#tabletop RPGs
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I'm asking you because I've seen people ask you similar questions before. Why are kobolds, as a fantasy creature, so nebulous?
Generally when people say orc, goblin, elf, dwarf, werewolf, vampire etc. a person can have a pretty solid idea of what traits that animal will have. I guess because they're usually copying that species from the same similar source works?
What happened to kobolds? I used to know them as a kind of german folklore creature, but then also as a short lizard person, and most recently there's been Dungeon Meshi, which gives the name kobold to anthropomorphic dogs.
Well, the trick is that none of these terms have a standard definition. In folklore, the words "elf", "dwarf", "gnome", "troll", "goblin", "pixie", etc. are used more or less interchangeably – all of these words might refer to the exact same folkloric critter, and conversely, the same word might be used to refer to several completely different folkloric critters, even within the same body of regional folklore, to say nothing of how their usage varies across different regions and over time.
Literally the only reason any of these terms have "standard" definitions in modern popular culture is because one specific piece of media got mega-popular and everybody copied it. For example, Tolkien is responsible not only for the popular media stereotypes of elves and dwarves: he's responsible for popularising the idea that "elf" and "dwarf" are separate kinds of creatures to begin with. Similarly, while Bram Stoker's Dracula isn't solely responsible for cementing the idea of what a vampire is in popular culture, it did standardise what vampire magic can do, and it helped cement the idea that a "vampire" and a "werewolf" are different beasties, which hasn't always been the case.
So the short answer is that there's just never been a mega-popular work about "kobolds" to provide a standard template for the type. Most modern depictions in Anglophone popular culture ultimately point back to the interpretation set forth by Dungeons & Dragons, but D&D itself has gone back and forth on the whether they're tiny dog-people or tiny lizard-people, with the tiny dog-person version being the earlier of the two, so even folks who are directly cribbing from D&D will vary on this point depending on which particular edition they're name-checking.
#media#tropes#folklore#popular culture#kobolds#gaming#tabletop roleplaying#tabletop rpgs#dungeons & dragons#d&d
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Creature Idea: A moray eel with horse legs. Runs down rabbits and pheasants and such, and can stick its neck into burrows to grab prairie dogs. Its body is still noodly and flexible though, and it rarely attacks anything as big as a human.
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I am obsessed with this idea
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i'll talk trash about D&D 3/3.5 all day long but i gotta say the core book cover aesthetic fucked so hard. everyone got hyper burned out on this kind of thing 20 years ago because everybody did it all at once for a while but look, get over here and gaze with new and forgiving eyes.
3rd ed went "oh wouldn't it be sick if we made them look like fantasy books?"
and 3.5 fucking doubled down.
do you not wish to crack open a fucking tome, boy?
do you not wish to gaze upon my magical spells?
they were so filled with fantasy and wonderment that the nostalgia reprint premium edition in 2012 was like oh shit we dreamed too big we gotta reduce the whimsy so nobody knows we were cringe in middle school.
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HEY! YOU THERE! WANT TO PLAY A TABLETOP ADVENTURE WITH A PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLER?
I'M MISTER TORGUE, AND THE NERD WHO HELPS ME LOG INTO THIS ACCOUNT ASKED ME TO DO AN AD FOR HIS SERVICES. I TOLD HIM I WOULD, BUT ONLY IF I GOT TO WRITE IT MYSELF. SO STRAP IN, DUMPSUCKS. IT'S PRODUCT PLACEMENT TIME:
--
DO YOU WANT TO PLAY DUNGEONS & DRAGONS BUT YOU CAN'T FIND SOMEONE TO RUN YOUR GAMES?
ARE YOU FED UP WITH A GAME MASTER WHO WON'T LET YOU STRAIGHT-UP MAKE OUT WITH THE VILLAINS OF THEIR STORY?
DO YOU WANT WANT TO LEARN TABLETOP RPGS BUT EVERYONE WHO TRIES TO EXPLAIN IT USES THINGS LIKE MATH AND SPREADSHEETS AND YOU CAN'T STOP THEM BECAUSE FATAL SUPLEXES ARE ILLEGAL ON YOUR PLANET?
THEN YOU NEED BENCOMPETENCE, PROFESSIONAL STORYTELLER AND GAME MASTER.
BRAOOWWWWW-CHICKABRAOW EXPLOSION NOISE HEREEEEEEEE!
BENCOMPETENCE HAS RUN OVER 100 PROFESSIONAL GAMES OF TABLETOP GAMES, INCLUDING DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, CITY OF MIST AND MORE. HE HAS 100% POSITIVE REVIEWS FROM HIS CLIENTS, WHICH IS PROBABLY MORE THAN 34%.
