Are the official WotC forums worth going to?
- Thread starter dreaded_beast
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Well to tell the truth I find the wotc boards faster then these boards. The real difference between the two boards is that I usually find different content at them, I mean I only find storyhours here among other things, but with wizards of the coasts forum organization I can look at a paticular grouping of posts easier (say player posts or dm posts which tend to mingle in the general discussion here.) Also wotc boards have a search feature that anyone can use.
Overall I will say that I enjoy these boards better as these boards has a general lack of the really annoying posters you find sometimes on wotc boards and these boards also have the storyhour fourm.
Overall I will say that I enjoy these boards better as these boards has a general lack of the really annoying posters you find sometimes on wotc boards and these boards also have the storyhour fourm.
frankthedm
First Post
The nitch parts of the board can be ok, mini help furum buried in minis and the cthulhu board they had a while ago. but the main board sections are a pain .
Well, for what it's worth, I find the WotC boards quite a bit faster than EN World. And yes, they *do* have an ignore feature!dreaded_beast said:
As for the general atmosphere... well, that hasn't changed all that much. I do think you can find some really worthwhile threads there. I wouldn't bother getting seriously involved in the general boards, but you may want to scan them every once in a while, and for the rest just pick and choose some more specialized ones.
wingsandsword
Legend
I used to be a fairly regular poster on those boards, especially the d20 Modern message board, and mostly a lurker on ENWorld. However, I don't have much reason to go there anymore, and I can't really post here that often. They used to tolerate discussion of real-world politics, religion and history within a game context on the d20 Modern board, as long as everyone kept it respectful. It lead to some threads I truly enjoyed, like discussing different spell lists or spell domains for divine spellcasters of different real-world religions, devising game statistics for real-world historic figures from the last few decades, or a very popular thread about using real-world news headlines (usually with a link to the story) as game hooks.
Then a few jerks had to go and put up a thread, starting a thread that was laced with incendiary political opinions, hateful flames, and general ill-will. They changed the board rules, it was now all off limits. Anything that mentioned a real-world political figure, organization, religion, or pretty much anything that made it recognizable to the real world in any way, shape or form was off limits. Ironically, WotC's own d20 Modern books don't hold to that standard, the Menace Manual talks about Scientology (through a section on a fringe element called Neo-Scientology) and an ultra-militant offshoot of Al-Qaida dedicated to kidnapping and torturing westerners. Proposing either of those would get a topic closed, and I haven't seen anybody brave enough to discuss those parts of the book after they changed the rules.
WotC's opinion, expressed via WizO's, is that it's a roleplaying game, so nothing related to the real world has any relevance to the game. I understand the need to be moderate about sensitive topics, but that is pretty bad. It's literally a mixed message from WotC on d20 Modern. In the core book and Urban Arcana, they say that the setting is the world outside your door, everything out there is up for grabs, and it's a big world. However, nothing outside your door is tied to any specific religion, political organization, or recognizable real-world figure.
The WizO who shut it down also said something about how when people don't play D&D to live out historic events or play in anything recognizable from the real world. Well, I take great exception to that, I have all the old "Green Book" 2nd edition suppliments, and the best D&D game I ever ran was a year-long campaign set in the 3rd Crusade. The first 3e issue of Dragon even had information on playing in quasi-historic England, and lots of early 3e issues had some stats on historic figures in D&D terms. Since when is D&D never used for anything historic? Nice selective memory going there.
The sad thing is, I don't know of a place where I can discuss topics like that. ENWorld has it's own rules against this (to the best of my knowledge, a quick search didn't find the exact rules but I think I've heard them mentioned), Wizards.com has them, and every other gaming message board I can think of is littered with trolls and flames and isn't really useful. I really wish there was a board, well moderated, where people can discuss mature topics in roleplaying, like politics and religion in a roleplaying context without flames or mods reflexively shutting it down.
Also, I've noticed some of the the WizO's being ill-informed and very heavy handed as of late. On my last visit to the d20 Modern message board, one fellow asked for an explanation of the Sanity rules from Unearthed Arcana. A moderator closed the thread saying that since Unearthed Arcana isn't covered by the OGL sending someone a copy of the rules is copyright infringement, and it's a breach of board rules just to ask. Does this moderator have a copy of Unearthed Arcana that doesn't have the OGL on Page 222 and a clear listing of Product Identity and Open Game Content on the bottom of Page 2?
The only things you could get there you might not get here is that many of the designers and WotC staffers read and post on those boards, that and the e-mail notifications of new posts in threads you've subscribed to is turned on. Oh, and Private Messaging and Search features are free on Wizards.com, while they are paid Community Supporter features here.
(Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I've been exasperated with the WotC boards lately.)
