TG As An Industry - Past, Present, Future - The Something Awful Forums

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dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

PJOmega posted:

Exactly my experience with Dresden Files with one exception. You don't realize how much James Marsters carries those audiobooks until you listen to the one he didn't do.

I felt so bad for him when he had to read Butcher's clumsy S&M fantasies. And perving over teenagers.

Also, there's a few words that Butcher just loooves. It gets really noticeable in audio format.

# ¿ May 26, 2017 04:34

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 15:49

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

PJOmega posted:

Ive lost the note but every book has three "big words" that I think Butcher must've learned since the previous book. I fortunately zoned out the S&M sequences (the vampire reporter love interest?) The Molly perving was really uncomfortable.

It's either "shivered" or "shuddered" or maybe both, now that I'm remembering it. It's like a tic, almost.

Pope Guilty posted:

Isn't Molly underage for most of the series?

Which is the point.

It's the "oh man gotta look away and pretend she's not soooo hottttt" kind of perving instead of actually hitting on her. Like talking about how tight her shirt is, while making it clear he's a gentleman or whatever. It manages to be about as creepy.

dwarf74 fucked around with this message at 04:52 on May 26, 2017

# ¿ May 26, 2017 04:50

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Mors Rattus posted:

Funny story, my brother ordered a mac-and-cheese pizza a few days ago and loved it.

My kids love it.

I think it's disgusting. I have no idea why you'd put squishy mac and cheese on top of a pizza crust.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2017 19:11

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Lemon-Lime posted:

Next you're going to start claiming that pineapple on pizza is Good, and not some kind of unholy abomination.

Hey, man. I have some bad news.

Pineapple on pizza is fantastic with certain fatty, salty toppings, such as ham and bacon.

# ¿ Jul 13, 2017 19:58

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

ProfessorCirno posted:

This is hilarious because the rest of Europe is busy ruining their fries with poo poo like mayonnaise, meanwhile the UK, always gotta be different, they went with "What if we just stuck some bread on that poo poo?"

The "Horseshoe" passes for local cuisine here in the agricultural hellscape that is Central Illinois.

For the record, that's texas toast, on top of which you put a burger patty, a heap of fries, and cheese sauce.

And as bad as a horseshoe is, that 'chip sandwich' manages to be even worse.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2017 13:51

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Dr. Quarex posted:

Important sidenote: The Horseshoe is sometimes served in school lunches in Central Illinois. Or at least still was in the 1990s. And we can only hope it still is today. And that the chip butty is served in English school lunches.

jfc

Lemon-Lime posted:

You people put ranch dressing on your pizza. You've forfeited all right to complain about food from anywhere else, forever.

That is ... not something a lot of people do. I can honestly say I've never seen anyone do that.

Hot sauce, though. That's fantastic stuff, there.

# ¿ Jul 14, 2017 14:39

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

ProfessorCirno posted:

You don't just pour ranch on top of pizza like some kind of horrifying waterfall.

You dip it.

With that Buffalo chicken Idea I would have also accepted "a drizzle."

# ¿ Jul 14, 2017 23:07

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Ettin posted:

There are a lot of folks who got banned from RPGnet and nursed a grudge for years, like long after the moderators have forgotten who they were. When Shannon Appelcline was researching the OSR for Designers & Dragons one guy he approached literally responded with "I've been waiting years for this!!" and chewed him out instead. I know at least one person has compared forum mods to their high school bullies, which is probably more revealing than they think it is.

Oh god I remember that thread on TheRPGSite. It was a stellar grog-mine.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2017 21:01

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Evil Mastermind posted:

Games Workshop is Being Sued For $62.5M

(Bolding theirs)

Apparently the suit will cover GW stealing intellectual properties to bake into their own stuff (Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers into 40k), and dealing with GW's insane price gouging.

Also this, which I think means the suit would force GW to run stores to...undo its bad rep? I'm not sure what it means.

