#but like most of it would have to be homebrewed?
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Spelljammer 5e Reaction
Not going to lie, having gotten the Spelljammer set, I was expecting a little bit … more? Particularly on the Astral Sea and Wildspace as a setting. I mean more of … who all is out here, where do they live, what kind of things do you find floating out here. Maybe a glimpse of Tu’narath? IDK, it just felt a little bit basic and lacking? Some basic rules for air and speed and gravity, and then a lot of ships. And they’re cool ships! I just … would have liked more setting first?
And I know there’s a design philosophy of less-is-more here, so that people can put whatever they want out there without the game contradicting them, but … some starting seeds would be good?
The adventure gives a bit more in that regard, giving you sample wildspace systems and some things en route (the shipwrecks are cool). But that’s a thing in itself, that the adventure is worth more for the setting than the actual setting guide? The Astral Adventurer’s Guide gives you 6 pages, out of 64, actually describing the setting of Wildspace and the Astral Sea (really 2 pages, the other 4 are air and gravity rules), and the rest of the book is ships and player races, and a bit about the Rock of Bral (which is cool, not gonna lie, but it’s also only another 6 pages).
Like. I have my character! I have my ship! Now where am I going in it? What is out here???
There’s one map-slash-diagram, showing the Astral Sea with wildspace systems, astral dominions and dead gods floating in it, and that’s pretty much it?
I mean, give me a sample dominion! Give me a legend of a god corpse and what it contains! Show me Tu’narath, the githyanki city built onto the corpse of a dead six-armed deity. Show me a salvager’s moon or a vampirate trade city! Put some legends of famous spelljammer wrecks with unimaginable treasures floating lost out there, and the obsessed captains seeking them like Ahab tracking the whale. Flavour. Put some damned flavour in!
Honestly, this is one of the most anemic setting guides I’ve ever read. Put some meat on it, for crying out loud! There’s hints, the bestiary and the adventure give a little bit, but …
6 pages of setting in 64. 12, if you’re in the Forgotten Realms and you’re gonna be able use the Rock of Bral. That’s it. That’s all you get. In a setting guide.
The art is gorgeous, but please. Put some actual setting in your goddamned setting guide?
I still love the idea of Spelljammer, don’t worry, space fantasy will always be my jam, but wow, there was an awful lot of not a lot in these books? Like, Ravenloft had so much, all those domains, and some meat on all of them. Spelljammer got absolutely nothing by comparison. I’m disappointed? You’re in magic outer space, where the corpses of dead gods and the palaces of living ones drift serenely, where galleons full of a vampiric pirates sail between worlds, and creatures from alien realms of existence extrude and meet in a silver melting pot of realities. Give me a hollow moon full of ithilids! Give me a trail of astral breadcrumbs left by a trickster deity to lure adventurous spelljammers to their dominion to regale them with stories! Give me a thriving trade in alien artefacts excavated from the bodies of dead deities! I mean, give me something? Anything.
I’m half tempted to just transpose half of Sunless Skies onto Spelljammer and call it a day.
Sorry. It’s just … a bit of a disappointing set? There’s not a lot there.
#spelljammer#i would still love a spelljammer campaign#but like most of it would have to be homebrewed?#there's almost nothing to work with here
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I've been homebrewing SO MANY THINGS lately. Here's the current list of stuff I've made in the past week:
Ring of Greater Protection (general use)
Bracelet of Thorns (made for my thorn-themed melee ranger concept)
Abyssal Grimoire (made for the wizard in my Saturday party.)
Full Moon Shotgun + Magma Drake Shotgun (two items made for the gunslinger in my Saturday party.)
And also some 3-tier scaling magic items based on the structure for the Vestiges from EGW and TCSR.
Caia's Thorn (rapier, made for the same thorn-themed melee ranger as above)
Fyren's Quarry (longbow, made for a gloomstalker ranger.)
Moriata (pepperbox/revolver, made for a gunslinger who also has one or two levels in warlock.)
#some day I will post all the homebrew things I've made.#I'd love to share them and let other people use them.#Since I'll never use most of these myself.#morrigan.text#dnd#morrigan plays dnd#dnd homebrew#homebrew magic items#I wish I had the skills to make pretty item cards like some amazing artists on here do.#cause I have some very clear visions of what some of these items look like.#but I am unfortunately broke as shit#and I can't afford to commission someone for all these item designs.#maybe someday I'll partner with an artist and make some homebrew cards.#that would be the dream tbh.
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Not an ask, but please do infodump more in tags. I am Delighted to learn new stuff <3
Will do.
#Homebrew on the 3DS took a while.#While Flashcards like Gateway were already Possible#through a combination of two Cards#One that installs an Extremely Large String in the DS Modes Status#And another that abuses the Now compromised 3DS to run Pirates Software.#However this Exploit could not install Homebrew.#Homebrew without Hardware Modification only became Possible shortly before the New 3DS Release.#Through an Exploit named Ninjhax.#This Exploit abused an Major Vulnerability in the Terrible 3DS Game Cube Ninja.#Cube Ninja was a Game that was mostly played using the Gyro Sensors#and it included a Level Creator that would save Levels as QR-Codes that you could share.#However there was no Limit on the Size that these Levels could have.#So using an Custom QR-Code The Game generated an Ridiculously Large Level#that Compromised the Console to the Point that First Homebrew Became possible.#Cube Ninja quickly became the most sold game on the eShop#before Nintendo took it down that is.#Eventually Ninjhax became Obsolete with the discovery of easier and more powerful Exploits.#But thats a Story for another Time.
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i love dnd but i could never dm.
my husband is planning a session where they're going to meet an undead guy who's constantly cracking jokes. were sitting here come up with SO MANY bone jokes, and eventually he's like "yknow I'm never gonna use all of these". he thought maybe he'd tell a few at the end so he'd get to use more and was laughing that the players would probably hate him so maybe he shouldn't. my reaction?
