Quote from: Aglondir on August 29, 2024, 07:41:59 PM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on August 29, 2024, 07:01:14 PM

Quote from: Omega on August 29, 2024, 04:01:57 PMThe art direction for d20 Modern Gamma World was just god awful.
The art for 4e D&D GW was so utterly out of place for what was touted as a "hah hah funny funny!" setting.

About every depiction of a halfling in the 5e D&D core books. WTF

What's wrong with 5E halflings?

I don't own 5E.   

I hate to provide this link, but you wanted to know...

https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/14-halfling

It's as if the artist imagined what Geddy Lee would look like as a trans little person for inspiration.

Usually the stuff I get tilted about is games not understanding weapons, armor and/or martial arts. Particularly I get bent about the endless disrespect the rapier gets. But that's an over-treaded topic, so lets bring up something different.

One thing I've noticed a few times is setting books apparently not putting any thought into the demographics, subsistence or economics of a region. Dolmenwood is a good example here. The listed population of Dolmenwood is 19,090 people. The hex map is a little over 7,000 square miles, with a rough population density of around 2.7 per square mile; not insane for a medieval country, but here's the thing: 93% of that population is concentrated into the four largest towns on the map. There is no way the remaining population could possibly produce the agricultural surplus necessary to feed that. The book only gives populations for towns, but it includes villages of under 100 people, so you have to assume it intends that there are not tens of thousands of unlisted people residing in the hexes, especially since about 70% of that map is supposed to be either dense forest or unpopulated wasteland. There are a few hexes loosely described as "farmland", but the strong impression is that most of the map is supposed to be entirely unpopulated. Neither is there any apparent industry which would allow the necessary food to be imported.

The way I've squared this is to assume that the population figures are undercounted and that Dolmenwood  is a backwater of a backwater, but that makes other problems. Dolmenwood is supposed to be a duchy, and bosts nine significant noble houses, including both the Duke and a Baron. 20,000 people is small for a duchy to begin with, and the surplus of nobility means that some houses apparently only have a handful of retainers and rule over less than 100 people. It's also apparently an extremely affluent province, with each town supporting what would be luxuries in a medieval or renaissance city: bath-houses, private mansions, fancy restaurants, niche shops, etc. I've tried to square that part by saying that the wider kingdom Dolmenwood pays fealty to is much more advanced, deep into the renaissance if not knocking on the door of the early modern period, and Dolmenwood is just culturally very backward.

I'm no expert on medieval economics, but it seems very wrong to me. Gives the impression that the setting is more of a theme park than a real place.

Authors showing their ignorance; throwing in a specific or technical term and getting it wrong when a generic term would have made for a correct statement.

I'm an engineer.  If I let badwrong science stop me from enjoying a story I would have to give up on science fiction entirely.  That said I just about had to walk out of the theater a couple of times in Starwars 7,8,9 because of just how stupid some things were.  I try to be charitable and remember that the creator is doing the best he can with the piddling amount he learned with his liberal arts degree.  And to be fair I would guess that I get just as many things wrong myself that are in areas outside my expertise.

Quote from: PulpHerb on August 29, 2024, 07:40:43 PM

Quote from: BadApple on August 29, 2024, 11:27:09 AMAreas of responsibility for member of ship's crew and shore side personnel is also really bad.  (It's not just RPGs, Hollywood is shit in this category too.  Captain Philips and Contraband were both really bad.)

I hear this.

One of the reasons the BSG reboot miniseries struck me was in the battle scenes the XO was in charge of damage control while the captain fought the ship. That is as normal to me as anything (certainly that was submarine policy from 86-95 when I was in).

Haven't seen it before or since.

Yeah, that did a good job of making it "feel" right.  Aside from just the absolute correctness of responsibilities, the biggest thing I think many miss is how teamwork aspect of running a ship.  I would be more inclined to accept rearranging of the functional structure if there was more understanding of how information is share up and down the chain of command and how decision making is properly defrayed at different levels and different disciplines. 

The best description of how a good ship is run is like an orchestra.  Everyone has their skills, sections have their first chairs that lead and train and in turn are directed by the conductor.  When it's performance time, everyone knows their part and knows how to follow the cues for their pieces.  A good captain is like the conductor that looks like he isn't doing much but he's giving the right cues at the right time to keep it all running smoothly and only asserting himself when there's a decision only he can make.

Quote from: Cathode Ray on August 29, 2024, 08:13:35 PMRemind me to choose you as a naval or electronics consultant for anything of that nature in Radical High

I'd be happy to help.

Quote from: DocJones on August 29, 2024, 09:20:36 PMHave you read "Two Years Before the Mast"?  One of my favorites and which I used as a bible for sea faring adventures, because sailing ships are closer to the D&D fantasy feels. 

It's one of my favorite books.  I've read it several times.