It's an absurd lawsuit where a game shop owner is representing himself and not doing a good job at it. It will get thrown out immediately.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2017 16:17

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Comrade Gorbash posted:

Yeah the price gouging part alone is probably going to get it dismissed even if they have decent arguments for the rest.

Unless I missed it - and my eyes honestly glazed over - I also have no idea how this guy would have standing to sue for GW's alleged theft of other peoples' (Heinlein, etc.) intellectual property.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2017 16:46

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Halloween Jack posted:

He sounds like one of the mentally ill guys who basically lives at the public law library, when he's not living in a van, to do research for his comprehensive lawsuit against the entire federal government.

Yes, this is a thing.

There's not enough CAPITALIZATION, weird=uses (of) punctuation, red thumbprints, and commercial lien demands for that.

Really, pseudo-law and sovereign citizen arglebargle is fascinating stuff. It's people who legitimately believe that the law is magic, and that uttering the proper incantation will force judges to comply with your demands.

(What's terrible about it, of course, is that it tends to suck money from gullible and desperate people who are already in financial straits, and makes their situations worse.)

# ¿ Aug 8, 2017 18:51

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

WiiFitForWindows8 posted:

So. We actually saw the proof of concept/test print of Invisible Sun at Gen Con and Holy poo poo the box is the size of a medium sized pumpkin. Did anyone play it? What is it like? Is it bad for the industry or inconsequential?

It will have zero long-term impact on the hobby and will forever be a laughing stock due to both price and pretentiousness.

This is true even if the game is great and innovative, which it will not be, given that Monte Cook is writing it.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2017 17:28

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Der Waffle Mous posted:

Its the new Eoris Essence isn't it?

Nah, that one wasn't even actually playable and was barely even readable. Gorgeous art, tho. It was worth the $15 I paid for it.

This one will at least be clearly written with a good setting - two things MCG is good at. And I'm sure it will be visually striking.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2017 17:34

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Comrade Koba posted:

Steampunk is even more dumb when it comes to this, because it's always about fetishizing the Victorian upper class in various ways.

Yep, it's kind of hard to showcase the excesses of the Industrial Revolution when there was nothing but excess in the Industrial Revolution.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2017 21:22

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

gradenko_2000 posted:

http://apocalypse-world.com/pbta/policy

What's the context, here?

# ¿ Sep 11, 2017 13:43

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Comrade Gorbash posted:

I've talked about it up-thread, but I strongly suspect WotC/Hasbro are playing out the string on 5E until enough time passes for them to license the RPG line to another company. I still would guess Fantasy Flight as who ends up with it in the end, if only by default

This whole thing reads like fanfiction.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2017 23:52

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

I mean, I get wanting to keep discussion focused, but seriously.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2017 19:54

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Process vs Thematic?

# ¿ Sep 26, 2017 01:49

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

gradenko_2000 posted:

Okay, so here's a question, and in recognition that the discussion is heated I assure you that I am asking this in good faith:

Is it any ""better"" to have a system where there isn't any kind of choice in how to develop your character at all, beyond the broadest possible strokes? Like, if I pick an Basic D&D Fighter, all of my "character progression" decisions are made for me the moment I write "Fighter" at the top of the sheet.

Or even in 5th Edition D&D, where multi-classing (and feats) is technically an optional rule, as soon as I pick Fighter, I'm largely done making choices for my character, except maybe also selecting the level 3 archetype.

Is there a strong argument for that way of doing things? That we can prevent "char-op" by removing the ability to do it at all beyond everyone playing a 5e Bard?

I've been an advocate for something like this for a while, actually. I think a class/level structure is pretty drat fantastic from a gameplay and balance perspective. If done right, of course.

In the Shadowrun example earlier, the Street Samurai and Gunbunny would each be about on even footing, assuming competently-designed classes. The more fiddling you allow with it - and spell lists are one of the biggest trouble spots - the more charop issues you'll run into.

But yes, fewer moving parts means fewer balance issues. I don't think it's possible to design a point-buy system that doesn't have fairly severe optimization break-points.

