Basements & Beards- Analogue Gaming Thread

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Rusty please delete this thread it makes me look like an extremist

LMAO.

[wulfenlord]

Rusty please delete this thread it makes me look like an extremist

LMAO.

Beautiful, it's like Enyclopedia Metallum fags deleting every black metal band that is too racist.

Edit: seems they do allow racist music now, claiming they were never against it out of their encyclopidic duty, but because people allegedly spammed Nutsee shops.

[Complicity]

Rusty please delete this thread it makes me look like an extremist

LMAO.

Can you elaborate? The truth is that i've only read some posts from those guys.
Are they like foxdickfarms? Worse?

[Kugelfisch]

Poonoo, please delete this threat! It makes me look moderate!

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Can you elaborate?

I can't. This other forum just display a random quote at the top, and I got that one on my first try. I just found it droll.

Speaking of droll:

Amazing Adventures

Another OSR thingie with a "revised" edition. What the fuck is Amazing Adventures? It's a spinoff of Castles & Crusades (a name that already causes most rpg.net members to clutch their pearls), which in turn is a sort of "unofficial" 3rd edition of AD&D. So while most retroclones or OSR games are emulating some vague version of B/X, C&C is intended to run AD&D adventures with little to no adjustments. There are also some nice - if a bit overpriced - original adventures, and many cool supplements (like multiple sourcebooks for different real world mythologies).
Amazing Adventures is a bit like d20 Modern in that it initially started with a specific setting in mind (in this case pulp action), but eventually expanded into the writers' multi-genre system for anything that's not D&D-inspired fantasy. This new revised edition embraces the multi-genre nature from the start, which is why the book has this gonzo cover.

Highlights for AA include being 100% cross-compatible with C&C (within reason; the magic system of both lines are different enough that the book heavily recommends you to stick to one set of spellcaster classes), and being one of the better d20 systems for pulp-y action.
It even has an ingenious way of handling AC. You can go the traditiona route where you have to actually wear armor, but the default assumption is "pulp armor", aka your AC is derived based on how pulp your outfit is. This means that dressing up as Indiana Jones, James Bond or fucking Batman is optimal

Unearthed Companion

The long awaited final(?) part of Classic Fantasy. WTF is Classic Fantasy? It's a series of books for Mythras (aka the D100 System Formerly Known As RuneQuest 6th Edition) which acts as a total conversion mod for the game, converting spells and monsters from D&D, as well as using existing Mythras mechanics to emulate the iconic classes and even levels.
It basically lets you play D&D with a glorious d100 and a superior combat system.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

As if the glacial release schedule for D&D 6e wasn't bad enough (the Monster Manual, aka the last of the three core books, won't be out until the middle of February, and who knows when we'll see another book), it seems Hasbro is going the way of Konami and is licensing out their IP to a gambling company.
People have been joking about their planned walled garden virtual tabletop having microtransactions, but this is ridiculous.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Here's a fun page from the third-party 5e book Forge of Foes

CringeShow

Colonialism has seeped into our very games, guys, and we need to deprogram y'all.

The topic of colonialism in fantasy gaming deserves far more discussion than any one section of a monster book can bring to bear.

Then make a book about it. I need a good laugh after the cancellation of the Fate Decolonization Toolkit.

And because in the end, building better stories with the help of a new perspective doesn't take any more effort than building the same old stories that fantasy gaming has been working with for the past fifty years.

But what if I want those same old stories?

The point of this section isn't to figure out how to fix colonialist thinking in the real world, as much as we'd all like to.

This is a book about running monsters in D&D. Why would anyone expect to find advice on how to make the world a better place?

[The] ongoing problems created by a pervasive "it's just a game" moral setup in RPGs.

If you want actual roleplaying instead of a struggle session, you are part of the problem.

Those deep historical faults at the heart of the games we love make for tired, derivative storytelling.

But they certainly help fill Monster Manuals. Is there really a need for both orcs and hobgoblins if they don't come with a stereotypical culture?