"make a powerpoint and project it for them so they have to just see a new pun every once in a while. you'll use em all."
and i started laughing so he's like what and i was like. yknow they have clown music on powerpoint. wouldn't it be funny if you made the backgrounds for the slides a different picture of sans undertale while the clown music played and the puns scrolled through? and he was like ?? WHY ?? would i do that and i was like 🤷🏻♂️ it'd be funny
this is the kind of insufferable behavior people would have to put up with if i were a dm.
which is why i can never dm XD
#dungeons and dragons and dumbasses#dnd#dm#textpost#shitposting#shut up punky#something about dnd just unleashes my full gremlin potential#it's hee hee hoo hoo silly time and i will never die!!!#i am the most difficult boss you will ever face#muahahahaha!!!#i am the most difficult boss you will ever face muahahahaha!!!#why do i wanna torture my friends like this alfjfndjsbak#my sense of humor is indecipherable even to myself but i KNOW this would be funny#at least to me#aflakkfhdjakhfjdks#other reasons i cant dm including losing everything having memory issues cant do math#and i would 100% sink myself into naruto dnd aus#or make a homebrew naruto themed dnd session dear god id be So cringe XD#would never draw or write about anything else either#this whole account would just be a wash of naruto dnd crossovers in multiple different directions#i cannot let the madness spread to the internet like that#this is a pandoras box i should NEVER open XD
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okay okay so back when my partner and i were first watching one piece, we often joked that one piece was one really long D&D session with a lot of homebrew and we had fun guessing what each characters class was, and updating as the story went on
which is to say i have put a lot of time and energy into headcanons as to what D&D class each member of the straw hats would be
#maybe I’ll make an actual post about it#iirc we decided that devil fruits were feats that did different things depending on the fruit#it would give you homebrew spells that you could use or it would just change how your attacks/damage works#like luffys attacks were usually just monk/barbarian attacks but because of the gum gum it changed him into an aoe dmg dealer and#it wasn’t until gear second and third that he got actual spells that did stuff#robins basically gave her a significantly improved mage hand that could deal actual damage or it changed spells that she had available into#ones that used her body parts#also most of the crew post ts multi classed with the exception of sanji brook and franky#… like i said#i have a lot of thoughts about D&D and one piece#ange rambles
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#idk this is a divisive topic#and this is just my opinion#but i like hate most of the homebrew#like gameplay mechanics for incorporating#pc mental health in games#like the ones where theyre like#if you have an ADHD pc roll for a symptom#it just feels so trivializing to me idk#to have that hinge on a dice roll#idk ive played characters#that had mental illnesses#and i was super careful about#how i played that#and would NOT lesve it to chance#idk like#i get intrusive thoughts#and if my DM was like#make wis save for OCD#it would just feel so....#idk i get why people make these#but all the ones ive seen have put a bad bad taste in my mouth#you dont need MECHANICS#to play someone with mental health issues#and all of that should be discussed#eith ur dm and group#before incorporated into a game#idk how actually common these sre#but i saw one the other dsy#and was like this concept#seems flawed
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bear with me but the tlh trio being antagonists would have been leagues more compelling. especially over the canonical unfinished arcs they received by the end of the series.
piper being capable of having it all and getting anything she wants but unable to understand why she cannot receive the exact kind of love she’s always craved hence having to force people to give it to her. piper has arguably the most evil-coded power of them all: she can force people to do things they’re unwilling to do. even the gods are not exempt from this. to have that much power and not be corrupted by the ease the world affords her as a neglected child ... piper having to satiate her simultaneous desire and abhorrence of love with her ability to demand it by force.
leo canonically being a failed experimental homebrewed hero by hera (watching over for him as a baby, leaving snakes in his cradle a la hercules, overall obsession about him she never even had for jason, who had been offered to her) and having his mother die in conjunction with the narrative he was being forced into by an ancient force planning around his future. which is akin to a chosen one origin story but flipped on its head because canonically by book 1 leo has little heroic empathy and nobleness that percy holds and holds in his heart every grudge against every single person who has ever slighted him. can name them all. hates humanity and prefers his machinery. and has a negative view on the world that never cared for him. because why should he care when the only one who’s ever cared about him burned in his own flames.
jason, little obedient child soldier who does everything he’s told because it’s all he’s been taught. he’s charismatic in leading but not because it comes naturally. everyone who has ever admired him adored what he’s built his character to be like. jason has no real sense of self + no desire to find it because what is the point when that’s not what this world needs from him. and so badly he needs to be needed. piper in moa met hercules, vain and selfish and bringing everyone down with him and thought: “A hero couldn't control the gods, but he should be able to control himself. Jason would never be like that.” because jason is control incarnate. and he can control himself until he can’t. until he realizes he’s owed the the world enough. and the world owes him now.
#piper mclean#leo valdez#jason grace#do people still get top recommended blogs on here if u post in the tag enough I want the piper slot LOL#hoo#heroes of olympus#rrverse#I wrote this post and reread it and laughed I love being dramatic thisbis the elmo in fire meme to me
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thoughts on the huge OGL debacle around DnD at the moment?
mmmmmMMMMMM BOI
I was going to be holding off on commenting until something was confirmed by WotC because I hoped to get more info but. I think we basically got what we need.
For those who don’t know - the CONTEXT:
Earlier last month there was a leak that made the DnD community peek up out of their little holes like a bunch of meerkats hearing a stampede. Y’see, currently, Wizards of the Coast (a company owned by Hasbro, a corporate giant in board-games) is working on a new DnD version that is meant to replace 5e (5th edition of DnD, the most current one). They’re calling it One DnD, and it’s in play-test right now. But there’s a problem. Along with new stuff, they were apparently planning to revise the OGL - the Open Gaming License which had been a staple of the DnD Era since 2000.
The OGL 1.0 was essentially an open world ticket for third-party creators to use DnD game mechanics to build worlds, create monsters, and expand upon the creative base that was DnD. In 2008 they attempted to publish 4th edition DnD under a different, less open gaming license, which ended up severely hurting their overall standing with the community. When they published 5e, they returned to the OGL and DnD has gained traction with the public thanks to various gaming groups (such as Critical Role) rising to fame. Because of the OGL, many people have made adventures for 5e DnD, making monster manuals compatible with the game, and basically expanding on a huge, growing world. There have been kickstarters for new adventures, new compendiums, etc, which were an incredible creative sandbox for just about anyone who wanted to try their hand at creating.
And now it seems like they fucked it up.
A leak made it clear that WotC is working on OGL 1.1 - which is basically a giant middle finger to everything the original was. They are now demanding royalties from anyone creating new content if they make over 50kᶜᵒʳʳᵉᶜᵗᵉᵈ 750k a year from their creations - which in and of itself isn’t super unreasonable.... except for the fact that they can lower this number at any point.
ALSO with the new OGL (1.1) WotC would OWN the rights to anything made using any of their content (including homebrew made by creators - yes, they would own settings/character just because those adventures use their system) indefinitely, demand they receive financial reports from anyone making 50k or more.
What’s more, they reserve the right to change their own license at any point, with only 30 days notice. (Which basically means that if at any point they decide to demand recompense from people making more than, say, 20k from their little homebrewed setting in 5e, they can do that with nary a month’s warning.)
“...according to attorneys consulted for this article, the new language may indicate that Wizards of the Coast is rendering any future use of the original OGL void, and asserting that if anyone wants to continue to use Open Game Content of any kind, they will need to abide by the terms of the updated OGL, which is a far more restrictive agreement than the original OGL..." (source)
So as you can imagine, for the past few weeks, the entire DnD community and the ttrpg community at large have been gearing up for either a fight, a mass exodus, or both. It would not be the first time.
