Matthew Andre

I realized the simple act of the players choosing where to go (either on a dungeon or world map) was incredibly important to me on both sides of the table (GM and player). I finally started putting together what player-driven adventures actually meant in practice.

I had played in a handful of different campaigns, run my own mini-campaigns, and thought a lot about why some of them were fun and others weren't. Megadungeons and wilderness exploration were fun for me, but games where the GM expected us to go certain places and talk to specific NPCs weren't.

I don't think we had a session 0, but they definitely existed. The group originally formed as a different GM running a pre-published adventure, and we TPK'd. I stepped up to GM a different published adventure after, and it was my first time running a major campaign. I learned a lot through it.

I stopped GMing for a group of guys I really liked after a year and half because...

Our playstyles didn't align. They wanted a more GM-driven campaign, and I wanted a more player-driven campaign. Moving their characters from scene-to-scene with little real input burned me out bad.

There are many games that try this in tabletop roleplaying, and it's one of the very first rules the majority of players get rid of.

Think you're right on the money with this.

Hexploration Decks & Tiles-- Hexcrawl/Sandbox RPG Support Build an unforgettable campaign setting! These decks offer inspiration through imaginative art, lists of evocative ideas, and simple sandbox/hex crawl guidelines. Plus Hex Minimap Tiles to build a map...

Don't have anything of my own to shout out, but I just found this cool hexploration deck a couple days ago, and I'm quite impressed with it!

www.backerkit.com/c/projects/i...

lotta beautiful art there

I think we can fully agree on this, at least. They certainly try to be Hot Dog Stand, and have failed spectalularly at doing so. I don't think they've had a single in-house success with any of their D&D-supporting or adjacent products. Even DMsGuild is just Drivethrurpg partnering with WotC.

I need some examples of WotC (on the D&D side) turf constructing drawing value from the hobby around them. I have Paizo, the OSR, and tens of millions of dollars in crowdfunding for third-party content that WotC doesn't see a cent from to point at on my side. I have an open license to point at.

The Game Left Unplayed Game mechanics shape the game played at the table, even when they’re not actually used during the game. This runs counter to many…

Jay Dragon actually has a really good blog post about it, which I have shared many times before:

possumcreek.medium.com/the-game-lef...

D&D is still bringing in tons of players to the wider world of ttrpgs. As many complaints as I have about the system, it does a lot of things that draw in people who wouldn't otherwise be too interested in fantasy. I think there's something to the complexity and illusion of complexity in 5e.

Based off my own experiences, I'm inclined to partially agree, but I'm not so sure my experiences are indicative. Would the medium have the recognition it currently has in pop culture if D&D wasn't such a strong market leader? I don't honestly think it would. It's a shame D&D is the one, but it is.

I love you Wil, but 5e, the OGL, and even WotC are examples of Art Gallery, despite their many faults and occasional attempts at destroying all that.

WotC isn't even gaining soft power with brand recognition and marketshare with these.

Sure, they get that soft power from the tens of millions of dollars of 5e-compatible crowd-funded content, but these creators don't have to be under ANY license or contract with WotC. That's a fucking sweet deal.

The material realities here are entirely different. The OGL doesn't give WotC any control over, or payment from, anything anybody makes with it. Paizo took WotC's game, made a .75 version, and became their biggest ttrpg competitor. The early OSR was built off the 3rd edition SRD.

OpenQuest D100 Role Playing Made Easy

openquestrpg.com

They have a free Mythras Imperative version. It's maybe worth mining ideas from. Used to be RuneQuest 6e before they lost the license.

There are also OpenQuest and SimpleQuest, which massively simplify the mechanics, though I feel you're kinda missing the point with Mythras if you simplify it.

Yes, they do open licensing when they're ceding marketshare to other publishers, but that open licensing has stuck around, and people inside wotc have fought for it hard time and time again.

I don't like D&D. I hate WotC. I don't want to defend them. I want people like you to grow beyond hate.

D&D has pulled 100x more people into this hobby than every other ttrpg combined. It has probably never dropped lower than 50% marketshare of all NA ttrpg sales. Allowing anyone to use their content for their own products is Art Gallery. People do not need to make D&D content with the OGL.

D12 has the most pleasing shape, though

Mythras gets a lot of this stuff right, but is just a little bit too crunchy for most people. It is absolutely amazing how, through sheer mechanics, it can turn a series of dice rolls into an incredible story of violence.

D&D's corporate made an open license for others to publish material using their game's content

Yes, they tried to squash it at least twice, but also released the same material under an even better license

I'm no D&D lover. I'm certainly no WotC lover. Regardless of all this, it's still art gallery

Many indie creators will get raging mad at this, but D&D isn't a hot dog stand either.

Lots of beautiful art and evocative tables on these cards

Just found a really simple online hexmap maker with a nice amount of options!

inkwellideas.com/roleplaying_...

The same people also sell Hexploration decks that I just found out are pretty damn good. Excited to use them in an upcoming game!

It's a very game-y way to deal with the issue, but Daggerheart tries to be both a game-y game and a narrative game. I didn't really think combat in it was very fun compared to other tactical games, so I'll do without the game-y part.

They try to get around this with Minions and Hordes. Minions always have 1HP, but are still full damage threats. Hordes are like packs or swarms, and their damage is high inititially, but drops when half their hitpoints have been marked. Each point of HP for a horde = a # of creatures

Unfortunately, I came away from my time with the game feeling that a lot of small annoyances built up into big overall annoyance. It's a fine game, but I wouldn't run it again unless I had a group of players super excited to play it. Grimwild does all the fiction-first stuff way more elegantly.

It allows for some neat things like a maximum damage ceiling for both enemies and players. Players can't just nova a boss down, and can't be oneshot. The low health number allows Stress to be a threat without being oppressive. Lots of cool tricks for a small annoyance.

is married to the rules-first tactical combat part.

I love both tactical and narrative ttrpgs, and was surprised when DH missed the mark for me. After playing Grimwild, I have no desire to play DH again. Grimwild just does all the fiction-first stuff WAY more elegantly.

That's fair. My players didn't seem to have a problem with it, but they weren't the ones saying 'add hope', or tracking fear, every single time they rolled.

My big issue with tracking is how much of it is gained out of combat, but spent in combat. I'm unconvinced the fiction-first side of the game