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Lord_Hambrose posted:I think the biggest problem with a Drive-thru RPG competitor is that much like Steam I already have so much stuff on there. Not that I would never buy something somewhere else, but unless you compete hard on price I am going to choose the option that keeps my pdf collection in the fewest possible places and it the biggest possible chunks. Can't imagine that competing hard on price would be that difficult. Right now dtrpg takes a 30-35% cut, and from what I understand, they were using a terribly old setup*. Moving to a modern framework on some sort of AWS-equivalent platform would dramatically cut costs, as would developing a better price split for producers. *They've just moved their app, and are current on day ... seven or so of key publisher features being offline and unaccesible.
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Feb 4, 2019 19:48
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thespaceinvader posted:And Critical Role in particular (and the rest of the G&S Good RPG Shows like LA By Night and Shield of Tomorrow) occupy weird interim locations between the two. They're unedited and free-flowing with minimal cuts and breaks - but they're professionally produced, have at least some behind the scenes staff which sometimes enables them to keep flowing where they otherwise wouldn't, like people bringing in entire maps in CR, the GMs get at least some pay to do prep work (or are employed in some capacity by the RPG's design team, as in LA by Night), they have some not inconsiderable budget, but most importantly perhaps, the casts are people who are generally professional actors of some description, so they're a LOT better at improv (and at creativity in general) than the average neckbeard.
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Feb 4, 2019 21:30
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Seriously though. They're all the kind of people you've heard dozens if not hundreds of times if you're a gamer and/or watch basically anything animated, but you wouldn't know, because they're good at not sounding the same. There's a reason you can listen to CR and KNOW who Matt's voicing at any given moment.
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Feb 4, 2019 22:18
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Joe Slowboat posted:The backlash/'D&Dgate' stuff is also transparently a response to an AP-related thing, which is that a lot of new players are interested in D&D as a gay disaster teen simulator (my long-term play group is also absolutely interested in any RPG as an opportunity for this, to be clear). Tumblr had a strong community of D&D fans producing art of their characters just a little while ago (maybe still?) and it was really clear that a lot of what they got out of the concept was high drama, messy relationships, and fun domestic wizard stuff. With lots of LGBT content, diverse characters, etc. Huh, that helps explain a lot about the new player we added last year to our roll20 4e game. She's definitely been more interested in pursuing more of the high drama/torrid romantic angst elements than the group traditionally has. Which is fine, it just took a bit of trial and error for my old groggy brain to figure out how to integrate that into our stories. Luckily both she and the group seem happy with where things are.
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Feb 4, 2019 23:33
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Desiden posted:Huh, that helps explain a lot about the new player we added last year to our roll20 4e game. She's definitely been more interested in pursuing more of the high drama/torrid romantic angst elements than the group traditionally has. Which is fine, it just took a bit of trial and error for my old groggy brain to figure out how to integrate that into our stories. Luckily both she and the group seem happy with where things are. I think that's a really refreshing change for this old grognard, because my mind still recoils from anything sex/relationship related in games that isn't Courtly Romance stuff because of long experience with stuff like Exalted and World of Darkness.
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Feb 5, 2019 00:15
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Liquid Communism posted:I think that's a really refreshing change for this old grognard, because my mind still recoils from anything sex/relationship related in games that isn't Courtly Romance stuff because of long experience with stuff like Exalted and World of Darkness. Man, same. I cannot get my head into a place where playing in or running that game sounds enjoyable. It just cuts too close to That One Vampire Playing Couple who wanted other people to be their fetish audience or the skeevy guy creeping on the lone female player in a college d&d group or whatever. More power to those who can make it work without being lovely. Edit: I'm legitimately curious about how this works if you want to go into more detail. andrew smash fucked around with this message at 00:45 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 00:42
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Desiden posted:Huh, that helps explain a lot about the new player we added last year to our roll20 4e game. She's definitely been more interested in pursuing more of the high drama/torrid romantic angst elements than the group traditionally has. Which is fine, it just took a bit of trial and error for my old groggy brain to figure out how to integrate that into our stories. Luckily both she and the group seem happy with where things are.  It's real nice to see more of this at least cause its what I've spent a good chunk of my rpg life trying to play myself and get people to do more of but I mean this rolls back to not thinking D&D is a good medium for this and instead lets all hang out and play some monsterhearts an extremely gay game of teenage angst.