And then, just recently, we had another comment, this time from inside. An email was sent out, which has been evidently confirmed by one of the recipients as true, describing what is happening inside of WotC.
[I'm an employee at WotC currently working on and with business leaders on the health of the product line. If you want I can provide proof of this.I'm sending this message because I fear for the health of a community I love, and I know what the leaders at WOTC are looking at:
They are briefly delaying rollout of OGL changes due to the backlash.
Their decision making is based entirely on the provable impact to their bottom line
Specifically they are looking at DDB subscriptions and cancellations as it is the quickest financial data they currently have.
They are still hoping the community forgets, moves on, and they can still push this through
I have decided to reach out because at my time in WotC I have never once heard management refer to customers in a positive manner, their communication gives me the impression they see customers as obstacles between them and their money, the DDB team was first told to prepare to support the new OGL changes and online portal when they got back from the holidays, and leadership doesn’t take any responsibility for the pain and stress they cause others. Leadership's first communication to the rank and file on the OGL was 30 minutes on 1/11/23, This was the first time they even tried to communicate their intentions about the OGL to employees, and even in this meeting they blamed the community for over-reacting.I will repeat, the main thing this leadership is looking at is DDB subscription cancellations.Hope your day goes well,PS will be copying and pasting this message to other community leaders]
(source)
As for my comment in all of this?
I won’t pretend to be a local expert in legal terminology. Others can probably parse the full leak far better, and I don’t think there is anything to be gained by running around in a panic and screaming...
However.
The fact of the matter is, Hasbro/WotC are shooting themselves in the foot. I don’t believe they have the right to destroy the original license. Make a new one for OneDnD? Sure, knock yourself out. Try it, see how popular it’ll be. But destroying the community-driven 5e will do only that - destroy it. They will not be gaining any money from the fans which are already plenty used to supporting small-level creators first and large companies second. It’s a supremely counter-culture move which will eat them from the inside out.
The only ones that I feel for are Critical Role - who originally played in Pathfinder and then switched to 5e and paired up with DnD Beyond.............and are now being screwed over because they’re likely locked in a contract with WotC and are contractually obligated to not speak out negatively against the changes.
In my heart of hearts, I kinda hope that their tablets all mysteriously ‘break’ for the next few games and they go back to pen and paper instead of barking out DnD Beyond ads as they’re expected to do. But I don’t know if that’s something they can afford to risk.
(.....though hell, I hope they try to afford it. They have a community that will stand behind them, and that community has MONEY. We won’t know until we know, though, and I know that there are legal repercussions that may go beyond a simple income slap on the wrist.)
Personally, here’s my two cents:
I think people should cast a vote with their money.
Cancel your DnD Beyond subscription.
Don’t give any more money to Hasbro or Wizards. Keep playing whatever 5e games you want, but do it using third-party digital character sheets, OR just go old school and do pen and paper. Let me know if you need sources for it.
Don’t buy the Players Handbook, leave DnD Beyond behind, don’t engage with One DnD. There are resources out there that let you play the game that also don’t require you giving money to corporations that are only here to fuck around and find out. You want an adventure module but don’t want to bow down to the dragon sitting on its hoard? Hit me up. I’ll give you some alternatives.
Hell, I myself will be looking into Pathfinder 2e because I’ve heard good things, and if I need to switch any future games to a different system because Fountry VTT or Roll20 will stop offering the 5e presents, it’ll be a very good alternative. Paizo just came out with a statement that they will write their own version of the OGL which will keep the spirit of the open game alive, and Kobold Press is gearing up with their own stuff.
I won’t be throwing out my own games, and I don’t feel there’s a need to stop playing 5e. I have a Curse of Strahd game to finish, and that game belongs to me and my group now. We don’t need the module - it needs us.
... all that is simply to say - Wizards may soon be realizing that when you live on the Coast... pirates are never far.
(edited thanks to corrections from @magpiesarefluffy )
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Homebrew Mechanic: Bumpercar Combat
I'm going to keep most of my reasoning behind developing this system below the cut but I think we can all agree that D&D's combat can be painfully static. I love fight scenes but after going down a combined stage combat/ videogame boss design rabbit hole I've realized that one of the primary elements is missing from D&D's combat system, namely: Movement
From a mechanical perspective, D&D combat needs movement to break up the monotony of non-spellcater characters throwing punches at eachother until one of them drops, to introduce increased risk and randomness without damage-spike abilities.
From a narrative perspective, D&D combat needs movement to introduce tension and to help put character into day to day fighting beyond just flavor text. Likewise, fights that give different opportunities for movement will feel different from one another, making them stand out in the party's mind.
So without further ado I present my fun new system, which will have your party and their enemies bouncing around the battlefield like a demolition derby:
Press the attack: If you attack a creature and your initial attack roll is higher than their constitution score, you can force them to shift 5 ft into any of the tree squares opposite from your position. You then move to occupy the space they did.
Back to a Wall: Walls and other substantial barriers grant attackers the benefits of flanking as if they were a threatening creature.
Give Ground: If you are attacked in melee and the initial roll is lower than your dexterity score you may shift into any adjacent square, forcing the opponent to move into the space you previously occupied. If you are attacked at a range, you may still shift, but the attacker loses any cover bonuses they might have till the start of their next turn rather than moving.
Tripping Hazard: If you force an opponent into a square that could be considered rough terrain ( such as if it was occupied by a chair, or down a slippery slope) the target drops prone.
First things first I want to say that this system is largely inspired by the dynamic combat movement rules by raventear productions, which I found over on reddit. It's a great system but the more I thought about it the more I realized that introducing extra rolls into combat was adding extra bloat to combat, and so I needed to retool the system to ensure that the party weren't having to roll any more dice than they normally would. My goal with homebrew is always to add more options, not bloat.
Also, go check out@jillbearup over on youtube, her series breaking down cinematic fights was one of the main drivers behind wanting to find a homebrew system like this in the first place.
Finally, long hours spent watching @ohnoitstbskyen 's in depth bloodborne playthough got me thinking about the design of fights, and the right combination of enemies and environment can truly elevate the player(s) experience. I'm also working on my own bloodborne game which gave me a reason to finalize this system.
Now lets get on to why I wanted to build this system in the first place: D&D combat is at risk of being painfully slow and boring, as it's aged the depths to which it can be slow and/or boring have only increased. While part of that is up to the skill of players at the table, I largely chalk it up to the fact that the base system of combat isn't much changed from the days of old tabletop wargaming....characters and monsters control like army units, clashing up against one another till one side drops or some spellcaster drops an AoE ( artillery). That rigidity is fine when one person is controling a whole army of units, but I think every melee character has been in a position where they're slugging away with the same old attack while the wizards get to do cool shit.
