WotC Stalinists Rewrite D&D History

honeydipperdavid · November 28, 2023, 12:26:32 PM

Dude, I'm just having fun eating popcorn as I watch WotC find new and creative ways to cut their sales in half. If Hasbro was a radioactive element, its half life would be 5 years. It's looking like WotC'oninum half life is less than Hasbro's we just haven't found out yet. I've seent he sales figures coming out of Tenkar and its not looking great for D&D right now.

I do everything I can not to give WotC a dime. I was going to get a bingo card going for cancellation words for my groups with a $1 buy in for cards, but the recent dump just made me rethink trying to do it now. Too much has already been used.

Armchair Gamer · November 28, 2023, 01:00:58 PM

Quote from: tenbones on November 28, 2023, 11:45:49 AM
I'll play Satan's Lawyer a bit...

WotC owns D&D. Do they not have the right to pillage the D&D brand as they see fit? Do they not have the right to lie to everyone about its history? To fill it with their own self-loathing fantasies and frankenstein it into a worse monstrosity than it is now?

Only if you're granting classical liberal premises about the sanctity of property rights and contracts. Work from a traditionalist viewpoint that values tradition and the common good, or a progressive viewpoint that believes in equity and redress of historical grievances by certain parties, and you might get a different answer.

Quote
And why do we care? They are about to seal themselves off in Crypt of Insanity. The brand is going elsewhere to dwell and hopefully they'll bring the Marxists with them into the walled Crypt. And there they should lay for all eternity... doing unspeakable acts to themselves.

Let them spin their lies. Give them no money, no sustenance, no energy. We have better things to do (and play).

Here, I fully agree. Leave The Game Behind. There are enough variants and alternatives for nearly every taste and style of game; it's just a question of figuring them out and attracting players.

tenbones · November 28, 2023, 02:28:26 PM

That's exactly right - THIS is the time to make those changes in order to start attracting people to whatever the "new thing(s)" are going to be. I think the fight to keep the elements of the radioactive freakshow "alive" is less optimal. I'm not convinced everyone will suddenly go to OSR d20, but they should certainly get a big boost from those that don't get on the WotC Starship to Hell.

Hell even the weirdos at Paizo are shifting away from D&D. I say it's not far enough (though some of the mechanical changes they're making I know about are *good* - it's the rest of their woke content that I refuse to give them money for).

Exploderwizard · November 28, 2023, 02:48:04 PM

I have a d30 based fantasy game that I am still developing. Because of what WOTC is doing I have to make sure that slavery, tribes, savages, barbarians, insanity, etc are very much a part of the game.

Slambo · November 28, 2023, 03:33:17 PM

Quote from: Exploderwizard on November 28, 2023, 02:48:04 PM
I have a d30 based fantasy game that I am still developing. Because of what WOTC is doing I have to make sure that slavery, tribes, savages, barbarians, insanity, etc are very much a part of the game.

D30? Bold choice. Part of me hopes this isnt a typo lol.

Steven Mitchell · November 28, 2023, 03:41:13 PM

Quote from: Slambo on November 28, 2023, 03:33:17 PM
Quote from: Exploderwizard on November 28, 2023, 02:48:04 PM
I have a d30 based fantasy game that I am still developing. Because of what WOTC is doing I have to make sure that slavery, tribes, savages, barbarians, insanity, etc are very much a part of the game.
D30? Bold choice. Part of me hopes this isnt a typo lol.

It's 50% more linear!

Aglondir · November 28, 2023, 05:56:56 PM

No one but Gen X will know the real name of Boba Fett's Starship.
Do the recent Star Wars RPGs do this as well?

Ratman_tf · November 28, 2023, 07:02:57 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on November 28, 2023, 05:56:56 PM
No one but Gen X will know the real name of Boba Fett's Starship.
Do the recent Star Wars RPGs do this as well?

I'm reminded of the naming of Megatron. As I heard the story, Hasbro thought Megatron sounded a lot like Megaton (as in megatons of nuclear bombs), and found it a bit threatening. The guy who was creating the lore and naming characters said (and I paraphrase) "He's the bad guy leader. That's the point." and the Hasbro execs reconsidered.

I guess we can change the name of Boba Fett's ship to "Happy Fun Ship".

jhkim · November 29, 2023, 01:48:40 AM

Quote from: Aglondir on November 28, 2023, 05:56:56 PM
No one but Gen X will know the real name of Boba Fett's Starship.
Do the recent Star Wars RPGs do this as well?

The weird thing about wokeness and slavery is that it seems to loop around. I ran some Star Wars one-shots where the PCs were droids, where dealing with their status as property was a big part of the game. That effectively made slavery a big part of the game, and I remember some posters here said that sounded woke. So cutting out slavery is woke, but featuring slavery is also considered woke.

So I definitely have had games that delve into dark stuff like rape, torture, cannibalism, slavery, etc. - but I also have plenty of games that are more kid-friendly and positive. Grimdark isn't the same as adult or serious. Lots of great stories don't have particularly dark material.

honeydipperdavid · November 29, 2023, 05:56:24 AM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on November 28, 2023, 07:02:57 PM
Quote from: Aglondir on November 28, 2023, 05:56:56 PM
No one but Gen X will know the real name of Boba Fett's Starship.
Do the recent Star Wars RPGs do this as well?

