#tabletop roleplaying games

[vexwerewolf]

The thing is, D&D is not a game.

I know that sounds insane, but hear me out: D&D is not a game, it is a games console. You don't actually "play D&D." You play "Dragon Heist" or "Tomb of Annihilation" or "Ghosts of Saltmarsh" or "your GM's homebrew campaign" or "the plot of Critical Role Season 1 reconstructed from memory" on D&D.

For quite a long while now - possibly literal decades - D&D hasn't even been the best games console, but it's been "the one everyone knows about" and "the one my friends have" and in fact it's "the one whose name is almost synonymous with the entire medium of TTRPGs," like how "Nintendo" or "Playstation" could just mean "games console" to people who didn't understand games consoles. They might not have heard of a "tabletop roleplaying game," but most people have heard of "Dungeons & Dragons."

For this extended metaphor, D&D is Nintendo back in the 90s, or Playstation in the 2000s. Sometimes you say "oh let's go to my house and play Nintendo" or "c'mon dude I wanna play Playstation" but you're not actually playing Nintendo or Playstation, you're playing Resident Evil or Super Mario Bros or Jurassic Park or Metal Gear Solid or whatever on a Nintendo or a Playstation.

Now, this metaphor is going to get even more tortured, but remember how when the PS2 and the original X-Box came out, they used a standardised DVD format, but the Nintendo console in that generation, the Gamecube, used discs but they were this proprietary tiny little disc format that they had control over? That essentially meant that it was really difficult to make third party titles for the Gamecube that did literally anything that Nintendo didn't want them to do, and also essentially gave Nintendo an even greater ability to skim money off the top of any sales?

So that must've seemed like a smart business decision in their heads. But the PS2 and the X-Box used DVDs. This was a standardized format which gave Microsoft and Sony way less control over who made games for their consoles, but that actually turned out to be a good thing for gaming, because it meant that the breadth of games that you could play on their consoles was massively increased even if some of them were games Microsoft and Sony didn't really approve of. (Also it's worth nothing that the PS2 and the X-Box could just play DVDs, which meant if your household was on a budget, you didn't need a separate DVD player - your games console could do it for you! This was actually a huge selling point!)

What Wizards are currently trying to do now is kinda-sorta the equivalent of Sony suddenly announcing that the PS5 will only accept a proprietary cartridge format they hold the patent on, will control the content of and charge money for the construction of. This possibly seems like it could be a moneymaker in your head because you hold market dominance (apparently the PS5 has 30 million units shipped compared to X-Box Series X 20 million units) and so many people make games for your console, but what it actually means is game devs and publishers will abandon your product. If it takes so much more work, the scope of what they're allowed to do is so much more limited and they're going to make less money off of it, they just won't bother. They'll go make games for the X-Box or PC instead.

To use another computer metaphor, D&D is Windows - it might not be the best system but it's the system most people are familiar with and so it gets the most stuff made for it, but there's is an upper limit on the bullshit people will take before they decide fuck it and get an Apple or learn how Linux works.

TTRPG systems are a weird product because you're not selling people a game, you're selling people a method to play a game. All the actual games are created by the community - even prewritten campaigns needs to be executed via a game master. Trying to skim money off the community will mean they'll eventually give up on you.

#open gaming license #dungeons and dragons #ogl #ogl 1.1 #opendnd #wizards of the coast #one dnd #d&d #dnd #tabletop gaming #tabletop roleplaying games #ttrpgs

[ursulakleguin-stan]

hey everyone check out my friend’s super cool TTRPG, The Treacherous Turn, it’s a research support game where you play collectively as a misaligned AGI, intended to help get players thinking about AI safety, you can get it for free at thetreacherousturn.ai !!!

#TTRPG #tabletop roleplaying games #AI #AI Safety #The Treacherous Turn

[fantastictalesofadventure]

Oooooo...I like this!

JeromyTV does something like this on SpellShots but since my character has amnesia we learn a little bit more about Key's past whenever they're near death (which ends up being quite a bit)!

