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

[iserith]

Sorry I didn't save a random tweet from 3 hours ago for you. Thanks for calling me a liar though and telling me my feelings about something are "fake".

Thaco don't care about your feelings.

Seriously though, why allow yourself to be offended? How does this meaningfully affect your life in any way?

 

[DarkCrisis]

I didn't call you a liar. I was insinuating only that this newer player you're referring to most likely gets their faux indignation from a grognard who himself is poutraging over this Thaco nothingburger.

Ohhh sorry man misread your reply.

As I recall they were upset over stuff from the 1E PHB. I didnt dig real deep into the matter.

 

[Malmuria]

Was browsing Twitter and again saw a post from a newer player about how "anyone who plays AD&D is automatically a red flag and probably sexist and/or racist".

Is it concerning to you that a newer player would have this impression? Because there is, undoubtedly, a reactionary element in the OSR/AD&D scene, as typified by Pundit and his site. So, for those of us who enjoy those games and style of play, it's on us to do a better job representing it to new members of the hobby.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Was browsing Twitter and again saw a post from a newer player about how "anyone who plays AD&D is automatically a red flag and probably sexist and/or racist".

Why I think the Thaco clown joke just adds fuel to a fire that divides gamers as it paints "old gamers" as joyless clowns with bad ideas. Despite what WotC may or may not have meant by the character.

I think it'd be more appropriate to be angry at the people who wrap themselves in the AD&D/OSR flag and then say racist/sexist/bigoted crap (for example, three new slurs) than the caricature that doesn't even reference that behavior to the point that it doesn't actually make sense to try and link it with that perception.

 

[billd91]

Is it concerning to you that a newer player would have this impression? Because there is, undoubtedly, a reactionary element in the OSR/AD&D scene, as typified by Pundit and his site. So, for those of us who enjoy those games and style of play, it's on us to do a better job representing it to new members of the hobby.

While I think it's incumbent on everybody to not be dicks in the hobby, regardless of representing the OSR/AD&D scene, LARPers, 5e fans, or whatever other subset, Pundit and his ilk shouldn't be putting you in the position to have to be the better face. And, honestly, we (and observers on Twitter) shouldn't be basing our (their) impressions on the OSR crowd on just those chumps. That's intellectually lazy on our (their) part.

 

[Vaalingrade]

You can only base you impression on what you're exposed to. Why would anyone try to learn more after that kind of first impression?

 

[Blue Orange]

I think the takeaway here is don't use Twitter.

The only winning move is not to play.

I think that's true for most 'civilians', so to speak, but people making games have to market their game, and it's expected from a company the size of Wizards.

 

[iserith]

I think that's true for most 'civilians', so to speak, but people making games have to market their game, and it's expected from a company the size of Wizards.

They wouldn't have to if people stopped going there which I think people (and society) would greatly benefit from doing.

But then I suppose that would make it harder to be outraged all the time.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

Yeah. The same two people keep trying to push the narrative that Thac0 is a stand in for Pundit and I would put money on one of those two people being a sock puppet for Pundit so he can get people to agree with the sentiment and then go back to his own forum to say how there’s a whole thread about him being Thac0.

Which he is doing, btw.

I know who pundit is and when I read that Thac0 joke, he was the furthest thing from my mind. My immediate and still persistant thought is “this is the personification of a bad rule. He’s grumpy because he has no use anymore. He’s hired as a ‘gatekeeper’ who the story clearly allows you to bypass in a dozen ways. The funny thing is the story says he is hired to be a guard but doesn’t actually guard nor make any claims about his own self importance. Just blows a bubble pipe and doesn’t like kids (a CLASSIC clown trope btw).

To me, Thac0 the clown is exactly what Thac0 the mechanic is: this old grouch that haunts the games terminology and that no one looks back on fondly. And that is it.

 

[CleverNickName]

Well this thread certainly took a turn.