It's funny how the people claiming to be Chaotic Good were actually legit Lawful Evil. Chaotic Good means following your conscience over structure or authority and is about personal freedom. It would be hypocritical to champion your own personal freedom while stomping on someone else's like they did do that individual. They sound more like tyrants upholding their own perspective and silencing dissenters. That's Lawful Evil.

QotV: family. I have had so many health problems in my life of so many sorts that family is how I got this far. Family is very important to me, though in my worst times I did not yet understand such.

All I have to say to rebut you is: Dungeons and Dragons. That game alone points out how system matters and matters enough that you won't go near it nor will go near any fantasy RPG. Sure story can and should transcend the system, however if I am constantly battling against the system to tell my story it very quickly is no longer my system. I won't try to run a story about superheroes in Call of Cthulhu, for one example. There are possibly several ways to use and misuse Call of Cthulhu that way ... or I just get out my old TSR MSH books or grab Sentinel Comics or even the Savage Worlds Super Powers Companion. Point taken that one must operate within the limitations of systems one is born into, no one is born into any particular game system as their one and only.

QotV: this is more of a past tense answer. DnD crippled my creativity because "Halfling Rogue" was the extent of my idea of backstory. I had never thought of character story or even character motivation. Then I ended up in a very toxic White Wolf Vampire group where moral depravity was the entire backstory which was no improvement. I had to go from cluelessly shallow DnD guy to finding my own moral third rail and eventually fleeing that group. Over the years since, I often think more in terms of how TV shows intro the characters, especially older shows. A montage of imagery that tells a quick miniature essay of what show is about - watching Matlock opening credits tells me what I need to know about Matlock. I have loved placing empty brackets in writeups so that they can be filled later on, though the Numera d20 roll has helped even moreso. My Tough Glaive who Rages, rarely ever actually Rages - most of the time he is just an affable bumbler who acts as a bodyguard to the other (noble) PC. My side note is he was part of the guard, and well liked. Enough to get placed as a personal bodyguard. Just enough to get me going and in the game, with additional stuff brought in during the game. While over in my Savage Worlds Weird Wars II game, private Petrillo has his proud New Jersey Italian roots to uphold. He just can't help it if most of his shooting ability came from the sometimes exciting world of running booze in from the stills out in the Pine Barrens.

Since characters should be functional in a group oriented setting, I much prefer characters being fleshed out at the table in a manner conducive to the social pastime of gaming. Soloing (with the Mythic Game Master Emulator which I recently purchased) is another issue altogether - solo character background only has to satisfy me and I have no need of some "digital magic eightball" to make my background. My worry is that AI is no shortcut to an imagination when actually being literate and a voracious reader and actially applying oneself is the path to being proactive. AI just feels like being merely reactive instead.

I am one of those who tend to put my foot down on overly extravagant backstories. I was handeda full notebook of some distressingly awful fanfic novelization of the backstory, 100 poorly scawled pages of drivel. I want at most a roughly 10 quick questions. Additionally, I am easily annoyed with "traumatic backgrounds" that look like knockoffs of Batman, etc. Which often seems to become the "angry loner" that has zero interest in the actual gaming group.

This sampling of the book really just makes me want to see how Monte Cooke's team would handle a new edition of Gamma World...

QotV: For me I have zero problem with jettisoning any company that displays such blatant cowardice as being "nonpolitical." As stated, I too vote with my money. That said,I am very anti-corporate and avoid DnD and Pathfinder and its pastiches and clones. I like little companies where I can safely see exactly where they honestly display their values alongside the quality of their product.

I'm one of the demographics that will be physically harmed by the next four years and I am as likely to buy product that displays values I desire to see out in the world. (But not only on the basis of values, if the system is dreck I'll look elsewhere.) So this is one of those things where even the absence of "identity politics" - as you perceive such - is itself a display of identity politics. I just don't see companies winning this argument by attempting neutrality when neutrality will be labeled as cowardice. Gaming is too niche to remain aloof. Someone somewhere within the company will end up making a statement and the company will have to choose a side. And honestly,I also will pick and choose gaming groups based upon my values and I deem neutrality to be a display of weakness.

