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  1. R

    WotC D&D Beyond Reveals 'Partnered Content' Schedule

    I don't use Beyond and do not plan to. It feels bad that WotC is working to pick winners here, but but it is their platform and it is up to the 3rd parties to decide if they want to be a part of that. Whatchagonnado?
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    WotC D&D Beyond Reveals 'Partnered Content' Schedule

    I wonder if they had the technical capacity to make it TTRPG Steam, would they?
  3. R

    Masters of the Universe | Official Trailer

    I am curious who this is aimed at. As an 80s kid (born 1975) I have many fond memories of MotU. This trailer does not look much like that, and certainly doesn't feel aimed at GenX (which is totally fair, don't get me wrong). But does GenZ know or care about He-Man? Is their He-Man an Earth Boy?
  4. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    I think it does, by definition. That is not the meaning of "plot" when talking about story. Plot is the sequence of events that make up the story. What you are talking about is setup or inciting incident.
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    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    Probably more accurate to say "appeals to." That will often invoke "similarity" but there must be differences for medium and presentation and so on. But one would be hard pressed to discount what was happening in fantasy aesthetics (including video games, but also paperback covers, animation and...
  6. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    You seem to think that I said that there is no story in RPGs, which is not what I said. I said stories emerge from play, in the context of fiction and rules they are presented in. Part and parcel with that is whatever background is established for the starting point. The fall of the Netherese...
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    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    Since the very beginning of the hobby, D&D and computer/video games have had a recursive relationship. D&D spread on college campuses partly because of the nascent internet, and attempts to recreate the experience on computers followed quickly. Doom and DIablo were both based on creators' D&D...
  8. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    Yes. But you said The Lord of the Rings, and that story begins and ends in Hobbiton.
  9. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    Essentially, at any given moment, the player may choose to do anything (within the context of the fiction and rules). So if you decide ahead of time that Thing A Must Happen, you will almost surely run into situations where in order to make that to continue to be true, you are barred from...
  10. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    Something I want to add: long stories are both granular and fractal. Just like a chapter in a novel might be a story in and of itself within a larger context, so might a particular adventure or session generate its own story within the larger context of the as-yet untold campaign story.
  11. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    It is definitionally not a complete story.
  12. R

    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    That is not the same thing as saying they tried to recreate WoW's mechanics in 4E. At the time, WoW was decimating the TTRPG community. WoW was at its zenith and we all knew folks who abandoned TTRPGs for WoW guilds. Sometimes whole groups shifted over to WoW. So WotC was inspired to compete...
  13. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    I do think that deciding that a thing will definitely happen -- or more specifically, that your character will definitely do a thing -- before it comes up in play does impinge upon player agency (at least insofar as I am defining it here). I agree that there is agency in the player choosing...
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    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    I would go so far as to say that most people who are discovering D&D now, their personal "appendix N" is full of things directly inspired by D&D itself, from video games to anime to Stranger Things.
  15. R

    Let's talk about "plot", "story", and "play to find out."

    This started in another thread but I thought I would spin it off into its own thread before it goes wild. What do you think of TTRPGs (broadly) in relation to "story." Are RPGs "stories." Are they "story generators"? Something else? How do the particular mechanics of a game interact with what...
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    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    I have never played Dungeon World, but isn't it a PbtA play-to-find-out game? If so, that makes it even LESS of a story than neo-trad 5E.
  17. R

    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    But a game isn't a story until it is over. RPGs generate stories by virtue of being played, but they aren't "A Story". Stories have beginnings, middles and ends. they have plots and characters, high and low points. None of that is true with RPGs except in retrospect. The story we tell about the...
  18. R

    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    It isn't a story until it is over.
  19. R

    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    Why? If you don't want it, you don't buy it. But folks who do can.
  20. R

    D&D General D&D Evolutions You Like and Dislike [+]

    I don't think a d20 skill check is particularly helpful with wilderness exploration. You need a more robust system.
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