What Are We Here For, Exactly?

We’re humble gamers. A lot of us were marginalized by our peers and picked-on while growing up. (“Nerds!”) There are a ton of emerging sociocultural topics that we are being faced with now that the hobby has grown from hundreds to thousands to an approximately 50 Million. I would go so far as to say we’re a subculture now.

Please bear with me, family. This one is as much for my own benefit as anyone else’s.

I see so much injustice in the world. I almost turned this into a poem just now because it goes deep fast. I see all these injustices, lack, and hate in the world. Is that what we’re here for?

I don’t want to come at this from a place of privilege. Yeah, I’ve had it relatively good. I’m super grateful that I got to grow up in white bread middle of the United States. It’s not like I had much of a choice.

I see so much negative crap in the world and it kinda breaks my heart.

Yes. Call me a pansy, bleeding heart, woke, socialist, or whatever. I empathize with a lot of people when they’re hurting. Politics aside, my heart really goes out to a lot of friends and family who have been stuck in the proverbial mud as of late.

Truth: Being poor sucks. Being homeless sucks. Being unemployed royally sucks. Abuse of any kind, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and hate in general are all seriously bad. I’m grateful every day that some of these circumstances don’t apply to me.

BUT, they apply to a lot of people I know and care about a lot in the real world and on social medial. I spend a lot of time in the #TTRPG sphere these days. Unfortunately, just as in almost every community on the Internet, there exists inequity, racism, and other forms of hate. It hurts. It really does.

I keep wondering what I can do to help, like really help.

Don’t get me wrong. I have my own share of health and psychological issues. But, I would really like to do more. I’m not sure what, exactly. I’m just a guy with a blog.

That isn’t to say I’m helpless. I do have a few readers according to my statistics. I love you folx. Honestly, you’re great! We need to spread the word more in the #TTRPG community when we see all these injustices.

More discourse!

The TTRPG sphere has had its share of controversies as of late. The issue with NuTSR’s extremely racist views recently came up again. Wizards of the Coast managed to shock the fan community with their recent Spelljammer flub known as the #Hadozee. Gatekeeping is becoming a hotter topic now, too. Finally, there seems to be a regular uproar on Twitter any time someone tries to give advice involving diversity and inclusion in the TTRPG workspace.

Here’s the catch: We should be discussing these things!

We’re humble gamers. A lot of us were marginalized by our peers and picked-on while growing up. (“Nerds!”) There are a ton of emerging sociocultural topics that we are being faced with now that the hobby has grown from hundreds to thousands to an approximately 50 Million. I would go so far as to say we’re a subculture now.

We should be working as a community to move closer together, not farther apart at least as a culture. We need to talk about our beliefs and values. Most importantly, we should be able to come together as a group and enjoy a roleplaying game for 4-6 hours at a time. Discuss!

We’re committing to spending time with one another once (one-shots, conventions games, etc) or possibly one night per week or whatever can be scheduled. We are going to have some different ideas as people outside the game. Public discourse is healthy for us all.

Maybe we don’t agree. Maybe we do agree. Can we compromise on something?

The Session Zero debate seems trivial enough.

Anyone mentioning Session Zero or inclusivity in their gaming group immediately gets shouted at “Don’t tell me how to run my game!”

Some of us think Session Zero is always a good idea. I like knowing what characters I’m dealing with and a little about their backgrounds when I GM. I like to talk about house rules. We discuss what might be sensitive subjects to some players. Simple enough, right?

Okay. Don’t run Session Zero. If you’ve been playing with the exact same group of people for 20 years, you probably didn’t need one in the first place. You know it’s going to be the same hot buttons and things to stay away from. Great.

Please believe me when I say, no one is trying to tell you how to run your game with your group at home.

Trouble starts when tabletop gamers start acting a fool in public or on social media (see also; in public.) Please don’t exclude people from a public game unless the group is jam packed. If you’re not running a system they like, they probably won’t stick around anyway. At least the offer was made.

Most pro level Dungeon/Game Masters know how to run for larger groups and still make it around the table to everyone anyway. (That’s a different article, though.) My point is- we’re all there to have fun. Please make it happen?

If you’re in a PUBLIC space, please remember there are going to be all kinds of people from different walks of life, countries, genders, preferences, races, and so on potentially present. It’s our job as GMs/DMs to make everyone feel welcome as hosts of a game in a public space. What you do inside your home with your own private group is none of my concern.

Back to my original question.

Why are we here? Is is to fight, bicker and complain about one another? Pffft! Absolutely not!

Are we here on planet Earth on the 4D plane of existence to discover love, peace, joy, compassion and prosperity together? Absolutely! How do we want to choose to treat one another? It’s up to us,

My final thought is, if 50 Million of us can figure out how to get along and coexist in spite of our slightly conflicting values, what’s to keep the rest of the world from following us. Please remember, no matter how bad one thinks one has it, someone else has it worse. Someone also has it better. So, please consider- Can we do it better?

Let’s please try to get along.

Sentient Beings in Hexcrawl 1d12 tables for Dungeon Crawl Classics

So, you’ve entered a new hex and civilization has been detected. Roll 1d12:

So, you’ve entered a new hex and civilization has been detected. Roll 1d12:

  1. Terrible News!
  2. Chaotic Inclined (Tyrannical Ruler.)
  3. Chaotic Inclined (From Another Realm.)
  4. Neutral
  5. Neutral (From Another Realm.)
  6. Neutral (Xenophobic.)
  7. Neutral (Welcoming.)
  8. Neutral (From Another Realm.)
  9. Neutral
  10. Lawful Inclined (Strict Ruler.)
  11. Lawful Inclined (From Another Realm.)
  12. Great News!