The system sort of worked back In the early days when characters and monsters could only take a couple of hits before dropping, but as the editions progressed and everything got more complex what might have first been a quick life or death clash turned into a slugfest. Attacks of opportunity and rigid flanking rules specifically encouraged this slowdown, and 4th edition, the only attempt outside of the battemaster to really play with positioning crashed and burned mainly due to WotC's incompetence.
So how do I use this?
If you're having trouble thinking of why this system might be fun to implement, here's a few ideas:
It makes groupfights more dangerous, encouraging tactical thinking. Getting advantage reliably is the deciding factor in most d&d combats, with the tide turning in favour of whichever side has the most bodies. If combatants are shifting around with every missed hit then that advantage is more up for grabs
It puts increased focus on hazards and terrain features. Ledges, pits, pillars, walls, furniture, dungeon-clutter. Make no mistake that if you use this system and then design your combat arenas with some kind of terrain feature, it's GOING to be used. Where previously players and enemies alike had to chose between engaging with the arena for a potential benefit or doing raw damage reliably, here they'll be able to do both.
It gives non burst-damage melee characters a new way to play. Rolling a barbarian or fighter is supposed to come with a scene of empowerment which can be undercut one folks realize their super-strong orc berserker is being outclassed for damage by the shifty guy with the knife. Telling that player "Yeah, that person gets to roll more dice, but you get to bounce badguys off the walls like pinballs" is more than a consolation, it's what they signed up to do in the first place.
It adds drama to the fight. There's only so many ways a dm can describe enemies taking non-lethal sword hits that only take up a portion of their hp, and they're liable to run out of those long before the campaign is through. Part of what sells the importance of those hits and keeps players engaged between the first and the last is the feeling that they've had SOME kind of effect. Moving folks around is a middle ground between doing nothing and dropping a foe, changing the battlefield in a myriad of small ways that can build up to something meaningful.
Art
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Hey Penny! You've mentioned before that you're a fan of both emulating and playing on authentic hardware, so I was wondering if you could give me some advice.
I really want to play the old DS-era pokemon games, but I hate emulating them on computer. I have a 3DS and I've considered homebrewing it, but I'm very nervous about modifying a pretty much irreplaceable piece of older hardware in case I ruin it (not to mention legit copies of pokemon games are rare and expensive as hell).
Do you have any advice for either finding reliable less-than-legit physical copies or emulating straight to the 3DS in a simple to understand way? Anything you have would be appreciated!
I'm not sure exactly what the details of why you don't prefer emulation but I assume it's primarily an interface thing? I personally prefer to play DS/3DS games on actual hardware due to the very Bespoke nature of the dual-screen design being pretty hard to replicate on a single screen. I don't know if your own gripes are more addressable, but if you're like me then your best bet truly might just be to bite the bullet and hack your 3DS. There are a million guides and I am so serious it is EXTREMELY EASY and INCREDIBLY UNLIKELY to fail at this point. 3DS homebrew is busted wide open and is one of the most approachable hacks I've personally ever done, all you need to do is follow instructions. Past that point it becomes literally as easy as dropping DS roms on your SD card and popping it into your system and it works flawlessly. Otherwise, there's not much advice I can give as I'm not much tuned into the physical DS market these days, and I'm ESPECIALLY not that tuned into the state of secondhand Pokemon games specifically.
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d&d 5e languages and gender
i know this is already a very nerdy blog but please indulge me a moment,,
for my homegame i've been fleshing out how different languages in the game deal with gender / pronouns based on their cultures (some of them are canon languages but some are for our setting) and it made the little nerd in me very happy so i wanted to make some headcanons for the rest of the dnd languages and share it for anyone who'd like to steal / take inspo
feel absolutely free to use these in homegames but if you use for anything streamed or for your own ttrpg/homebrew/fics then crediting/linking back is appreciated :o)
disclaimer: this blog is run by a genderqueer trans man and any queerphobic interaction will immediately be blocked
common
common started off with the standard he, she, & they pronouns but simply Loves a good loanword and so its not uncommon to hear people using pronouns from other languages in otherwise entirely common dialogue. there is some Fighting about whether this is appropriative based on the individuals culture or whether its unfair to people who only speak common to keep up with them all
dwarvish
not too much variety in what most people would consider pronouns, it tends to be more one singular neutral pronoun for someone you don't know / don't know well, and then variations that are more like honorifics than anything else. their pronoun might translate more readily to "skilled with a hammer" than anything regarding a gender
elvish
lots of pronoun options that explore different presentations of gender but they are also age/experience locked. a feminine male elf would use different pronouns as a child, teen, young adult, young adult with job, middle age, middle aged with children, etc. using pronouns from a different life experience bracket from you is incredibly frowned upon and people just dont do it
giant
there is one pronoun for giants & kin and one pronoun for not giants and the one for not giants is not derogatory at all, its just used to differentiate who is part of the family or not (individuals adopted by giants tend to use the giant pronoun)
gnomish
LOTS of variation in pronouns. gnomes love inventing new pronouns. there are general grammatical rules that they follow to Signify that its a pronoun but hearing three new pronouns a day is like. not uncommon. lots of gnomish teens go through a phase of making up at least four new pronouns they want to go by. uncommon to only go by one set. typically introduced along with your name
(more under the cut)
goblin
no gendered pronouns, all pronouns are instead structured around relations between individuals. so one person would use brother pronoun with one person, son pronoun with another, best friend pronoun to another. the family pronouns are not locked to actual family, just what the relationship is like. if you don't know someone well, its "cousin", "niece/nephew", "auntie/uncle", or "grandparent" depending on their age
halfling
pronouns are split between public and private use. in general in the community or with outsiders, there's a single pronoun that translates loosely to "friend". actual individual pronouns are only known to and used with close friends and family. there's a small handful of them and only some of them have gendered connotations
orc
there are only four categories of pronouns: masculine, feminine, both/mixed, and neither. but there's a decent amount of variations because there are varying levels of formality for each of them. there are ways to conjugate them so they're more formal and respectful, but also lots of diminutives to make them more affectionate and closely-bonded
abyssal
no use of pronouns. lots of very specific derogatory terms that are used in place of them. i shant elaborate.
