Quote from: Marleycat;752874Sorry I don't like his writing so never read past book 1. And never watched the show so completely misunderstood. Sorry.

I don't like his writing either, and did start the first book way back when, when it was first published, but never finished it. That's how bad I thought it was.

That said, the wife very recently persuaded me to watch season one of HBO's Game of Thrones, and I must say it is much better than the book, however it's still a complete train wreck as far as a fantasy story, and even when considered as an RPG.

*** SPOILER ALERT ***












































It's HBO, the network that brought several seasons of an extremely good Rome into to your home. The folks at HBO had been watching Starz though, specifically Spartacus, it would seem they really wanted to outdo the folks at Starz, so when the bought Game of Thrones and filmed it, They took all of the controversial tropes, included them while filming... ...and even focused on them turning up the shock and awe scale all the way up to eleven, even though the dial is clearly marked ten.

First episode, ...just to set the tone for the entire series, they have a couple of the nobles, Lannisters, fraternal twins, brother and sister. They are caught in an incestuous relationship by one of the Stark children (from another noble house). The Kingslayer uncouples from his sister, and then proceeds to throw the Stark boy out of the top window of the abandoned tower they all just happen to be in. Just because.

I stopped watching about right there, but the wife persuaded me to return to screening this... there are some better parts, but not many.

After watching the entire first season, I'm finding I'm liking the Dwarf, Tyrien Lannister, quite a bit. I did like Cal Drogo too. ...but he died. One of the most impressive scenes in the show so far came when one of Cals lieutenants rebelled and Cal the Barbarian dueled him to the death. In the final melee, he cuts the Lieutenants throat and rips the rebels tongue out through the hole in his throat, then holds up the bloody tongue to show all the rest of the barbarian horse tribesmen just what happens to a rebel, who speaks with no respect.

Mostly it's about a lot of intrigue and political maneuvering, with very little actually happening during every episode, except there is usually a cliffhanger right at the end. GoT was made for HBO.

The first disk from season two should be in today or tomorrow, and I'll keep watching, ...because well, The Dragons, and I must confess I'm interested in what will happen to young Arya Stark.

I'm also betting the White Walkers and Wildlings will attack in force over the ice wall, but would be surprised if HBO actually filmed any of that and managed to include it in seasons 2, 3 or 4.

I fully admit that Arya was the only reason I stuck with the books as long as I did.

I'm going to drop it and I'm not going to say anything more to spoil GOT for anyone who's watching the show without being up on the books.

Instead, I'm just going to say that I'm happy with what I've seen of 5E, I think the starter set will be very helpful in bringing in new DMs, I'm happy that so many of the basic rules are going to be free, I'm happy that two of the first six products are what look to be high-production quality adventures, I'm happy with the art I've seen, and I'm excited that the races and classes in the basic game are going to be compatible with the greater number of choices in the PHB and I'm happy that it appears highly customizable.

I don't know enough about the market to be able to predict whether this thing's going be  smash hit, a dismal flop or anything in between, but I do know that I should have most of what I want in my greedy little hands before the year is done.

At this point, my balloon is out of popping range.

Thanks for the quick rundown.

Quote from: Benoist;752703I love it how now having two paragraphs explaining how to roll ability scores, choose a race and a class for yourself, along with a couple of lines explaining the basics for each now just means you are a filthy charop denner who can't live without options.

To a first-time player, the difference between a 16 or 17 Con is likely going to be meaningless, and the difference between putting a 15 on Dex or Str is likely going to be obvious if you're using only the four basic classes. And how many race/class combos did Holmes Basic have? 10? The hardcopy starter set will have 5, and the online Basic rules available at release will have something like 16.

Take a breath, step back and think about the real scope of this 'issue'.

Quote from: Haffrung;752950Take a breath, step back and think about the real scope of this 'issue'.

Actually, this is you 5vengers who need to step back for a minute and think about the scope of this issue, along with the disproportionate response you're offering on forums like this one in order to defend what amounts to a fuck up.

Somebody criticized the 5e starter set. Not the end of the world. Really.

Quote from: Simlasa;752839Yeah... the Basic version looks like the way to go. Screw the 'Starter Set', it can go die in a fire.

Yeah, because any RPG product that doesn't meet your aesthetic and dogmatic ideals can fuck off and die and burn and then be pissed on.

Who says D&D doesn't attract obsessive, resentful uber-nerds who lack all rational sense of perspective?

I have to say that my desire to maybe download the chargen pdf and take a look at maybe playing a game have been quenched by the arguments here.

Quote from: Benoist;752952Actually, this is you 5vengers who need to step back for a minute and think about the scope of this issue, along with the disproportionate response you're offering on forums like this one in order to defend what amounts to a fuck up.

Somebody criticized the 5e starter set. Not the end of the world. Really.

Quote from: Haffrung;752953Yeah, because any RPG product that doesn't meet your aesthetic and dogmatic ideals can fuck off and die and burn and then be pissed on.

Who says D&D doesn't attract obsessive, resentful uber-nerds who lack all rational sense of perspective?

See? Disproportionate responses like this one.

Actually, Benoist, I don't think it was an entirely disproportionate response to:

Quote from: SimlasaScrew the 'Starter Set', it can go die in a fire.

Quote from: Bobloblah;752961Actually, Benoist, I don't think it was an entirely disproportionate response to:

Oh yes it was.

How so? WotC announces giving away the core of the game for free, and the Starter Set, which we don't even know the details of yet, can "go die in a fire"? Pointing out the absurd overreaction seems like one of the more reasonable things Haffrung has said in the last few days. It doesn't help your case to imply it was a response to you (by the way you quoted), when it clearly wasn't.

I agree with you about character generation - I think it would have been better to be physically in the Starter Set for a whole host of reasons - but that doesn't make some of the responses to it not being there any more reasonable.

Quote from: Benoist;752957See? Disproportionate responses like this one.

You're doing it again.  Either totally having blinders on, or are being deliberately obtuse.  Why you insist on accusing defenders of 5e for having disproportiate responses yet continue to ignore things like:

"Anyone using a pregen is missing the entire point of the game."
"Without chargen rules, the starter box is little different than a boardgame"
"Screw the starter set, it can die in fire"

and many others is beyond me.  Unless for some reason you agree with those statements.  I actually asked you point blank yesterday if you did because you are adamant about defending them, and you dodged the question.

Quote from: Sacrosanct;752966You're doing it again.  Either totally having blinders on, or are being deliberately obtuse.  Why you insist on accusing defenders of 5e for having disproportiate responses yet continue to ignore things like:

"Anyone using a pregen is missing the entire point of the game."
"Without chargen rules, the starter box is little different than a boardgame"
"Screw the starter set, it can die in fire"

and many others is beyond me.  Unless for some reason you agree with those statements.  I actually asked you point blank yesterday if you did because you are adamant about defending them, and you dodged the question.

You should've known Benoist well enough by now, that even when he writes FUCK YOU in bold large letters and you assume he's angry, he'll then say that how dare you misinterpret that because he's ever the calm and reasonable one. Because you see, I am totally calm and you're just too sensitive for Internet, you little pussy.

And that wasn't an insult, it was merely a statement of problem, and if you feel insulted, you are too sensitive for the Internet. Also strawman.

Same principle applies here really.

5e Starter Set should burn in a fire? Reasonable response.
OD&D Starter Set might be outdated in an age of constant PDF use? HOW DARE YOU SIR PISTOLS AT DAWN. I am calm.

And it goes on.