Explanation of Terms:

  • Tyrannical Ruler: Settlement is overseen by a devil, demon, dragon, lich, vampire or some other powerful monster. They will attempt to detain or even destroy outsiders
  • From Another Realm: Wherever these beings are from, they are not native to the current lands. Much like the village the group came from, strange pillars appeared all around the settlement and they woke up “here.”
  • Xenophobic: These beings might be willing to trade/negotiate/lend aid, but they are extremely wary of outsiders and might be considered hostile.
  • Welcoming: As the name suggests, these beings are happy to trade/negotiate/lend aid to outsiders with no second thought.
  • Strict Ruler: This settlement is lawful to a fault. It is ruled by a powerful (not necessarily kind) being who metes out strict punishment for breaking their laws. Could be any number of beings. (Judge’s choice.) Angels, dragons, sentient monsters of immense power, powerful wizards, possibly even a demon. Entry or negotiation with this settlement will likely involve adherence to all of their rules and regulations.
Terrible News!

The group has accidentally stumbled upon a settlement most creatures would tend to avoid. Extra time and care should be taken in passing through a hex with this result. The group will have to be very stealthy in order to avoid detection/destruction/capture.

  1. Demons! Obviously they are not native to the area, but they maintain a stronghold here and there are a lot of them.
  2. Dragon! This settlement is made up of like-minded dragons, dragonkin and their humanoid followers.
  3. Vampires: Safe during the day, minus the humanoids who are used as cattle. At night, it is not safe to go to sleep in this area. Many of the humanoids are sympathetic to the local vampire lords.
  4. Automatons: These beings look and act like regular humanoids. However, the ultimate goal of their creator is to extract information and conquer other settlements.
  5. Bandits: This settlement will take all of the visitors’ possessions and leave them to walk naked back to the next hex.
  6. Nuclear devastation! Whatever happened in this hex was not pleasant. Aside from mutants and irradiated flora/fauna, there is nothing stirring in this area. Whatever actual organized civilization was here is now extinct. Their buildings and irradiated “pets” remain.
  7. Dagon Worshippers: A cult dedicated to a member of the Great Old Ones has taken control of this settlement and formed a twisted theocracy. Join them, flee, or umm…
  8. You Hear Banjos: This matriarchal society is comprised mostly of cannibals. They consider men to be servants, breeding stock, or food.
  9. Necropolis: This settlement is very clean and very old. All of the beings within are ancient and presumably wise. They are, however, quite un-dead. They would love to add to the population.
  10. Dimensional Conquerors: These beings came from somewhere across the vastness of space and dimensions to raise an army and take over the rest of the region.
  11. Giants! This one will be obvious the closer the group gets to the outside of the settlement. There are giants afoot.
  12. Complete anarchy! Whatever happened prior to the group’s arrival has left panic and disorder in the streets. Lootings, chaos and violence are everywhere. It’s every living thing for itself. Just when it looks like things are quieting down, the temporal loop resets and it starts all over again.
Chaotic Inclined:

(We know complete chaos wouldn’t form an actual settlement, but these beings have aligned under a banner of similar goals and philosophies.)

