D&D General Thaco the angry clown... really?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It was one thing when I was just a joke about a old, unpopular, bad mechanic, but it turns out it's actually a sneaky personal attack on an actual person, that is uncool and I'm not impressed. Is there no adult in the room at WotC anymore? The give away btw is Thaco's pipe.

Really feels like punching down. WTF does WotC feel the need to do this, this person, who shall remain nameless is critical, but no real threat to them?

It's actually worse then that, at first I thought it was just harmless teasing about an old, often critized mechanic, but it's based on a particular, actual person in real life, who is very critical about various things in the game. I don't like when multinational corporations punch down at the little guy, bullying them.

It's not just a dumb joke, it turns out it's actually a personal attack on someone in the D&D community, or rather the OSR.

I just want to point out that this is nonsense, and personal attacks have to be "personal", in the sense that they attack a specific person. It's not a personal attack if it's a generalization of the "grumpy grognards" stereotype. They're not going after the OSR, they're going after the gatekeepers (though there may be overlap between the two, they are not the same thing).

It is a harmless teasing of gatekeepers. Your first impression was right.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I just want to point out that this is nonsense, and personal attacks have to be "personal", in the sense that they attack a specific person. It's not a personal attack if it's a generalization of the "grumpy grognards" stereotype. They're not going after the OSR, they're going after the gatekeepers (though there may be overlap between the two, they are not the same thing).

It is a harmless teasing of gatekeepers. Your first impression was right.

That is my point, it IS an attack on a specific person, I know who too.

 

[J.Quondam]

It's not just a dumb joke, it turns out it's actually a personal attack on someone in the D&D community, or rather the OSR.

Umm... Do you have any actual evidence of this?

edit: I've heard people say the pipe in the picture is suggestive of someone in particular. And since then, the person in question has claimed he is the target... but that's not surprising since he has a clear interest in picking fights with WotC; that's a big part of his schtick, apparently. (I'm not familiar enough with him to know for sure.) Altogether, that seems to be pretty thin evidence that Thaco is really a "personal attack".
That's the story I've heard. Perhaps you're referring to something else?

 

[Bill Zebub]

If I were going to place an NPC named Minmax, for example, he would be a thuggish playground bully with no social skills, and toadies instead of friends. He's flunking every class but the teachers all cover for him because he's the school's star sportsball player and they need him to take state. (This is how I imagine every highly-optimized D&D character, of any race or class.)

Even the min-maxed casters?

 

[darjr]

Is it pundit? Is he claiming this? It's not about pundit. He hated 2e and blamed it for the rise of story gaming by way of Ravenloft and Dragonlance which he hated. He knows this too. If it's him He's probably expecting people to be ignorant so he can throw a fit and garner attention.

 

[darjr]

And still nothing about Burly!

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Is it pundit? Is he claiming this? It's not about pundit. He hated 2e and blamed it for the rise of story gaming by way of Ravenloft and Dragonlance which he hated. He knows this too. If it's him He's probably expecting people to be ignorant so he can throw a fit and garner attention.

And if it's about RPGPundit, he has it coming for him and it's definitely not "punching down". His site (holy crap his site! I accidentally found myself on it a few months back, not knowing what its deal was, and was simultaneously amazed and horrified) is him and a bunch of other bigoted grognards whining about "woke D&D" and "cancel culture mobs", spreading dangerous misinformation, and banning anyone that doesn't align with their beliefs for being a "sockpuppet". Oh, and that douchebag Zak S. is also still allowed on his site.

If Thaco the Clown is talking about the RPGPundit, he deserves everything that's coming to him. Calling him a clown or a gatekeeping, out of touch bigot isn't "punching down" or even really a personal attack. It's more of an observation.

 

[Fenris-77]

You know you've jumped the shark when someone can reasonably say something like If Thaco the Clown is him...

 

[CleverNickName]

Even the min-maxed casters?

I suppose not. I tend to imagine them as boorish bullies (instead of thuggish), the sort of kid who thinks an education is an acceptable substitute for a personality, and who thinks being right is more important than being kind. They skate through school doing as they please because mommy is the principal and daddy is on the school board.

Really, I just loathe min-maxed character "builds."

 

[Willie the Duck]

Is it pundit? Is he claiming this?

I thought about the possibility too. For me, the part that most doesn't add up for that scenario to be true is quite simply that Pundey simply isn't important enough for them to bother putting a dig at him in their book.