CONAN Is Finally Here!

After appearing three years running in the 10 Most Anticipated RPGs of the Year list, it seems that Conan's streak has come to and end - because Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of has been released! You can get it right now from Modiphius' web store, and will be able to get it elsewhere from tomorrow. PDF only, for the moment. You can also grab a book of six adventures, Jewelled Thrones of the Earth. Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed of is based on Modiphius' own 2d20 system (which also powers their upcoming Star Trek Adventures game). The book is now available for review in the reviews area.

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[The Crimson Binome]

It's been a while since I've seen a blantant example of badwrongfun. Blimey!

Have you not read the DMG for D&D 5E? Because condemnation of meta-gaming is right in there. Traditional RPGs have been warning against the ignoble practice of meta-gaming for decades, with varied degrees of eloquence.

More recently, an idea has been gaining traction through some games that meta-gaming is okay, as long as it's in service of a higher goal - such as furthering the story. Whether or not you buy into that argument is going to depend largely on why you play these kinds of games in the first place.

I have no idea why you're trying to equate a game mechanic you don't like with an actual problem like discrimination and sexism.

The short of it is that, just because something is common or widely-accepted, that doesn't mean we have to accept it. It's okay to take a stand for something you feel strongly about, and if the other side doesn't back down, that doesn't make you wrong for holding to your convictions.

It's true of important, real-world problems. It's true of silly game rules (e.g. how Quidditch can be improved significantly by getting rid of the Snitch and just using a clock, which some people feel very strongly about). And it's true of the intersection between real-world problems and silly games. The basic logical process for determining what does or does-not make sense is not altered by how serious the topic is.

 

[Morrus]

Have you not read the DMG for D&D 5E? Because condemnation of meta-gaming is right in there.

I have and it isn't.

Inspiration is a metagaming mechanic.

I and many others here were playing RPGs, including D&D, for 30 years before the current DMG was written. It's just a book. I wrote a book, too. And Conan is a book.

The only wrong is people telling others they are engaging in #badwrongfun.

Traditional RPGs have been warning against the ignoble practice of meta-gaming for decades, with varied degrees of eloquence

Many very successful, excellent RPGs use metagame mechanics. Including D&D 5E (not that that means anything).

The short of it is that, just because something is common or widely-accepted, that doesn't mean we have to accept it.

You can not accept it all you want. But you don't get to decide how other people have their fun.

It's okay to take a stand for something you feel strongly about, and if the other side doesn't back down, that doesn't make you wrong for holding to your convictions.

If you have convictions about how other people choose to enjoy harmless games, yeah, it kinda makes you wrong. You can play your games how you want to, of course, but nobody needs your permission to play games the way they want to. There's no stand, and nobody has to back down.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

2) No it isn't.

I don't know how you could have read the part about how to discourage meta-gaming, because meta-gaming is bad, and come away thinking that it isn't against meta-gaming.

3) Inspiration is a metagaming mechanic.

The degree to which this is true is going to vary from table to table. You could use it to model inspiration, which is a thing that exists within the game world and which the characters are aware of, and which is reflected in the ways inspiration is gained and spent. Or the DM could ignore the mechanic entirely, which is another option in the book. Or I guess you could treat it as a meta-game player resource, if you really wanted to.

If you have convictions about how other people choose to enjoy harmless games, yeah, it makes you wrong. Nobody needs your permission to play games the way they want to.

It sounds like there was a miscommunication somewhere. I'm not against other people meta-gaming, at their own tables, as far away from me as possible. If you can have fun playing FATE or Savage Worlds or this new Conan game, then that's great. I just don't want it anywhere near my table, because it directly conflicts with the core principle of role-playing, which is that you make decisions as your character and out-of-game factors are irrelevant.

When I say meta-gaming is bad, I mean it in the same way that pineapple on pizza is bad. I find it supremely distasteful, and I can't just ignore it because it ruins the taste of everything around it, but it's not a moral judgment against people who like it or anything.

 

[thzero]

I'm up to 10 house rules, and thats just in the character building section.

And RPGs are a game, not a story telling sitaround. GAME. So if you have to fudge things just to make the results tell the story you want, instead of finding the story that comes out of the good and bad.. um, yeah.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Stat modifiers for women usually exist to reinforce the idea that they aren't capable as heroes, and are meant to be rescued. Why would I want to support a game that intentionally chooses to do that?

Because it is a trope that the source material embraces?

 

[Prickly]

I was sceptical at first but I tried out the quickstart during the kickstarter and I really became very fond of the 2d20 system.

I'm actually currently running a mutant chronicles game and I am excited to try out the update 2d20 for conan.

I recommend everyone to give it an honest try with the free quickstart, and then form your opinion.

 

[Prickly]

I don't know how you could have read the part about how to discourage meta-gaming, because meta-gaming is bad, and come away thinking that it isn't against meta-gaming./QUOTE]

There is a difference between a meta game mechanic and a player meta-gaming

doom point, fate point, savage world bennies and 5e inpiration all all metagame mechanics

A player looking up monster stats to gauge what spells to use or attacks to make is meta-gaming

 

[The Crimson Binome]

There is a difference between a meta game mechanic and a player meta-gaming

One is a sub-set of the other. The major issue with something like a Doom pool is that it requires meta-gaming in order to use. A player looking at the stats for a monster, and making a decision based on that information, is meta-gaming to the same degree as a player looking at the GM's pile of Doom tokens and making a decision based on its size.

The only real difference is that D&D is written from a perspective that meta-gaming is bad, and you're not supposed to look up stats for the monster; where a game like this is written from the perspective that meta-gaming is good, and you are supposed to take the Doom pool into consideration.

 

[aramis erak]

I don't seem to be making any sense to you, so I'll allow someone else to answer.

(Maybe it's controversial because a lot of people really want to like this game. I know I do. But the mechanics are so bad that I won't play the game. So, massive disappointment has set in. Which angers people. They gripe about it. Discussion seen as controversy.)

You're stating a preference, being asked to analyze it and explain it, and just repeating the preference without explanation. You've given ZERO insight into why you hate it, while championing, even to the point of attempting to put the whole mechanics up on the BBS, a game which makes extensive use of metagame points... WEG d6.

 

[Water Bob]

If you're angry about the choice of rules in a tabletop roleplaying game, game forums are not your solution.

Game forums aren't the place to state a dissenting opinion about the mechanics of a game?

Hmm.

I'd be interesting in hearing from people other than you, as you are known for stalking 2d20 threads across multiple websites and ranting about how awful it is. The fact that there's a person out there who obsessively hates a system to the extent of following it around the web and condemning everywhere they see it is not useful information to me.

Hey, I wasn't the first here. I just joined in today on this thread. There are plenty of others who stated opinions against the game.