Tabletop Roleplaying Games (D&D, Pathfinder, CoC, ETC.)

[Dante Alighieri]

Maybe run a game people actually want to play.

Like 5e

 

[MazonLabs Recruitment Rep]

i've unironically had like at least one table where GM would be foaming at the mouth at slightest hint of edginess and would only do tolkienesque fantasy

PAH. Some people have no imagination.

I'm also not opposed to a chaotic evil run, but ya gotta tell me beforehand so I can craft it for ya and it's not going to be very lengthy. I'd also suggest Fomori Freak Legion if we're really wanting that kind of game.

 

[Adamska]

Because they elevate being a victim above all else.

Reminds me of the weird decision to try to force transsexuality when you could legitimately just make a spell to transmutate someone into the opposite gender. Said it before and we'll say it again: trannies have no excuse to resolve this shit by adventuring. And better yet, the adventuring will handle their suicidal tendencies.

 

[Sayer of the N-Word]

i've unironically had like at least one table where GM would be foaming at the mouth at slightest hint of edginess and would only do tolkienesque fantasy stuff.

Can you tell us about it? DMs like that are so unimaginative that it's hard to understand why they're interested in a hobby that is 90% playing grownup make-believe.

 

[ColonelCadaver]

Can you tell us about it? DMs like that are so unimaginative that it's hard to understand why they're interested in a hobby that is 90% playing grownup make-believe.

I'm not sure about the full picture, because i wasn't there from the start, but the story goes something like that: The dude's been doing some edgy stuff at the start of his DMing career, but kinda stopped, stuck to the "tolkienesque fantasy adventure good vs evil" trope since then. Went 'semi-professional', or whatever. As far as i know, he's very uppity about his preferences in fantasy and escapism, his choice of game (d20-systems only, especially Pathfinder 1e and Starfinder for some reason) and he's also turbo-autistic. In a 'high-functioning' way. He's like a pathfinder 1e encyclopedia, can create character from memory or adapt entire Rime of Frostmaiden from 5e to pathfinder. I believe spectum definetly plays major role in his "vanilla-only" attitude.

 

[AnOminous]

But also if it is just one player, could simply be they just don't like lovecraftian related shit.

That's why I suggested the original RuneQuest system as an alternative because CoC is so infused with eldritch bitchery. The great thing about the d100 system is it's very easily rendered modular. You can swap mechanics out from game to game or make up your own with ease.

After my main group went over to CoC because of the subject matter, and actually picked up the d100 system, they never looked back and I don't believe I ever ran another d20 after that.

The only time we played ordinary AD&D after that was with a teacher who ran the D&D club. That may sound gay and lame, but he was actually really good at it and since it was an "official" school club, we would actually get something like a dozen players at peak times, so it was sort of the gathering for everyone into such things. Huge overlap with the chess club that I was also in.

I'm not sure about the full picture, because i wasn't there from the start, but the story goes something like that: The dude's been doing some edgy stuff at the start of his DMing career, but kinda stopped, stuck to the "tolkienesque fantasy adventure good vs evil" trope since then.

I can actually sympathize with this attitude, and MOST of my AD&D shit was exactly this sort of stuff. I didn't directly FORCE people into it but I'd always have (for a newly formed party and not one where random people came in) some sort of "election" process where they'd pick a party leader. Everyone would say why they'd make the best leader. Then everyone would unanimously "elect" the paladin.

Even the chaotic evil guy, after bitching and complaining, would go along with it, grumbling.

PROS: you aren't going to end up outlaws being hunted down and slaughtered like the pigs you are. "Remember that time you went all murderhobo" (that term didn't exist at the time) "and ended up hanged and put in a gibbet outside of town? This guy won't let that happen."

CONS: None really. Everyone's gonna look at Dudley Do-Right up there and immediately trust you, even you, Filthy McBastard.

 

[Tri-Tachyon'sClown]

Said it before and we'll say it again: trannies have no excuse to resolve this shit by adventuring. And better yet, the adventuring will handle their suicidal tendencies.