  1. A single, powerful dragon has kept order and ruled for a couple of centuries. Failure to serve the crown may find one eaten or well roasted.
  2. Fel Gnomes: These primarily subterranean beings aren’t exactly known for their hospitality. They are more likely to loot interlopers and tie them out to bleach in the sun.
  3. Servants of the god of wine and song: This primarily human settlement travels regularly. They normally wish no ill will on anyone, but do have to pay for their wild lifestyle somehow. Those who encounter this settlement may be fleeced of their wealth, rations, and trade goods through more subtle means.
  4. Fanatical zealots! Roll 1d12 on the Gods of Chaos Table. This theocratic society is ruled by a high priest insisting on strict rules and constant sacrifices or taxes paid to the church. Failure to follow the deity in question may lead to dire consequences.
  5. Aelves: These are not the elves from the home realm the group came from. They are taller, muscular and far more warlike. They will negotiate safe passage and possibly trade IF they think there is advantage in doing so.
  6. Orcs: These will be run of the mill orcs per the rulebook. They may or may not tolerate the party of explorers who encounters their settlement. Consider the settlement to be a large band including a boss and a witch doctor.
  7. Reptile Men: Similar to Serpent Man entry in the rulebook. Humanoid body with the head of a Gila monster or similar lizard. Not from the group’s home plane. Mostly hostile toward interlopers, but may be willing to trade or negotiate if they have a distinct advantage. Or, they might just try to kill and eat the group.
  8. Humans: They may or may not be from the group’s plane of origin. They don’t seem friendly at all. Judge will determine disposition, outlook, and attitudes of the settlement. The settlement appears to be in a state of decline.
  9. Goat Men (See Subhumans Entry in the DCC book): Not from the group’s home plane. They are mean, nasty, and one might wonder how this “society” functions at all beyond brute force and iron rule. They should be considered hostile from the get-go.
  10. Deadites: This is an eerie settlement of the dead. It may have once been a town or village from another dimension. Now there are Ghosts, Skeletons, and Zombies instead of people. The settlement will usually be headed by one of the Hollow Ones.
  11. Troglodytes: These trogs are not from the group’s home dimension. Their attitudes and outlooks are more civilized as well as their clothes, weapons, armor and ability to walk unhindered in broad daylight. They inherently distrust outsiders.
  12. Servants of an Elemental Lord: These beings of mixed races may be very welcoming to outsiders. They serve an elemental lord. They come from all over and only to their ruler’s bidding beyond their day-to-day chores.
Neutral:
  1. Circle of Druids: A near-perfect natural society consisting of humanoids, centaurs, faeries, and other nature-oriented creatures. Usually led by a druid or council of druids.
  2. Humans: They may or may not be from the group’s plane of origin. They seem friendly enough. Judge will determine disposition, outlook, and attitudes of the settlement. The settlement appears to be a normal town or village.
  3. Elves: They may not be from the group’s plane of origin. They seem friendly enough. Judge will determine disposition, outlook, and attitudes of the settlement. The settlement appears to be a normal town or village of elves that have adapted to the environment they are encountered in.
  4. Ogres/Minotaurs: (See Ogrenomicon for more details.) This unusual pairing of two groups of creatures has thrived as a society for years. They are usually wary of outsiders, however.
  5. Dwarves: They may not be from the group’s plane of origin. They seem friendly enough. Judge will determine disposition, outlook, and attitudes of the settlement. The settlement appears to be a normal town or village of dwarves that have carved a settlement into whatever terrain they’re on.
  6. Sentient Insects. Judge’s discretion:half humanoid/half ants, beetles, centipedes, spiders, etc. They have different social views and settlement construction depending on the type of insect. They may view the group as friends or food depending.
  7. Barbaric Gnolls. These 7 1/2’+ tall shaggy hyena men value tribal loyalty, respect, strength and ferocity above all else. Fairly easy to get along with.
  8. Time Travelers. These beings may or may not be from the group’s plane of origin. They have come from some time in the far future. Their concern for paradox is the only thing tempering their generosity and kindness.
  9. Halflings/Gnomes/Pixies. This settlement of wee folk are happy to receive visitors. Kindness, respect, mindfulness, and gentleness are expected in return for their hospitality.
  10. Ape men. Perhaps born in a different age or even dimension, these ape men have adapted to the local surroundings and are quite adept at fending for themselves. They are explorers, too. They may have valuable information on the surrounding areas.
  11. Merchant caravan. Long ago, this caravan of interdimensional beings who are also merchants broke down here and decided to settle. Gold speaks with these beings more than anything else.
  12. Mercenaries. This settlement is actually a large mercenary militia camp. Money and trade will win favors, as will shows of strength and martial prowess.
Lawful
  1. Humans, but they’re a little too stodgy. It’s almost as if they’re being controlled by something or someone.
  2. Utopian social democracy of halflings. A settlement where everyone has a say.
  3. Mechanical Beings. This settlement is entirely made up of automatons.
  4. Advanced elves. Their technology and magic have surpassed that of most other beings. May or may not be native to this realm.
  5. Rabbit people. (Or some other Anthropomorphic animal of the Judge’s choosing.) Docile, calm, peaceful and easy to get along with.
  6. Mixed settlement where all are welcome as long as they obey the basic laws of the settlement.
  7. Broken Dwarves under an oppressive regime of an overly lawful tyrant.
  8. Orcs. Peaceful, democratic, highly advanced culture.
  9. Lizardfolk. Fiercely loyal to their leader. Very militant culture. Often refer to another home amongst the stars.
  10. Magocracy. All of the inhabitants of this settlement are magically inclined. Made up of various mages, witches, warlocks, and other spellcasting traditions.
  11. Theocratic society of humans. Worship the deity of the Judge’s choosing.
  12. Mixed agrarian medieval settlement. Farmers, hunters, fishermen, and/or associated trades under one ruler (baron, king, chieftain, etc.) Seems pretty harmless.
Great News!
  1. Settlement of powerful divine beings. Could be demigods or angels.
  2. Technologically advanced society. All kinds of wild new ideas to be discovered!
  3. A completely illusory city designed to test the group’s reactions to various situations. The being who created it is not from this realm.
  4. Very old mixed settlement. It’s been around the current realm for hundreds of years and has mapped the next two concentric rings worth of hexes. Trade is also very lucrative.
  5. A settlement built amid a gorgeous tropical oasis. Almost paradise. Every accommodation the party could ever want.
  6. High Aelves. A rare group of aelves from an age long past. Very old, very wise.
  7. Multidimensional Beings. These humanoids exist in multiple realities as well as the Astral and Ethereal planes at the same time. Freakishly wise and intelligent.
  8. A kind, Lawfully aligned dragon and her entourage. Wealthy, kind, civil settlement where all of the residents are provided-for.
  9. Arcane City. This settlement has attracted beings from all over. Everyone’s basic needs are provided by magical means. Some structures float in the air. There is magical healing for almost any condition. The council in charge is pleasant and somewhat forgiving.
  10. Extradimensional analogue version of the group’s own village. It’s from a timeline where the village has already been in the current realm for 6d12 years. they have adapted to different surroundings very well and have grown strong as a result.
  11. Necropolis Redux. This city of the dead is less fraught with death traps and evil un-dead. There is a great buried treasure below, and the Elven Lich may even allow the group to part with some of it in exchange for a favor.
  12. The Builders! These are the ones who brought the group’s village to the realm. They have the answers if the group asks the right questions. Settlement is similar to the characters’ village.

Giant Flying Spiders for Dungeon Crawl Classics

Picture if you will, a spider roughly the size of a horse with a massive skull on its back and wings like a locust. It paralyzes its victims with poison and cocoons them in a husk for later consumption in its lair. This carnivorous magical apex predator is a truly terrifying sight to behold.

Nightmare fuel, to be sure.

(More art to come.)

Picture if you will, a spider roughly the size of a horse with a massive skull on its back and wings like a locust. It paralyzes its victims with poison and cocoons them in a husk for later consumption in its lair. This carnivorous magical apex predator is a truly terrifying sight to behold. Worse yet, these arachnid beasts serve as consorts to the Spider Dragon.


Flying Skull Spider, Giant: Init +2; Atk bite +6 melee (1d8 plus poison)
or web (special); AC 14; HD 3d8; MV 30’ (climb any surface) or Fly 30′; Act 1d20; SP poison (DC 20 Fort save or lose an extra 3d4+4 hit points and 4 Strength temporarily; success results in loss of additional 1d4 hit points only), Web 1x/day (10’ range, DC 14 Ref save or –2 penalty on all actions until freed), stealthy (+10 to attempts to move silently); SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will -1; AL C.

This creature is the unnatural fusion of demonic magic with an innocent forest arachnid. Afterward, nature took its course and a large clutch of baby monsters was born. Then they grew.

Samurai Crawl Classics? Nope.

Growing up in Iowa, I fell in love with First Edition AD&D. My favorite gaming books included Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures. Nowadays both of those books have some pretty ugly racial biases associated with them. I don’t love those books for the racist content, though.

I’m backing off of the idea.

The intent is to uplift and respect other cultures, or at least show a modicum of sensitivity.

Most of the changes I wanted to make were nominal. There are a few deviations from the regular Dungeon Crawl Classics rules, mostly new classes. I was basing bits and pieces off of the often maligned AD&D Oriental Adventures, but not entirely. The other question I was struggling with was an actual setting for the thing.