Then a few jerks had to go and put up a thread, starting a thread that was laced with incendiary political opinions, hateful flames, and general ill-will. They changed the board rules, it was now all off limits. Anything that mentioned a real-world political figure, organization, religion, or pretty much anything that made it recognizable to the real world in any way, shape or form was off limits. Ironically, WotC's own d20 Modern books don't hold to that standard, the Menace Manual talks about Scientology (through a section on a fringe element called Neo-Scientology) and an ultra-militant offshoot of Al-Qaida dedicated to kidnapping and torturing westerners. Proposing either of those would get a topic closed, and I haven't seen anybody brave enough to discuss those parts of the book after they changed the rules.
WotC's opinion, expressed via WizO's, is that it's a roleplaying game, so nothing related to the real world has any relevance to the game. I understand the need to be moderate about sensitive topics, but that is pretty bad. It's literally a mixed message from WotC on d20 Modern. In the core book and Urban Arcana, they say that the setting is the world outside your door, everything out there is up for grabs, and it's a big world. However, nothing outside your door is tied to any specific religion, political organization, or recognizable real-world figure.
The WizO who shut it down also said something about how when people don't play D&D to live out historic events or play in anything recognizable from the real world. Well, I take great exception to that, I have all the old "Green Book" 2nd edition suppliments, and the best D&D game I ever ran was a year-long campaign set in the 3rd Crusade. The first 3e issue of Dragon even had information on playing in quasi-historic England, and lots of early 3e issues had some stats on historic figures in D&D terms. Since when is D&D never used for anything historic? Nice selective memory going there.
The sad thing is, I don't know of a place where I can discuss topics like that. ENWorld has it's own rules against this (to the best of my knowledge, a quick search didn't find the exact rules but I think I've heard them mentioned), Wizards.com has them, and every other gaming message board I can think of is littered with trolls and flames and isn't really useful. I really wish there was a board, well moderated, where people can discuss mature topics in roleplaying, like politics and religion in a roleplaying context without flames or mods reflexively shutting it down.
Also, I've noticed some of the the WizO's being ill-informed and very heavy handed as of late. On my last visit to the d20 Modern message board, one fellow asked for an explanation of the Sanity rules from Unearthed Arcana. A moderator closed the thread saying that since Unearthed Arcana isn't covered by the OGL sending someone a copy of the rules is copyright infringement, and it's a breach of board rules just to ask. Does this moderator have a copy of Unearthed Arcana that doesn't have the OGL on Page 222 and a clear listing of Product Identity and Open Game Content on the bottom of Page 2?
The only things you could get there you might not get here is that many of the designers and WotC staffers read and post on those boards, that and the e-mail notifications of new posts in threads you've subscribed to is turned on. Oh, and Private Messaging and Search features are free on Wizards.com, while they are paid Community Supporter features here.
(Sorry if this sounds harsh, but I've been exasperated with the WotC boards lately.)
EricNoah
Adventurer
I always get a little uncomfortable with these "let's compare EN World with WotC" threads. We can get away with having loosey-goosey "grandma" rules where they never could, they serve a much different population, their mods may not have the same overarching authority to make key decisions, yadda yadda yadda. So it's kind of apples and oranges. Certainly they get the benefit of having official WotC posting about their products, so that can be a definite plus on their side.
It depends...
My experience at Wizards.community has been positive, mostly because I stay out of the "optimization" and flame-potential (kill baby kobolds, give me a break!) threads. It is a great place to meet rules knowledgable folks (not the rulesy folks don't hang out here).
I have noticed a pattern to the posts, however. When a new Wizards supplement comes out, the initial reaction is "Whoa! A new book! It must be mine!" After a month or two of "Whoa!", the dust settles and people apparenty stop reading/using the supplement. They instead must have book y that is now "WHOA!". Repeat, ad nausem.
I don't have a lot of cash, so I'm not really interest in new supplements as much as majority of the Wizards.community crowd is. That's why I don't spend much time there anymore. I like creating my own stuff and finding nice "brain food" sourcebooks.
P.S. EN you're MUCH too nice. This forum is your baby, you created it. Admit this forum rules
My experience at Wizards.community has been positive, mostly because I stay out of the "optimization" and flame-potential (kill baby kobolds, give me a break!) threads. It is a great place to meet rules knowledgable folks (not the rulesy folks don't hang out here).
I have noticed a pattern to the posts, however. When a new Wizards supplement comes out, the initial reaction is "Whoa! A new book! It must be mine!" After a month or two of "Whoa!", the dust settles and people apparenty stop reading/using the supplement. They instead must have book y that is now "WHOA!". Repeat, ad nausem.
I don't have a lot of cash, so I'm not really interest in new supplements as much as majority of the Wizards.community crowd is. That's why I don't spend much time there anymore. I like creating my own stuff and finding nice "brain food" sourcebooks.
P.S. EN you're MUCH too nice. This forum is your baby, you created it. Admit this forum rules
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