Yeah, he’s also just…kind of a creepy guy who wants to discount Shadowdark creator Kelsey Dionne as being successful not because she wrote an appealing game or is effective at her direct marketing and promotion strategy but because “…she is the first winsome creator ever to create a game in the OSR.”
Ugh!
Stranger
I did back up note post 570, where I shared a YT where a guy showed how Porf DM is completely utterly wrong about WotC sales figures. Now, when someone is wrong like that- it means two possible thing- a simple mistake. OR since the wrong numbers back up Prof DMs points and opinions about how bad WotC is doing- they also could be “made up shit in order to get clicks”. So, there is your cite. Like it or not.
Are his figures wrong? No, the numbers are right, and prof DMs numbers were -imho deliberately- wrong. Now sure, you may not like the guy due to other YTs of his, and that is fine, But if someone says the Empire state building is only 800 feet tall, becuase he hates NYC, but the real figures are 1,250′ or 1,454′ to tip, then the numbers dont lie, even if the second guy is not right about other stuff.
There are, as of this last post of yours, only 489 posts in this thread.
What are you referring to? He literally doesn’t cite any figures or numbers in this entire video.
Stranger
I am seeing yours as post 582, and when I go to link to your post, it’s labeled 582. I suspect that, if there are one or more participants in the thread whom you have on ignore, their posts don’t show in the count for you.
Ah, I didn’t realize that Discourse zeroed out hidden posts in the count. So, that’s just a reference to the same video of an overaged munchkin giving his expertise about all things gaming while driving around some eastern Pennsylvania suburb and showing off his fillings and nostril hair. Still no figures or substantiated facts, and indeed, useful content; just a bunch of ranting by Discount Shelf Paul Giamatti if Alexander Payne decided to make a movie about an obsessive RPG grognard instead of a pretentious oenophile distressed over an overhyped varietal of wine.
Stranger
I watched this and posted on his video. I had captions on to make sure I got his quotes correct. At no point does he give any numbers or cite for his belief in this. The only thing he says nearing numbers is he agrees that Tasha’s was in the top five sellers but 5i, as he refers to them, are in the top 100.
I know that Roll For Combat gives numbers and wonder if PDM quotes them? PDM doesn’t seem to have the insider view that Glicker does.
Please understand, I think 5i (I did glom onto that abbreviation the YTer used as a nice shorthand) is selling well for WotC. Even if it is low 4E numbers or 3E numbers, that’s more than most other companies will ever sell. I’m saying that we don’t have numbers to know how well it’s selling.
Thanks for the discussion!
A gentle request: I don’t give a (be gentle, LHOD) puff of flatulence about who’s a hater or deserves clicks, and the dozens of back-and-forth posts about the reputations of various commenters may not be as interesting as actual issues around the OGL. Is there any chance we can focus on the issues instead of on the ad hominems?
How many TTRPGs do all of you get to play? How many do all of you want to play?
I have two weekly remote games, both using PF2E. One was using PF1 until this campaign since the start of remote gaming five years ago. That group only wanted fantasy and only PF1. I might have shown them that Shadowrun could be fun but it hasn’t happened yet.
The other has done Level Up, PF1, PF2, and Shadowrun. The game is remote although we are all local. The local group is more likely to try something new for a few sessions.
So, to answer my first question, I’m running PF2 in my two weekly games.
To answer my second, I wouldn’t mind a Shadowrun game. I like the setting and the rules.
I’m really torn on Exalted. 3E is needlessly complex and I don’t think gives it the cinematic feel they claim. I have Essence but haven’t tried that yet. I have run 1E/2E. I think if I could keep players out of high scaled skills, it would run fine. I had to learn that, though. I generally like the world but 90% of the “inspired by” lists are things I don’t read or watch.
WoD/CoD - Now that 5E Vampire actually has them as monsters, that might be interesting. However, I think I would rather play Hunter instead. I have the new version of it but haven’t read it yet. I have run old Mage and Hunter with mixed success.
I don’t have Cyberpunk because Shadowrun seemed more my vibe. I could run it with Alternity, which would be a good system but I don’t know its setting.
I would use Alternity for all games. But. Well, I have home brewed some things for it but I’m not the type to write up big changes to a system. Maybe I would be more successful this time around but it would take a lot of time because the games would also be playtesting my rules.
Fate is one of those games that requires players willing to add to the story and that’s not my group. That’s fine! It’s something I have had to learn. Same with the latest Star Wars game due to the light side and dark side points.
I would run Star Wars d6 or Saga.
So, the answer to my second question is I would love to run or play in a lot of different type of games but know that I would come back to fantasy of some kind, probably PF2 now.
Thanks for the discussion!