celestial
lots of variations in pronouns. they are not very closely tied to gender, but are tied to very specific aesthetics. instead of having individual pronoun words, in celestial you just use root words. so one person might use the root word for things that are soft and gentle and natural for their pronoun, while another person might use the root word for things associated with dark and murky and mysterious things for theirs. tend to be tied to domains
draconic
no use of pronouns, only names and titles. if you happen to share a name with another individual who speaks draconic, you would need a unique title to go after it. the full name and full title is said at every reference of someone
deep speech
deep speech has pronouns probably but hearing them for any individual you dont share a close identity group with makes you violently nauseous and then the word immediately leaves your mind so it's just really hard to learn them
infernal
there are words for "you", "me", "us", "we", "this one", "that one", "those ones" etc but no classic pronouns as far as individual usage goes. if someone really needs to be specific they would use whatever pronoun that individual uses in their native language. tieflings have introduced a Lot of neopronouns into infernal but theyre all borrowed from other languages and then reworked into infernal grammar and tend to be localized to communities
primordial
individuals are referred to their elemental type (or "none") rather than pronouns tied to gender. so it would be more like "the windy one" or "the rocky one" than anything like he or she
sylvan
no standard gendered pronouns, it's entirely nounself. so basically infinite amount of pronouns that are easily understood by anyone familiar with that noun. so you would have things like pebble pronoun, teapot pronoun, sword pronoun, with some general affiliations with presentation but less so with gender
undercommon
pronouns are based on level of respect and not gender, but there are also pronouns specifically used for children. like craftsmen would typically all use the same pronoun unless one was incredibly successful and respected, or had a very bad reputation, etc. there are pronouns used only for royalty and pronouns used only for deities
speak with animals
when translated into common, tends to just be translated as the animal's bio sex, but it can go a little screwy when speaking about creatures who have biological sexes so outside the humanoid concept of sex and gender that even magic dont fuckin know how to translate it. kind of just makes a weird bubbly noise in its place
if you read this far thank you thank you and if you end up using these in your campaign lore or fics i would love to know :o)
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OGL misconceptions
Since I am still seeing a lot of misinformation out there, I figured I'd do a fact check post. Note that I do not personally have a copy of the leaked draft; some resources are given at the end of the post. See also the 2000 OGL v1.0a here. This is noncomprehensive, is only touching on some of the things I've seen most commonly in the tags [sidebar: the only tag I check regularly is the Critical Role tag, and much of what I've seen on Tumblr is coming from people spamming that tag for general D&D content that only tangentially mentions CR, so...stop doing that.] Finally, this is based on what is a draft, and there are quite possibly going to be updates to the final document. I would also assume that the January 13th effective date will be changed based on the release date of the finalized OGL.
Free fan content is not affected. That is covered by the Fan Content Policy. Your personal homebrew or the weird-ass build you saw on Reddit or the item you saw in a post last week are all fine.
Actual play shows should be largely unaffected, and only merchandise containing WoTC IP would be. (NOTE: original posting of this post had a typo of "affected" for "unaffected"; check your reblogs) Shows like Critical Role, NADDPod, and D20 all use homebrew settings, so that's also unaffected (as is any Exandrian content that was published in the Explorer's Guide and Call of the Netherdeep; that is CR's IP that WoTC has license to use). A show might be affected if they've set the game in a WoTC licensed setting or with a WoTC module (eg: Eberron, Ravenloft), but most of the shows that do that are put out by WoTC anyway. Critical Role and TAZ have, notably, already avoided using copyrighted terms for deities, races, etc. in published non-WoTC works (this is why Melora is exclusively the Wildmother in the Tal'Dorei guides, because "Melora" is WoTC IP, but the idea of a nature goddess is obviously not; this is also why Cree in the Nine Eyes is referred to as catfolk and not a tabaxi, or why Phandalin's name in the TAZ graphic novels is changed to Haverdale). The only reason why a show might need to switch game systems would be if they use a system that is not D&D but is based on D&D's SRD and which will be subject to the OGL changes. Most Pathfinder shows I'm aware of use the Pathfinder SRD (ie, free), and SW5e as used in Starstruck Odyssey is also free. This also only affects the future of those shows.
VTTs (Virtual Tabletop Tools) may be affected, but most of their core features aren't. Battle maps and virtual dice rollers are not WoTC IP. Incorporating the mechanics of D&D into the VTT is, but that would mean actively having a character sheet or monster statblock available within the VTT. You could still just have a dice roller that prompts you for a modifier (which is how I always personally used Foundry). D&D Beyond will not be affected, since it is owned by WoTC. Additionally, many VTTs already have existing agreements specifically with WoTC that will take precedence over the OGL, which is a catch-all for companies that do not have specific licensing agreements. See the WoTC/D&D Beyond blog post here.
Only creators making over $750,000 specifically on material licensed under the OGL will be subject to royalties, and only on income in excess of $750,000. This means that if you put something up on DMs Guild and make $500, you are fine and owe nothing. If you make $749,999, you owe nothing. If you make $750,100, you owe the 25% royalty only on the $100 you are making above $750,000. WoTC predicts under two dozen companies will actually be affected by this at this time; they are all fairly big names within the D&D content arena such as Paizo, Darrington Press (CR's imprint), Hit Point Press, Green Ronin, Kobold Press, etc. Royalties also are said to begin in 2024, so companies have a year to decide what to do.
Now for the editorializing part:
Paizo is specifically in the crosshairs and anyone telling you to switch to it is either misinformed at best, or does not have your best interests at heart. Paizo is the main target here. The others are publishing material that serve as supplements to the core WoTC products, but do not replace them. For example: if you have either of the Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting books, you will note that they do not have stats for the races mentioned, nor the core class information. If you want to play a Cobalt Soul Monk, you still need the PHB in addition to the Tal'Dorei setting books. On some level, this is almost certainly due to Paizo being like "look! we're like D&D but we're not! switch to us!" And, understandably, WoTC is saying "hey, you took our SRD game engine and are now our largest competitor", which is also almost certainly why this is overriding the OGL 1.0a under which Pathfinder was originally created. I am not saying not to switch to a different TTRPG if you want to! You should always feel free to switch to a different TTRPG if D&D is not meeting your needs! I am saying that Pathfinder is probably your absolute worst bet in terms of things likely to be affected by the OGL, and anyone telling you to switch to it is telling you to jump from an ocean liner into a slightly smaller ship heading straight for a waterfall solely because the ocean liner stopped serving bottomless brunch.
People throwing this to actual play shows do not know what they are talking about and are just trying to start shit. Self-explanatory; why should Dimension 20 or whatever put out a statement on an unofficial leaked draft that minimally affects them.