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Feb 5, 2019 00:43
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Side note, you probably don't need to be worried that D&D is the only game AP podcasts will encourage anyone to try. https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/42405/the-adventure-zone-bump-sales-little-known-rpg-surge 
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Feb 5, 2019 02:14
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remusclaw posted:Is "Who's line" really a realistic example of how improv goes? Should there be disclaimers?
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Feb 5, 2019 02:19
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It was both rhetorical and also my attempt at getting to the closest actual parallel I could think of to RPGs vs Actual Plays. I am no Ryan Stiles. That said I was unaware of that stuff so thanks for the info.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:23
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Xelkelvos posted:So, in a lot of reality TV, Producers do a bunch of things to make a given episode more interesting or dramatic by either editing the footage to emphasize certain events (see: Big Brother, The Apprentice, MasterChef) or create a sort of artificial narrative "arc" or altering the circumstances around the people in the show to gin up situations to make it more interesting (see: Pawn Stars, Storage Wars). One of my favorite awful attempts at this is Paranormal State, an especially awful A&E ghost-hunting show where it has an ongoing plot regarding them being pursued by a demon, including absolute bullshit scenes where they "cut the mic" because they can't mention the demon's name on air because it's so dangerous. And then I think that would probably be the best or worst subplot for an Actual Play and I can't decide which.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:31
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My short-lived Monster of the week game was basically just "Ghost Hunter TV show crew who are cynically faking it just keep encountering real monsters and it's really getting off-putting" Like Scooby Doo in reverse so I can safely say it's a great subplot to use, if not necessarily for an actual play.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:43
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MadScientistWorking posted:I know this is probably rhetorical but there is a simple answer to this. Who's Line is pretty realistic in regards to a specific genre of improv called sports comedy (Note: Not sure if this name is right). That aspect while accurate is but a small subset of the entire genre. In fact certain parts of improv tend to resemble actual plays in presentation than what most people associate with improv. Theatersports, and yeah it’s a very specific form of improv with an emphasis on the “improv game”.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:46
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The most unrealistic part of Who's Line is that they cut out all the inevitable profanity and Hitler jokes.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:53
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Alien Rope Burn posted:One of my favorite awful attempts at this is Paranormal State, an especially awful A&E ghost-hunting show where it has an ongoing plot regarding them being pursued by a demon, including absolute bullshit scenes where they "cut the mic" because they can't mention the demon's name on air because it's so dangerous. Oh, that show's the best. By which I mean also the worst. One episode has them essentially reading off a list of demons that I'm pretty sure were from the Monster Manual.
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Feb 5, 2019 03:03
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Roadie posted:The most unrealistic part of Who's Line is that they cut out all the inevitable profanity and Hitler jokes. Yes, but it makes for great youtube viewing.
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Feb 5, 2019 03:40
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unseenlibrarian posted:Side note, you probably don't need to be worried that D&D is the only game AP podcasts will encourage anyone to try. Note to self, get any RPGs I design onto a good AP asap !
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Feb 5, 2019 04:04
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It's just the biggest goddamn waste that all this new blood is entering the hobby, looking for messy drama and relationships and romance and whatnot, and they're being pushed towards...Dungeons and Dragons.
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Feb 5, 2019 04:13
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One thing I find interesting is how much of this is phrased (elsewhere, not necessarily here) as the "Matt Mercer effect" as opposed to the "Critical Role effect". Like, Matt's good, but it's the whole group. They're all relatively amazing. The entire thing is polished together. When I read GM's complaining about players showing up with the expectations that the GM be Mercer, I wonder where the retort is why aren't they that good, either? Newbie players showing up expecting Critical Role is like a fat guy with a small dick wondering why his sex life isn't like porn. True, some of it is that porn sets weird expectations, but some of it is "get in shape and last more than 45 sad seconds". If you're a player and you're not asking "What can I be doing to make the game better?" then you're as sad and disappointing as your GM.