You should watch the movie youre citing because you watched it out of context and that scene actually damns Tar later on and also feeds into her insecurity and desire to control; max wasnt the narcissist, it was Tar.

_Because you're worth it_ 😎

Critical role is corny AF. Its fine for what it is i just think its not for ppl who actually play ttrpgs

The weirdest thing that ever happened to me during a session was me describing an abyssal demon spider of Lolth slowly emerging to attack the party...at the same time, I saw one of my players staring at something behind my girlfriends' head in horror...at that exact moment a massive, 8" across gigantic wolf spider was crawling down the wall right behind her head...she succeeded on her real life will save and we carefully got the spider out, but it was TOO WEIRD!!!

So, I have done this twice and achieved the same results. Requires an earth-like planet with hot, sunny day. Say 36 to 40 degrees celcius. In the middle of the road the players are travelling on is a sealed Jar of Mayonnaise in their path. Both times I've used this, the players kept their distance, yelled at it, hurled insults at it, and even thrown small rocks or sticks at the jar before heavily detoured around it. Ultimately the jar of mayonnaise is the weakest encounter I've ever thrown at the players that has gone undefeated. It is also the adversary that has caused the most caution.

QotV: classic later 80s moment in "that RPG," in which one chsracter had a magic spear of +1, +3 when thrown. But also was sentient with a paralyzing fear of flying, which meant it was a battle of wills to throw the spear. Decades later, most of the campaign is nothing I'd want to revisit - except for that spear. Most games since then are much more predictable, so that memory sticks out.

QotV: I think going through a Dreamworld to rescue another player character was the weirdest thing. He had been snatched there and we had to navigate through a nightmare to find him

QotV: I used to play in a Changeling: the Dreaming chronicle in which my character was a nocker (ill-tempered tinker gnome) named Goldberg. His most spectacular creation was an imitation Martian war machine -- the flying type from the movie, not the classic tripod -- powered by a pasta-antipasto reactor. Why? Because the storyteller let me get away with it.

As a personal policy, I don’t subscribe to any KZbin channels. But, I often dip in to your channel and appreciate your videos. Thank you for your honesty and courage in posting this video. We need more souls with this attitude no matter if we agree or disagree.

legends: the superhero role playing game looks fine and would be fun to play

Concerning the Millionaire Survey - 79% of Millionaires in a recent survey CALL THEMSELVES "self-made". Doesn't mean it's true. Also we are assuming an even distribution of systems that they come from. If that were true, that means only 60% of them were White and of them, 8% came from Poverty (the real self made millionaires). But that's not the point of your video.

3 of these Rules affects everybody. I'm white & Number 4 has deeply affected me. My wife, who was gaming in the 80s, used to tell her Mom she was going out with her boyfriend, though she was actually gaming. Her Religious Mom would rather she be hooking up than playing that Satanic Game. Funny now.... Not so much then. Good video

I have noticed my game tables looking a little snowy

Keep doing such great videos exposing the underbelly of these players control tools

Family.

There is a conversation here that's being skipped by a lot of people in the hobby. Is the big red ampersand a good custodian of the hobby? As their tide rises, are they making it harder for ALL ships that follow? Are some of the struggles we currently have in the hobby (entitlement, narcissism, and outside interference) connected to the lower value and easier principles that have taken over?

We're doing grown up things. SUBSCRIBED! ;-)

QotV: Of the systems I was born into the one that currently gets most of my attention is my nation. Partly because we just got through a cycle of national elections but mostly because, of the systems I live in, that is the one that is currently experiencing the most Chaos, Conflict, and Challenge. So of course this means that there is an opportunity for real growth here. Hopefully we as a nation will embrace that growth instead of retreating into demonizing those with whom we don't agree.