Avoid monolithic ancestry cultures ("All elves/dwarves/orcs are the same") in favor of a broader cultural worldview.

"The ogres over here like to eat you. The ones over there like to rape you first."
And I think that problem has been solved with the elves, what with there being dozens of sub-races for some fucking reason.

Use ancestries as adjectives ("Gnoll bandits are attacking villages", rather than "Gnolls are attacking villages") to avoid forcing narrow morality onto sapient creatures.

4e was right once again. That edition has no generic Gnoll statblock. Instead you get Gnoll Huntsmasters, Claw Fighters, Marauders and Demonic Scourges (because 4e was MMORPG af).
Also I'd say narrow morality is appropriate for 5e Gnolls, seeing how that edition turned them into literal demonspawn.

Focus on villainy as a choice, not a biological or cultural imperative.

"Better roleplaying" = Remember to make every orc say "Boy, I sure love slaughtering humans!" at least once.

Avoid the trap of perceiving civilization from a single viewpoint (usually "Settled lands = civilized lands", so that everywhere else is uncivilized)

That's kind of the point of civilization, isn't it?

Understand and move away from the trope of heroic characters as the saviors of "lesser" folk.

So saving a village from orc marauders is problematic? These villagers are clearly lesser, what with their garbage NPC levels.

Make use of cultural inspirations from reliable sources, with the aim of centering other cultures and perspectives from a position of respect.

I better not ask what they mean by "reliable sources".
So I guess using orcs is okay as long as you make them Italian or something.

Ultimately, none of the thoughts and suggestions presented here are anything like a complete fix for the harmful colonialist legacy of fantasy roleplaying

Then what is the fucking point?

Colonialism is a topic far too broad to be properly summed up in this or any other short treatise.

If you can waste multiple paragraphs about this shit, you better explain WTF you actually mean by it.

Here's where the fun begins:

The history of our modern age has been defined by specific groups of people laying claim to the entire wold over centuries of exploration - and not caring that the rest of the world had other peoples living in it at the time.

You fucking pussies can't even directly blame White Man. Good job.
Also fuck those other peoples for having fallen behind with their tech level. They would've done the same thing in our place. 'Tis only human.

The history of colonialism is a history of conflict and warfare.

The history of humanity is a history of conflict and warfare.

Of groups clasing over control of wealth and natural resources. Of one group of people raiding into and claiming lands not their own, and treating the lives and livelihoods of folk living in those lands as plunder.

Did you soyboys just generalize "colonialism" to effectively mean "every human conflict ever" ?

And if any of the above sounds vaguely similar to any fantasy RPG you've ever played, you might get a sense of the problem.

"Every fantasy RPG where any country has ever conquered another is colonialism. I'm sorry, but this means our weekly Middle-Earth Role Playing sessions will have to go "

All heroes need evil to fight against, after all. But colonialism needs to be treated differently than many of the other negative aspects of our game narratives, because the harm of unexamined colonialism can hurt players, and the people near them in very real ways.

"1 in 4 black gamers die anytime the orcs take over Osgiliath."

"I'm sorry, Betty. I know you have been looking forward to the invasion of the Dark Knights, but I simply cannot allow it. Jamal is a delicate flower, you know, and being faced with so much colonialism might just be too much for him "

"On the other hand, I have no idea why you are so offended that your character got raped last. Just because you got raped in the past doesn't mean that sexual assault holds even a candle to the ultimate evil of colonialism "

[Kugelfisch]

>people take land they don't own
And that's how ownership is transferred. Works on a tribal, racial, national, ideological and cultural scale.
I wonder when they will figure out that absolute ownership of anything doesn't exist, let alone by birthright.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Absolute ownership, like any kind of ownership, is a vile example of capitalism.

[ebin namefag]

Absolute ownership, like any kind of ownership, is a vile example of capitalism.

You're always getting absolutely owned.

Poonoo, please delete this threat! It makes me look moderate!

Like a moderator.