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Feb 5, 2019 04:56
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gradenko_2000 posted:I personally cut my teeth on RPPR and haven't really found anything else to my liking since, and if clockworkjoe is saying that their APs are unedited, then I guess I listen to and enjoy the unedited clips? I haven't listened to much RPPR but the God's Teeth sequence is fantastic. I want to listen to the unedited material sometimes, because if it's done well it's a lesson in how to pace my own games. I like that. I also like Magpies, which runs for an hour at a time and they often get a whole session done in that hour. I haven't asked or researched it but from the lack of "ums" and "wait while I check that" and the outtakes at the end, I assume it's heavily edited. The editing skill is impressive and it cuts right to the story and the mechanics, which is helpful and educational in a different way.
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Feb 5, 2019 05:12
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ProfessorCirno posted:It's just the biggest goddamn waste that all this new blood is entering the hobby, looking for messy drama and relationships and romance and whatnot, and they're being pushed towards...Dungeons and Dragons. I mean I don't really want that in my "wargames with a little bit of plot, multi-stage boss-fights, and dungeon crawling" games either. 
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Feb 5, 2019 05:21
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andrew smash posted:Man, same. I cannot get my head into a place where playing in or running that game sounds enjoyable. It just cuts too close to That One Vampire Playing Couple who wanted other people to be their fetish audience or the skeevy guy creeping on the lone female player in a college d&d group or whatever. More power to those who can make it work without being lovely. I figured nowadays all the people who got into RPGs just to act out their creepy/horrifying fetishes can just go straight to fetish roleplay websites for that to get it out of their system. Hell, it gets to the point where the fetish roleplayers get bored of it and start getting interested in RPGs to mix things up.
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Feb 5, 2019 05:26
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Thanlis posted:I haven't listened to much RPPR but the God's Teeth sequence is fantastic. I want to listen to the unedited material sometimes, because if it's done well it's a lesson in how to pace my own games. I like that. I have to edit a new episode of my group's AP podcast later this week. I don't necessarily cut a lot of content, but I do agressively edit out pauses, and umms, and other weird noises the players make. I dunno if anyone is interested in me posting up an unedited and an edited section, as example of what kind of stuff gets cut?
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Feb 5, 2019 13:28
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Thanlis posted:I haven't listened to much RPPR but the God's Teeth sequence is fantastic. I want to listen to the unedited material sometimes, because if it's done well it's a lesson in how to pace my own games. I like that. Magpies is the first Actual Play I started listening too, because someone pointed out it was a good way to get an idea as to what Blades in the Dark is like. They are great, but they definitely edit their shows, as their stingers are often funny bits of cut content. Edit: And you said that in your thing so I'm going to chalk my poor reading comprehension on being in an early morning haze. remusclaw fucked around with this message at 14:11 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 13:29
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mllaneza posted:Note to self, get any RPGs I design onto a good AP asap ! It's even more impressive given how awful the first few amnesty episodes were, full of Griffin's worst railroading "master storyteller" bullshit. It's settled into a much better groove now, the gang have a better feel on their characters, Griffin is giving them space to do their own thing, and even the goofs are better ("did you know Kepler has the highest number of disused waterparks per capita of anywhere West of the mississipi?")
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Feb 5, 2019 14:03
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ProfessorCirno posted:It's just the biggest goddamn waste that all this new blood is entering the hobby, looking for messy drama and relationships and romance and whatnot, and they're being pushed towards...Dungeons and Dragons. On the other hand, the ones that stick around are more liable to find non D&D games than ever.
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Feb 5, 2019 14:59
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Listening to improv-based comedy podcasts helped me roll with the BS my players throw at me much better than the walls I would hit while running games 10-20 years ago.The one time I ever ran Alternity, a player had used the Filthy Rich perk to buy a plasma pistol and managed to one-shot the villain’s getaway shuttle (completely within RAW), and fourteen-year-old me had no idea how to salvage the module. The past few years are more like this: “Yeah, sure, your characters can find costumes inside the laundry room you just added to this [Rhapsody of Blood] castle, but you have to describe it like a RomCom clothing montage.” One of my favorite episodes of Comedy Bang Bang is listening to Tears for Fears not knowing what the hell is happening when the Pie Minister joins the show, then going all-in on the gag fifteen minutes later.