I'm reminded of the naming of Megatron. As I heard the story, Hasbro thought Megatron sounded a lot like Megaton (as in megatons of nuclear bombs), and found it a bit threatening. The guy who was creating the lore and naming characters said (and I paraphrase) "He's the bad guy leader. That's the point." and the Hasbro execs reconsidered.

I guess we can change the name of Boba Fett's ship to "Happy Fun Ship".

Dude, you better hope that HasbeenBro's don't see this Flasgitz spoof of Transformers, they'll change the entire line to these characters:

Omega · November 29, 2023, 10:29:08 AM

Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 28, 2023, 12:26:32 PM
Dude, I'm just having fun eating popcorn as I watch WotC find new and creative ways to cut their sales in half. If Hasbro was a radioactive element, its half life would be 5 years. It's looking like WotC'oninum half life is less than Hasbro's we just haven't found out yet. I've seent he sales figures coming out of Tenkar and its not looking great for D&D right now.

I do everything I can not to give WotC a dime. I was going to get a bingo card going for cancellation words for my groups with a $1 buy in for cards, but the recent dump just made me rethink trying to do it now. Too much has already been used.

This could even be deliberate.

Tank 5e sales as "proof" that D&D NEEEEEEEEDS a 6e.

"look look! 5e sales are down down! Players are tired of 5e and WANT, no, NEEEEEED 6e!" (and 7e and 8e ad nausium)

Omega · November 29, 2023, 10:35:23 AM

Quote from: jhkim on November 29, 2023, 01:48:40 AM
The weird thing about wokeness and slavery is that it seems to loop around. I ran some Star Wars one-shots where the PCs were droids, where dealing with their status as property was a big part of the game. That effectively made slavery a big part of the game, and I remember some posters here said that sounded woke. So cutting out slavery is woke, but featuring slavery is also considered woke.

The problem isnt having slavery is woke.

It is the HOW of it. Disney rams down your throat that droids are just metal black people and slaves.

Remember. It is bad and wrong and no one can use it... only till the woke want to make money off it.

honeydipperdavid · November 29, 2023, 10:53:04 AM

Quote from: Omega on November 29, 2023, 10:29:08 AM
Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 28, 2023, 12:26:32 PM
Dude, I'm just having fun eating popcorn as I watch WotC find new and creative ways to cut their sales in half. If Hasbro was a radioactive element, its half life would be 5 years. It's looking like WotC'oninum half life is less than Hasbro's we just haven't found out yet. I've seent he sales figures coming out of Tenkar and its not looking great for D&D right now.

I do everything I can not to give WotC a dime. I was going to get a bingo card going for cancellation words for my groups with a $1 buy in for cards, but the recent dump just made me rethink trying to do it now. Too much has already been used.

This could even be deliberate.

Tank 5e sales as "proof" that D&D NEEEEEEEEDS a 6e.

"look look! 5e sales are down down! Players are tired of 5e and WANT, no, NEEEEEED 6e!" (and 7e and 8e ad nausium)

WotC releases a new version to drive module sales and to force DM's to buy new MM. The thing is, there are a lot of better supplements to 5E before WotC unleashed the OGL and Kyle Brink fiasco. Then 6E is going to be known as the Woke Edition of D&D built by Millenials for Millenials, you know the large demographic group trained to be authoritarians, live at home, have no spend and expect everything to be given to them? You know the guys with no spend who won't be able to buy D&D 6E because they need that money to pay for their membership to Jezebell to tell them what is bad. 6E is made by losers for losers.

Just sit back, and enjoy the popcorn.

Omega · November 30, 2023, 03:40:53 PM

Speaking of. Colville goes on for a fucking hour about how great edition treadmills are and waxed poetic about 4e.

RPGPundit · November 30, 2023, 04:03:44 PM

Quote from: honeydipperdavid on November 25, 2023, 09:07:14 PM
The more that WotC cleanses itself of adjectives and promotes one race over another by political kommisar the more irrelevant and uncool the game becomes. Kids want to do things that makes them the rebel and the outsider to help cleave themselves from their family identity to get their own identity as they grow up. WotC is dead set on becoming the uncool establishment in writing and thought. Think of how WotC is behaving as reverse Satanic Panic, finding new and unedgy ways to become that 45 year old dad with a gut and trying to get a 12 year old to think they cool by bringing out their yoyo tricks, fondue pots and tab cola.

This is WotC's Neogi. According to WotC, Neogi's are space autists with mental power. Because they can't empathize they are evil? Look at all of the redacted text that WotC had to do to comply with their political kommisars. It reads like the redacted Kennedy Assasination report from the FBI.

In reality, Neogi are evil space slavers. They were the main villains or Spelljammer. In 5E Wokester edition, they are Evil Spock. There is no edge, there is nothing cool or edgey about them, they are about as edgey as oatmeal with soy milk.

That's a fascinating example!