RPGs

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Magical
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Re: RPGs

Post by Magical » Thu Jan 19, 2023 5:52 am

s. goblin wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 4:46 am here's what you do. set it in the 80s, or maybe the early 90s for a change. put a ton of shit in there too like zoom in on the walkman our teenage young adult is playing. then our cool protagonist who's maybe a little past playing magic the gathering so he can be an attractiveish lead is approached by a panic-ing mega nerd friend, who our protag is trying to leave behind. the mega nerd who's out of breath says something like

jake, you know that shivan dragon i summoned yesterday? well you're never going to believe this but i really summoned it
and then behind them the dragon is landing but like in a fog or a mist or something so you're just seeing the outline of it
jake is like you fucking nerd obviously this didnt happen but then theyre interrupted by the dragon roaring and you have that zoom in oh shit moment on their face
then the dragon can breathe fire that transitions to the title
Well done :lol:
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Re: RPGs

Post by Ashenai » Thu Jan 19, 2023 6:15 am

s. goblin wrote: Wed Jan 18, 2023 11:54 pm
Ashenai wrote:It's good to understand the background here, which is that Hasbro (the company that owns WotC, who makes D&D and Magic) has been getting wrecked, stock price-wise, and their shareholders aren't happy. So they're looking to squeeze an extra buck out of their properties wherever possible, and WotC is like the one bright spot in their portfolio. So that's what they're leaning on.

Hasbro has been a millstone around WotC ever since their acquisition; the entire reason MTG gets the resources of a small company despite producing the profits of a big company is because it's being treated as a cash cow; instead of profits from Magic (and D&D) being reinvested into the product, they're used to fund unprofitable shit no one wants like GI Joe movies and the other stupid pet projects of the stupid Hasbro executives.

And now they're squeezing their little cash cow even tighter.
the person in charge of dnd thinks that dnd should have profit streams similar to video games and is upset that they haven't figured out loot boxes and microtransactions.

i guess we could maintain this narrative by saying that hasbro put that person there and that they put that person there because they're the big evil company that want to squeeze the brilliant minds of dnd and magic the gathering, but like, if i was hasbro i wouldn't be the happiest with wizards. would you?

edit - man a billion dollars in just those limited products, though.
I'm not saying don't blame wizards, I'm saying this is gonna keep happening as long as Hasbro owns them, because they're a pawn in a larger corporate strategy. Whatever WotC's execs say or do, if they walk this back, if they apologize, all of that will not matter, because they're just going to have to do it again as soon as Hasbro decides they want more money.

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s. goblin
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Re: RPGs

Post by s. goblin » Thu Jan 19, 2023 7:32 am

Ashenai wrote:
I'm not saying don't blame wizards, I'm saying this is gonna keep happening as long as Hasbro owns them, because they're a pawn in a larger corporate strategy. Whatever WotC's execs say or do, if they walk this back, if they apologize, all of that will not matter, because they're just going to have to do it again as soon as Hasbro decides they want more money.
i think rather than say what we feel, like i would put my money on hasbro actually being way past lenient with that incompetent team of do worse than nothing, we could just like glance over at the president or whoever is in charge or whatever getting fired every other year or something. i'm sure that's in a report someone. but like if it's been the same person for the last ten years then hasbro has been way past lenient

harry potter comes out, nerd culture becomes mainstream and the crack team at wizards comes up with, uh... but you know, dnd 5 did make it more accessible, more mainstream, and they did like apparently double their profits or whatever looking at last year's earnings report thing. and again you dont have to make movies and shit. rylinks would be happy with the billion bucks.

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Re: RPGs

Post by pterrus » Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:49 pm

Magical wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 4:25 am
Rylinks wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 3:16 am the manga about the jk who will date whoever beats her at magic... should just be about people playing magic, not planeswalker avengers characters
I feel like a lot of that works precisely because it's a manga, though. An anime that is just people playing card games already feels like a slight stretch (consider that all the big ones, Yugioh etc. invoke things like holographic summoning of monsters so that it transcends "a bunch of people sitting around playing cards").

I don't think enough people are going to pay movie prices to go watch a bunch of actual, live-action people play a card game for 2 hrs.
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Re: RPGs

Post by Rylinks » Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:57 pm

"mountain, raging goblin, attack"

"verrrry agreeesive"

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:58 pm

Rylinks wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:57 pm "mountain, raging goblin, attack"

"verrrry agreeesive"
:wub:

I would watch this
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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Fri Jan 20, 2023 7:59 pm

"Counterspell. You're a big boy, you won't. Be. Pushed. A. Round."
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
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Re: RPGs

Post by Khaos » Fri Jan 20, 2023 9:15 pm

s. goblin wrote:harry potter comes out, nerd culture becomes mainstream and the crack team at wizards comes up with, uh...
strixhaven was a great draft format

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Re: RPGs

Post by Ashenai » Fri Jan 20, 2023 9:46 pm

it was!