One of the things that struck me most about reading the book is how little has changed from wooden sailing to modern diesel ships.  Mr. Dana would have been out of place with modern equipment but right at home with the onboard working schedule, structure, and culture.  Fortunately, discipline and legal rights have improved a lot.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on August 29, 2024, 08:00:15 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on August 29, 2024, 07:41:59 PM

Quote from: weirdguy564 on August 29, 2024, 07:01:14 PM

Quote from: Omega on August 29, 2024, 04:01:57 PMThe art direction for d20 Modern Gamma World was just god awful.
The art for 4e D&D GW was so utterly out of place for what was touted as a "hah hah funny funny!" setting.

About every depiction of a halfling in the 5e D&D core books. WTF

What's wrong with 5E halflings?

I don't own 5E.   

I hate to provide this link, but you wanted to know...

https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/14-halfling

Sweet mother of god!  Kill it!  Kill it with fire!

That's not a hobbit or legally distinct analog.  That's what happens when amateur artists draw a character on the day they teach perspective at the junior college art class.

Ooooooo that hurts. I just laughed hot coaugh out my nose reading that after seeing the picture !

Heh, as an ex-USAF weapons troop, microwave communications, security systems, IT kind of guy, I run into a lot of cringe.  "The Radio Shack I used to work at has better security than that Urban Fantasy bank heist you wrote."

Ok, my context is retired USAF Meteorologist that spent 17 out of the 21 years working with the Army. Plus I'm self educated in history philosophy and lots of little hobbies (some geeky and some practical). So, with all of that there are A LOT of areas I have some experience in that drive me crazy when they are treated poorly in games movies and books. Now if the story or whatever is good enough to deserve a little slack and can give it leeway.

Weir, yeah I looked at that picture and cringed. If one of my guys on the team back in the dad did that I would have crushed him. I love your 'Nobody in their right mind should hold their loaded rifle by the muzzle.  Even Alec Baldwin should know that one' That is the perfect way to put it!

Omega, I see that picture and the mag is in it and the bolt is forward so my mind screams "hot weapon!" I know most artists would never even think that way and most Hollywood movies (even some of the ones that have military consultants) miss things like that.

BadApple. I might need to pick your brain some time. I'm running my daughters and their friend and her dad in a home brew Traveller game and I have a couple of adventures on a salvaged under repair space station (first one coming up next month using the Baltimore bridge collision as inspiration). I might have experience with AF, Army, and small unit tactics and ATC control, but I have NO experience with Navy, or more accurately Merchant Marines, structure on running a ship/space station.

Zalman, rgr on that ! Sadly back when I was a young troop giving my WX briefing which includs solar/lunar info, I had a SrNCO Army get furious at me for briefing that the moon rise was going to be 5 hours before sun set ... to him the moon was ONLY up at night. It got so heated that the S3 stepped in made me promise I would find him and the 2 of us would find the NCO and he could see if I was right or as stupid as he thought I was.

Jeff. there with you on Sci Fi is more Sci Fantasy. There are times I just have to turn off my brain and go 'just enjoy it' but still things like Star Trek's create mater out of nothing and make what ever the story needs made with a wave of the hand etc gets to me.

I have kicked around an idea on a Traveller 2300 type game but getting rid of 'anti-grave magic hand wave' and using ship set up like in The Expanse. I didn't get to far on it though when my girls wanted a more normal squishy Sci Fi like normal Traveller.

ForgottenF. Yeah that is a good example and it annoys me. No clue on how many people how much land how much effort it takes to feed a town or city. That said, Great point, & I never drilled down on it like you did, on noble families fiefdoms etc. I know enough history to know that Dukes etc had vast holdings (and normally spread out in different areas across the kingdom) etc. But, I had never set and thought about a book saying a backwater or a back water has a duke's main holding and 7 other noble families .... At best it would be maybe a count or 2 (or even a lesser noble than that) with some knight level of nobility rounding out the area's nobility.

Ok, a question now for you Navy guys. A Tom Hanks movie a few years ago 'Greyhound'. How accurate was it ? I have an idea for the Traveller game using it as inspiration.

Quote from: Lurker on August 30, 2024, 12:35:52 PMBadApple. I might need to pick your brain some time. I'm running my daughters and their friend and her dad in a home brew Traveller game and I have a couple of adventures on a salvaged under repair space station (first one coming up next month using the Baltimore bridge collision as inspiration). I might have experience with AF, Army, and small unit tactics and ATC control, but I have NO experience with Navy, or more accurately Merchant Marines, structure on running a ship/space station.

I'd be happy to help.  One of these days I will actually finish my maritime primer for writers and GMs for just this reason.

Merchant seamen aren't military though the authority of the Captain and the Coast Guard is more heavily felt than in more normal forms of employment by bosses and regulators.