#dungeons & dragons #d&d #d&d 5e #dnd #dnd 5e #ttrpg #spell shots #spellshots #new age geeks #key #tabletop roleplaying games #d&d memes #dnd memes #memes #meme #funny #lol #good ideas #death saving throws

[dailydungeondelves]

Om nom nom ideas

#comic #dnd #D&D #dungeons and dragons #TTRPG #tabletop #tabletoprpg #tabletop roleplaying games #dnd art #games master #dungeon master #feeding the GM

[wanderingandfound]

While I wasn't familiar with any of the players in the four hour plagiarism YouTube video (besides the Sherlock Is Garbage and Here's Why guy), coincidentally a blog post came out today about a book full of plagiarism within the TTRPG scene. And in this case I was familar with the plagiarizing author. I followed her on Twitter for a while (her personal account seems to be gone now) and while she could be... acerbic is one way to put it, shit-stirring is another, she had some insightful posts. Somebody doesn't need to be nice to have a point. This is disappointing.

#personal #Also one of many incidents where someone's web presence rubs me the wrong way but people's opinions I trust like them so I follow them. #It's good to feel uncomfortable at times and this certainly is NOT an ''I always knew they were fishy'' sentiment but I do wish this would #stop happening. For all the stuff that made me wary about her I never thought such blatant plagiarism would be one. #Although I never actually read any of her games because OSR doesn't really interest me personally. #Also the unmedicated narcolepsy leads to me falling asleep every time I try to read a rulebook. 😭😭😭 #plagiarism #tabletop roleplaying games

[drakoniques]

Grab some potatoes and molasses! 🍂🐸🍬

BEYOND THE BROOK, an Over the Garden Wall inspired actual play series, is coming soon to Kickstarter.

Sponsored by Die Hard Dice!

Check it out here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/drakoniques/beyond-the-brook-over-the-garden-wall-inspired-actual-play

#over the garden wall #ttrpg #tabletop #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop roleplaying game #tabletop roleplaying games #actual play #live play #d&d dice #dice #cartoon network #kickstarter #ttrpg community #ttrpg campaign #d&d #otgw #dnd campaign #dnd #dnd5e #trpg

[rpgpolls]

#ttrpg #ttrpgs #roleplaying games #tabletop roleplaying games #d&d #dungeons and dragons #poll #rpg polls

[yodawgiheardyoulikemecha]

#Mecha #Jovian Chronicles #Ghislain Barbe #Qosmiq #Mecha Gaming #RolePlaying Games #Tabletop Roleplaying Games #Tabletop RPGs #TTRPG

[bad-quail]

How is this for a pitch?

The Basics

Plunderdark is a Dice Game for Heroic Adventures in a Late Medieval Dark Fantasy Anti-Canon Sandbox. It centers play around underdog Heroes pursuing their Convictions to make their grim and perilous world a better place.

Dark Fantasy

Imagine the world at the start of Willow or The Dark Crystal. The world is in the grip of an Evil Despot. The forces of Good, insofar as they exist, are in hiding or on the back foot. Foolhardy scholars collude with the powers of the Hidden World to work sinister sorceries. Remnants of past ages dot the countryside, promising wealth and fame to those who plumb their depths, and doom to those who linger too long in their hollows.

Late Medieval

Imagine our world in the decades preceding the Protestant Reformation and the invasion of the New World. Armored knights exist alongside castles and early firearms. The printing press is a new invention, allowing information to move and propagate faster than ever before. The progeny of conquerors and despots have grown fat on the exploitation of the common folk for nigh on a thousand years. Wealthy merchant adventurers exploit the trust of their common kin and the greed of the nobility they aspire to surpass to amass their own great fortunes.

Anti-Canon Sandbox

The Gamemaster is not solely responsible for defining the setting of play. The entire table collaborates to define the contours of the world, and creates Heroes invested in that world. Play is directed by the Heroes and their Convictions. The Gamemaster does not compose a plot, but provides opportunities and obstacles for the Heroes to pursue their Convictions.