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s. goblin
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Re: RPGs

Post by s. goblin » Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:04 am

wait did people not actually read the abysmal response to the ogl controversy from the dnd team themself. it's something

https://www.dndbeyond.com/posts/1423-an ... icense-ogl

anyway, they scrapped changing the thing. i guess now "hateful and discriminatory products" will continue to be made. crazy that they're allowing to happen

edit - "you’re going to hear people say that they won, and we lost because making your voices heard forced us to change our plans. Those people will only be half right. They won—and so did we."

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:19 pm

I think I'm going to receive PDFs of the Monty Python RPG this month

With this game I'll likely return to RPGing with the Orlando group. My plan is to use this game to teach them how to roleplay, since these boardgamers don't seem to grasp the concept ever



"My character says hello" is what we got when we played Torg
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
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It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Rylinks » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:21 pm

Doug wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:19 pm I think I'm going to receive PDFs of the Monty Python RPG this month

With this game I'll likely return to RPGing with the Orlando group. My plan is to use this game to teach them how to roleplay, since these boardgamers don't seem to grasp the concept ever



"My character says hello" is what we got when we played Torg
most of the time when someone tries to roleplay the result is much worse than if they had not tried

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:22 pm

Rylinks wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:21 pm
Doug wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:19 pm I think I'm going to receive PDFs of the Monty Python RPG this month

With this game I'll likely return to RPGing with the Orlando group. My plan is to use this game to teach them how to roleplay, since these boardgamers don't seem to grasp the concept ever



"My character says hello" is what we got when we played Torg
most of the time when someone tries to roleplay the result is much worse than if they had not tried
I think like so many other things it takes repetition to achieve proficiency
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
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It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Rylinks » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:23 pm

as the saying goes, practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:28 pm

In the Monty Python RPG, the gamemaster hands out merits and demerits to players. There will be special merit and demerit chips for this in the physical copy. Merits can be used (in advance) to roll a die multiple times and take the best roll instead of rolling the die normally. Merits can also be used to cancel demerits.

Demerits accumulate until a player has too many, in which case the player must roll on a special table to see what happens. There are different gamemaster characters, each with their own table. Maybe the character is transported to a game show and has to answer questions about football. Maybe a giant foot comes out of the sky and squashes the character. Sometimes, something good happens instead of something bad. On occasion, what happens is a complaint letter is sent to the gamemaster character and read aloud -- too many of these and the gamemaster character is fired (killed) and a new one must be chosen

In D&D, if a player is just obnoxiously not role-playing, all you can really do is kindly suggest that maybe they would have more fun if they tried. But in the Monty Python RPG, you can literally give them demerits. This sounds mean but should be hilarious, if you can get into the spirit of it
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
It's your turn in Squirrel Wars
It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Blissful » Tue Oct 17, 2023 5:04 am

lol nice
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Re: RPGs

Post by Ashenai » Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:10 am

Doug wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:28 pm In D&D, if a player is just obnoxiously not role-playing, all you can really do is kindly suggest that maybe they would have more fun if they tried. But in the Monty Python RPG, you can literally give them demerits. This sounds mean but should be hilarious, if you can get into the spirit of it
I'm not sure this works in practice, the people who can get into the spirit of it and have fun with it are also the people who will not get demerits in the first place.

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Re: RPGs

Post by s. goblin » Tue Oct 17, 2023 12:02 pm

Doug wrote:I think I'm going to receive PDFs of the Monty Python RPG this month

With this game I'll likely return to RPGing with the Orlando group. My plan is to use this game to teach them how to roleplay, since these boardgamers don't seem to grasp the concept ever



"My character says hello" is what we got when we played Torg
just show them this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_lzgo7pmzk

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:16 pm

Ashenai wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:10 am
Doug wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:28 pm In D&D, if a player is just obnoxiously not role-playing, all you can really do is kindly suggest that maybe they would have more fun if they tried. But in the Monty Python RPG, you can literally give them demerits. This sounds mean but should be hilarious, if you can get into the spirit of it
I'm not sure this works in practice, the people who can get into the spirit of it and have fun with it are also the people who will not get demerits in the first place.
Could be
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
It's your turn in Squirrel Wars
It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:19 pm

s. goblin wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 12:02 pm
Doug wrote:I think I'm going to receive PDFs of the Monty Python RPG this month

