Geek Confessional Thread 2024

[RoughCoronet0]

Once again random fandom and/or community member of something, if your primary way of trying to convince me to watch/try/play something else other then my current interests is to bash said current interest and the people who like those things (of which I am one of those people) and then tell me why your thing is superior, it is a sure fire way to get that thing you want me to try on the list of things I will never touch with a even a 50 foot pole.

I don’t care if you think your thing is better, insulting me for my interests will not get me to suddenly like your interests more. Thank you, have a good day.

 

[Zardnaar]

Once again random fandom and/or community member of something, if your primary way of trying to convince me to watch/try/play something else other then my current interests is to bash said current interest and the people who like those things (of which I am one of those people) and then tell me why your thing is superior, it is a sure fire way to get that thing you want me to try on the list of things I will never touch with a even a 50 foot pole.

I don’t care if you think your thing is better, insulting me for my interests will not get me to suddenly like your interests more. Thank you, have a good day.

Never got into Vampire the Masquerade for sone strange reason.

My fantasy elf game oh never mind.

 

[RoughCoronet0]

Never got into Vampire the Masquerade for sone strange reason.

My fantasy elf game oh never mind.

Funny enough despite all the TTRPG discussions here, what triggered this for was actually an anime discussion with someone on a different site.

 

[Guest 6801718]

And yet most players don't want to step up. Took me 5 years to train one.
DMs god because ultimately they have final say over who gets to play when and where.

You're an idiot if you dont listen to your players but ultimately you're the boss.

Peak tyranny was when I organized the game store across multiple DMs 30 players a night. Games store had tables left over from a decade earlier that I helped pay for from the Magic the Gathering group. Organized events with 40 odd players.

Peak tyranny I didn't have to pay for my 5E books.

Peak tyranny I could kick the other DMs out of the store and permanently ban them. 0 booted btw.

Peak tyranny I didn't have to pay for my board games either.

Just saying.

Good for you, I guess. Hey, I'm glad you have an abundance of games you can enjoy and got some free stuff. I'm not being sarcastic, I really do mean that. This statement doesn't do anything to counter my observation that D&D has done some damage to the gaming industry and the perception of different roles. In my OP I didn't blame you for anything or accuse you. So I have no idea why you feel the need to defend your GM skills and your games. I don't see the role of GM the same as you. Simple as that. Have fun at your table. I'll have fun at mine.

Back on topic, another confession is that if someone recommends something to me or is insistent I have to see it, I almost immediately lose interest it. Suddenly it feels like homework. Like I'm obligated to watch or read it because this person is just waiting for me to finish it so they can discuss it with me. Not that I mind talking nerdy things with people. I just feels like I suddenly have a timer on whatever was recommended and I don't want to engage it anymore. Odd I know.

 

[MGibster]

I think D&D is actually bad for gaming. It's caused a lot of the toxic ideas that I've encountered at the table and in discussions. Ideas like the DM is the be all, end all and the players are just lucky to be there for the DM's glorious vision. That and it's actually a really boring game. Anytime you really get going with role playing, you get derailed with long, drawn out combat.

The biggest problem I've found with D&D players is that they often bring D&D sensibilities to the table no matter the game. When I first ran a Legend of the Five Rings game back in 1997, they had a dickens of a time adapting to a setting where their characters had to answer to a higher authority and they shouldn't expect to be rewarded with gold or other treasures for completing a scenario. And heaven help you if you're in a non-D&D fantasy game because they will often make assumptions based on how things work in D&D.

Once again random fandom and/or community member of something, if your primary way of trying to convince me to watch/try/play something else other then my current interests is to bash said current interest and the people who like those things (of which I am one of those people) and then tell me why your thing is superior, it is a sure fire way to get that thing you want me to try on the list of things I will never touch with a even a 50 foot pole.

Bingo. When explaining an RPG to a new player I will often compare it to D&D. But I make it a point to tell them I'm not bashing D&D, I play D&D too, but it's a useful comparison to note the difference in how this game works. This doesn't work for people who have never played D&D of course.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I think D&D is actually bad for gaming. It's caused a lot of the toxic ideas that I've encountered at the table and in discussions. Ideas like the DM is the be all, end all and the players are just lucky to be there for the DM's glorious vision. That and it's actually a really boring game. Anytime you really get going with role playing, you get derailed with long, drawn out combat. Honestly, combat crashes everything in D&D. You stall out to set up a mat and then spend a few hours calling out numbers. Lame.

I don't like stories about villains. Villains are only interesting to me for what they say about the hero that opposes them. So I have no interest in a movie, book, show or comic about a villain. I won't ever watch Joker, for example. Villains just don't appeal to me.

I like indie comics a lot more than than Marvel or DC comics now, and I was always a big superhero guy. Now I have a pile of current issues of the superheroes I love from the big two, just sitting next to my chair. Though I got the omnibus for Sweet Tooth and the night I got it I devoured 200 pages of it. I'm almost finished it and I love it. I've enjoyed indie supers like Black Hammer or Local Man far more than the mainstream stuff.

This is an interesting perspective.