# ¿ Sep 28, 2017 15:01

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Cassa posted:

Not doubting it, I loved the online compendium, just wondering if there any notable changes.

Beyond magic missile.

Yeah, both the compendium and builder were updated whenever errata was published, including notations to tell you when updates happened to various feats or powers.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2017 14:08

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

hyphz posted:

It can be a bit confusing, mind you. Our group learned of the "pit fighting cleric" fix only by seeing some cards suddenly change when a player levelled up and reprinted their character.

Yeah uh some of us nerds pored over the errata documents as soon as WotC uploaded them, and then went to forums to read hot takes from other nerds bitching about them. I can't imagine why you wouldn't have done the same.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2017 16:48

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

A guy who was working on Empyrea with Frank Mentzer speaks up.

http://tedfauster.com/2017/10/18/fallen-hero-the-end-of-my-business-relationship-with-frank-mentzer/

# ¿ Oct 19, 2017 15:55

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Gamers of color talk about Chult and the Tomb of Annihilation.

https://trib.al/mSsFhx1

# ¿ Oct 19, 2017 17:35

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Arivia posted:

Cis people need to stop telling transition narratives. Pretty much full stop. I’m glad to see more trans people in narratives written by cis people but I am so so done with them doing transition stories. THAT is the exploitative, objectifying, dehumanizing stuff.

So yeah, give me more trans characters who are good characters that happen to be trans. I haven’t listened to TAZ but it sounds like from what you’re saying the McElroys did just that. Great.

It is really a lot of fun. Once you get past the first episode where the DM says some groggy dumb poo poo about the differences between 4e (which one of the brothers played) and 5e (which the game nominally uses). You know, bog-standard "everyone is a spellcaster" bs. It never comes up again.

There's also a lot of "a spell for every occasion" problem-solving, but I have heard it gets better on that count.

Regardless it's seriously the funniest, most entertaining rpg podcast I've listened to, with a good cast and great production values. Seriously the only actual play podcast that's kept my interest past a handful of episodes.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2017 14:13

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Mors Rattus posted:

Many people made the deliberate choice to include and publish this material, and that should never be forgotten just because Paizo has a fetish for giving mechanics to every drat thing they print.

Yyyyyup. This is one of the natural end-points of 'everything needs mechanics!'

It's not enough to say 'this gross demon lord's followers get boons by being monstrous.' No, that lacks verisimilitude and also what if I want my character to learn these powers?

# ¿ Oct 23, 2017 19:36

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Ettin posted:

Alan Kellogg/mythusmage is a pedophile by the way

Ah man I had almost completely forgotten about Mythusmage.

What a piece of poo poo.

# ¿ Oct 24, 2017 12:36

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Hey, here's some good news. James Jacobs posted this over at ENWorld.

quote:

As the developer of the Book of the Damned, I can indeed confirm Folca was an error of judgement.

If I had a time machine I'd go back and just cut Folca from the book entirely, since the inclusion of an entity that mirorred something like Pennywise from "It" obviously missed the mark HARD. (I wasn't involved in the initial creation of Folca back in the softcover Book of the Damned 3, but that's irrelevant to the fact that he's in the hardcover version. That inclusion, an error, is on me.)

It's something I would do differently now. Book of the Damned is indeed intended to be about evil, but that doesn't mean having ALL evils represented in it is a good thing. There's a lot of content that I took specific steps to deliberately NOT include in the book, and in hindsight this one should have been left on the cutting room floor as well.

I apologize for it, for what's that worth, and am grateful for the fact that I've been given this chance to learn from the mistake going forward in my role as Pathfinder's Creative Director.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2017 06:15

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Valatar posted:

Long-winded bullshit

"Accusers are malicious liars out to ruin people for lulz and we should treat them as such until they jump through a bunch of hoops."

There, I cut it down for you.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2017 00:03

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Foglet posted:

To be fair, even while I personally bounced off the Cypher System hard and far, he is pretty great in producing content which

a) is highly presentable even when arguably mediocre,
b) arrives frequently, consistently and regularly, and
c) gets done on time.

