When EVERY D&D setting looks like and has values exactly like 2018 Seattle during Pride Week, and any setting with divergent values from that is forbidden on pain of social attack, censorship, and financial ruination; when all settings look exactly the same, then Maximum Diversity will be achieved!

[video=youtube_share;R29Y_nwgXoQ]https://youtu.be/R29Y_nwgXoQ[/youtube]

So, I'm curious, any specific review on the book otherwise? I assume you're referring to the Waterdeep: Dragon Heist book that's to release in a week or so? I have it pre-ordered, but thinking I should just pass. Seems less and less interesting the more I see previewed...

Waterdeep should not be like 2018 Seattle. It should of course be like 2018 Vancouver.

Given that FR is Ed Greenwood's baby, I don't mind the good-guy bits having Progressive tropes. It's the "all settings should be like this" bit I object to. Although I would find Gay Pride marches in Waterdeep to be jarring, and Crawford clearly has a tin ear - his attempt to make FR his own Magical Realm, rather than Ed's Magical Realm, is annoying. For some reason I find SocJus in Golarion to be a lot more annoying than in FR. I think the reason is that FR derives from one man's original vision. Golarion is a corporate creation, a Pastiche, and was originally (2007-10) only mildly Progressive in ethos; for me the shift to hardcore SocJus around 2012 was very jarring.

What's next for Lankhmar?

No prostituion?

No thieves?

No dark cults?

The Rainbow Palace is woke and a Gay Pride bastion?

Bwaahahahahahahaha!

Well, whatever you wanna play, I guess.

FR greybox and the old blue Waterdeep will do me, if I play Ed's world again.

I wonder if Ragefast of Baldur's Gate gets chased by a mob brandishing pitchforks after a #Metoo from the nymph he kidnapped.:rolleyes:

So...every setting needs bad traffic, huge consumption of antidepressants, massive homeless crisis and high suicide rates?

With all that inspiration, you'd think the useless shits at WotC and Paizo would crank out some quality grimdark!

Quote from: Spinachcat;1055803So...every setting needs bad traffic, huge consumption of antidepressants, massive homeless crisis and high suicide rates?

Well maybe not the traffic.

Shit like this is why I play Ravenloft and not Forgotten Realms.

But what if I prefer Portland, Oregon? :confused:

The market is segmenting. Soon their will be those that can appease the SJW hate-fest, and literally everyone else.

Really it's just a matter of enough writers, fans, and reviewers being driven off the Big Purple circle that they can form their own community.

It's not like people actually compete for shelf space anymore at stores, you can get everything you ever wanted online and someone's home is more comfortable. You can get a group for any game as long as you are willing to run it yourself and have friends.

What do you make of this gushing polygon article on the latest adventure to drop?

https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/11/17845902/dungeons-and-dragons-waterdeep-dragon-heist-review

Being polygon, I find it intrinsically untrustworthy and I sure won't be dropping $40 to find out for sure.

I've never liked FR, and Golarion is even worse. Too rich, too populous, too anachronistic, too modern.

The reason I got sanctioned on RPGnet in the first place was for defending history as an inspiration for my D&D campaign. It's badwrongfun to run a fantasy RPG in a setting that's based on medieval Europe and Near East but much nastier. Anyone know if the latest Warhammer setting has been turned into vanilla-happy-awesome land?

Quote from: ArrozConLeche;1055824What do you make of this gushing polygon article on the latest adventure to drop?

https://www.polygon.com/2018/9/11/17845902/dungeons-and-dragons-waterdeep-dragon-heist-review

Being polygon, I find it intrinsically untrustworthy and I sure won't be dropping $40 to find out for sure.

What a terrible review. I get the impression the author has been playing D&D for about two years and his breadth of experience is limited to a handful of WotC adventure paths. First he expresses concern that the book is only 224 pages long. I guess you need 300 or more pages to cover a level 1-5 adventure? Then he gushes over how the book is tremendously immersive and original because the author explains that Waterdeep has four seasons and describes in a sentence or so what each of those season feels like - and those seasons correspond to those of the Pacific Northwest. What astonishing creativity and imagination!

Really, all those two points do is remind me why I won't be buying any more WotC adventures: they're so bloated and poorly organized that I have to spend hours and hours making summaries in order to run them at the table; and the FR setting is so cloyingly anodyne that it's about as inspiring and exotic as a vanilla cupcake.

Quote from: Haffrung;1055831First he expresses concern that the book is only 224 pages long. I guess you need 300 or more pages to cover a level 1-5 adventure?

I thought you were joking until I googled it! Nope - it really is a 5 level adventure (inc 1-3 newbie levels) in only 224 pages!!

I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but this reminds me of two things:

  1. I should really work on that Romanticized Christendom setting I've been toying with, if only for my own amusement;
  2. The Usual Suspects are probably going to flip when Paladin hits shelves.

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1055835I haven't had a chance to watch the video yet, but this reminds me of two things:

  1. I should really work on that Romanticized Christendom setting I've been toying with, if only for my own amusement;
  2. The Usual Suspects are probably going to flip when Paladin hits shelves.

I'm eagerly awaiting Paladin for all the reasons that the usual suspects are going to flip out about, and because it's going to be awesome in its own right.