NOT ONLY DOES BEN OWN A PAIR OF CAT-EAR HEADPHONES, HE EXCELS AT RIPPING YOUR HEART STRAIGHT OUT OF ITS RIBCAGE USING NOTHING BUT COMPELLING, ROMANCEABLE CHARACTERS AND BADASS EPIC ADVENTURES. IN FACT, EVEN HIS VILLAINS ARE SEXY AS F*CK. JUST CHECK OUT THIS VAMPIRE FROM ONE OF HIS CAMPAIGNS:
THIS DEATH DADDY IS ABSOLUTELY ABOUT TO KILL ME AND I DON'T GIVEN EVEN A SINGLE F*CK.
NOT YOUR STYLE? NO PROBLEM, PLAYER, HE ALSO OFFERS TERRIFYING MURDER MOMMIES!
THIS WOMAN COULD DRINK MY BLOOD AND I WOULD SAY "THANK YOU"
WANT TO GET EVEN MORE NUTS!? HOW ABOUT BEING A SH*TLOAD OF PIRATES THAT FIGHT MINDFLAYERS AND TENTACLE BEASTS!?
OR MAYBE EVEN ROMANCES THE TENTACLES BEAST?? I DON'T JUDGE
YOU DO YOU!!
THERE IS A 4% CHANCE THIS TENTACLED ABOMINATION WILL CUDDLE ME AND NOT EAT MY BRAINS AND I LIKE THOSE ODDS!!!
BENCOMPETENCE'S GAMES ARE INCLUSIVE AF AND BEGINNER-FRIENDLY, BECAUSE GATEKEEPING IS FOR SH*THEELS AND TRASHGUZZLERS. WHETHER YOU'RE BRAND NEW OR HAVE PLAYED A QUILLION SESSIONS, YOU WILL BE RIGHT AT HOME. ALL THAT MATTERS IS THAT YOU GET IN THERE AND KICK THE NARRATIVE'S ASS RIGHT IN ITS D*CK.
HE ALSO ASKED ME TO TELL YOU THAT SESSION 0'S ARE FREE, AND I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS!
WANT TO JOIN A TABLE? THEN LISTEN UP, F*CKTRUCKS, BECAUSE IT'S LIST TIME:
FIGHT OR MAYBE MAKE OUT WITH HOT EVIL VAMPIRES IN CURSE OF STRAHD (NOW AVAILABLE IN DEATH DADDY AND MURDER MOMMY)
I AM NOW STARING AT THE VAMPIRE AGAIN AND FORGOT THE NEXT BULLET POINT
JOIN CALL FROM THE DEEP , BE PIRATES, AND BLOW UP THE ENTIRE F*CKING OCEAN!!! AGAIN!!!!!!!
SOMETHING ABOUT LEARNING TABLETOP RPGS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A DISCOUNTED SESSION
THERE'S A LOT MORE TO SAY, BUT THE NERD WRITING THIS SCRIPT STARTED TALKING ABOUT CHARACTER SHEETS AND SOMETHING CALLED NARRATIVE AGENCY, SO I HAD TO BEAT HIM WITH A FOLDING CHAIR UNTIL HE STOPPED. YOU CAN HELP PAY FOR THE BODYCAST I PUT HIM IN BY SIGNING UP TODAY!
END OF ADVERTISEMENT.
#DND#D&D#CURSE OF STRAHD#DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS#5E#STRAHD#HOT STRAHD#IS STRAHD SINGLE#TTRPG#TABLETOP RPGS#GAMING#GAMES#HOT VAMPIRE DADDIES#WHERE ARE THE HOT VAMPIRE MOMMIES#KABOOM#HELL YEAH#TAGS#PIRATES#CTHULHU#TENTACLES!?!?!?#TENTACLES!!!
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Please, ask me!!
#comic#dnd#D&D#dungeons and dragons#TTRPG#tabletop#tabletop rpgs#tabletop roleplaying#dnd art#dnd comic#games master#dungeon master#Ask Me
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Hey, folks. Starting today and continuing through November 28th, all of Penguin King Games' non-PWYW titles are 50% off. In addition, today (November 24th) only, 100% of all sales will go toward the creator as part of itch.io's Creator Day program. If there's something in our catalogue you've been meaning to pick up – or if you want to support our games currently in development, including Eat God, Space Gerbils and Tiny Frog Wizards – now's the perfect chance!
Note that the preceding link leads to a bundle containing all discounted titles; however, you can also claim the discount on individual games by clicking through to their respective pages.
(Credits for the preceding illustrations go to @shelandsorcery for the giant municipal crab @kalkiedoodles for the long-suffering elf queen.)
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In this dispatch of Jackalope Mail, I'm talking about some fun and weird folklore elements and how you can use them in your TTRPGs! Including trees fueled by blood and the ultimate dark academia setting! Check it out!
