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potatocubed posted:I like this approach a lot. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it, but I like it. There are two extra little ways I use this that might be relevant, too, then! The first is that if I'm making a setting I think I'm going to do a really big thing with, I'll make a d666 chart of these, but I structure it pretty specifically: I divide up the first d6 by faction (although faction can be somewhat loose in this context). If I roll a 1, it refers to the human empire the players start as members of. 2 is the goblin empire. 3 is the sprawling magic-soaked wilderness. Etc. The second d6 then gets chopped up into six interesting subsections. What I usually do is. . . 1 is subfactions. Within the humans it would be things like the nobility, peasants, adventurers, the underworld, etc. 2 is stereotypical personality traits. With humans it might be something like boastfulness, greed, creativity, etc. 3 is desires. What are the big goals of the faction? For the human empire it might be things like wealth, expansionism, glory 4 is troubles. What kind of problems can the faction cause for the players? For humans it might be things like "foolish overextension", "sent on a suicide mission", "greed-fueled betrayed" 5-6 are thematics. Just sets of concepts, images, words that I want to associate with the faction and that I want to be a big part of what the campaign is "about". For humans this might be "industry", "ignoble death", "the sun god", "bureaucracy", "square dancing" The third d6 then just becomes the 6 options within that intersection. The six stereotypical human desires, the six ways the wilderness can cause you trouble, the six subfactions of the gods, etc. I like this because it forces me to really think up a distinctive mood for each faction, while also automatically subverting it a bit (if Boastfulness is in the human column and Humility is in the elf column, what does it look like when I roll up an elf with the Boastful tag?) All factions have all personality types, although a boastful elf probably looks different (more passive aggressively boastful?) than a boastful human. It sort of forces me to both contrast the factions, but also constantly show the ways they're all fundamentally people with the same dynamics at play (even if some cultures value some and repress others) The second thing I do is sort of the opposite. If I'm making a chart for a smaller purpose (populating a single dungeon?), I'll make a really small chart (1d6? Maybe even just a single keyword?) and then I'll roll once on the small chart and once on the big campaign-wide chart. That keeps individual dungeons/etc feeling more distinct and focused, while also keeping one eye on the themes/etc of the greater campaign
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Apr 23, 2022 20:22
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Nuns with Guns posted:Anyway um.... Industry Things... how about this, with rising corporate interest in D&D and tabletop RPGs now, what's one licensed property you'd love to see conveted into a TTRPG? Answer 1: The Last Kingdom Answer 2: White Collar
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Apr 23, 2022 21:01
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To me, the way to make Spelljammer work as a sandbox is to say yeah, nothing gets around without a spaceship, but everything can be a spaceship. Make spelljamming helms ubiquitous and stick them on anything. Ships, wagons, trains, bicycles. Have desperate raiders fling themselves through space clinging to catapulted rocks. Unicorns just loving walk from planet to planet on conveniently laid out rainbows. Spelljammer Space isn't real space, it's airbrushed-on-the-side-of-a-van space, and should be crammed full of stuff at all times. Also, drop the focus on "every d&d setting is connected in space". Just make it connect to YOUR setting, and deemphasize the idea of hopping settings. Spelljammer should be about space, not just Forgotten Realms with space hippos.
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Apr 23, 2022 21:44
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Tendales posted:Spelljammer should be about space, not just Forgotten Realms with space hippos. For the record though, Giff should be a core race in every edition. Seriously, pick whatever core race you already want to ditch (humans as boring non-choice or half-orcs as racist sexual assault backstory come to mind), put in full support for playing a rad hippo person with guns, and all versions of D&D are at least 30% better.
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Apr 24, 2022 00:57
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I also like how Beholders in Spelljammer are more like characters you can interact with and not just party-killers
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Apr 24, 2022 01:01
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Tendales posted:To me, the way to make Spelljammer work as a sandbox is to say yeah, nothing gets around without a spaceship, but everything can be a spaceship. Make spelljamming helms ubiquitous and stick them on anything. Ships, wagons, trains, bicycles. Have desperate raiders fling themselves through space clinging to catapulted rocks. Unicorns just loving walk from planet to planet on conveniently laid out rainbows. Spelljammer Space isn't real space, it's airbrushed-on-the-side-of-a-van space, and should be crammed full of stuff at all times. coughstarsandworldswithoutnumbercough Libertad! fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Apr 24, 2022 |
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Apr 24, 2022 01:09
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hyphz posted:Mario Brothers Well, you'd have to find a designer who can responsibly write a sex farce TTRPG.