The base DCC setting is keyed more toward European medieval fantasy, maybe? I think that’s a fair statement. It’s certainly based off of a game that was clearly medieval European fantasy.

AD&D inspired me to explore another culture.

The often maligned Oriental Adventures.

Unfortunately, in this case, I was raised in the U.S. Everything about me screams “Midwestern white guy!” at 100 yards. I can’t change that, as much as I’d like to sometimes. I’m sorry to say I’m stuck with it.

Growing up in Iowa, I fell in love with First Edition AD&D. My favorite gaming books included Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures. Nowadays both of those books have some pretty ugly racial biases associated with them. I don’t love those books for the racist content, though.

Quite the opposite, actually. I fell in love with Japanese and Chinese culture as a result. I still want to visit Japan. I used to want to live there. Chinese food was the mainstay of my diet for many years. As a result of being so interested in Japan, China and other cultures I studied anthropology and sociology in college. Thanks AD&D for getting that particular ball rolling.

It makes me sad when I see people getting torn apart on Twitter and elsewhere for producing what are being considered racist materials. The post that brought the problem to my attention is here. I’m not directly involved with this product in any way, but it seemed okay at first glance. The product in question is an upcoming Kickstarter, so there’s still time for it to change although it’s not looking likely.

Sometimes I don’t think it’s entirely intentional. I’m not apologizing for blatant racism. But as has been said about AD&D Oriental Adventures and subsequent works, sometimes the intention is to emulate and show appreciation for those cultures. We didn’t have sensitivity readers back in ye olden days of the 1980’s.

How many other middle America white kids got introduced to other parts of the world through D&D? How many Dungeon Masters looked into ancient Egypt, the Aztecs, or Malaysian culture while digging for inspiration in their D&D games. Where is the dividing line between “This is really cool! Let’s include it in the game.” to “Let’s make fun of this ‘foreign’ culture?”

I wish to be considerate of cultures and the values of others.

So, what’s the solution?

I’ve put some thought into it. Regardless of what game system I decide to use, my next fantasy campaign world is going to contain specific elements from various other real world cultures presented respectfully. For example, there will be samurai, loyal to a code similar to Bushido. I intend to have a group of elite weapon masters somewhat similar to the way Kensai were presented. Priests will have Ofuda and carry staves with rings. Shamanism is definitely going to be a thing in my world. Magic Users will have an elemental tradition and possibly a code they have to follow. Yes, there will be ninja because I think they’re cool.

Some of the elements I loved from those old AD&D books are amazing for use as game elements. I love martial arts. The old OA build-your-own martial arts system was my favorite thing about that book. Monks are totally going to have access to that.

There’s a twist.

There’s an interesting old RPG called Skyrealms of Jorune. It was super creative both in presentation and system elements. The game had a lexicon all its own. I admire that game because they rewire the GM and players’ mindsets to fit their game. It’s completely unique among RPGs.

What if someone designed a fantasy RPG in that fashion? What if we change up the nomenclature entirely. What if I institute a blend of Chinese Imperial culture with a Japanese shogunate and call it something completely new?

What if we have katanas, but we don’t call them katanas? What if they’re Orcish Warswords? or Dwarven Honor Blades? The common sword of the realm is the Jian. (Chinese Longsword.) Hopefully I’ve made my point.

We’re not restricted to one culture.

I still intend to have some of the same old Tolkien-esque European fantasy elements. Oh, and dinosaurs in places. To top that off, we’re still going to borrow from a lot of the usual game references.

You know, monsters from the OG Monster Manual. I’ll still beg, borrow, and steal demons (Oni) from Warhammer Fantasy, D&D 3E and 5E. I’m possibly pulling in a couple of races from other games as well. I like Earthdawn. What can I say?

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a fantastic day! I appreciate you.

Spelljammer.

#hadozee controversy and a heap of bad reviews. One D&D is around the corner in 2024. Why would I want to buy the new Spelljammer? Space Hamsters?

I kinda saw this coming.

Why didn’t they learn from this?

I’ve heard multiple reviewers say, “Save your money.” Or, “Maybe look at buying other products.”

In other words, even some of the hardcore YouTubers and other Wizards of the Coast/D&D rah-rah reviewers aren’t into it. I mean, it looks cool. The art is amazing. But the content? Like the actual meat and bones of the campaign setting? Having a good concept does not make for a good game.

RPG family, I’m so sorry to tell you this, but the thing pretty much sucked the first time around. What made us think it was going to be better for 5E? The old content wasn’t that great. Fam, a turd by any other name is still… You can’t put a dress on mule. (Original) T$R made so many other good campaign settings.

If the first time around was bad, (and let’s be honest, it was BAD,) what made them think a remake would fix it? I’m sure someone will quote sales numbers, but I was big into this hobby when it came out and I seem to recall a lot of people panning it then, too. The new version seems to not have gotten any better.

Industry timing leaves a lot to be desired on this one.

New! In a shiny package.

It didn’t help that they announced that in 2024 One D&D is coming. So, basically here’s a new edition that is supposedly going to be retrocompatible with 5E, or at least that’s what they’re saying. They want us to keep being good consumers and continue buying things such as Spelljammer and Dragonlance. WotC also wants us to “playtest” the new rules and provide them with so-called feedback. (Anybody else’s bullshit detector going off?)

If I know WotC, they are eventually going to try to get us to switch completely over to this new edition like it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Right now they (WotC) doesn’t want us to sell off our 5th Ed books because Half Price Books can only handle so much. DMsGuild has to stick around long enough for D&D Beyond to evolve.(*I have a feeling being a third party D&D creator is going to change.)

I feel bad for Dragonlance fans right now. Their book is going to be ill-timed at best. Lord only knows what 2023 is going to look like for D&D releases. I mean, we know physical products are no longer high on WotC’s release priorities as far as we’ve heard. Unless we’re talking about Magic cards, then yay physical stuff. Books? Pfft!