Could not disagree more on the combat part! Of course D&D has those wargame roots…it’s part of the attraction for me and my wargaming pals. D&D does D&D well!

Set out a mat? I set out trees and mountains in a big recessed table…! But that is all taste right?

I guess my confession would be that I want to lean into the wargame part at least to a point! Without ranges and minis…I just can’t anymore. As player or DM. I know a lot of new trends are a move away apocalypse stuff etc. but I am an unrepentant dinosaur!

Combat is a course impediment to some folks’ vision of the fantasy world…my friends and I are like like kids again chucking dice and yelling in victory and defeat. If we don’t fight much or at all in a session, we are disappointed. “Man, I didn’t even swing a sword once!”

 

[payn]

The biggest problem I've found with D&D players is that they often bring D&D sensibilities to the table no matter the game. When I first ran a Legend of the Five Rings game back in 1997, they had a dickens of a time adapting to a setting where their characters had to answer to a higher authority and they shouldn't expect to be rewarded with gold or other treasures for completing a scenario. And heaven help you if you're in a non-D&D fantasy game because they will often make assumptions based on how things work in D&D.

Oh I've run into plenty of those folks. Sometimes they haven't played anything but D&D and sometimes that's just how they want to play every RPG. I've had some luck breaking the habit.

 

[MNblockhead]

Don’t get me wrong, I care about mechanics, stories, and personalities, but the set dressing and history of the universe, town, tribe, place whatever, the color or appearance of anything, and whether the baddies are yuan-ti or ettins or xenomorphs, I can work the interesting parts of a game with any. All that stuff is arbitrary.

I have a foot in each camp. On the one hand I do get into the setting, cosmology, and other fluff. It is a large part of my in-between session enjoyment of the hobby. Most of it never comes up in play, but I do think that it helps me run a better--or at least more interesting--game. When I have to improvise a conversation with some random NPC, it helps me make them seem part of a living world.

On the other hand, I like to take any monster, place, or NPC and see what I can do with them. While I certainly have built adventures and even campaigns around certain monsters, such as Illithids, some of my best sessions have been when I've had to run encounters with some obscure and random monster.

And I should point out, I love all the minutia of settings and monsters, I just can’t “prefer” one over another.

Drives my kid nuts, “what’s your top 5 favorite monsters?” And I list by how interesting his encounters with were with them were. “But what’s the coolest?” Oh, stirges obviously, cause you and you’re mom think they’re so stupid and pointless.

My answer once was flumps. Why? Well they are rare good guys hanging out in dungeons trying to be helpful and propelled by their own farts. I can relate to them.

 

[MNblockhead]

Once again random fandom and/or community member of something, if your primary way of trying to convince me to watch/try/play something else other then my current interests is to bash said current interest and the people who like those things (of which I am one of those people) and then tell me why your thing is superior, it is a sure fire way to get that thing you want me to try on the list of things I will never touch with a even a 50 foot pole.

I don’t care if you think your thing is better, insulting me for my interests will not get me to suddenly like your interests more. Thank you, have a good day.

When people yuck on your yum, chew slowly and yum harder.

 

[MNblockhead]

Good for you, I guess. Hey, I'm glad you have an abundance of games you can enjoy and got some free stuff. I'm not being sarcastic, I really do mean that. This statement doesn't do anything to counter my observation that D&D has done some damage to the gaming industry and the perception of different roles. In my OP I didn't blame you for anything or accuse you. So I have no idea why you feel the need to defend your GM skills and your games. I don't see the role of GM the same as you. Simple as that. Have fun at your table. I'll have fun at mine.

Back on topic, another confession is that if someone recommends something to me or is insistent I have to see it, I almost immediately lose interest it. Suddenly it feels like homework. Like I'm obligated to watch or read it because this person is just waiting for me to finish it so they can discuss it with me. Not that I mind talking nerdy things with people. I just feels like I suddenly have a timer on whatever was recommended and I don't want to engage it anymore. Odd I know.

While I agree with your primary point, I think the wording comes off as a bit antagonistic. But, yes, the TTRPG hobby was launched by wargammers used to referees/judges who set up the scenarios and tried to be fair arbiters of rule disputes. Many early D&D games not only had the DM but also a player who acted as the "caller" who would communicate the players actions to the DM. The can quickly moved past that and has continued to evolve. It is less that D&D did "damage" and more that it set playstyle expectations and entrenched certain modes of play as tradition.

As someone that prefers a wide range of TTRPG games, however, I find those who are strong advocates of other modes of play often show themselves in foot by engaging in the same disparaging attitudes that some D&D traditionalists display.

I've learned to let such attitudes and comments roll off my back. I'll enjoy an old-school dungeon crawl with folks who attribute some merit to this style of play and then go off and play a collaborative, DMless, emergent story game with those who feel superior for their preferred style of play.

I guess I just find it easier to enjoy eating pineapple on pizza with those that enjoy it instead of getting in arguments over it with those who find it an offense to all true pizza aficionados.

As for whether the popularity of D&D is holding back other game styles, I don't know. It is a chicken and egg thing and by trying to be many things to many people it has been amazingly successful in bringing new players to the hobby, a portion of whom go on to explore other games.