#jackalope mail#blog post#blogging#indie ttrpg#tabletop rpgs#ttrpg community#tabletop games#folklore
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Only 10 days left to snag this AWESOME TTRPG bundle!! 💛💛
Hey y'all! All of the help you've given me thus far has been truly amazing, and I really wanted to thank you for that 💛 I have used the money this far as a safety net for emergencies and to just enjoy life, whether that means going to the movies once a month or buying an Arizona each day with my walk as I build my strength back up.
We are, however, falling a bit short of our goal. I really want to be able to afford therapy more than anything right now, and visits cost about 100 per visit out of pocket with my insurance. So, if I'm looking to get expensive therapy and psychiatric appointments and official diagnosis, it will cost upward of 2,000+ dollars.
Also, I would really like to have some money to pay off my taxes I owe from 2022. I owe, still, about 3,500+ taxes, which I pay off each month. I pay the absolute minimum so I don't have to dig too deep in monthly costs. If I could pay off a chunk of it in one fell swoop, I could save nearly $500 a year and could nip interest accrued from my taxes in the bud.
Finally, and not as important, I need a new desktop computer. My current one is slowly dying, and the fans are giving out. My power supply is also a bit wonky, and my graphics card is and CPU is outdated, meaning I can't stream games well, nor can I play some games that give me solace. It's not imperative right now, but to have this as an option would be wonderful.
So please, if you would, could you purchase a game bundle? It's countless hours of entertainment with your friends for only $25, almost a FOURTH the cost of a AAA video game with HUNDREDS of hours of content. Not only are you snagging games, but you're also helping out a person in need. It's a win win!!!
Snag the games below, and if you can't purchase anything right now, please kindly reblog!
#ttrpg#indie ttrpg#trans#queer#indie#gamedev#game dev#cyberpunk#scifi#dnd#queer mutual aid#mutualaid#mutual aid request#disabled#visual disability#queer community#tabletop rpgs#tabletop roleplaying
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Now, in the clear light of the post-combat situation report I grant that it was perhaps not the most tactically efficient course to expend a once-per-mission cooldown and incur sufficient excess heat to melt my own reactor core twice over in order to inflict 45 points of damage upon a target with 8 HP, but I strongly feel any assessment of the soundness of my decision should take into account that fucker had it coming.
#gaming#tabletop roleplaying#tabletop rpgs#violence mention#swearing#this is not specifically about lancer
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Idea
The Dungeon of Dorian Gray
Everyone remarked on how tidy and fashionable the Gray manor house was. Dorian Gray could host three demonic summonings each week, with a tragic spectacle of death on special occasions. And yet, his estate was not haunted in the least! It remained stubbornly free from ghosts or dimensional rifts, never showing the slightest sign of a toothy maw in the ceiling.
In one locked room, however, Dorian Gray kept a picture of his house. And for each dreadful thing that happened in the real building, a new streak of ichor or pallid face at a window would appear on the painted image. Eventually it grew to be a ghastly sight.
But progress marches on, and the wealthy Mr. Gray found the means to stave off the corruption of his home's soul. With a certain ritual, people can be sent into a painting, and he intends to hire some desperate and determined adventurers and pay them very well to exorcise the artwork. It will take a truly stalwart group to face what is probably a more haunted and eldritch mansion than any three other dungeons combined. But bragging rights and a million gold pieces are on the table...
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madfishmonger submitted:
"File this under "The artist's barely disguised fetish"
It took me a minute to realize, but she's supposed to be wearing this style of fetish shoe (ballet heels).
To WAR. She's going to WAR. In THOSE."
Nothing wrong with fetish shoes. PROBABLY not a good idea to wear them in war though, but what do I know? I don't exist in the post-apocalyptic space war universe. Maybe one needs to stand on their tippy-toes to see the entire battlefield. Maybe having hooves commands respect. Maybe the soldiers are better motivated knowing that their commanders are suffering as much as they are standing in those things.
Maybe my brain is just melting. That happens too when I stare at my inbox too long.
(Cover of Warhammer 40,000 - Codex: Sisters of Battle, Games Workshop)
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Just in case you were wondering if Reddit was a "good" company, this is their response to an ad for an RPG with a queernorm setting.
Fuck Reddit.
#reddit#homophobia#anti-queer#queerphobia#moonlight on roseville beach#anti-gay#fuck reddit#tabletop roleplaying#tabletop rpgs#tabletop gaymes
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i think there are some implications someone has not thought through here
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Have you played ARC : DOOM
By @momatoes
A TTRPG where you Defeat the Apocalypse
Stories you make and play in ARC run against a timer. While heroes navigate and transform the world around them, the real-time Doomsday Clock ticks to an irreversibly cataclysmic event.
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