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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 9664152" data-attributes="member: 18">I think the game they're designing will probably be fine, and they can definitely make whatever decisions they like about it in that sense.I think it's pretty messed-up that they're using the Dungeon World name for it, though, in exactly the same way bigger companies purchasing or re-using the names of IPs for basically-unrelated products is messed-up. I don't think there's an exemption to this just because you're a small indie company or w/e. They essentially say they're making "<a href="https://www.dungeon-world.com/who-is-dungeon-world-2-for/" target="_blank">Critical Role Simulator</a>", with an intentionally very narrow focus.It's pretty equivalent to buying the name to say, Vampire: The Masquerade, and then turning it into a game that is about emulating the specific dynamics of The Vampire Diaries TV series and only the Vampire Diaries TV series or things very similar to it (which would not, for example, include, say, 90% of VtM and 99% of VtR campaigns nor Anne Rice-style stuff).Further, maybe it's just me but I'm not entirely convinced the "Sure we're making Critical Role Simulator, you can play a different PtbA RPG for other D&D vibes!" thing is either justifiable (but let's assume it is and leave that to the side), or, more importantly, not just "backfill", because it's weird to me that it doesn't match the initial announcement very well. It's fine if they decided actually they want to narrow the focus, but I'm really wondering if that was always the intention (again, not really if they're going to call it DW2 though lol).Also, whilst I am saying they can make whatever decisions they like, none of the mechanical stuff they've shown so far even matches with the description of the game they say they're making, imho. Instead it looks more like they're making the game more grounded and generic and possibly less heroic and specific, which seems like it kind of runs counter to the goals? Like, Read Someone seems like a largely unnecessary move, and they don't do a great job justifying it. Examine is essentially just a "nerfed", far less evocatively named, and more complicated version of Discern Realities. Sway seems pretty meh (and again, less evocatively named). Also frankly the claim "You can't Parley with appeals to emotions or ideals." is, well, "just your opinion, man" and doesn't pass the sniff test I'd suggest. It's not actually informed by the rules either but apparently by an answer on StackExchange, which is not a great justification!In fact, let me go further - I would go as far as to say, Sway, as described, appears to represent a real step back in design, one that is actually less informed by any "PtbA principles" than Parley was, and is much more like a kind of generic "force the PCs to roll every time they want an NPC to do anything at all", which Parley was not. It's also kind of rubbish because it's actually three different moves, with different principles, just under one subheading, which like, again seems a very different direction to the one they're describing (also frankly they results aren't well thought-through).EDIT - Also also - they seem to be very keen on using actual moves on other PCs, like PvP stuff, particularly socially, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but everything I've seen of CR/Vox Machina does not seem to have that happening. On the contrary, whilst the PCs do sometimes come into conflict, they are notable in that they generally don't just try and "Read" or "Sway" each other in the ways described in those two moves, but make emotional pleas to the hearts of other characters, which doesn't fit at all well with any of the three options in Sway, neither in the way they function (they're kind of missing an "emotional appeal" one), nor the possible results.Which is kind of my point. It seems like they've taken the name of one product, and made a different game, one aimed it to appeal to people who didn't like or play that product, but rather specifically for people who were critical of it. In a decade will we see Shadowdark get sold and "Shadowdark 2" come out and it's basically just Pathfinder 1E?</blockquote>

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