D&D General Differences Between D&D Boards

[BrokenTwin]

In addition to criminally bad search functions, the amount of RPG forums that STILL don't have a dark mode or mobile-friendly GUI is mind-boggling.

I don't really find Reddit OR Discord to be great replacements for the benefits of the forum structure, but Discord is pretty much the only place I can go to get information and discourse on some of the RPGs I play. I'm not fond of how siloed they are though. Part of why I like using forums is because of the wider variety of opinions, preferences, and viewpoints that happen when you have a bunch of people playing different (sometimes drastically different) games interacting in a shared space, without the chaotic mess that usually happens in Reddit threads.

 

[not-so-newguy]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned The Piazza message board, but I lurk there from time to time. Specifically the Mystara section. Folks on that board have an in-depth knowledge of the setting. Good place to go if you're looking for detailed answers.

 

[Umbran]

In addition to criminally bad search functions, the amount of RPG forums that STILL don't have a dark mode or mobile-friendly GUI is mind-boggling.

EN World - Wait, what's this?

www.enworld.org

 

[BrokenTwin]

@Umbran: Oh my god, that timing is uncanny.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

EN World is now pretty much the only RPG community I still frequent. The discussion here is a good mix of topics ranging from rules questions, to DMing advice, to sharing worldbuilding, to reviews of products. I am a bit of an outlier in terms of age so the threads discussing older editions generally go over my head, but I feel very welcome here nonetheless.

Back when 5e was brand spanking new I used RPG Stack Exchange which isn't really a discussion forum and more geared towards Q&A. It helped wrap my head around some of the weird rules. Since I have a handle on things I go there much less.

I'm not very fond of Reddit. It's "democracy" voting system tends to just enforce echo chambers and threads are so transient that long form discussion isn't very feasible. To me it's more like a social media platform where people go to share jokes or links or images rather than talk about the game. But maybe I just don't go on the right subreddits.

 

[Aldarc]

I will say something nice about RPG.net: it's a pretty good place to talk about games that aren't D&D because those forums have a more vibrant sense of non-D&D/OSR games out there and I appreciate that the moderators - much like here - do try to make it an inclusive place.

 

[happyhermit]

Rpg.net is a good place for 4e fans to talk about 4e, hard pressed to find a place where more people (and mods) consider 4e to be the best D&D. It has a lot of discussion about other ttrpgs. Games that deal with left-wing political issues get a lot of buzz there, but discussion of some ttrpgs and creators is banned. Some of the "Let's read" threads provide a ton of content, though they can get a bit snarky for my tastes. If number of moderators/admin per capita is a plus, this site has to hold the record.

RPGsite has a free exchange of ideas and differences of opinions, people are nice at times, but they don't have to be it's small and the overall quantity of discusion actually focused on ttrpgs is not very high IME.

 

[Eltab]

I thought I was pretty clear.

Reference the 'hard to read' observations upthread: Do you usually use bold for 'moderator voice'? I see Color and Quote tags but no others as I construct this post.

And: Should this tangent be handled as a thread in Meta?

 

[DammitVictor]

I will say something nice about RPG.net: it's a pretty good place to talk about games that aren't D&D because those forums have a more vibrant sense of non-D&D/OSR games out there...

Yeah, I will second this. Most of the other RPG forums have a heavy focus on D&D-- either the newest edition, the OSR, or 3.X-- and RPGnet is a rare exception to this. They're good for a lot of the modern narrative-driven games, White Wolf games and their successors and imitators (a little too good for these), and... the non-OSR portions of the indie community. (And, to be fair, it's where I first encountered a lot of OSR games, too.)

EN World has its focus on 5e with a secondary "I'm with D&D" vibe. Giant in the Playground is a 3.X board with some 4e and 5e activity-- they list TSR D&D with "Other Games"-- and RPG Site only recognizes two legitimate eras of roleplaying design: the Late Seventies and the Early Eighties.

I don't know any good places to discuss D&D 4e.

RPG Pub is an all-around good site for discussing games in a positive atmosphere... but they also skew pretty old school.

 

[Zardnaar]

Paizos not bad if you like Pathfinder or Golarion.

Dragonsfoot subsection 2E might be best place for 2E, good for OSR stuff skews heavily 1E.