Good idea. Sorry.
My group plays (I’m honestly not sure what version of D&D or Pathfinder rules we are using) D&D. We recently completed the classic module Expedition To The Barrier Peaks.
I have most of the old World Of Darkness in PDF form. I have played a lot Vampire. I know much about Werewolf. I know some things about Mage. I know little about Changeling. I know almost nothing about Wraith. I have read the second edition Mummy book. I have not read any of the books from when they tried to make Mummy its own line. I want to play all of these.
I have the Nightlife corebook and two adventures- Night Moves and In A Musical Vein. I would like to play that sometime. I also have an issue of Dragon with an article for playing a Gargoyle in Nightlife.
I bought a book (I cannot remember the title. It was about the Dragon clan) from Book Of The Five Rings because it was on sale for $1. It was fascinating and I downloaded a bunch of pirated PDF’s and would love to play it some time.
I have a pirated PDF of the Amazing Engine corebook (it was impossible to find a physical copy to buy). I have a copy of For Faerie Queen And Country and really want to play it.
I have a copy of the 4th edition Call Of Cthulhu corebook. It includes a bunch of bonus material including Cthulhu By Gaslight. Obviously I want to play.
I have some GURPS books. I have a copy of GURPS Hellboy. I want to play that, GURPS Horror, GURPS Atomic Mutants and a buncg of others. I have a pirated PDF of the core GURPS book (I forget what edition) that I have not read yet. I do not know if the system is good. But the books are well written and filled with fascinating ideas.
I just found some books I had been looking for while decluttering-
Hobomancy- Based on the illustratiion on the front and the text on the back, I’m going to love this.
Strange Times At Charles Fort High- same thing.
Combat is generally the part of a game I like the least. I want to play an interesting character , try to act and think as they wouild and immerse myself in the setting. If a game lets me do that, I want to try it.
I (this is just my opinion) never cared for Shadowrun. I bought a bunch of SR books at a flea market and read them all. Besides the books being laid out terribly and not having an index that was desperately needed (those were likely editting problems unique to this edition) I had a bunch of problems with the setting.
The magic section was just a few pages. Combat spells got full descriptions. There were only a few non combat spells. They got snippets.
Clergy of mainstream religions were not said to have any mystic power. OTTOMH can you look at Tridentine mass and tell me it is not high ritual magic?
Based on the Aztec calendar, a bunch of druids rise up. Huh?
The many native American tribes have an amazing number of members who believe in and practice the old ways. They all have mystical power now. Somehow, all these people from different tribes, with different cultures, and spread out over a continent somehow rise up as one to attack the US government.
Faced with enemies on all sides and needing all the firepower and allies thay can get, a bunch of states secede to form a new Confederacy- because we should honor all cultures and all people but white Southerners are just racists.
That’s just the stuff I have not managed to purge from my memory.
Plus, the edition I had specified just how many breasts (mammae) each species (human, elf, troll, orc etc) had.
I did hang onto a volume (I think #2) of The Neo Anacrhists’ Guide To Life. That was very well written and interesting.
I’m not a forever GM but I’m our group’s mostly always GM. Over the 15 years or, I’ve had an opportunity to run the following games.
I bought Nightlife way back in 1990 and never played it. I didn’t know they released any supplements for it.
I miss the good old days when I could walk into my local game store and find almost as many GURPS books on the shelves as I could AD&D. While I think Steve Jackson Games made a good business choice by focusing on other, more profitable games, part of me still misses GURPS. I haven’t played since 2005 and it left and my players didn’t care for it much.
While I have a soft spot in my heart for Shadowrun, I was always a Cyberpunk 2020 kid at heart.
They released a book on magic. They released a post apocalyptic book in which all the monsters reveal themselves, KinRise. I think there were more books.
That would be Legend of the Five Rings (or L5R for short). I played that game for a number of years. It’s fantastic, or at least the classic version is. Great setting, one of the best of any TTRPG I’ve ever played.
Oops! Yeah, I got the name wrong. Even more troubling, I cannot find the folder I put all the PDF’s I downloaded for that game.
Thank you, and I’ll make it official. While nobody has yet, quite, crossed over the line into direct personal attacks, we’re getting pretty heated here for discussing what’s supposed to be a fun hobby. Let’s dial it back, please.
All of my gaming has been D&D, originally 2nd edition, then 3.5, now 5th, for the simple reason that that’s what the folks I want to play with want to play. I’m not a fan of 5th edition overall, but what the specific game is is far less important than the hanging out with friends part.
I play a in weekly group online with 3-4 other people. While I’d prefer in-person play in a general sense, they’re good guys and I’m glad to be able to play with them. They’re also largely up for anything which is nice in a world of “My players only want 5e” stories.