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Apr 24, 2022 01:17
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OtspIII posted:What I do is make a table of however many different 'themes' I want the campaign or dungeon or whatever to reflect, then whenever I need a shot of in the moment creativity I roll on the chart twice and try to think of something interesting at the intersection of the two concepts. So I'm not populating the table with "1d20 orcs" so much as "Regional Warlords" and "Nature Reclaiming Civilization", and whenever I roll on a table I'm always getting a hybrid concept that makes it really hard to fall into conceptual ruts while also usually being specific enough that I don't fall into blank-paper creative paralysis, and also open ended enough that I can always factor in the pre-existing situation. If I roll the two above concepts on a wilderness encounter, maybe you run into the local orc warlord's Bear Subjugation Squad, but if I roll it in a village it tells me that the local government has fallen apart after the castle was destroyed by a nature spirit, and so on. Stars Without Number does things in a very similar way. Planets have "tags" representing various sci-fi themes, and you pick two tags for each planet and try to combine them. Each tag has a list of suggestions for Enemies, Friends, Complications, Things and Places, which you combine with the suggestions for the other tag. For example, a planet with the tags "Regional Hegemon" and "Psionics Fear" will have enemy types such as "Colonial Official" and "Mental Purity Investigator". Combining those two gets you a fearsome government inquisitor. Ironsworn: Starforged also makes heavy use of tables generating keywords and short phrases, which you combine and interpret in context. It works really well in practice. Most of this stuff could be adapted for Spelljammer with minimal reskinning. SimonChris fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Apr 24, 2022 |
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Apr 24, 2022 09:15
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hyphz posted:Mario Brothers Would still be a better pick than Sonic. 5e combat: Gotta Go Fast?
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Apr 25, 2022 22:32
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It is called Mario Twins - they look the same!
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Apr 26, 2022 03:12
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sasha_d3ath posted:It is called Mario Twins - they look the same! 
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Apr 26, 2022 08:44
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This is like a random thought for something years down the line, but do people actually like the "if we hit 'X' stretchgoal, I hire a contractor to do a version in 'Y' system." This is in reference to a game one to two products down the line. It is a Fate Game using my unique permutation of Fate called "Dicey Fate," because it uses dice scales for advancement instead of the normal system (dF --> d2 --> d4 --> d6 --> d8 --> d10 --> d12). I am trying out Savage Worlds and saw some similiarites but a lot of differences. I also know Jack and poo poo abour SW. So I wondered if it makes sense to be like "hey, if we hit X stretch goal, we'll make a Savage Worlds conversion." Do people like those things?
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Apr 28, 2022 23:30
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Covok posted:This is like a random thought for something years down the line, but do people actually like the "if we hit 'X' stretchgoal, I hire a contractor to do a version in 'Y' system." I've never been the target audience for this sort of stretch goal, but they've always felt most relevant when you're selling people on a really interesting setting that people may not want to run in the base system. I like Inverse World, but I want to play it in Fate. I like The Day After Ragnarok, but I want to use a different generic system. If it's just that your version of Fate is mechanically similar to Savage Worlds, I don't know if there would actually be that much interest for that.
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Apr 29, 2022 00:37
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Covok posted:This is like a random thought for something years down the line, but do people actually like the "if we hit 'X' stretchgoal, I hire a contractor to do a version in 'Y' system." I can only speak for myself as a multiyear Kickstarter superbacker but all you gotta say to reel me in is mention stretch goals. If I get a pin or a tshirt or an expansion module then I am the hell on in.