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Feb 5, 2019 15:54
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I don’t consider myself a GM that’s trying to be like the GMs I’ve watched it heard, I just like to do stuff that they do and find it fun+interesting. I get my silly voices and sound effects from watching Matt, I get my stupid humor from listening to Griffin, and I get my overall GMing style from Adam. Good GMs copy, great GMs steal.
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Feb 5, 2019 17:03
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yea I've for sure become a more easily improv using GM thanks to just listening to stuff like Campaign and more proper improv comedy casts and all. Obviously it varies from group to group but my friends are absolutely the type that creates that 'you enter the inn, in one corner is a shadowy figure holding a clearly magic sword looking around the room carefully before his eyes fall on you all' 'is anyone else there' 'uuuuh yea there's a fuckin goblin named Squig' 'we're gonna go hang out with Squig' joke so it helps to be able to roll with that nonsense. I honestly think one of the best thing APs have done for the hobby is show people D&D and the lot doesn't actually have to be 100% grim serious wargames. Again this is a subjective thing but I don't think I'm alone in that when I was first learning this stuff a lot of the general 'vibe' around it was 'this is a serious game for serious stuff, you have to follow this path because that's the way to serious realistic fantasy stuff' and honestly the best thing for my GMing has been getting away from that mindset.
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Feb 5, 2019 18:20
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RIP Splug. f/e: Just reread that it’s “Squig” not “Splug”, but which group doesn’t have a recurring goblin NPC? BetterWeirdthanDead fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Feb 5, 2019 |
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Feb 5, 2019 23:19
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BetterWeirdthanDead posted:RIP Splug. Mine, as of several sessions ago. RIP Korst, fired from a trebuchet before his time.
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Feb 6, 2019 01:09
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Xelkelvos posted:
Nicole Byers would be an amazing GM
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Feb 6, 2019 01:57
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whydirt posted:Nicole Byers would be an amazing GM Would 100% watch this.
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Feb 6, 2019 02:26
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kingcom posted:Would 100% watch this. "At any time, you can hit the nag button and I will come right over and be all up in that DM's face while they're trying to take the boss monster's next turn."
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Feb 6, 2019 03:04
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sexpig by night posted:I honestly think one of the best thing APs have done for the hobby is show people D&D and the lot doesn't actually have to be 100% grim serious wargames. I kind of wish there was something to tell players the opposite. Fun silliness is still fun, but I've only played in a handful of serious sessions that didn't breakdown into jokes, puns, or humorous situations. I would enjoy trying Dark Heresy without players reciting 40k memes, but that's not something I can reasonably expect in my lifetime.
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Feb 6, 2019 03:17
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moths posted:I kind of wish there was something to tell players the opposite. Fun silliness is still fun, but I've only played in a handful of serious sessions that didn't breakdown into jokes, puns, or humorous situations. I was in one of these, and a few sessions will devolve because keeping up that level of grimdarkness is just hard to do, especially in a campaign. Just hope it gets turned more into genuine dark comedy and/or slapstick rather than bad memes.
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Feb 6, 2019 03:53
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It's pretty much hardwired into gamers to just get silly, though. There's a ton of "serious" games out there that would benefit from a somber tone, but with players it's like a Prisoner's Dilemma who'll drop the first Monty Python quote, pop culture reference, or funny voice.
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Feb 6, 2019 04:04
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My group doesn't do any of those (well, occasional online humor references), but jokes do happen- the trick is to recognize that humor is the way players try to defuse tension. Try to ease them out of it, but don't just try to hammer on the tone. Find ways humor can fit the game (gallows humor in a horror game and setting-related humor generally both help keep the players in the game's mental space in moderation). If players are being too unserious for the game to run, ask them out of character to respect the tone, and maybe talk to them about what tone you're going for generally.
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Feb 6, 2019 04:50
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Establishing tone and expectations beforehand is definitely the biggest improvement you can make to your rpg sessions. All the session zero rigamarole about X-cards, long-term goals and what everyone wants feels excessive but they have an incredible impact.
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Feb 6, 2019 05:10
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cross-posting because Patreon seems relevant/important to a big chunk of the hobby (and to independent arts in general)Jose posted:https://twitter.com/FoldableHuman/status/1092847048565481472
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Feb 6, 2019 05:19
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