Lianodel @ Lianodel @ttrpg.network

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Joined

2 yr. ago

Mostly because the rest of 5e is built around an assumption of relative balance.

Adventures in modern D&D tend to consist of a series of more-or-less balanced encounters, usually combat, that will tax but usually not kill the player characters. If you tune it to be too easy, that makes for a boring session, or one where the DM runs out of content because the set piece encounter didn't last as long as it should have. If it's too difficult, you might have PCs die in a way that doesn't match expectations. If most of the time combat encounters are supposed to be balanced, and a player has invested in their character's backstory, and there's clearly an arc they're supposed to follow to the end, it sucks to have them be eaten by feral dogs.

"The DM can fix it" is always true, but a cop-out. If players avoid a set-piece encounter in 5e, it feels like they're avoiding the whole dang adventure. And while XP doesn't have to come from combat, that's the bulk of it, and the most clearly supported by the rules.

And other systems just don't have the same problem. Narrative games, like Blades in the Dark, have characters face consequences but not die unless it would be narratively satisfying. Other games just aren't built on the assumption of balanced encounters, so it doesn't throw a wrench into things if players get an unfair advantage, or bypass an encounter altogether, or just plain run away. And something like PF2e, which is in the modern D&D model, does have a functional balancing system.

A functional balancing system also doesn't really have the problem of constant, perfect balance. D&D's CR system will let you design encounters that are Easy, Medium, Hard, or Deadly, and PF2e's Threat levels include Trivial, Low, Moderate, Severe, and Extreme. It's just that one works better than the other.

Obviously all of this is "fixable" by the DM, but still, that puts a lot of work on the DM just to make the game work as intended.

I haven't had a chance to play Hillfolk, only read it years ago... but from what I remember, it also just has great ideas for creating PCs with existing relationships that can port to just about any other system!

For real, it's scary how quickly transphobia can get a grip on someone, to the point it becomes a singular focus, and something people are willing to destroy their own lives for.

Specifically, I'm thinking of Graham Linehan. Other famous and successful people have let transphobia take over their lives and tarnish their reputations, but that dude lost his reputation, can't get work anymore, even destroyed his own marriage... but can't stop. I think he subconsciously realizes that, if he's wrong about this, he lost everything for nothing, so he can't ever even entertain the idea.

It's amazing how quickly they'll pivot from "I have science on my side" to "The science is wrong."

They don't form opinions based on evidence, they judge evidence based on their opinions.

Shadow of the Weird Wizard, too, which is from the creator of Shadow of the Demon Lord, but higher-powered and more classic fantasy rather than grimdark.

I had a friend of a friend who worked at Wizards of the Coast, and it's a revolving door there. There's no shortage of people eager to work on games that mean so much to them, so it's easy to abuser workers and cut the loose if there's any hint that they might start demanding better treatment, or a better direction for the brands, or especially organizing and collectively bargaining.

It's kind of the same thing here. There's no shortage of servile users eager to be scabs. It's going to lead to stifling and unpleasant communities in the long run, but they don't really care. So long as they can slow down the appearance of enshittification, and keep reddit.com from being full of reasons why the site is a bad investment, they can cash out in the IPO and leave investors holding the bag.

Track encumbrance, too!

Fun fact: old-school D&D measured weight and encumbrance in terms of coins.

Sadly, I keep meaning to... :P

It's also such an extremely useful resource. I used to run games for kids at a local shop, and one of the best ways to prepare was to look through the PDF of last year's entries. (Usually I'd have to further condense it to fit into one session, but still.)

Unsurprising. :/ I actually wasn't yet into Warhammer, but hey, I heard good things, I'm into OSR stuff, it was on sale... but once I started reading it, it was just a bloated and ugly. When I went to fix the bookmarks (because of course they were terrible), I realized it was very badly organized. Top to bottom, it's a mess.

Since it came out, the old editions have become available as official PDFs, from what I've heard the new edition hews closer to the older ones, and there are even other games heavily inspired by it like Warlock. I think there was a real hunger for something like old-school Warhammer FRP, but between all of these, people just had better options, so Zweihander quickly fell by the wayside.

I know, right? Obviously in hindsight, Blades has had a WAY bigger impact, and WAY longer shelf life. Also in hindsight, Zak S had a grudge against John Harper, and weirdly reveled in Zweihander beating Blades. And since he has a history of organizing brigades and using sockpuppet accounts...

It's all ultimately speculation. Like you pointed out, the buzz the two games got varied from circle to circle. I might just be bitter because I bought Zweihander based on the hype, and was sorely disappointed in what I got. :P

That's true, but I also suspect there was a lot of astroturf. I mean, it beat out Blades in the Dark, which (in my admittedly subjective experience) had WAY more of a splash with a significantly larger audience. I'm not saying the ENNIEs did anything sketchy, but that I suspect the voting system is susceptible to abuse. ¯(ツ)_/¯

Anyway. On a brighter note, I'm also a big fan of sword & sorcery, and the fact that it manages to use the Gumshoe framework (and by all accounts very successfully!) makes it extremely intriguing. :)

This has me itching to get my copy of Trophy to the table, and to pick up Swords of the Serpentine. :)

(Though, not to be a downer, I always take the ENNIEs with a grain of salt after Zweihander won both Product and Game of the Year.)