With this game I'll likely return to RPGing with the Orlando group. My plan is to use this game to teach them how to roleplay, since these boardgamers don't seem to grasp the concept ever



"My character says hello" is what we got when we played Torg
just show them this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_lzgo7pmzk
That says it's written by Dan Harmon
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
It's your turn in Squirrel Wars
It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:20 pm

How not to role-play

1. The most fundamental way not to role-play is what I call "My character says hello" role-playing. This is where you're just never in-character at all. and you say what you're going to say instead of just saying it
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
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It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:23 pm

2. OK I try to use my persuasion on him


This one is more insidious, because an inexperienced GM might fall for it. With this one, speaking is treated entirely as a game mechanic like attacking, as though charisma or persuasion or glibness (which game are we playing) were like strength or dexterity

The Monty Python RPG specifically calls this out, and admonishes the GM never to let players say they're using an attribute. Players have to say what they're doing, and then it will be decided which attribute this corresponds to
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
It's your turn in Squirrel Wars
It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:39 pm

3. I'm just trying to find out where the dungeon is


If the player treats the game as Descent, then the player's character has no motivation like a person would. Or that is to say, the character's motivation is getting experience points

This is a huge huge thing I have had to deal with for decades. You can play like this if your game is just dungeons, which was fine when we were 13. But as a GM you're going to get tired of playing an RPG as though it were Descent, and you'll start to wonder, why don't I just play Descent. Why don't I just play Gloomhaven. Why don't I just play Middara. Etc.
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It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

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Re: RPGs

Post by Blissful » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:55 pm

The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to play Gloomhaven, but it can't. Not without your help. Why don't you just play Gloomhaven?
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Re: RPGs

Post by Crunchums » Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:59 pm

my character puts on his robe and wizard hat
u gotta skate

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Re: RPGs

Post by Khaos » Tue Oct 17, 2023 2:09 pm

my character uses persuasion to find out where the dungeon is

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Re: RPGs

Post by Skeletor » Tue Oct 17, 2023 3:14 pm

Ashenai wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:10 am
Doug wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:28 pm In D&D, if a player is just obnoxiously not role-playing, all you can really do is kindly suggest that maybe they would have more fun if they tried. But in the Monty Python RPG, you can literally give them demerits. This sounds mean but should be hilarious, if you can get into the spirit of it
I'm not sure this works in practice, the people who can get into the spirit of it and have fun with it are also the people who will not get demerits in the first place.
or they might rack up the demerits for fun
wow, [you]. that all sounds terrible. i hope it gets better for you

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:12 pm

Skeletor wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 3:14 pm
Ashenai wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 7:10 am
Doug wrote: Mon Oct 16, 2023 3:28 pm In D&D, if a player is just obnoxiously not role-playing, all you can really do is kindly suggest that maybe they would have more fun if they tried. But in the Monty Python RPG, you can literally give them demerits. This sounds mean but should be hilarious, if you can get into the spirit of it
I'm not sure this works in practice, the people who can get into the spirit of it and have fun with it are also the people who will not get demerits in the first place.
or they might rack up the demerits for fun
For sure, because enough demerits and you get to roll on a random table for what happens to you. And the random table is different for every HoLE (GM character)
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It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

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Re: RPGs

Post by Doug » Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:15 pm

Doug wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:39 pm 3. I'm just trying to find out where the dungeon is


If the player treats the game as Descent, then the player's character has no motivation like a person would. Or that is to say, the character's motivation is getting experience points

This is a huge huge thing I have had to deal with for decades. You can play like this if your game is just dungeons, which was fine when we were 13. But as a GM you're going to get tired of playing an RPG as though it were Descent, and you'll start to wonder, why don't I just play Descent. Why don't I just play Gloomhaven. Why don't I just play Middara. Etc.
Oh yes, I forgot about the opposing counterpart to this, just as bad, which is "My character gets drunk at the tavern!"

Years ago, we let people we only knew from MtG join the D&D group sometimes, and one time we let this guy play D&D with us, and this is what he did. The group goes into a city, and this guy says "My character gets drunk at the tavern!" And he kept saying it over and over. The PCs are trying to decide what to do next, but if anybody looks at this guy, he says, "My character's getting drunk at the tavern!" He was very pleased with himself when he said it, and kinda smiled to himself as if imagining "getting drunk at the tavern."

If you had been there, you might have thought it was a prank, but no, this was this guy's relationship with an RPG

This was a grown man
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Re: RPGs

Post by Crunchums » Mon Oct 23, 2023 5:19 pm

roll the dice to see if i'm getting drunk
are there any girls there?
u gotta skate

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