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Apr 29, 2022 01:01
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Covok posted:This is like a random thought for something years down the line, but do people actually like the "if we hit 'X' stretchgoal, I hire a contractor to do a version in 'Y' system." For me it is a negative. I much prefer games whose systems are designed to lean into the setting and themes of the game. "We'll do X conversion" means not only that the conversion will not be that careful design, but also that the original game is more likely to be thoughtlessly attached to its launch system.
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Apr 29, 2022 04:00
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Covok posted:This is in reference to a game one to two products down the line. It is a Fate Game using my unique permutation of Fate called "Dicey Fate," because it uses dice scales for advancement instead of the normal system (dF --> d2 --> d4 --> d6 --> d8 --> d10 --> d12). I am trying out Savage Worlds and saw some similiarites but a lot of differences. I also know Jack and poo poo abour SW. So I wondered if it makes sense to be like "hey, if we hit X stretch goal, we'll make a Savage Worlds conversion." Do people like those things? I would say that it's hard for me to think of those conversions as appealing, because I'd rather just see the material in its intended system. One of the difficulties is that juggling one system is hard enough, but designing and playtesting for multiple systems just multiplies a lot of your work. And you have know what you're converting into really well to boot, so I have a perception, fair or otherwise, that having multiple systems just leads to sloppy conversions. That's not to say it can't work if you know your systems very well, but I would be hesitant to touch anything like that for my own projects unless I'm just doing D&D-styled material where there's really very little rigor necessary. I think it could work for games like Dark Dungeons vs. Old-School Essentials or the like, but I wouldn't do it for systems that aren't closely related like that.
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Apr 29, 2022 06:02
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DalaranJ posted:You gotta have something if ya sell an rpg.  I want you to know this was appreciated. As for the stretch goal discussion, I'm personally not too interested in system conversions.
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Apr 29, 2022 10:26
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At the very least, I respect "you'll get your mediocre slop, but only if you give us money for our artistic passion." If that isn't supposed to be the sentiment being expressed they should just release a system-agnostic setting bible, though. 
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Apr 29, 2022 16:58
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I feel the negative sentiment, while surprising, is good feedback. I would say that, unlike say Petmon or Friendship, Effort, Victory, Wild Hunt is definitely more systems agnostic. It wasn't originally. I mean, originally, it was me scoffing at RWBY's awful official 5e homebrew and saying I could do better. Then, making a cortex game because of MHR being a good basis...but then the cortex license kind of sucked so I went to Fate so the game itself isn't really married to any system. Heck, I could even do a version in PbtA. It's all about focus. The current Fate version is very much mechanically meta narrative. The focus is split between character drama and some elements of high octane action. I could easily see a verison that eschews the dramatic elements in lieu of pure trad action (SW) or one that drops all the trad combat for pure drama (pbta). This is all just a thought experiment as I widdle away. Petmon is going to be my next launch but I was just curious what people think of conversion stretchgoals. I never did any crowdfunding before and all that.
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Apr 29, 2022 18:06
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Covok posted:I feel the negative sentiment, while surprising, is good feedback. I would say that, unlike say Petmon or Friendship, Effort, Victory, Wild Hunt is definitely more systems agnostic. It wasn't originally. Someone I know was so disgusted at the state of a homebrew game for Homestuck that he has completely rewritten almost the entire system and designed and written a character autogenerator, a dungeon generator and a ton of other wild, over the top poo poo with it. I want to say - I hate him, but it mostly just makes me stop complaining about systems. If it's so bad, why don't I fix it?
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Apr 30, 2022 11:17
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:Someone I know was so disgusted at the state of a homebrew game for Homestuck that he has completely rewritten almost the entire system and designed and written a character autogenerator, a dungeon generator and a ton of other wild, over the top poo poo with it. I want to say - I hate him, but it mostly just makes me stop complaining about systems. If it's so bad, why don't I fix it? Spite is a powerful motivator.
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Apr 30, 2022 12:41
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:If it's so bad, why don't I fix it?
