Glad to hear that went really well for you Luke! I know that Katie has wanted to do the same thing with us since getting other friends involved has been difficult. Unfortunately we have to get through this period where her newly diagnosed arthritis needs to be handled, but once that is addressed and she’s fully mobile again, we will dive in.
That’s Scott’s go-to move. -_-
But seriously, your first experience with modern D&D went way better than it seems to for most people. There’s a pretty strong undercurrent in the community right of “I saw these awesome people play this crazy story on Twitch, but when I played/ran it it was a shitshow.”
I think your stage experience sets you up to be a fantastic GM.
Well I didn’t run a story like anything I’ve seen or heard before, but I had a good idea of what could go wrong and made sure things were in place to catch them and make them work for the story.
I think how well it went is less to do with my stage experience and more to do with 10 years of podcasting about stories and also writing many stories of my own. I don’t find it that difficult to work out a satisfying story for my girlfriend of 7 years, knowing her tastes pretty well too.
Does anybody popular actually stream like… real D&D and not “for show” D&D? Tons of people seem to like Action Inc or that one show with all the actors/voice actors… but people expecting their games to be like that are setting themselves up for disappointment.
I should look to see if someone’s done it already, but I’d like to do a series or something going over RPGs historically and the various different takes on gaming over the years. Especially how so many different games and editions of games were built as reactions to that which came before.
I’m pondering either running Paranoia on roll 20 or possibly reskin Tomb of Annihilation to play it with this guys rules: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/8zkfhk/star_wars_5e_players_handbook_v120/
I think the latter would be kinda neat. Like instead of the continent it’s set on have it be a strange jungle world that seems to be pulling ships out of hyperspace and forcing them to crash with a gravity well, and replace the lich/undead with ancient sith things. I think it has some traction.
Yes, but it is largely unwatchable.
You can have games like that if the GM and players put in the effort.
Go for it.
I’ve had games like that. Rarely, and primarily at conventions.
I mean, define Real D&D? But I guess there’s the C-Team from PennyArcade. And some friends of mine run Split the Party, which is about as close to real D&D as you’re going to get while still being watchable.
Matt Collville doesn’t but likely will soon. Though he’s been playing since the 70s and has amassed a large amount of minis and such so likely will have a higher level of “graphics” for a normal dnd game
Personally I find stuff like critical roles unwatchable because it comes across as a bunch of talented actor types just acting with “the game as window dressing.”
In this context I’d define “real” as not making compromises to pander to the theoretical audience.
I am slightly hopeful that Matt Collville’s series when he does it is closer to what I want.
In that case, C-team is a lot of what you’re looking for - It does do some audience pandering, but not really in-game, mostly in the form of stuff that’s largely invisible if you don’t watch the streams. It’s stuff like having the “Shadow Council” get prizes when they roll nat 20s, voting on things in game, or conferring Advantage for various things(like, particularly good roleplaying, for one example), but other than occasionally being mentioned, they’re largely invisible and uninvolved.
Split the party is very real, they don’t compromise or pander to the audience at all.
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The two that come to mine are D20 live and these warriors are terrible. Both candians of people you will not know and a decent primer for RPGs with 3 shotting campaigns
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That is actually how a lot of the D&D I played went. Freeform role-play punctuated by mechanical fights.
That’s sort of what I want to see discussed somewhere. The way different groups and games focused on entirely different interpretations of what the game was about, and how you end up arriving at things like storyteller as opposed to dragonlance as opposed to 3rd editions rules for everything as opposed to 4th editions streamlining but hyper combat focus. Colville’s videos hit upon some of this sometimes. There’s a group out there that would absolutely hate free-form games and there’s another group out there for which free-form and wish fulfillment is the entirety of hobby.
Your best approach to experiencing “real D&D” short of playing is Actual Play podcasts. I wouldn’t really recommend that approach to start. Penny Arcade’s Acquisitions Incorporated: C Team is pretty good if you don’t mind a lighter take on the rules and want an enjoyable experience.
People have been trying (and failing) to write a good Harry Potter RPG for two decades. One that feels like the books without being a trash fire mechanically.
Last night I did it in five hours.
I am the most powerful RPG designer.
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An official D&D module set in the M:tG setting of Ravinica.
How long until we get a set of M:tG cards set in FORGOTTEN RHELMS?
NO.
I DON’T WANT TO PLAY MAGIC AGAIN.
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Elminster: Planeswalker
I was hoping for Planescape or Spelljammer.
Planescape exists canonically in Forgotten Realms and vice versa.
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