Navy DM

Conversely, your fun isn't wrong. #DnD

@patrick_dixon @Auso_ @SandyofCthulhu Nor mine

@Auso_ @SandyofCthulhu I have played 5e for years, and this is not my experience. How exactly do the bard clerk or druid, easily resurrect dead characters?

As author of the reputedly "deadliest" roleplaying game, (except of course for Paranoia) I feel I must defend the concept of character death. Games are more fun when the players feel that something at stake. If the only difference between success & failure is that they will get treasure later instead of sooner, the players are enervated. In Call of Cthulhu, I have three main arrows in my quiver to "make players feel something is at stake." First and most obviously, their characters can die. This is pretty universal among roleplaying games (except Paranoia, where no one cares if they're killed). Yes, the deaths in CoC can be gruesome, but being dissolved by a gray ooze or swallowed by a purple worm in D&D is no fun either. It's a little easier to kill PCs in CoC, because there is a huge power mismatch in horror as opposed to heroic fantasy. The players expect this however, so usually don't feel it's "unfair" 1/

These are the releases and projects I've got coming up- American Paladin Kickstarter - September (release in 2026) Academy of Outcasts - October Heart of the Mountain audiobook - November Monster Hunter Files 2 - March Monster Hunter #9 - Late 2026 MH Files w/ Les Johnson - 2026 Magic and Bullets (Academy of Outcasts 2) - 2026 Gun Runner Kickstarter - later in 2025 (I'm not sure, they're working on art)

This dude

I'm beating a dead horse at this point but my god, what the hell happened to the art direction at WOTC? Those new Realms books have such uninspiring art. It's like the characters are posing for instagram. At least have them doing something heroic. Geez.

@chainsaw_mode @SuperShotgunLuv That isn't the problem with the campaign, the problem is the AI being poor being made up for by cheese in the level design and the extremely boring non story missions

@SuperShotgunLuv It is fun but not "easy" in the sense of "turn off your brain and you can still handle every mission". If you do not think carefully about your choices on and off the battlefield you will suffer. For some people fun is when there are consequences to being a doofus

hbs battletech has huge problems. The liberate smithon mission is a disgusting slog of a horrible experience claiming to be an easy 2 star mission.what a fucking nightmare. really bad design. now i remember why i put this game down for so long. is the rest of the game like this?

@HumbleFlow Swing and a miss

At the heart of The Lord of the Rings is a very simple idea: Power corrupts. Always. Not sometimes, not just for the weak, not just for the selfish. Everyone who touches the Ring is changed by it. Even the good. Especially the good.

Most people think Dune and The Lord of the Rings belong to the same shelf — epic, mythic, world-building masterpieces. But Tolkien would’ve despised Dune, because its moral universe is upside down. Here’s why… (you'll want to bookmark this):🧵

@mikemearls Yeah but we'll need to see who actually *plays* it. I remember when the 5e CR books came out, and that was both at a higher peak of CR and TTRPGs and finding those supplements being used at the table seemed to be incredibly rare.

As I write this, Daggerheart is at #88 in all books on Amazon. It's still on pre-order, releases this Tuesday. TTRPGs usually follow in D&D's wake. As D&D goes, so goes the hobby. That's no longer the case. The TTRPG landscape has fundamentally transformed.

@osgamer74 @OsborneJeremy2 Still needed to hit a hit or weakspot, bolt is not making it through the armor itself, heck even some early firearms couldn't

@OsborneJeremy2 In most tests I’ve seen on video yeah. At a guess I’d say 90%

Researching full plate this week has helped me realize just how powerful it made a knight The stuff was virtually impenetrable, being only partially vulnerable in small areas to piercing weapons directed by an experience fighter ‘Penetrating the steel’ is mostly a myth

@Grand_DM Yeah I just meant more it's very difficult to suss out why certain dms run into issues with certain systems and others don't. Preference is some of it of course, but I also wonder how much of the relatively isolated nature of the game in it's play environment

@Navy_DM It did not stop me from running it. I'm just pointing out some conclusions I came too. And why I wanted to play other games.

This is obviously happening for some, I just wish I could figure out and quantify why this has not happened to me in the decade or so I've been running 5e Table variation obviously plays a part, but it's curious what the missing link is.

@newbiedm Odd, I've certainly seen many pcs lose fights and die over the years.

My session tonight was a disaster---for me. 5e characters are just too tough. I've been running enough to say it with confidence. Monsters mostly suck. PCs have tons of tricks with Reactions and other stuff that monsters don't have.

@newbiedm You know what's crazy though, it's been down hill since mearls left

TBH. I feel they need a creative shot in the arm anyway. Like, an infusion. Quickly.

Well. What the hell's going on there?

@newbiedm @mikemearls

@mikemearls Unlike one with a person drinking tea with a dragon?

Wow! A good TTRPG cover tells a story, and this one is telling a hell of a good one!

@Lairofthelich I don't think it's particularly secret, it's just people not liking wotc and then exaggerating the systems flaws. It's the most popular and widely played edition of DnD ever, and for plenty of good reasons

5e is secretly a good game. The requirements are that you need to be able to read. We are asking too much it seems.

@pearsesd Make?

Whether it's a dead character or failure in whatever context the session presents, the bigger the threat, the more meaning play has to us emotionally and spiritually. Removing it from the game turns it into time-wasting slop.

The meaning of play comes from the sense of risk. We roleplay because it is a place where we can experience risk, loss, and defeat without enduring tangible harm. We're wired as humans to roleplay to learn how to navigate life's twists and turns.

Because I'm at Gary Con and feeling salty - I think the idea that younger gamers want a "safe" game - whatever that means - is utterly wrong. Participation trophies are there to make the parents feel good about themselves. The kids know it's a show.

I always assumed the seven dwarves were just like, Tolkien dwarves. I have never ever assumed them to be humans. Am I alone here?

Looking at Hasbro's 2024 results, I think this might be the first time that D&D tabletop RPG revenue has decreased with the release of a new edition. How'd that happen? It lines up with a lot of what I've seen in the marketplace: (1/5)