Search results

Maybe I'm wrong that it's odd. I've not been to Gencon. I thought about GHC, but didn't for unrelated reasons, and I thought it was weird to charge for both. And some folks in the local area I talked to about it also said it was weird. That's why I have that perception.

Paying for both the ticket and the games is not that common ime and one of the oddities of gameholecon. Glad to hear you had a good time. I have only attended cons in the past few years but have not yet encountered CPM.

How fast? I am learning this right now.

The game has been banned from discussion on several of the big RPG subreddits and so the community has moved elsewhere. It has had a recent, somewhat successful (I think $150k?) Kickstarter for an expansion book. I do wonder if the split around that game contributed to the decline in...

Somewhat reminiscent of Phoenix Command. One of their authors was longtime JPL propulsion guru Barry Nakazono, who also authored the very detailed Swords Path: Glory system. I was told by a friend of his (one of the Complete Warlock authors, it turns out) that Barry had an elaborate setup for...

I suppose it depends who you're talking to. Some folks have pretty strenuous disagreements without feeling either party is rude. Some prefer more positive discussion. I've seen my fair share of comments that were meant as light hearted (but not positive) that came off to me as rude. If you're...

I'm confused. I took part and I agree that the conservatism thread was highly productive and did a great deal to clarify my own thinking. But I thought that the core disagreements there were fundamentally intractable and I'm not sure anyone changed their minds, in the sense that certain...

I find value in conversations even if the other person is not willing to change their mind, because the act of discourse will help clarify my thoughts and the justification for my position. It helps me go from "I know I like this but it is hard to say why" to "I can say very specifically why I...

Thats a very cool concept. Does it do anything to deal with the fact that most GMs will be interested in worlds with oxygen, but oxygen atmospheres are very hard to form?

It had a huge effect when I ran Hoard of the Dragon Queen back in 2015. But that's because we misread the rule and they cast it with a single action. It was decisive in a dragon encounter. Since then, no.

I think there is interest in defining the bounds and scope of simulationism. We had some extended discussions in other threads. But that is more inherently argumentative than the + thread is designed for.

Right...but "strongest ever start for Dungeons and Dragons books" is not a high bar, nor very precise. (Is every book individually doing better than any book has ever done?). And why not something more quantitative, as for Magic? "Magic revenue increased 55% to $459 million". Perhaps too small...

What is your idea here? In academia, the advice was that if you asked about Prof X, and someone said "Prof X is great. Given you're interested in that field, Prof Y is doing some really cool things..." they meant "Prof X is bad and you should avoid them". (If they liked Prof X, they would say...

I agree. I'm trying to make a more nuanced point and I don't think it's coming across over text, so I'm going to drop it. As I'm doing so I want to take a moment to say that I am emphatically in favor of increased representation--with respect to racial, LGBTQ, cultural, and religious identities.

I've seen a shift in the public games I run in terms of what people are looking for, which I think is represented by broader changes in fantasy literature. Romantasy has taken fantasy by storm and it would be surprising if that didn't have an effect on d&d. So if WotC is not marketing that way...

Do you think cozy romance is signaled as a way players are expected to play more or less than previously? Note, I've said this is a good thing and they should provide those options to take advantage of the Legends & Lattes crowd. I think it is good for marketing and a good way to get more...

Right. And it is possible to switch to a less heteronormative approach by changing background characters and setting assumptions without changing the scope of the game from high fantasy adventure to cozy romance. E.g., Gnomengarde in Icespire peak.

Assuming it is run into the ground, it would be available for a much lower price. But yes the risk of someone or some group buying it and turning it into an ideological pet project is real. It wouldn't be the first time. All things considered I'm happy with what Hasbro has done with the brand.

There was a recent reddit post in which an individual said that not only did they give "heartfelt recommendations" for a game, but they accepted a position as a moderator of the relevant board...without ever having played it.

Thanks for finding those! I guess reflecting on it I think there are two related issues that contribute to the debate. (1) to what extent is the background representation of NPCs/PCs reflect heteronormative assumptions? (2) to what extent are PCs expected to engage in romance as part of...