Speaking of saying something before, I repeat that trooning out is a lifestyle choice (fetish) more than it is "I'm an x trapped in a y's body!" Both are mental illnesses.
They want to be special, a biological man magically turning himself into a biological women removes any fake struggle they might feel like they're experiencing and removes any validation and the feeling of being "special."
I hate them.

 

[Gingervitis]

Said it before and we'll say it again: trannies have no excuse to resolve this shit by adventuring.

I’m always willing to play Devil’s Advocate- in a lower fantasy setting where magic isn’t literally everywhere, it costs both money and power to permanently make yourself a woman, both of which can be gained through adventuring.

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

I’m always willing to play Devil’s Advocate- in a lower fantasy setting where magic isn’t literally everywhere, it costs both money and power to permanently make yourself a woman, both of which can be gained through adventuring.

Trannies are always "tansitioning" but are rarely ever "transitioned".

 

[IridiumDragon06]

Though you'll have to live like complete outlaws pretty much for the rest of your life. The more you kill, the more of a threat you become, and escalation will occur on yo ass. Kings don't tolerate jumped up mercenaries laying waste to their nice infrastructure for very long, especially since doing so makes him look weak, and weak kings get overthrown.

So, if the PCs become smart murderhobos, plant weapons of their own enemies on their crime scenes so scrying goes to the wrong person, and use both mundane misdirection and Glibness to give themselves unimpeachable alibies, is your answer "Shit, you're doing this murderhobo thing right, let's see your horrible plans for disposing of the bodies so they can't be raised or Speak with Dead'd."?

This is a player expectation problem, and it's not going to be solved by throwing bigger challenges at the party, unless you expect the players to also not go dungeon-delving or fight the evil overlord, because why would they? Surely it's more dangerous to raid a tomb than quietly murder a shopkeep and his family, loot what's lootable, and arrange things to look like the house just burned down and they all died in the fire, right? If the PCs are expected to be scared of the king, are they not supposed to be scared of whatever big enemy is challenging the campaign?

 

[Sleazy Car Salesman]

If the PCs are expected to be scared of the king, are they not supposed to be scared of whatever big enemy is challenging the campaign?

Players, like both air and water, will tend to follow the path of least resistance. The secret is to make it a bigger pain in the ass to become murderhobos than to actually adventure but not so much so that they hate you for it.

 

[ColonelCadaver]

This is a player expectation problem, and it's not going to be solved by throwing bigger challenges at the party

How about being reasonably generous with reward? Players aren't picking short end of the stick to clear vietcong dens, they're seeking lucrative opportunities.

 

[Aib Ld]

It's homebrew but it does exist and it made a major splash in the faggified D&D community a few years ago and I'm pretty sure that it's one of those "Technically homebrew but endorsed by Wizards" type deals.

I have such faggotry to show you

The chairs are actually so powerful that you're worse off not having one.

holy fuck, i was wondering why a previous dnd player that joined my game of a different system was so mad at his wheelchair being destroyed at nearly every fight he goes to. Even the other players were "You know you can buy new legs or something" IC but he quitted the game.
I thought he was trying to make a cool character like another player who basically made Gazelle from Kingsman but he was a waste of time and tried to bring dndshit to an entirely different system for some reason.

 

[AnOminous]

Players, like both air and water, will tend to follow the path of least resistance. The secret is to make it a bigger pain in the ass to become murderhobos than to actually adventure but not so much so that they hate you for it.

I would always base it on what the actual players wanted. I mean, being a GM basically means you're an absolute dictator, but who are you going to dictate to if they all leave because you make it boring? You have to balance your absolute power with the fact you actually can't FORCE people to play something they don't want to.

They'll just leave. The balance is delicate, in that you can't actually give them that experience WITHOUT at some point laying down some dictatorial control. But it has to be in service of what they actually WANT. Not what YOU want. That's irrelevant. You have to manage being both dictatorial and subservient, because you're there for them. They aren't there for you.

I don't know if you know this but most players actually do want to play good, do good, be the heroes, and even the self-identified villains sometimes want to do good. So let's pretend we're forcing even Filthy McNasty over there to be good (sure you don't want to be loved too ha ha we totally believe you you sweet little kitty cat).

