I've seen that dynamic and it lead to a group split, with the experimentalists on one side and a "we play DnD, and CoC" on the other.

It was quite amicable, but a lot of it was about people's investment of their time in what they perceived as worthwhile. Some people who only gamed once a week didn't want to play a "might be absolutely trash" game with their one session, and I'm not ill disposed to that reasoning in a short life*

*this is a lie, screw them

@pteryx @Taskerland

@Printdevil @pteryx @Taskerland I think this has been a basic split in the TTRPG scene since nearly the beginning, though I think indie games have become significantly more popular in recent years.

There was the "D20" period, in which they made an earnest effort to generalize D&D's core mechanics. But through most of its history, I think D&D has tended to emphasize its specific or idiosyncratic features. "System mastery" is closely related, but it also plays into something like nostalgia.

@Printdevil @pteryx @Taskerland I saw a general gaming news site feature an article about potential changes to the ranger class in a future D&D edition. That's a big deal if you only play D&D and rangers are your favorite class. From the perspective of most indie games, I think it's kind of assumed that you'll tweak things on the fly and borrow ideas from other games; it wouldn't even make sense to write about a minor change in the text.

"Changes to Rangers" is the sort of thing that youtubers thrive on, and that feeds back into the problem with the hobby.

@foolishowl @pteryx @Taskerland

@Printdevil @foolishowl @Taskerland
It's worth noting that these sorts tend to also specifically insist that the "ranger problem" is a combat effectiveness problem, and lack both the historical perspective on D&D specifically and the critical mindset generally to question this simplistic view.

So even if I played 5e or "5e", most of D&Dtube *still* wouldn't even be that valuable to me.

@Printdevil @pteryx @Taskerland I think this has been a basic split in the TTRPG scene since nearly the beginning, though I think indie games have become significantly more popular in recent years.

There was the "D20" period, in which they made an earnest effort to generalize D&D's core mechanics. But through most of its history, I think D&D has tended to emphasize its specific or idiosyncratic features. "System mastery" is closely related, but it also plays into something like nostalgia.

The whole combat effectiveness type approach to gaming is why I find it hard to chat to local gamers, in a gaming shop, who are gaming.

Because it just looks like an RPG

But it isn't.

@pteryx @foolishowl @Taskerland

@Printdevil @foolishowl @Taskerland
I've run into that issue too, where despite having *met someone through a freeform RP community*, I *still* couldn't really talk with him about D&D because he was frankly off on another planet as far as what the basic nature of the game was. (I could talk with his *husband*, but then he died, so...)

@foolishowl @Printdevil @Taskerland
It seems to me like after "d20 System" proved to be an untrustworthy brand, people who just wanted to make a game without caring about the system started seeking out indie systems to hang their game idea on instead (FATE for a time, then PbtA). After that, there was a parallel "just make it 5e" trend. The kinds of idiosyncratic game system options from the '90s never really came back.

I killed most of my friends irl as well. I'm working on @devilsjunkshop and @strangequark at the moment...

@pteryx @foolishowl @Taskerland

@Printdevil @devilsjunkshop @strangequark @foolishowl @Taskerland
Look, the only person I ever joke about having killed I've never even *met* IRL (the "leader and detective" player from my Eberron superhero campaign back in the day, if you've read that blog post).

This guy was wheelchair-bound and very accident-prone (as in people tended to ram into him with cars), though oddly it was other medical complications that killed him. Wish I could've gotten to know him more, but...

The whole combat effectiveness type approach to gaming is why I find it hard to chat to local gamers, in a gaming shop, who are gaming.

Because it just looks like an RPG

But it isn't.

@pteryx @foolishowl @Taskerland

@Printdevil @pteryx @Taskerland I don't want to object to people enjoying that style of gaming. I just feel sad that some people don't know about the broader range of possibilities, especially when they clearly want to play in a way D&D doesn't accommodate well.

It also covered whatever games were on the go without favouritism beyond what people wrote. I quite liked their Barbarian class which always seemed more interesting than the Unearthed Arcana one. Much shouting in the D&D over that.

Dragon always seemed so bland. A pabulum of gaming.

@strangequark @Taskerland

@Printdevil @strangequark @Taskerland
I don't think the US ever had White Dwarf, but Dragon Magazine sustained me back during my teenage years when actually *getting to play the game* was pretty much only a dream.

But even that eventually went through decay.

1/2

@Printdevil @strangequark @Taskerland
Even as professionally-constrained as it was, older Dragon still used to be heavy on the imaginative parts of the game, and gave tiny glimpses of what else was out there through reviews. When it became more focused on presenting new 3.5 mechanics, which were so widely considered unbalanced that they had to slap "no, we're official, honest!" onto the cover, I let my sub lapse. WotC's website was better at being Dragon than Dragon at the end.

2/2

the UK had some great gaming magazines on and off. White Dwarf obviously, but Imagine and Arcane both had great stuff from time to time.

And there was a dreadful magazine called Fantazia that they let any old gargoyle write for back in the day

<_<

>_>

@pteryx @strangequark @Taskerland

@Printdevil @strangequark @Taskerland
I don't think the US ever had White Dwarf, but Dragon Magazine sustained me back during my teenage years when actually *getting to play the game* was pretty much only a dream.

But even that eventually went through decay.

1/2

@pteryx The first 100 issues of #WhiteDwarf are all on archive.org if you want to take a look:

https://archive.org/details/white-dwarf-magazine-001-100/White%20Dwarf%20001/

@Printdevil @Taskerland

And Arcane

https://archive.org/details/arcane-magazine/Arcane%2001/

@strangequark @pteryx @Taskerland