The state of Post-OSR content

The1True said:
I feel like Pathfinder is way worse for the anthropomorph splatbooks. Furries gotta fur.
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I have no idea if PFG is worse with the furries, but I can definitely tell you they were far worse with the...uh...I'm not sure how to describe it. Halfsies? Bloodlinesies? I was super-annoyed with all the elemental bloodline races, like Ifrit, Sylphs*, etc, in the Advanced Race Guide. It just promotes race-shopping for the right stat boost at character creation.

* These races were like the Tiefling race, but for the different inner planes.
 
The Heretic said:
That was a big thing a few years ago in MMOs. You could transmogrify your equipment to look cool. Yes, come back to World of Warcraft! You can spend gobs of in game money to change the appearance of your armor to look like a crown of flames1 This of course belies that stereotype that only women care about how they look.
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In the spirit of my kid's Nintendo account, I think I'm going to start accepting cash from my players in return for "upgrades". Don't want to wait for a decent weapon to "drop"? Come visit the Beoric Game Store(tm) and you can get get a Vorpal Blade in your choice of colour for a fair price! We have a deal on our bundle of Gauntlets of Ogre Power + Girdle of Giant Strength + Hammer of Thunderbolts! Crypto accepted.
 
Beoric said:
In the spirit of my kid's Nintendo account, I think I'm going to start accepting cash from my players in return for "upgrades". Don't want to wait for a decent weapon to "drop"? Come visit the Beoric Game Store(tm) and you can get get a Vorpal Blade in your choice of colour for a fair price! We have a deal on our bundle of Gauntlets of Ogre Power + Girdle of Giant Strength + Hammer of Thunderbolts! Crypto accepted.
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Will have to start a West Marches campaign to encourage competition and expand my customer player base.
 
Like every endeavor, it starts simple with a good idea.

First the pioneers, then the profiteers.
 
Beoric said:
In the spirit of my kid's Nintendo account, I think I'm going to start accepting cash from my players in return for "upgrades". Don't want to wait for a decent weapon to "drop"? Come visit the Beoric Game Store(tm) and you can get get a Vorpal Blade in your choice of colour for a fair price! We have a deal on our bundle of Gauntlets of Ogre Power + Girdle of Giant Strength + Hammer of Thunderbolts! Crypto accepted.
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When I was a teenager I used to bribe my little brother to do my chores by offering him stat boosts for his Gamma World characters. I still remember "Infinity Man" who had infinite HP and infinitely strong damage shields...
 
Beoric said:
I seem to recall a comment by Felecia Day to the effect that she chooses her wearable magic items based on how they would look with her other wearable magic items. I don't know that she was serious, but the recognition of it as a consideration is still interesting.
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I believe Dark Souls fans are a very different crowd from MMO fans, but "Fashion Souls" is a very well established jargon term for that practice in those games.
(Though the impact of armor is usually quite minor in those games, and outfits don't provide any special modifiers other than slightly reducing damage, making fashionable gear less of a trade-off to effectiveness.)
 
Hemlock said:
Brief digression: due to losing a bet of sorts, I am reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer right now, and so far my impression is that the narrator in that book pays an enormous amount of attention to what clothes she wears every day. I don't think Tolkien ever mentions _once_ whether Frodo is wearing a cute red sweater or decides to bring his black bag instead of his purple one with him to Mordor.

In the words of Larry Niven, "it is a sin to waste the reader's time," so what detail an author chooses to include in a work makes a statement of sorts about what sort of reader the author expects, and what they are expected to care about.
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I know this is a bit of necromancy, but this is relevant context for the audience she's writing for. At a certain age, what you wear to school, how your percieved by the guys around you (or that *one* guy), it's the most important thing in the whole world. A choice of sweater is just as important to them as which sword we bring dragon slaying. I'm no fan of the books, I actually think the page count describing edward is the biggest sin (the six page spread early on on his appearance stopped me dead in my tracks), but I understand why the author would do it that way.
 
squeen said:
Well it's offcial. First edition wins. We can lock this thread.

www.cbr.com

One of Dungeon & Dragons' Oldest Iterations Remains Its Best

Dungeons & Dragons 5e is at its absolute zenith, with more adventurers than ever playing the TTRPG. But it isn't the best version of the game so far.
www.cbr.com www.cbr.com
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Yes, an extremely well researched article. It's funny how few people understand that B2 is actually an AD&D module.

Particularly telling was this quote:
AD&D 1e managed to strip back all the unnecessary features introduced into the game over the years while still retaining player freedom.
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Thank goodness AD&D stripped out all of the bloat from 0e, to create a more streamlined game.
 
Maynard said:
I know this is a bit of necromancy, but this is relevant context for the audience she's writing for. At a certain age, what you wear to school, how your percieved by the guys around you (or that *one* guy), it's the most important thing in the whole world. A choice of sweater is just as important to them as which sword we bring dragon slaying. I'm no fan of the books, I actually think the page count describing edward is the biggest sin (the six page spread early on on his appearance stopped me dead in my tracks), but I understand why the author would do it that way.
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I suddenly imagined a Steven Brust spoof of this, written in the style of Paarfi of Roundwood.
 
squeen said:
Well it's offcial. First edition wins. We can lock this thread.
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Great. While reading that article, my eyes rolled so hard, one of them dropped out of my head. Now I'm in the ER holding an eyeball in a bag of ice.

The author is absolutely correct on one point though, in that the best adventures ever written were written for AD&D. Lightning in a bottle. That's why we're all here now; looking for that vibe. I think we now know the reason why module quality went downhill: There's no money in it for the corporation. If there was some way to make it a profitable enterprise, I'm sure we'd see a renaissance.
 
I was in a Barnes & Noble yesterday and to be sure D&D has lost shelf-space. To your point, the core books where there --- but zero adventures!

Actually "books" were also looking anemic --- SciFi in particular. Graphic novels and manga dominated.

I used to love books stores. This was sad.
 
The1True said:
The author is absolutely correct on one point though, in that the best adventures ever written were written for AD&D.
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Well there was also X1, X2 and especially B2. With an honourable mention to B1.

EDIT: B4 is pretty good too.
 
squeen said:
I used to love books stores. This was sad.
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This true of bookstores in general though. Every year, when I'm back in Canada, I head to the bookstore to pick up some reading (mostly childrens books these days) for the coming year. Every year, there's more non-book detritus blocking the entryways. At this point, I estimate fully 1/3 of Chapters/Indigo shelfspace is given over to the kind of crap that belongs in a Pier1 (or a garage sale...) They're fighting for their lives; I get it. I hate my tiny, shitty Kindle but god DAMN it's just so convenient!
 
Beoric said:
Well there was also X1, X2 and especially B2. With an honourable mention to B1.

EDIT: B4 is pretty good too.
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B5 is the BEST. I've run it so many times; it's falling apart.
Also filthy heresy: Return to the Keep on the Borderlands was super fun to read/run! (Return to White Plume Mountain, not so much)
 
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