Bad faith is common and everpresent. As discussed extensively on this blog in scattered bitchy shitposts, there are a lot of people who hate D&D/WoTC, or Critical Role, or other popular actual play shows. Sometimes their reasons are valid and sometimes their reasons are stupid. It doesn't really matter though; what matters is that their minds are made up and they will be telling you to switch game systems/stop listening or watching pretty much regardless of what the companies do. If you want to switch or stop listening, that's fine! But, as mentioned, I remember a few months ago someone arguing that you should switch from D&D because they were obviously going to start licensing NFTs for profitability reasons, and now the OGL specifically prohibits that. There's a lot being pulled out of thin air to make spurious arguments. In general, it is helpful to ask yourself "is this person recommending a game because they genuinely believe it will improve my life and better fit my individual tastes and needs? Or are they just being a dick about D&D or this specific actual play show and don't give a shit about my happiness, just as long as I'm not playing the game/watching the show that they, an internet stranger with bad vibes to boot, do not personally like."
YouTubers are trying to get views, and that is usually their primary goal. Also self-explanatory. If you're trusting the same people who decided that Silvery Barbs would ruin D&D which had also already been ruined by the chronomancy class, the fact that some sorcerers get more spells than other sorcerers, the fact that healing word exists... to tell you that this has ruined D&D? I don't think I can help you.
Several of the things people are freaking out about are either standard boilerplate now, or were in the original OGL. OGL 1.0a reserves the right to terminate the license with 30 days notice as well (item 13); stating that material you make via an open license can be used freely by the owner of that IP is fairly standard legal practice.
Sources:
OGL v1.0a
WOTC Fan Content Policy
Gizmodo/io9 coverage
D&D Beyond/OneD&D blog post
Screenrant coverage
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Bell's Hells Level 13 Analysis
Welcome to level 13! The Omen Archive is excited to be able to start providing level up analysis for Bell’s Hells, and we hope this post (also available on our site) will be the first of many. By necessity, these analyses will be stepping slightly more into the realm of conjecture and opinion than most of our work, so please keep that in mind.
Before we get started, there is one point of interest for this level up that applies to all the Hells, so we would like to touch on that first before we get into the character-by-character analysis. At level 13, all of the characters get a proficiency bonus bump up from +4 to +5. This will be particularly impactful for the characters sporting expertise—Chetney, Dorian, Fearne, Orym, and Imogen—whose doubled bonus will be going from +8 to +10 for those skills.
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Ashton
Barbarian 13
HP: +10, total 132
ASI: None
Unsurprisingly, Ashton continues to barrel down the pure barbarian track at full speed. With no decision between an ASI or a Feat and no new path feature, level 13 is not a complicated one for Ashton. His main boon is that he now has a second brutal critical die, which, as a reminder, allows them to roll extra damage on critical hits.
Next level up, Ashton will be getting a new Path feature, which is extra fun since as a homebrew class, we have no idea what it might be—hopefully we’ll find out quickly!
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Chetney
Blood Hunter 12/Rogue 1
HP: +5, total 108
ASI: +1 Wis
At level 12 in Blood Hunter, Chet has forgone an ASI in favor of the Fey Touched feat, increasing his Wisdom by one and gaining Misty Step and one other unknown 1st level divination or enchantment spell. Bane, Hex, and Bless are all on the table and have often been clutch for other party members, but may be redundant choices for that very reason. We like Compelled Duel for Chetney. It would allow Chetney to keep his quarry in melee range and protect the squishier members of the party, much the same way Orym has done with his Goading Attacks. Archivist Shadow would also love if he were to take Silvery Barbs, but they say that every time it’s an option.
The sneaky little gnome gets sneakier at level 13 as well, with the proficiency bonus increase at this level bringing his stealth up to a solid +12 with expertise. His second expertise skill, sleight of hand, is now up to +12 as well. With the added benefit of his +5 Gloves of Thievery, functionally Chetney now gets +17 on sleight of hand checks.
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Dorian
Bard 13
HP: increase unknown, total 112
ASI: None
Welcome back to our humble bard! Despite knowing the least about Dorian’s build overall, since it has been quite a few levels since he was last on screen in Kymal at level 6, we do already know the 7th level spell he has taken, Forcecage. Had Astrid not Counterspelled it, she would have been trapped and unable to cast spells outside of the cage. While she could have attempted to Teleport out, she would have needed to succeed on a charisma save of 16 or else waste the spell slot entirely.
At level 13, Dorian’s Song of Rest die bumps up to a d10, giving a nice little boost to Short Rest healing that the party could very much use, since long rests have proven to be very hard to come by in recent episodes.
Dorian is one of the Hells that will see the strongest boost from the across-the-board proficiency bonus bump, as by level 10, Bards have four abilities with Expertise. We know that Dorian’s level 3 Expertise choices were performance and athletics, and because of his (failed) persuasion check on Opal in Episode 92, we know that he chose persuasion for one of his level 10 expertise abilities. This means that, barring any additional proficiencies gained via feat between levels 6 and 10, he now has expertise in one of his remaining proficient abilities: acrobatics, deception, or sleight of hand. While Imogen’s higher charisma score will likely make her still the face of the party in situations demanding persuasion, taking expertise in deception would actually make Dorian the better liar, with a +13 to her +10. Acrobatics and sleight of hand would however also both be fun boons, so they can’t be counted out as options, especially since while Fearne does have proficiency in sleight of hand, her midrange DEX means that despite her delight in thievery her bonus is only a +7, which Dorian would double with expertise. There’s something entertaining about the idea of Dorian being the second-best thief in the party when his first scene in the campaign featured him being incredibly stressed about Fearne’s pickpocketing.
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Fearne
Druid 10/Rogue 3
HP: +4, total 83
ASI: None
After another foray into Rogue last level, Fearne is back on the Druid track, bringing her up to Druid 10/Rogue 3. That gains her an additional 5th level slot, and increases Mister’s HP to 55. The party-wide bump in expertise makes Fearne’s ability as living lie detector even more significant, with her insight now being a +15. And, although Imogen taking on expertise in persuasion last level means Fearne is no longer the most persuasive party member, she’s still no slouch, with her bonus now up to +13 with expertise.
The biggest new thing for Fearne is that she now has her 10th level Circle of Wildfire feature, Cauterizing Flames. Whenever a Small or larger creature dies within 30 feet of Fearne or Mister, it creates a small flame that Fearne can activate as a reaction when a creature enters its space, up to five times per long rest. The activated flame will do 2d10+5 damage or healing to the creature, whichever Fearne chooses. With the Hells down a cleric, having another avenue for healing that doesn’t require precious spell slots is quite useful, even if it requires a creature die under specific circumstances first. The Archivists would love to see her use this new feature in conjunction with the explode-and-drop-form aspect of her Titan form. A well-placed explosion of this kind could turn several low-level enemies into potential healing motes, or could effectively create a minefield around Fearne to deter other enemies from entering melee range.