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Apr 30, 2022 13:28
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:Someone I know was so disgusted at the state of a homebrew game for Homestuck that he has completely rewritten almost the entire system and designed and written a character autogenerator, a dungeon generator and a ton of other wild, over the top poo poo with it. I want to say - I hate him, but it mostly just makes me stop complaining about systems. If it's so bad, why don't I fix it? I completely understand, tbh. RWBY did this awful official 5e homebrew class that was so low effort it hurt. They clearly used that D&D labs thing for formatting. I said "I can do better" and I was in the heat of my Cortex hombrew phase. As I worked on it, I dropped the license because it freed me up to play with the idea and draw from other monster hunting dark fantasy series with a school focus. And that's how I got here. My feelings regarding that kingdom hearts pbta game might drive me to do a similar thing for the Pet Engine, the engine I made for Petmon based on Chuubo's.
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Apr 30, 2022 14:48
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Spite is a powerful motivator. "Now hatred is by far the longest pleasure; men love in haste but they detest at leisure."
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May 1, 2022 04:41
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https://file770.com/several-gama-members-protest-addition-of-jon-del-arroz-to-organization/ Jon del Arroz is a far right hatemonger who's most notable achievement is being banned from twitter for violating their hateful conduct guidelines (and then having his sockpuppet exposed and banned in the last few days). He got hired by Jeff Bergren a racist bigot who owns The Gaming Goat game store/lovely franchise, whose most notable achievements are being banned from board game geek, twitter, gen con and origins. Would almost certainly have been banned from his local game store if he didn't own it. Jeff's had a bunch of prominence in this thread before. Having been hired, del Arroz was then eligible to join Gama. Following his public announcement of joining, Rodney Smith posted an FYI about him which GAMA then took down because of their 'no flame war' policy. As is well known, never criticising anyone is more important than exposing bigots. Assorted other people spoke up about this and Gama have now suspended del Arroz from their facebook page for 28 days because of his history of violating their conduct policies. No mention on suspending him from Gama though. Notably, however, this has exposed that while Bergren was expelled from Origins for racism/bigotry/threats/etc. he/his company wasn't removed from Gama, hence how a.n.other bigot was able to join by being hired by him. While Gama have been making some efforts to modernise and address their org policies, there's evidently a long way to go. PST fucked around with this message at 13:41 on May 9, 2022 |
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May 9, 2022 13:37
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PST posted:https://file770.com/several-gama-members-protest-addition-of-jon-del-arroz-to-organization/ https://file770.com/jda-out-of-gama-suspended-by-twitter/ quote:Jon Del Arroz said today in a video that the Games Manufacturers Association – a group for tabletop game publishers – “suspended me for hate speech and bullying, now they’ve fully removed me from the group under false pretenses, and they’ve also engaged an attorney on the matter.” Del Arroz confirms he has been removed from both the Facebook group and GAMA and adds, “I’ve forwarded the matter to my attorney who has handled the Worldcon suit and we are working on it.”
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May 9, 2022 14:09
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I'm confused. Is GAMA something any industry professional can join by filling out some paperwork, so it's easy for people to fly under the radar? Because otherwise I'm baffled as to why GAMA would recruit someone who has a troubled history with GAMA.
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May 9, 2022 14:48
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Halloween Jack posted:I'm confused. Is GAMA something any industry professional can join by filling out some paperwork, so it's easy for people to fly under the radar? Because otherwise I'm baffled as to why GAMA would recruit someone who has a troubled history with GAMA. yeah, it's a pretty typical professional organization where anyone with the proper credentials can sign up: https://www.gama.org/page/retailer
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May 9, 2022 15:18
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Halloween Jack posted:I'm confused. Is GAMA something any industry professional can join by filling out some paperwork, so it's easy for people to fly under the radar? Because otherwise I'm baffled as to why GAMA would recruit someone who has a troubled history with GAMA. It used to be harder to join, so some of the largest companies in the industry might only have a handful of people eligible. In the last few years (maybe finalised last year?) they eased the eligibility requirements. (Looking at their new application process, yes, it's wildly different to the past). There's an argument they did it because they want more people paying the $300 a year for membership, and an argument it was sorely needed of being overhauled given how outdated it was. I think both are valid.