#ttrpg design #ttrpg marketing #ttrpgs #ttrpg #tabletop design #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop roleplaying games #tabletop roleplaying game #tabletop rpg #tabletop rpgs #taterpigs #elfgames #plunderdark #plunderlight

[darkelfdice]

Sometimes I’m dreaming... Our new Jaded Dreams dice set is here!

#dice #ttrpg dice #dnd dice #green dice #rpg dice #black dice #tabletop roleplaying games #dnd #ttrpg #dnd stuff #dungeons and dragons #d20 #dice goblin #dice hoarder #dice collection #dark elf dice #Polyhedral dice #glitter dice #cool dice

[notbeetle]

Do you think like people in like the Jovian Republic make like, those shitty social credit memes that were popular like a year ago but it's about the Autonomist's and Rep

#hawk.txt #eclipse phase #tabletop gaming #trpg #tabletop roleplaying games #tabletop roleplaying

[bryanharryrombough]

Dream Pod 9 is releasing new high-quality PDFs of 22 1st edition Heavy Gear books, generated from the original electronic files.  All 22 books are available in a half-price bundle.

These are great rpg & wargaming products.  I have hardcopies of all of these titles, and this bundle is a great deal.  Highly recommend getting them if you’re into tabletop mecha gaming.

From Dream Pod 9′s press release:

Until now the older Heavy Gear ebooks available on DriveThruRPG have been scanned copies of the original printed books. Dream Pod 9 is happy to announce the release of high-quality electronic format ebooks for the Heavy Gear Classic Roleplaying & Tactical Game publications. The first 22 Revitalized titles are now live on DriveThruRPG for purchase and include the following.

The Heavy Gear Revitalized titles are made possible by the team of Michael Butt (Project Manager) and Brad Fischer (Roaring Mouse Graphics) who managed to converted the old Macintosh Pager Maker layout files and relay them out in modern Adobe format. A big thank you to Michael and Brad for taking on the months of work required to revitalize all the old Dream Pod 9 Heavy Gear products.

#Mecha #Mecha Gaming #Heavy Gear RPG #Heavy Gear Tactical #Tabletop RPGs #Tabletop Roleplaying Games #Wargames #Miniatures Wargaming

[fantastictalesofadventure]

Git it!

#dungeons & dragons #d&d #d&d 5e #dnd #dnd 5e #pathfinder #pathfinder 2e #pf2e #ttrpg #moon knight #marvel #tabletop roleplaying games #gamers #games #geeks #nerds #meme #memes #funny #lol

[dailydungeondelves]

Just some of the things I like to do to fill the time

#comic #dnd #dungeons and dragons #D&D #tabletop #rpgs #ttrpg #ttrpgs #tabletop roleplaying games #dndart #dndcomic #ttrpgart #ttrpgcomic #artists on tumblr #cancelled session blues

[kyliafanfiction]

I've said it before, I'll say it again: if you can't promote your preferred TTRPG without dissing D&D, then maybe your TTRPG isn't actually that good.

Certainly I'll never buy it.

#D&D is popular because there are reasons people like it #Not just default #you can say 'X does Y better than D&D' yes #but 'D&D Sucks' is not the way to sell me on your preferred TTRPG #Tabletop Roleplaying Games

[eelslippers]

The hardest part about being a dm that I never see anyone talk about is when you have an ongoing campaign, yet you have ideas for a different campaign setting entirely different from the current one and you can't simply just start a new one either. I have so many ideas but I can't use them yet

#eelslippers #dm #dungeon master #tabletop rpg games #ttrpgs #tabletop roleplaying games #i dont know of any systems that fit the worldbuilding either because dnd wouldnt work but motw wouldnt work either #the idea was a world that is irradiated after a recent fall out 100 years ago that pushed most of civilization to the edges of the world #and takes place in a very coastal setting #basically inspired from fnv and dredge #and magic isnt really a thing but there are replacement concepts for it that come from religious idols or from the radiation itself #and a bunch of factions based around resource guarding mercenary groups such as an oil faction and a pirate faction and some others #i want resources and trading and vehicle mechanics to be a core aspect because i think it's neat but im not really sure what system works