If the PCs are expected to be scared of the king, are they not supposed to be scared of whatever big enemy is challenging the campaign?

This is why have a paladin as leader because he will say no to that shit. "What do we look like, evil? I mean other than you over there, asshole." "Who? Me, Daddy-O?"

 

[Ghostse]

Trannies are always "tansitioning" but are rarely ever "transitioned".

Not true. 41% of them have transitioned to Good Trannies

 

[Anonymus Fluhre]

I’m always willing to play Devil’s Advocate- in a lower fantasy setting where magic isn’t literally everywhere, it costs both money and power to permanently make yourself a woman, both of which can be gained through adventuring.

In Pathfinder it cost 2250gp to get the elixir and it was pretty random to find the girdle in D&D. It was cheaper to sell in AD&D 2nd Edition 200gp. Luckily I'll never see a tranny play AD&D 2nd Edition.

I don't remember the cost of the Potion of Female form.

 

[Imperial Citizen]

Get your Mega-damage shotgun! Dice Scum is hunting for Dinosaurs on Rifts Earth!

 

[AnOminous]

And this is sometimes why the paladin would turn a blind eye to when the chaotic evil dude did something necessary and then lied about doing it.

Everyone knew he did it. Even the paladin knew. But the deed was done. Everyone knew it HAD to be done.

And this was one of those situations where a lawful good couldn't cope with it. It took a chaotic evil to commit random evil. People needed to be murdered randomly and this required randomness and pure evil. This is why I would always allow a paladin-led party to have at least one deranged chaotic evil. I always had at least one of those.

 

[Judge Dredd]

If nobody is willing to play your game, it possibly sucks. Maybe run a game people actually want to play.

Somebody already made the "5e" joke, but the serious version is that the demands of the players are at odds with what they want.

One of the reasons 5e works so much is it is was a fantastic middle ground. The "fantasy super heroes" label is used as an insult, but it's also a selling point. The guy who wants super heroes and the guy who wants medieval fantasy can could find common ground there. Now it seems those types are entrenched and unwilling to compromise.

People say they want a large open world with politics, faction play, and wilderness survival, only to then rebel against those elements and just want to kill things. If I sell a dungeon crawl, people dismiss it.

I've also noticed a lot of flavour of the month behaviour. Especially with wargaming. Long story short, a friend rage quit 40k because his friends were more interested in buying plastic than playing the game. They'd get hyped for X, spend a lot of money on X, then when it come time to play X they'd no show because they want to play Y instead. The recent issues with WotC and Paizo have killed that kind of hype.

i was wondering why a previous dnd player that joined my game of a different system was so mad at his wheelchair being destroyed at nearly every fight he goes to. Even the other players were "You know you can buy new legs or something" IC but he quitted the game.

I heard a second hand story of a guy who played a wheelchair guy in a steampunk game, and ended up with robo spider legs like the guy in Wild Wild West.

Get your Mega-damage shotgun! Dice Scum is hunting for Dinosaurs on Rifts Earth!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=g_wxxXilSDo

I keep forgetting to watch those. I should catch up.

 

[Aib Ld]

I heard a second hand story of a guy who played a wheelchair guy in a steampunk game, and ended up with robo spider legs like the guy in Wild Wild West.

It was worse than that. He thought his wheelchair would automatically hover over stairs, and be in places it shouldn't be, and so on. I keep telling him that he never brought upgrades to his chair. (The Gazelle player himself got around this sort of thing by buying a separate normal pair of prosthetic legs he can switch to.)
So Wheelchair guy quickly ran himself dirt poor from all the chairs he kept buying over destroyed ones, never upgrading, never seeing different options to resolve a situation, basically become useless as a rock when the chair is destroyed and the party has to haul him around.
I regret not killing his character, I really tried, but the dice somehow make damage aimed at him roll low. The character even survived three bombs in a row because two of them did the minimum damage. It was mostly awful for me and the enemies who tried their best to single him out in combat because he was either looking the weakest link in the group or was a sitting duck with no chair.