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Fresh Cut Grass
Cleric 13
HP: +7, total 113
ASI: None
Bell’s Hells are missing out on a lot with Fresh Cut Grass cut down, and not just because of his sunny disposition. Level 13 would have given FCG access to level 7 Cleric spells, including such hits as Planar Shift, Firestorm, Divine Word, Regenerate, Resurrect, and Temple of the Gods.
Temple of the Gods in particular would have been a boon to the party, as they have been in near constant motion and have neither a home base nor another moving headquarters to replace the Silver Sun. The ability to bunk down somewhere safe and protected from divination spells like Scrying might have let the Hells slow down and rest more often. We suspect that Sam might have chosen to make the temple oppose undead or fey at least once, just for the drama of making Laudna or Fearne roll to see if they could even enter the temple, but that bit of potential trolling will be put to rest with FCG. Rest in peace, little carebot.
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Imogen
Sorcerer 13
HP: +7, total 83
ASI: None
Sorcery Points: +1, total 13
Imogen’s Skill Expert feat, chosen last level up, makes the party’s proficiency bonus uptick this level especially potent for her persuasion skill, bumping her up to a whopping +15. Her deception, another skill she relies on heavily, has now risen to +10 with proficiency.
Imogen also now has her first 7th level spell slot with a lot of interesting possibilities. The two most obvious choices from a utility perspective would be Teleport or Plane Shift, but given that the Staff of Dark Odyssey gives access to Teleport, less consistently accessible though it may be, Laura may have chosen otherwise. Our initial thought had been that she likely would pass on Plane Shift as well, since FCG would have had access to it on the cleric spell list. However, now that we know via the Episode 94 Cool Down that Laura has not yet picked her 7th level spell, Plane Shift may be back in the running. The Hells did pick up a Fey-attuned rod amongst Ludinus’ things in Molaesmyr, so Imogen taking on this spell would allow them more stable access to one of their strongest allies and safest havens in Nana Morri and Ligament Manor. She could also use it on unwilling creatures to dump them in a hostile landscape.
However, it is entirely possible that Imogen will go again for a heavy hitter damage spell, and there are some doozies here we’d like to discuss.
Crown of Stars is an interesting option. It would give Imogen some decent damage dealing via bonus actions, improving her action economy, and since it stays active for an hour, could continue to be effective over multiple encounters, something that would give it a much longer span of utility than most of the higher-damage 7th level spells. However, as Crown of Stars also sheds bright light, it would impede the party’s sneakiness while active, and sneakiness has often been their go-to approach. It also requires a straight attack roll for each mote, unlike most of the other damage spells available at 7th level, which instead require saves. A failed save generally means half damage, but a failed roll would have no effect. There is thus a risk with this spell that on a very unlucky day, it will do no damage at all.
Whirlwind, meanwhile, would fit Imogen’s storm aesthetic without modification, and would provide both decent AOE damage and battlefield control, as the whirlwind cylinder can be moved 30 feet along the ground as an action, sucking up Medium or smaller objects and forcing creatures to make DEX saves against damage and STR saves against being restrained. However, it also feels a bit like a stronger and more expensive Hungry Torrent, which she already has and can cast psionically. Finger of Death is a classic but seems less her style; we are more inclined to expect her to take a reskinned Fire Storm or Delayed Blast Fireball, both of which can be brutal AOE damage dealers. Of the two, Delayed Blast Fireball may be the better choice, simply because Fire Storm is available to Fearne as well, and Delayed Blast Fireball charges up by 1d6 per round as long as concentration is maintained. Sneaking it into an enemy formation before a battle even starts could turn difficult encounters into mere mop-ups.
However, there is also Power Word Pain, which might not do direct damage but provides some very, very significant debuffs. Reducing an enemy to 10 feet of movement plus giving them disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws other than CON saves is brutal, even if shaken off after a round. This spell would be particularly useful against high level casters, too, forcing them to succeed on a Constitution check—not usually a strong suit for casters—to even get a spell out, thereby potentially wasting slots. With the Weave Mind, Ludinus, and much of Ludinus’ forces being casters, this could be an absolute ace up the sleeve of a spell. We’re inclined to favor it or Plane Shift as the choice for Imogen, but we’ll have to wait and see if Laura agrees!
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Laudna
Sorcerer 10/Warlock 3
HP: +8, total 177
ASI: None
Sorcery Points: +1, total 10
Laudna took an additional level in Sorcerer this go around, bringing her to Sorcerer 10/Warlock 3. She gets both a new cantrip and an additional 5th level spell. The spread of 5th level spells is quite interesting. Far Step would allow Laudna to get herself out of harm’s way without provoking attacks of opportunity, which could be very, very useful, particularly since her spell sniper build thrives on keeping distance from the field of battle—something that has been hard for her to do given how often the party ends up fighting in close quarters. Seeming, meanwhile, would be very helpful for the party’s stealthier endeavors, as currently only Fearne is able to alter her appearance, and Bell’s Hells are increasingly recognizable to their enemies. Hold Monster would allow Laudna to work in concert with the melee members of the party to decimate a single target and could potentially turn a deadly enemy into a comically quick kill. Dominate Person seems slightly less appealing knowing that Dorian is packing Geas, but remains very useful. Enervation would provide a nice little bit of leech-like self-healing, but has the same downside that plagues Witch Bolt, in that getting the full effect of the spell uses up the player’s action each turn to activate it again, limiting their other options—though this can be mitigated somewhat by Laudna’s ability to Quicken spells. Cloudkill, Immolation, Cone of Cold, and Insect plague are all available as high-damage spell options as well. We would favor Far Step or Hold Monster for Laudna, but Marisha may surprise us!
Additionally, a 10th level in Sorcery gives Laudna access to another Metamagic option, for which Marisha chose Empowered Spell. Since Marisha has shown a lot of understandable frustration over bad rolls over the course of the campaign, Empowered Spell is a nice choice for her. It will allow Laudna to spend a sorcery point to reroll up to five damage dice, allowing her to make sure her fireballs and eldritch blasts hit hard.
Despite playing coy during this level up about whether she will continue with sorcerer levels going forward, we’re inclined to agree with her level 12 commentary. Marisha stated then that she thinks that there’s nothing left for her in Warlock. That is a fair assessment, not because there’s actually nothing left in Warlock, but because it would take a few levels to get there. She would not get her next Otherworldly Patron Feature (the admittedly very rad Grave Touched feature) until Warlock level 6, and she would not get her fourth Invocation until Warlock level 5, meaning that she would face a few level-ups where all she’d get would be an (admittedly nice) ASI and access to a couple of level 3 warlock spells. As the party’s only magic user with Counterspell, and given how much she’s started relying on Fireball, the extra spell slots the Sorcerer track provides make more sense for her style of gameplay. She’s invested heavily enough in Sorcerer over Warlock so far that at this point it just might take too long to make additional Warlock levels worth it, particularly since she is now locked out of the Warlock 11 feature Mystic Arcanum.