All these factors combined, in this or almost any other industry, can get you much more overall mileage than sporadically authoring a single isolated piece of work (even of stellar quality), and I can get behind and respect that.

Monte is bad at mechanics, and loves wizards way too much, but I really dig the guy's world-building, overall.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2017 15:35

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Bedlamdan posted:

My very first ban here was... less than a year go, actually, according to my rap sheet.

I do remember that Halloween Jack and FactsAreUseless had accounts there though, mostly for the sake of laughs and trolling. Also ThatOldTree under Plague of Hats.

I have one of the very first accounts there, from before RPGPundit took it over and turned it into the abyss that gazes back. Back when it was briefly the new incarnation of Nutkinland. Ah, those were the days.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2017 15:39

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Hoooooly cow. I normally stay far, far away from cross-forum drama, but I have no idea what even all of this means, and how anyone could be expected to navigate this.

https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?819225-New-Rules-For-Personal-Attacks-Accusations-and-Points-Related

quote:

1. You can't make personal attacks on people. No calling them insulting things, telling them to go gently caress themselves, attributing malicious tendencies or motives to them. Don't say bad things about people here. This applies to all posters present and past, even those that have been permanently banned, and everyone presently or previously involved in the tabletop gaming industry.

2. As an exception to the previous rule, it is permissible to talk about specific things that gaming industry figures have done. If Bob Wizardpants started a kickstarter for Advanced Warplanes and Weasels, took eighty thousand dollars, and then released only a napkin with a coffee stain and the words 'gently caress you', then you can talk about this when someone starts a thread asking about what happened to AW&W.

3. This is a narrow exception, one that exists for the purposes of allowing people to talk about major issues in the gaming community and for the purposes of not silencing victims of misdeeds. It isn't free rein to attack gaming industry figures - there are limits.

4. First, you have to stick to discussing the specific things that happened, rather than the character of the people involved. You can't say "Bob Wizardpants is a thief." You can say what the kickstarter brought in, what the goals were, what Bob Wizardpants posted to talk about when things were to be delivered, and all that. If you saw Bob grope a fan at Weaselcon 2015, you can say that you saw it. But (whether we're dealing with kickstarter, harassment, or anything else) you can't take the leap from what Bob did to what kind of person Bob is or what Bob intends.

5. Second, any accusations have to be based on personal knowledge. For the kickstarter example, you have to see the posts you're talking about. For the groping example, you have to have seen it happen, or had it happen to you. You can link to others' words, but only if they're posting in public about what happened to them. Rumors or friend-of-a-friend stories aren't good enough - what's being said has to come directly from someone who knows what happened. When pointing to other's words, please bear in mind that the focus should be on them. Don't use things that happened to other people as a way to further your own personal grudge.

6. This is a fine line to draw, and seems a little arbitrary. The purpose is to keep our usual policy of not letting users attack and smear other posters, while making sure that we don't silence victims of harassment or abuse within the gaming community. This is why people who have personally been affected by or witnessed things are being given extra leeway beyond what posters normally have.

7. When specific accusations about people on this board are made, the forum staff may take action based on it. We aren't going to give specific rules and procedures for this, because these situations tend to extremely unique and fact-specific. But in general, please bear in mind that the forum is not a court. We have neither the position nor the resources to be determining whether someone did or did not do something, unless they did it here. Moderation decisions here are not supposed to punish the guilty or exonerate the innocent. We're also not equipped in any way to try to rehabilitate offenders, and that is not a matter an elfgame forum has any business getting involved in. Instead, all moderator action related to accusations of harassment or abuse will be in furtherance of this forum's mission statement: "To keep the forums friendly and welcoming to as wide a range of gamers as possible."

8. Also, please don't use rpg.net as a springboard to launch off-board attacks on people, companies, or conventions. If you want to organize a boycott of the new edition of Katanas and Kittensnakes, or to file a lawsuit or criminal charges against Bob Wizardpants, this forum is not the place to organize that. There are many places on the internet that are open to organizing direct action, but this is just a web forum where we talk about role playing games and everything else is secondary to that.