What’s the point of releasing products for 5E when it’s going to be on its way out at the end of the year in 2023? Is the next generation of fans going to want to convert all of the 5E material they own into this new shinier One D&D package? What does that say for Spelljammer, Dragonlance and whatever they do in 2023?

One D&D hasn’t even been released and they’re already contradicting themselves.

I know I’m pretty hard on WotC sometimes. They’re the leading company in the industry. With a few brief exceptions, they’ve always been top dog. D&D is pretty much the mother of all roleplaying games. Some would say the industry looks to WotC for direction.

So can someone at WotC or anywhere explain the whole debacle with the Hadozee? Please look up #hadozee on Twitter for the full details. Fair warning: possible racist content. This isn’t the only mistake that was made with the new Spelljammer, but this one came at a really poor time.

Anyone who has been following the sordid tale of Star Frontiers: New Genesis playtest documents knows this isn’t the time to get a bad rep for racism in game publications. It’s bad enough when certain nuts are our there trying to make the hobby look bad. Now the biggest name in the business has to show an utter lack of sensitivity to the topic? Really?

I thought WotC wanted to be progressive. I thought they wanted to set the industry standard. What happened to doing away with negative racial differences in D&D? #hadozee

Anybody remember this little gem from DriveThruRPG/DMsGuild?

Update: D&D Beyond revised Hadozee.

The Hadozee errata.

Good for Wizards of the Coast! They’ve heard the uproar around the slavery element of the Hadozee and removed it on D&D Beyond. At least they’re not completely oblivious to the rpg community. I’m not sure that goes far enough, but it’s a great start.

The only thing that I noticed right away is that it’s still out there in print. Digital media are easy to change. Push the delete button, rewrite a few lines, and poof. Fixed it. But several thousand print copies of the physical book? Oops.

Basically, they deleted all of the content that referred to slavery, removed some offensive art, and issued an apology. Good for them. Better than nothing. I’m sure a LOT of people would have been happy if the offensive text had never made it into the book in the first place.

The other catch is there are still hundreds of print copies out there. It’s still kind of a Public Relations nightmare. Yes, they apologized. The question remains: have they learned anything? At least they’re launching an internal investigation, though…
The apology statement can be found here.

I’m glad no one at WotC actually reads my blog.

Because I’m incredibly disappointed with that company right now. Say what you want about the Old School Renaissance in gaming. At least we knew mistakes had been made well enough to steer clear of them. Call me an “Old Grognard” all day, but I think the kids that put this latest Spelljammer together were seeing dollar signs and little else.

This mistake with the Hadozee has been in print since 1982 by their own admission! How could they have let it slide by? Yeah, I hope WotC’s internal investigation is fruitful.

What are they going to do? Fire the writer from 40 years back? Fire an editor that let it all go by? Pat themselves on the back for a job poorly done? Probably that last part. “Oh, well. Oops. Silly us. Hee hee. Now go buy Dragonlance.”

Editing failure.

I know I drop my share of typos, grammar and punctuation errors here on my blog. I’m not claiming to be perfect. And as an editor, I’m not… uh… Let’s just say dealing with people isn’t my strong suit.

But Spelljammer? C’mon. Really?!? WotC pays these people how much? These “design teams” are so effective. Someone could have walked in off the street and questioned the Hadozee, and yet…

If the McCorporate cultured world of WotC learns anything from this, it’s that the more crap you try to do in committee, the more likely it will FAIL outright. You can hold all the meetings you want. You and have all the little social gatherings in the office you can muster. You can hold hands around the campfire after work. Do you know what matters at the end of the day?

THE F*CKING PRODUCT!!!

It’s lucky for WotC that they have no worries about sucking a loss on Spelljammer. Yay for them. Any smaller company would probably be shitting bricks by now. Not our WotC. They can afford to sweep the whole ugly #hadozee incident under the rug, pretend it never happened, and put out the next piece of trash for all their people to hype up.

DID anybody on that staff stop to think, Hmm. Maybe it’s just possible “Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. ” because they like to remind us of it on DriveThruRPG every chance they get? Seriously? That doesn’t warrant some damn editorial review time??? Which “team” screwed that pooch on this?

I can’t do it anymore. I’m all but done with 5E.

I’m more ready than ever to embrace my old school roots. Pretty sure I have enough OG Dragonlance material to last me a long time should I decide I want to run with it. Don’t even come around me with that Spelljammer business. I’m really looking hard at Old School Essentials again. I think WotC can go a few years without my money again. See you next “edition” on that.

Star Frontiers is welcome. Alternity is welcome. Heck, I’d love to run Amazing Engine again sometime. I won’t be touching Spelljammer with a 10′ space pole any time soon. (*It’s like a regular 10′ pole, only in space.)

I want to find a nice, quiet, smaller company to work for where my work might be appreciated. Give me the peace of mind that I never have to sit in a meeting with a bunch of freakin strangers ever again. Oh, and never will I ever reprint something from the 1980’s without at least reviewing it first.

Onward and upward. Back tomorrow with more gaming excitement. Thank you for stopping by.

Mining Old Books for New Content.

This trick works for more than just the superhero genre. Fantasy games, such as D&D, have far more modules already produced. Sometimes it’s as simple as updating the monsters and loot to the most current edition, which could involve some number crunching. However, if one is to choose a rules lite system such as ICRPG or Easy D6, conversions go very fast.

I keep a lot of old RPG books around that aren’t in PDF.

Good old MSH Reap the Whirlwind.

GM Tip: Never throw an old RPG book away. The same can be said for old modules, even homebrew ones. Please believe me when I say, “Never underestimate the value of an old module.”

The old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure applies in this case. Take an old Marvel Superheroes Module like, Reap the Whirlwind, take the word “mutant” and change it to however supers are referred to in one’s own campaign and convert/add stats accordingly. Viola! Instant adventure for a couple of nights.

It’s one reason I favor simpler superhero games such as ICONS. They’re much easier to convert old Marvel and DC modules with. Games such as Mutants & Masterminds or Champions are a lot stat intensive and porting in all the baddies takes time and temperance.