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May 9, 2022 16:00
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Watching the arc del Arroz has followed over the last decade blows my mind. I met him in the late 2000s when I was playing and then later working on L5R, and he just seemed to be the usual over-enthusiastic L5R nerd, wanted to be chummy with the writers and such. Then he burned a bunch of bridges with late tea party/early MAGA stuff and ended up blocked by everyone I know on Facebook. It was there he really invented and honed his modern troll style, and I guess he really wanted to try and jump on the CHUD gravy train but I don't think he really has succeeded at any point. I assume at some point it stopped being ironic at all and now he's fully radicalized himself. The dude has kids iirc correctly and spent the mid-2010s devoting what seemed like a dozen hours every day arguing with random obscure game nerds on the internet, I don't know where he had the time to write his boring steampunk books or one licensed board game novel. It's kind of heartening that he somehow hasn't found any real success with his weird attempt to break into the greater CHUD ecosystem despite all of his dumb stunts.
Sega 32X fucked around with this message at 16:30 on May 9, 2022 |
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May 9, 2022 16:28
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PST posted:Jon del Arroz is a far right hatemonger who's most notable achievement is being banned from twitter for violating their hateful conduct guidelines (and then having his sockpuppet exposed and banned in the last few days). The Leading Hispanic Voice in Science Fiction has ALSO been kicked off Patreon. I can't imagine what he's been saying to actually be kicked off said platforms given whom else they host.
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May 9, 2022 17:08
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https://twitter.com/Em_TeeGee/status/1524451476193480704?s=20&t=95zH364hml56-Jo2tn1uWA
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May 11, 2022 20:23
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Sefer posted:https://twitter.com/Em_TeeGee/status/1524451476193480704?s=20&t=95zH364hml56-Jo2tn1uWA Keeping compensation secret helps management 100% and workers 0%.
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May 11, 2022 20:40
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That seems to be a pretty blatant violatiion of a quick skim of Washington State's employment legislation (lovely as that is across the US). And at the same time seems to be entirely on point for WotC to have done it and thought they could get away with it/not considered the consequences.
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May 12, 2022 14:39
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The TSR3 crew that is/was running with Ernie Gygax is, surprisingly and yet unsurprisingly, worse than you thought. https://www.enworld.org/threads/does-tsr3-have-nazi-connections.688528/
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May 17, 2022 03:04
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Dawgstar posted:The TSR3 crew that is/was running with Ernie Gygax is, surprisingly and yet unsurprisingly, worse than you thought. https://www.enworld.org/threads/does-tsr3-have-nazi-connections.688528/ I can't believe this train hasn't run out of steam. Also: quote:October 14th 2021. Michael Hovermale announces that their Star Frontiers game became available and then sold out before they could announce it. Nobody can find anybody who bought this product. Our unannounced game sold out before anyone knew it existed. No, all our customers are in Canada, you can't talk to them. And they all clapped. 
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May 17, 2022 03:56
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That's not surprising at all but the link in that post to the full recent timeline of TSR3 is sure a thing to behold: https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-full-glorious-history-of-nutsr.684697/quote:October 20th 2021. TSR Con is moved from the July 4th weekend to March 24-27, the exact same dates as Gary Con. The venue is moved from the Horticultural Hall to the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum. A graphic on its website promises that they will not be checking vaccinations or asking people to wear face masks. Yeah I'm sure that worked out well.
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May 17, 2022 04:06
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 Never change, ENWorld.
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May 17, 2022 04:15
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If you want Nazis out of the hobby, you're no better than the Nazis Really makes you think
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May 17, 2022 04:19
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That Old Tree posted:I can't believe this train hasn't run out of steam. I'm not even sure the guy making that claim is real. Mike Hovermale???? It's probably Dutch but it sounds like if I had to make up a fake name on the spot and did a really bad job. Nuns with Guns posted:That's not surprising at all but the link in that post to the full recent timeline of TSR3 is sure a thing to behold: https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-full-glorious-history-of-nutsr.684697/ Isn't that like a 2 bedroom suburban bungalow that could fit a cozy dozen people before spilling out into the yard?
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May 17, 2022 05:19
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