bits are pretty isolated, thankfully -...

Yeah, colonialism and early capitalism are good PTC themes. Exploitation of labor, especially - straight up using people as tools and disregarding their humanity, employing powerful armies on their behalf, treating everyone in their web of influence as an obstacle to enriching Esteban and his...

It's OK. There are some really troubling design choices that I think work against some of 5e's great strengths (2024 has more complexity, more decision points, more "game logic"), but it's not a revolution or a totally different game or anything. A little slower. Some moments of "this is a dumb...

Building on this a bit, I think the "gameplay" for those pillars is different, and that difference is good for the game overall. If everything had the mathematical complexity of combat, the game would grind, things would feel samey and monotone. The different pillars of gameplay are different...

In 2e, where the Plane of Water met the Plane of Ice, it was a "topped" with the infinite glacier (which then peaked as it stabbed into the Plane of Air). Water also became a swamp as it neared Ooze, and a bubbly, aerated mixture as it neared Steam, and a salty brine as it neared Salt (giving it...

Remember: it doesn't have to be this way. This is a choice, made by individuals. Normalizing it is letting those individuals off the hook.

I've been looking at some OSR games that use some aggressive inventory tracking mechanics and I'm quite partial to the idea of a character significantly (exclusively? almost exclusively?) defined by what they find in play and what they choose to equip and use. What if you only had one (or maybe...

Flight is not a power consideration. It is a genre consideration. Like a mount. It's not too powerful to have flight at 1st level, it just changes the kinds of adventures and challenges the party faces. For a homebrew, if you don't mind the change, slot it in wherever it makes sense. For a...

There is no such thing as a class that casts magic. All spells are in magic items. Wizards are just artificers. Wands, spellbooks, scrolls, runes. Warlocks don't cast spells, they have their familiars cast spells (different familiars, different spells). Sorcerers are living potions. They shed...