9. Relatedly, don't use acts by one person as a basis for attacking everyone associated with them. Don't impute the bad acts of one person to everyone who's ever hired them or worked on a book with them. If those others have themselves made statements or taken actions that would fall under the exception discussed here, posters can of course free to address it as a problem and feel free to discuss any responses they've made. But doing so still needs to stay within the bounds of what's being allowed here. Don't impugn the honesty or character of publishers or other designers who are working with someone who has been accused of some wrongdoing. Don't publically speculate about malign secret motives for every act or omission of everyone associated with someone accused of something. The gaming industry is a small one, and this issue is one that many designers and companies have no policies or procedures for dealing with harassment or abuse by people they've done business with. If they've made public statements or taken public actions, talk about that, not guilt-by-association.

10. Finally, please bear in mind that we're doing the best we can. These are very difficult times. The gaming industry and culture are going through major shakeups and we're trying to find a way to keep this a good place to talk about gaming. We're probably not always going to get it 100% right, but we're trying to get it right. These specific policies may change over time with the benefit of hindsight and experience, as we try to find out how to fulfill our mission of being a friendly and welcoming place under new and difficult circumstances.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2017 19:18

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Cease to Hope posted:

my only hero is regdar, who has never cast a lustful gaze on man nor woman

Redgar only exists because racists can't handle Tordek.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2017 06:38

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

So while both 3e and 4e are major breaks from what had come before, and 3e to 4e isn't as big a gap as grogs proclaim... I must say that 3e is more similar to 1e/2e than 4e is. And that might be the real sticking point.

# ¿ Nov 25, 2017 21:36

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Ettin posted:

I was planning to start a Patreon in January so hopefully Drip becomes open to all soon (and doesn't do this)

I was just thinking the same thing. Perfect time for a competitor to peel away some market share. I bet kickstarter is moving the timeline up in the wake of this.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2017 14:35

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Rand Brittain posted:

RPGnet does kind of have an entire forum made for people who've been banned from it. Or at least that was basically what RPGsite was back in the day. I don't see as much cross-forum nonsense trolling these days.

That's not how theRPGsite started, believe it or not. I know because I was there, way back when, and was one of the first registered members. It started out when Morrus announced both ENWorld and CircvsMaximvs (before it turned into the gamergate hellhole it is today) were going to close, along with a few other sites which have since been lost in time. (I don't remember if this was the Scarlet Lady fiasco or if this was before it.) It was started up by the former tech guy for ENW, and it was very briefly the reincarnation of Nutkinland, but that was for maybe like 1-2 months.

Anyway at some point, Pundit (who was called something else back then) showed up, fresh off his RPGnet ban, and started writing stuff on his Xanga (lol) with links. Soon, the rest of his band of merry devotees started showing up and crapping up the place. Eventually the admin of tRPGs got tired of dealing with it and said, "Hey, Pundit - think you can do better? Here, it's yours." Pundit accepted, and that's how it became the groggy pit of terribleness it is today.

# ¿ Jan 4, 2018 15:49

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Cannibal Smiley posted:

You can say that a rules set is garbage. I've done it myself. You just can't connect it to the person who wrote it and say that they're garbage by the transitive property.

What if they actually are garbage though

# ¿ Feb 5, 2018 16:14

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Darwinism posted:

So how about that Green Ronin timeline, huh?

Is this an "it was released and it's really something" or a "hey what about that thing that doesn't exist yet?"

# ¿ Feb 7, 2018 19:36

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 15:49

dwarf74: Sep 2, 2012; Buglord

Bedlamdan posted:

Well, I'm pretty sure almost everyone knew at least about Shmorky and Loosechanj, for roughly the better part of a decade. It's just okay to poo poo-talk them for it all now because they're not forums superstars or whatever anymore.

I don't.

# ¿ Feb 11, 2018 04:37

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > TG As An Industry - Past, Present, Future

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