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Orym
Fighter 13
HP: +14, total 144
ASI: None
Much like Ashton, Orym’s pure fighter track makes this a very straightforward level up. The Tough feat continues to work nicely for Orym, bumping up his HP by an additional 2 points over the 12 he would have gotten without it, and he now has an additional use of Indomitable per long rest. As a reminder, Indominable allows Orym to reroll a saving throw that he failed.
Orym’s expertise in perception combined with his Observant Feat and his Sentinel Shield means that his passive perception is now at 33—rising even further above the previous player character with the highest passive perception, Vex, who capped out at 30. It’s wild to think about, but theoretically, if Orym chose to max out his wisdom via ASIs, by level 20 his passive perception could be 37, at which point we assume he will in fact be able to just read Matt’s notes.
#bell's hells#bells hells#cr3#critical role#ashton greymoore#chetney pock o'pea#dorian storm#fearne calloway#fresh cut grass#imogen temult#laudna#orym of the air ashari#articles#omen archive
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The most divisive gameplay moment I’ve seen from the live show has been Matt’s ruling on Sentinel vs the gargantuan creature, which is funny to me cause I’m totally on his side about it.
Like yeah RAW is one thing but if it completely doesn’t make sense I would also ask “how does that stop the creature from moving?” I think there’s a possibility Marisha could have tried to justify it but she couldn’t think of any way it would reasonably work either, so I saw it as kind of a non issue. Homebrewing or bending rules to make more sense can hurt the PCs as much as it benefits them. It has to go both ways.
Besides that, I think people who don’t DM forget how hard balancing play in 5e can get above level 15. It is extremely difficult to keep combat interesting and challenging for level 20 PCs. That’s gotta be compounded when there are 7 players. Matt’s not being “unfair,” when he makes firm rulings in high level play, he’s giving the enemies a chance at all.
(As a final aside, the ruling that bothered me far more was Caleb still losing that spell slot for Counterspell after Matt clarified he didn’t actually see anyone casting. Liam didn’t fight it cause it essentially didn’t matter, but I def understood why he asked about it. It’s also possible Caleb took Counterspell as one of his Signature Spells which would truly have made it a non issue.)
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Hello! Have a nice day!😊
I'm writing a fanfiction on The Death Note in the Dungeons and Dragons universe.
My favorite dice were suggested to me by the roles and character classes:
L is a tiefling wizard;
Nate River is a half-elf robber;
Mail Jeevas is a half-orc druid;
Mihael Keehl is an elf barbarian.
And what do you think, which races and classes will suit them?😏
Oh that's a fun idea!! ✨
Hmm I think if they were in-universe D&D characters, they’d probably all be magic wielders with insane intelligence stats. Here’s my guesses (going with the 5E only and what “feels” right):
L | Elf wizard
Near | Gnome wizard
Mello | Half-elf arcane trickster rogue
Matt | Halfling mystic knight fighter
Much more fun to think about is what character I think they would choose if they were players in a group:
L | Something insanely weak and useless in early game, like a wizard, but godlike in late game. He has to be permanently revived up until level 5. Maybe something with a hidden identity and lore-relevance.
Near | Something opposite of his real life self, like a no-brain half-orc barbarian. Anything that SMASHES THINGS.
Mello | The most perfectly balanced combination of races, classes etc he could think of. An absolute min-maxed beast. And I can’t help but assume it’s a lawful evil rogue. Mello wrote an epic tragic backstory for the guy that fits the campaign lore too. He takes this way too serious.
Matt | The silliest, most fucked-up abomination of a character that needs a booklet of extra homebrew rules. Like a chaotic neutral cursed sentient hat piloting a scarecrow. It’s a bard, of course, and he succeeds seducing the enemies every damn time. Matt comes to the sessions in costume.
Lemme know what you think :'D
#ask#death note#matt#mello#near#l#dungeonsanddragons#dungeons and dragons#dnd#mihael keehl#nate river#l lawliet#mail jeevas
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Have you ever read an RPG that completely changed the way you think about RPGs or how you play them? If so, which one(s)?
I've talked a little bit about this in the past, but come with me, anon, on a journey through RPGs.
Imagine, if you will, a teenaged LT being invited to play a "game like dungeons and dragons" only to find out it was some dude's really sexist attempt at 3.5.
And then it's 5 years later and some friends in college finally manage to convince you that the game they're starting (Pathfinder) will be fun, you should play. And that's your first real ttrpg experience, and it's a campaign that lasts years, longer than your relationship at that time, and it becomes the most important part of your life for a while, and then you make the jump to 5e which isn't that different, and meantime you've been playing some side games, some shorter stuff, and the math isn't great and yeah the game is held together with homebrew but that's just part of the fun, isn't it? it's just part of how you like to play, writing stuff for this system, and in fact you like it so much that you end up publishing/kickstarting a whole 5e sci fi game, and isn't that neat?
but then 5e really starts to lose favor, or maybe you branching out into indie games just exposes you to a lot more people who hate it, even some people who talk about people who play and write for it like they're stupid or ignorant or part of the corporate missteps made by WotC or like it's unfathomable that people would come to this hobby from the most popular roleplaying game in the world, and that kind of sucks! but you're seeing the holes in the game more and more and you're realizing there's games you've been playing that are also ttrpgs that you never thought of that way, but it seems so obvious in retrospect!
and you start writing for these other games, and you back some kickstarters and find some really awesome discord communities and games that inspire you to write things on your own for the first time in a long time, and you start trying to fill in the gaps in your knowledge so you can keep up with people having academic conversations about games, using terms you don't understand and referencing creators and games and publishers and controversies you've never heard of, and you almost burn out so many times because it's A LOT even if you love it, and reminding yourself that you're not in competition with anyone for creating or knowledge or anything like that becomes part of the daily routine, and you don't have to know everything to keep creating and keep learning and keep playing - that's right, it's about playing! don't forget that! and then you're here.
you're here, and games are so fun and so cool and they're not all going to stick in your soul but so many do, so many teach you something or refresh you in unexpected ways and it's like that all the time.
anyway, in no particular order, games that made me think about RPGs and play and design: DnD 5e, Fiasco, Dread, Monster of the Week, Dream Askew/Dream Apart, Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Blades in the Dark, Thousand Year Old Vampire, The Wildsea RPG, Grant Howitt's 1-page rpgs, Artefact, Dogs in the Vineyard, Shadowrun 5e, 10 Candles, Wreck This Deck, Balikbayan Returning Home, Clue, Chess 2, CYOA books, and many many more.
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