Excavate those buried gems!

This trick works for more than just the superhero genre. Fantasy games, such as D&D, have far more modules already produced. Sometimes it’s as simple as updating the monsters and loot to the most current edition, which could involve some number crunching. However, if one is to choose a rules lite system such as ICRPG or Easy D6, conversions go very fast.

The same can be said for converting non-D&D adventures into other game systems. I know someone who really likes the Warhammer Fantasy setting, but doesn’t care much for the rule system. Solution: convert everything to D&D by approximation. One of my current projects is pulling old Basic D&D modules over into Dungeon Crawl Classics for my own use.

I’ve seen the Star Frontiers Crash on Volturnus module used as a Star Wars D6 adventure. I’ve seen Call of Cthulhu modules run in Beyond the Supernatural and D20 Modern. (Call of Cthulhu actually has a D20 variant, but the modules were original system.)

New Pluto Images from NASAu2019s New Horizons: Itu2019s Complicated by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC-BY 2.0

Wait, there’s more!

If you really want to expand your horizons as a GM, you might consider running modules across different genres. Call of Cthulhu investigators stumble into what looks an awful lot like a D&D dungeon full of monsters, riddles, and deadly traps. Star Wars characters have to go up against a rogue group of stormtroopers that have broken off of the Empire under the leadership of a maniacal megalomaniac with a skull shaped red mask. D&D characters suddenly find themselves up against Cthulhu cultists.

The possibilities are truly endless. If you’re a low prep GM and you have become adept at “winging it,” then this style of grab-n-go module prep might work very well for you. I’m more of a high prep GM, but I keep a LOT of old adventures around, especially D&D, that I can pull into my current game to run as a side trek or maybe as a one shot if key players are missing.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you found this useful. Happy gaming!

3:00 AM Rantings of a Mad Man

Back in my day, the ancient past known as the 1980’s and 1990’s, if you wanted to meet one of the superstars of roleplaying games you had to write them a letter or go to a convention. Conventions were few and far between back in those days, at least ones that drew in the BIG names. Or you could send fan mail. Later there were Internet forums and email, but originally we had to do it the hard way.

Seemed like a good idea. Might take it down later.

WTaFH am I doing here? No really? What am I doing here?

Do I even belong here? In this space? With all these HUGE names in gaming?

I just don’t know any more. Some of y’all make more in a day than I will this year off selling RPG items no less. Should I even be here on #TTRPG social media hanging out? Seriously, I’m losing my damn marbles here.

I mean, yeah I’ve come up with some (*what I think are) fairly interesting articles..

Fell asleep on my keyboard right about here. 6:47AM

Thud!

It just stymies me how I am still somehow, in some small way, considered a part of any community on the Internet. I mean, I follow some pretty big names on Twitter. To my knowledge none of them followed me back, but I could maybe be wrong about that.

Okay, after a little research, a couple of what I consider to be HUGE names actually did follow me back. Much love for you. Y’all know who you are. Thank you!

Old timey story incoming.

Back in my day, the ancient past known as the 1980’s and 1990’s, if you wanted to meet one of the superstars of roleplaying games you had to write them a letter or go to a convention. Conventions were few and far between back in those days, at least ones that drew in the BIG names. Or you could send fan mail. Later there were Internet forums and email, but originally we had to do it the hard way.

Back then, some of the BIG names in gaming were giants because there weren’t that many of them. Artists, too btw. You were lucky if you could find Gary Gygax himself, Jim Ward, Lester Smith, Ed Greenwood, Tom Moldvay, Zeb Cook or Keith Parkinson in person. But if you did, it was awesome!

Even more fortunate was if you got to sit down at the table with one of the legends. I never had the pleasure, but I knew a few guys that actually sat at the table with Gary Gygax at Gen Con back in the really olden days. Can you imagine? Playing D&D with the creator himself. Wow…

Nowadays, our heroes are slightly more accessible.

Maybe it’s because of the Open Game License? There are far more creators out there in the world to run into than ever before. That’s one possibility.

The other, bigger monstrosity is social media. Facebook/Instagram (Meta,) Reddit, Pinterest, and Twitter among others have helped us keep in touch with friends and families all over the bloody place. Seriously, I have like, a thousand friends on different platforms and I have no clue who they are. (Feel free to say Hi any time.) YouTube is somewhere between social and a regular medium.

Then we’ve got just as many creators selling themselves on crowdfunding such as Kickstarter. One of the best ways to promote anything is on social media. YouTube videos help. Sometimes blogs like this one help spread the word, too. (*Okay, maybe not mine, but there are some. I know there are.)

Ever since this crazy new electronic age began, I’ve actually bumped into a few of my idols out there online.

I think our “greatest” technological innovation has been great for helping us connect. It’s also been horrible psychologically for some of us. One of my recent forays into #ttrpgTwitter led me to an account with almost 15,000 followers.

Holy buckets! Publishing credits with some major names in the industry. That’s saying something. I realize it’s easier these days to break in as an RPG writer, designer, editor, etc. But still, to actually receive a paycheck from Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, or even Goodman Games would be dream come true for many of us.

So, I’m out there in the Twitterverse with some of these truly amazing folx and I’m wondering. How do I fit in? What am I know for? (uh… nothing yet, really.)

I learned that I share a birthday with Matt Mercer. That’s kinda cool. I’m older, but still…

If anyone needs me, I’m going to be curled up in a ball under my desk with a pot of coffee, a bowl of homemade Chex mix, and this here laptop. You might hear me rolling dice or see me when I sneak out to go to the bathroom. I’ll figure the rest out as I go.

At least I came out from under the desk.

Thanks for being here. See you in the funny pages on Twitter. I appreciate you!

Is this me? Is She Speaking to Me?!?

That’s actually very good advice! Note she said “project leads.” I would take that to mean likely larger companies. Yeah, at this point in the year 2022, we have better options than all-male, all-white RPG design teams at Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Renegade, and other big game companies. I agree.

WtAF did I walk into this time?

Okay. It so happens I followed this person before this post on #TTRPGTwitter .