Currently, we’re in a Pathfinder 2e campaign and one of the other players is converting our old PF1e Kingmaker campaign to PF2e. We also started the Starfinder 2e play test campaign and have a defunct Mutants & Masterminds 3e campaign lingering somewhere. I’m ready to start a Twilight: 2000 4e game when the day comes that both guys are simultaneously tired of GMing and want to just play. When will that happen? Who knows!
I find myself liking PF2e more than D&D 5e but I’ve never disliked a system enough to not want to play a game, provided the people are decent.
I own more game systems than I can keep track of. That’s not really a flex as Humble Bundle packages and RPG Drivethru make it really easy to suddenly own another ten game book PDFs that “looked interesting” or “might have some good ideas”. Major contenders for printed bookshelf material includes most AD&D 1e books, 5e, Twilight: 2k (original and 4e), Vampire (1st ed) and the whole run of Wraith: the Oblivion. Plus a bunch of one-off manuals, source books and 3rd party material for major systems. It’s not as extensive and some folks’ collections but it could keep you busy for a long while should the house ever get sucked into some liminal wormhole and the WiFi stops working.
I purged a lot of games to get my first laptop that I used at the gaming table. Star Wars d6, TSR settings I didn’t use then, like planescape boxed sets, Red Steel, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, and other things I don’t even remember. I can’t say I have any regrets but do miss some of the d6 Star Wars stuff I had, especially the small tradebacks WEG put out.
I have most of CoD/WoD version from '04. Vampire, Werewolf, Mage probably. Hunter. Not as much Changling. I should just take a picture of my shelf filled with these books. This is the Mage/Hunter I ran.
I have also gotten a lot of PDFs over the years, as @Jophiel said, Humble Bundle, Bundle of Holding, or DriveThruRPG with charity things.
I had a GURPS book or two but never played it. In the 90s, it seemed that people loved it or hated it. I can’t say as I never played it.
I want to play some Cthhulhu games or type games at some point.
Since I like it, I am bummed you (or anyone) doesn’t, but of course it’s your choice! Even within SR, not that I’m that active in forums, some still like 1E/2E/3E and I think those rules are “wonky” is the term. 4E/5E hits the spot for me. 6E might get good with clean up.
Those SR editions had the same problem as early WoD. All of the Target Numbers could change, based on what the roll was for. SR dice back then exploded, so they might have TNs of up to 9 as you roll d6s. WoD had this strange sliding scale as well, where you might need as low as a 6 or as high as a 9 on a d10. Both games got much better, IMO, when they figured out the die pools.
I ran a M&M3 game but I find super heroes tough, for myself and my group. imo, to be true to the comic book genre, the character shouldn’t change a lot. That makes it a game about characters more than powers and advancing. I mean, sure, Batman might get different gadgets but Cyclops eye beams don’t change a bunch nor do most of the x-men/mutants. I think that makes that genre, for me, the most challenging. (And that DC Kickstarter for the 80s version was tempting but expensive.)
As much as I love PF, I never got into Starfinder. I think it’s because they used the same setting, albeit 10k years in the future or something. Or maybe it’s their version of space fantasy that doesn’t work. It didn’t read well but I haven’t played or run it, which could change my opinion. I’m equally annoyed at Paizo not wanting to share certain things, like why Aroden died and the like.
I have the Bab5 game, firefly, Leverage, Dresden Files, and others I’m sure. Those have their own issues but mainly that a lot of IPs turned into RPGs are tough to find something to do in the world that isn’t the story I know or that was told. The best example of this is Star Wars. When d6 came out, there were three movies and some novels. We hadn’t had the 90s explosion of novels yet. We had no examples of anything other than rebellion. One of the things I like about more Star Wars shows over the past several decades is that it opens up the galaxy to those kinds of stories. I can run something in Star Wars, hopefully it feels like Star Wars, but doesn’t have to follow the main story. On the other side, Leverage has you have the five types (Hacker, Hitter, Grifter, Thief, Mastermind) so it’s tough not to think of the show. Bab5 has its story told, so not sure what else to do with it. Some of this is a lack of imagination on my part. Equally, though, if I did my own thing in Bab5, what happens when I stray too far and it doesn’t feel like Bab5?
Those are the types of things I think about.
Thanks for the discussion!
I caught how badly I mangled the name of that site just as the edit window closed. In my defense, I was busy ordering Dairy Queen in the other window at the time and stand by my allocation of attention.
It’s very much Pathfinder In Space. I’ve actually never been a big fan of space opera Star Wars/Trek scifi so the setting might appeal more to me than to a big classic scifi fan. On the other hand, I’ve always had zero interest in Starjammer as a milieu.