I avoid playing with anyone that wants to add BDSM and associated "safety tools" to their games. Do you know who wrote up the Safety Tools list that most people use? Her name is Shanna Germain. She is a TTRPG designer... but also writes BDSM "How-To" books. This should put things into perspective.

I avoid playing with anyone that wants to add BDSM and associated "safety tools" to their games. Do you know who wrote up the Safety Tools list that most people use? Her name is Shanna Germain. She is a TTRPG designer... but also writes BDSM "How-To" books. This should put things into perspective.

Black, white, gay, straight, everyone is welcome at my table...except the assholes who WAIT UNTIL THEIR TURN TO DECIDE WHAT THEYRE DOING!? THOSE are the people we should hate 🤣

Love this series! Wassup from Australia

System I focus on the most is finance, because maaaaaan, the 2020's suck and they're going to get worse.

The main system I focus on is my own TTRPG system.

QOTV: Aun Aprendo (I am still learning). The system I focus on the most is education. It started really in high school for various reasons, and it has only gotten stronger over time. Not just formal education but informally turning everything into a chance to learn. Watching channels like this one, always reading (I've binge read over 20 books in October and November), exposing myself to any different industry or field of knowledge I can find, etc. A drawback is that overtime I have learned I need to push back against my tendency to care less about what I do vs what I know. As the saying goes, "knowing your scripture is fine, but eventually David had to pick up a stone and fling it at Goliath". Always love your videos, thank you!

Man, 7 minutes in I had no idea where you were going with this... good story you just wrote there.

I see my first love: Gamma World

No significant growth can be achieved from a place of comfort.

I would say family dominates in many ways and not for the best reasons. My close family is two cats. My awkward family is my parents. I used to have a sibling but then he did something very foolish and is no longer corporeally in this world. That last part along with the last four years and my family being a family of politicos with different views has caused some strain. My usual thoughts are how to make things better or should I try. Other than that, I would say that it's labour systems. My job is risky due to the economy and I'm considering going back to education for training as a veterinarian. So far all I can say about my life beyond gaming is I've given 4 cats a good home (so my vet claims) and talked 2 people out of suicide. I want to do more with my life.

I think you missed the mark on this one. Do you not see how part of that could be a lack of representation? Sure, people don't need to see themselves reflected in a game, but you can't really expect people to think of something as a thing they are welcome to participate in without that representation. In other words, there are a lot of people who see a decided lack of diversity in something and assume that whatever it is isn't for them. And, why would they bother, given that their initial impression is what is most important? Gaming has a lot of issues surrounding race, and even the representation of it. However, the very idea of making representation a bigger focus isn't it. I'd say that the bigger issue is that, more often than not, nobody of whatever ethnicity is being portrayed in a game is being consulted on any of it. For some really prime examples, you could look at the old White Wolf World of Darkness source books on any culture that wasn't eurocentric. Looking back at some of them makes me cringe. They had the right intentions, but everything turned out exactly how you'd expect it to.

When I started playing in the early 80s, it was just me (white guy) and my friend (black guy). Our struggle was mostly due to the 80’s satanic panic and his religious parents (immigrated to Canada from St. Kitts). As an adult, my main group consisted of a guy whose father is black and mother is white. So, maybe just my experience or possibly a cultural difference between Canadians and Americans is that I don’t know RPGs without black people. Edit: recently GMd a game for my great nephew and his friends which included a Filipino boy and a Muslim girl (not sure where her parents immigrated from. Never asked because it wasn’t relevant)

You said Tales of the Valiant but A better substitute for D&D Pathfinder is Castles & Crusades (free PDF, longer lasting, zero politics, support veterans and libraries. Convert ON THE FLY). A better 5E compatible substitute is Meister Manual Complete RPG

Session 0. Another dumb idea. "If you want a getting to know you" go out for coffee. Don't waste time at the gaming table.

Isn't one of those companies in one of the links in the description? My favorite system was cypher until i found out, now its confusing how to react.

Very clear and based set of points made here. Amen! How did it take me 2 years to find this channel? You earned a subscription from me my man. Keep the great content coming!