There’s a lot to unpack here.

Here’s the link if you’re on Twitter.

**WARNING!** Before anyone freaks out- There are parts of this statement that I wholeheartedly agree with and a couple of things that I think require careful examination and discernment. I’m not offended by any of it. (Some of the comments on Twitter were another story.)

I’m a “Male creator in the #TTRPG community.” (Sorta-ish.)

Okay. So far so good. No secrets there. I’m a pretty standard issue older white guy. Tabletop Roleplaying Games are very much my jam for 40+years now.

She’s calling on me “not to work…” Whoa. What? Let’s stop the bus for a second. I’ve been unemployed for a year and a change now. Um- I’m sorry. But if someone offered me a real, cash-paying job at Wizards of the Coast or some other game company? At this point I wouldn’t argue.

Now, obviously people aren’t beating down my door to offer me a job. I’ve never gotten to hold one of the rare, highly coveted writing jobs at one of the “real” established game companies. Make no mistake- It’s on my vision board. It has been my dream for 36-ish years. I believe it will happen eventually.

Make no mistake, I have zero issues working with anyone on an RPG. (*Okay, except bigots, homophobes, transphobes, haters and other such -ists.) But People of Color? Women? Trans folx? Sign me up. Awesome. It’s about the GAME! (and maybe a paycheck.)

Now to unpack the more of this statement.

“…not to work with project leads who consistently lead projects that only include white men and the occasional token non-man.”

Okay, cool. I think people took the ball and ran toward the wrong end zone with this statement online. I think what she means is don’t go work for white guys who only hire other white guys and the occasional person of color or woman/trans male/trans female. That’s the lengthened version if I read it right.

That’s actually very good advice! Note she said “project leads.” I would take that to mean likely larger companies. Yeah, at this point in the year 2022, we have better options than all-male, all-white RPG design teams at Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Renegade, and other big game companies. I agree.

The negative, harsh criticism from this post is unwarranted.

I’ve seen too many comments of “Don’t tell me who to work with” and “Don’t tell me who to hire.” Those comments are all for nothing. Guys, she’s not speaking in absolutes. She’s not trying to force anything. She’s trying to promote diversity and inclusion in game design teams. Good for her!

I would personally have said it a bit differently in an effort to keep things positive. I might not have the perfect phrasing, either. If I posted a similar statement here on my blog, it would look like:

Hey, if you’re looking for a job on a design team, please look for project leads who work primarily with diverse and inclusive groups. There’s plenty of work in large companies such as Wizards of the Coast to go around.

If you have the option to work on a project with a manager that encourages diversity and inclusion of ideas from all the people from every walk of life, culture, climate, condition, whatever- that’s awesome. Please do that. I think most people would argue that an abundance of varying ideas from different sociocultural perspectives is a good thing.

I have issues with the last part of the statement again.

“There are so many better, cooler, more fun projects to work on.”

Sure. I can start my own game company. I can struggle for years to get noticed or get my product noticed. Can I come live in the world where all of these amazeballs options exist, please? I guess if I’m doing shit for fun, maybe? (*I mean, yay fun, personal projects, but those don’t pay so well.)

Sorry, RPG family/community. It’s not that I have issues with @wildrosemage (Hannah) Quite the opposite. She’s an accomplished editor and designer. I admire her success. (*Law of Attraction rule: Never disrespect someone for their being prosperous. Positive success is a good thing.)

Oh, and damn near 15,000 followers on Twitter! Geez! What am I doing here? At least there’s almost zero chance my comments will be noticed once again. LOL!

Hannah’s very impressive Twitter bio.

The issue I have with there being supposedly being so many other projects to work on, like I have all these amazing options in front of me, is that the statement comes from her worldview. Obviously, she has options.

I can put good ol’ Matt Colville or Matt Mercer on blast on this blog any day of the week. No one will give a hoot. Why? Because I’m small potatoes right now. I could disappear from the internet tomorrow and very few people would notice.

Game companies are not beating down my door to hire me. Yes, I am very picky about who I work for these days. I’m also very reluctant to deal with criticism. In short, I’m a hot mess of a human being. I’ll own any/all of my shortcomings. Obviously, some folx have it a lot better.

Yeah, I’m still barking in the dark. Sigh. Nothing like a major case of imposter syndrome to end my day much the same way it began. Not even sure where I belong any more.

I am so happy and grateful for every last one of my readers.

Thanks for being here. I may be taking a social media break after this. I appreciate you stopping by. You’re a wonderful and kind audience. Thank you!

THANK YOU!!!

OSR Imposter Syndrome Part 2.

Well,. I’m going to go grab the Chex mix out of the kitchen and put on another pot of coffee. Hopefully some video game therapy will help me figure things out. I’ve been back and forth with this for over two weeks now.

My first thoughts were, “OMG What am I doing here?”

Photo by Eva Bronzini on Pexels.com

Seriously, it makes me want to crawl into a hole for about a week and subsist off of coffee, Chex mix, and video games. I’ll come out long enough to shave my noggin, maybe bathe, pet the cats, and forage for not-Chex mix. (Vegetables or something.) Otherwise my family can come try to poke me with a stick to see if I growl at them.

Aw crud. This is the first full week of school. No crawling in a hole for me. Kids need rides to and from school. My wife needs clean clothes, clean dishes, and meals cooked. Guess I have to live with other humans, not in my cozy hole. Boo.

Why the fuss? Well, go on DriveThruRPG and search up Dungeon Crawl Classics. 1.397 entries! Yes, many of those are from Goodman Games, around 451 of them give or take. But still… That’s a lot of entries.

Can I even compete in this market?

Seriously? Is it even possible? With the announcement of One D&D, and the massive bloat that is third party 5E publishing, I won’t touch that market until at least 2025 if/when they announce a new open license agreement. There’s no sense putting out a whole 5E module just to have to rewrite it. IFF it actually sells.

I figure I’ll take my chances with DCC. at least it’s only 1,397 competing products. Maybe I can make enough credit to get more OSR stuff. I want to try monkeying around with some of the OSE stuff from Necrotic Gnome. I’ve heard good things for years about them.

Which is tougher: Fear of failure or fear of success?

Suppose I put a module out with my meager mapping and art skills. My goal is to make sure it’s carefully written, edited, and creature stats in order. I want to make sure all of the OGL licensing is in proper order. Oh, and I want the adventure to be fun, too.

As I’ve said before, my fear and loathing of criticism runs extremely high. At least with a game product I have the option of ignoring all of the negative comments and updating fixes based on the constructive ones. Still, I find the whole process terrifying.

What to charge? Pay What You Wish? Do those ever make money? $1.99? 2.99? $6.99? More? What’s fair? I wish I truly knew.

What’s the best that can happen?

Thanks for being you!

Well,. I’m going to go grab the Chex mix out of the kitchen and put on another pot of coffee. Hopefully some video game therapy will help me figure things out. I’ve been back and forth with this for over two weeks now.

I appreciate you stopping by. Hopefully things will seem brighter in the morning.

One? D&D. Only One, Huh?

I can only say what I think of this new edition of D&D. For the record, I don’t love it or hate it more than prior editions. It’s just another edition change.

I’m struggling to stay positive with this “One”

I listened to the Wizards of the Coast announcement of “One D&D.” Okay, I tried. Honestly, I skipped the Magic: the Gathering announcements and some of their other corporate Mcdoublespeak. I like the spokespeople they had for D&D Beyond and the new rules.

I’m not going to talk about everything that I took away from this. I have a couple of main concerns. First, is the supposed retro compatibility. Second is what it sounds like might happen to retailers. Last, aside from their announcements I’m not really keen on all the hype.

I’m very skeptical about the idea that editions are going away.

We’re told by WotC that everything we’ve purchased previously (for FIFTH Edition!) will still be compatible. Okay. Waitaminute. What? Then, someone at WotC went so far as to say “we don’t see things in terms of editions.”

Yeah, because if you acknowledged prior editions, you’d remember there are actually six editions prior to this “One.” Basic/BECMI, First Ed AD&D, Second Ed AD&D, Third Edition, Fourth Edition, and then Fifth Edition. For some unexplained reason, the nice folks at WotC always seem to exclude all of that content prior to Third Ed, unless they can bring it back to make a quick buck or two on it. (Spelljammer, Dragonlance, etc.)

I appreciate what Fifth Edition has done for the hobby.

Some people saw Fourth Ed D&D as basically the “New” Coke for RPGs. For those to young to remember New Coke, it wasn’t very good and it gave Coca Cola an excuse to bring back the old formula and make more money off all of the grateful Coke drinkers. In terms of advertising and marketing, it was brilliant. That said, in terms of being on the consumer end, it sucked. D&D Fourth was sort of the same way.

Fifth Edition is when WotC supposedly started listening to the players and incorporated feedback and merged some of the better concepts from prior editions. That’s true for the most part. But how do they explain the OSR movement?

Fifth Edition also introduced thousands of new players and DMs to the hobby of tabletop role playing games through Critical Role and other actual play podcasts. I think we’re all truly proud and grateful for that. As much as I kinda jab at Matt Mercer occasionally, he did do ALL that, and it’s a genuinely good thing. (And I know Matt would never read my blog. LOL!)

They think they have a solid lock on their demographic.

You know some marketing goobs at WotC sat down and asked, “What does a typical D&D player look like?”

Because that’s how marketing works. Make no mistake, WotC is still part of a very large corporation, HASBRO. Their job is to make their brands profitable. If it ain’t making money? It’s gone.

None of us want to see D&D go away forever. So, they sat down and figured out that their target audience is mostly between the ages of about 14-35, primarily in English speaking countries. They want people who are either completely new to the game or came in during the Fifth Ed craze. They’re also likely assuming the new players are somewhat tech savvy, phone constantly in hand, social media users, and accustomed to virtual play.

They admitted in their announcement video that the game is 50 years old. But they’re really only looking at about half of that demographic. In my opinion, it’s like they’ve completely turned a blind eye to the rest of us. They’re not going for any compatibility beyond Fifth Edition for the most part. What about the OSR crowd?

Then there’s their fancy virtual platform.

Yes, we’ve been asking WotC for years to bundle PDF copies with physical rulebooks. Yet if you go on D&D Beyond currently, you’ll notice they’re still charging print prices for digital products. Want the print book? That’s double the price for both. At least DriveThruRPG sells the PDF and physical book together for the price of the physical copy plus shipping and still gives you the PDF.

I kind of suspect with the recent merger of OneBookShelf and Roll 20 VTT, we might be seeing WotC/Hasbro winding up to buy them both. DMsGuild is a joint venture between WotC and OneBookShelf already. I don’t think it’s going to be a big surprise if they are assimilated. It’s only a theory for now.

What concerns me the most is what the new D&D Beyond platform means for retailers. Right now, if their announcement is to be believed, they will be selling the physical copy and bundle it with the digital copy ONLY if you buy it directly from WotC. They sound to me as if they are going to cut physical retailers out of the process as much as possible and only sell directly from their website. Great for WotC, bad for your Friendly Local Game Store. We’ll see, I suppose.

As a famous rapper once said, “Don’t believe the hype.”

I already see the official/unofficial hype folks on YouTube and Twitter talking about One D&D and the playtest materials. Oh, it’s going to be great. Just listen to what they’re telling us and don’t use any discernment of your own.

WotC has made One D&D an open playtest from now until 2024. You can download the latest playtest materials and read them for yourself. Surveys for the first round were due to open September 1, 2022.

I suspect, much like any survey research, this is being done primarily as a public relations tactic. They want us to feel like we had an opinion to contribute this whole time. However, in the corporate world, that input does not matter for squat and we know it. In all likelihood, they’ve already got this new edition in the can. They’re just appeasing the fan base and making sure they’re reaching their target demographic.

Hey, what do I know? I’ve only been around since 1972 and gaming from 1982 onward. I’m just a guy with a blog, right?

Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you. Keep playing the games you love.

%d bloggers like this: