The Dev Team
@DevTheGuy
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I heart all tweets I like and block all Twitter Blue users. Find my stuff at my Itch page. Free Palestine he/him
Joined June 2009
Popping over here briefly to say that this site really is cooked. I've been on the butterfly app and having a much better time. Follow me there.
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It’s pretty funny that, if your first exposure to D&D lore was this year’s D&D movie and your second was this year’s D&D game, you went from thinking Druids were antifascist communes who accept Tiefling queer-coded outcasts to… well basically the complete opposite of that.
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The critical reception to Baldur’s Gate 3 is so interesting because it is probably the most accurate adaptation of the tabletop game. But it also makes you play D&D as the game it is and not the game WOTC wants you to think it is.
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Like in Yahtzee’s review, he says that trying to be a deceptive con-man who wasn’t much good in a fight, like his character he plays on the tabletop version, wasn’t satisfying because he still had to get in fights. And I thought… Yeah, that’s D&D. It’s about fighting.
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It reminds me of the Wildermyth reviews, many of which said things like, “Characters grow old, fall in love, have kids… it feels like a D&D campaign!”. And I was like, “Since when did D&D do that?”.
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@NebsGoodTakes I was more uncomfortable with Drax learning the N-word and then immediately using it on the High Evolutionary.
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It’s funny that Pathfinder 2e is considered crunchier than D&D, but explaining the difference between move, standard, and bonus actions is so much harder than just saying, “You do 3 things per turn.”.
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Baldur’s Gate 3’s quest writing and companion story writing have such different philosophies that they feel like they’re in different games. Companion storylines are all about finding empathy for people who don’t think they deserve it. Quests are about how dumb it is to care.
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Abrams: "Luke Skywalker has been hiding out for unknown reasons.". Johnson: "I will dig deep into Luke's psychology to find out why he would do a thing like that instead of helping out the Resistance.". Nerds: "Wow Johnson *ruined* Luke!".
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Something I don’t think indie TTRPG Twitter is prepared to hear. When people say D&D 5e is the easiest TTRPG to learn, they’re right. This has little to do with its design and everything to do with the amount of resources, reference material, and cultural touchstones it has.
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I know all my D&D friends are excited about the Unearthed Arcana releasing tomorrow. Well good news! I managed to get my hands on it early!. (Some big scary men just showed up at my door, but after we have what I assume will be a polite conversation, I'll show it off!).
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@MoringmarkMark I do love that everyone has just assumed that Masha knows everything about the weird magic stuff and just accepts it.
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(If you saw an earlier version of this tweet with a typo… no you didn’t).
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Powergaming in D&D 3.5e compared to powergaming in D&D 5e is so funny. In 3.5, making a broken build is like, “Take this race, these feats from these 8 different source books, these classes and prestige classes, cast these spells before combat even begins.”. 5e: “Take Fireball.”.
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If you're game includes bandits at all, you need to take a serious look at why they're there and what they're doing. This isn't to say that you can't have bandits, but think carefully about why people would be desperate enough to kill and steal for basic necessities.
if the crpg has you killing bandits in request of a king you're not playing an adventurer, you are playing a cop.
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@femaIehysterias I love Taika Waititi, but he's literally working for the multi-billion dollar company.
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It’s so interesting seeing the differences in opinion on Baldur’s Gate 3 between the people I follow who are video game people and the people I follow who are TTRPG people.
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I hate takes like this so much. Before Demon Souls, nobody ever thought, “this would be more fun if I could lose xp,” yet it was. Nobody ever asks for more restrictions, but using restrictions to create interesting challenges is a key part of game design.
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@Tauss_srgl This post makes a good point in that he’s probably trying to use this to say he’s just into memes, but in true billionaire fashion, he accidentally made a clear example of how his posts influence the market.
lol so he had Twitter put doge in the UI to support his defense that dogeposting was just him being silly and not part of a pump & dump scheme.
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This is an extremely normal relationship to have with a game.
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It says something that the response to WOTC going to shit isn't to play another game, but to continue to play D&D and just be mad about it.
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This is getting a lot of activity so I'm muting it and limiting replies. Not interested in debating with randoms.
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Game people are like, “It’s so incredible the amount of options in this game — you can do anything and take any approach!”. And TTRPG people are like, “Goblins are an evil race. You regularly have to commit acts of genocide. It has all the problems that D&D has had for decades.”.
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I love that Matt Colville is moving into indie RPG design and bringing his mostly-5e audience with him, but it’s also amusing when I see his viewers go, “Oh wow, a game inspired by 4e—this is such uncharted territory!”. And I’m like… oh I have so much to show you.
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Companion storylines are like, “This person did terrible things or made awful choices, and it’s up to you to find the humanity that’s left.”. Meanwhile quest storylines are like, “This innocent guy you saved used to beat his wife, which is why she abuses his Alzheimer’s.”.
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This is a great thread. It reminds be of the Dimension 20 feature that said, "Brennan is so good at D&D," followed by clips of him acting as characters. Those aren't the same thing! Brennan is a gifted improviser and storyteller, but getting good at D&D isn't how he got there.
This thought is too big for me right now but I need to exorcise it so I can take pain meds and try to sleep, it's getting in the way of that, so here goes. When writing, describing, or recommending your RPG, be aware you won't be able to do what the source material says you do.
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@IronsparkSyris *cut to walking inside school*. Now you may think, "What can I do? I'm not even in that industry?". *close up*. But when your Cleric prays to Aesocar, it doesn't matter that Aesocar's in another dimension. He still grants healing so your party can defeat the big evil.
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@A_B_Allen It also contained the, "She doesn't want me to tweet. an ethnic slur. again" exchange, which was a hilarious way to introduce Birdie.
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It just feels like the game is excessively mean at times, and it’s not clear why. It’s not a morally complex or even nihilist game that I can tell. It just has a knife and likes to twist it a lot.
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Maybe my brain is still just in this space, but people who say, "D&D 5e combat is fine, you just need to use your imagination" have this exact same energy.
“When the astronauts went to the moon, there was nothing there. They certainly weren't bored” is hilarious mental gymnastics to explain why so many planets are completely empty.
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@Srirachachau The last interaction between Rey and Kylo is her shutting down the force connection between them. I thought the implications were obvious: he’s chosen his path, she’s chosen hers. Bringing in Palpatine just muddies that conflict.
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I think there’s two distinct reasons people play TTRPGs: self-expression and problem solving. And I feel like a lot of miscommunication in this space comes from how people assume that the reason they’re playing RPGs is the reason other people are into RPGs. 🧵.
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@DannyVegito What's important about this is that it wasn't the green screen that McKellen was crying about. Any theater actor should be used to acting in similar scenarios. It was that his acting partners were basically tennis balls.
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I assume you're all wondering what happened to this. The bad news is that I don't have it anymore. The good news is that I still have my kneecaps. I also called WOTC and the rep I talked to was very receptive to my feedback. Stay tuned for my thoughts on the D&D VTT!.
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In a clear empty void, D&D is often esoteric, inelegant, and needlessly complex. In a practical world, I can ask someone if they want to be strong, magic, or sneaky, spend 5 min going over a premade character sheet and where are the numbers I’ll ask for, and then jump in.
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@TwoLemonades It's commonplace now, but Blades in the Dark's inventory system of "Just retcon that you brought a thing til you run out of slots" blew my mind. Such an elegant way to handle inventory without getting caught up in shopping lists.
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I don’t think either perspective is wrong per se. As similar as they can be sometimes, treating something as if it’s a video game and treating something as if it’s a TTRPG are wildly different approaches. Things that are relaxing in a video game can be abhorrent in a TTRPG.
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@CHofferCBus I feel like people don't know that investor calls are quite public. Like yeah they're not broadcast on YouTube, but it's not an insider-only meeting or anything.
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Like last night, I loaded up Star Wars The Old Republic as a “brain off” game I could play, and the amount of casual violence I committed without any context would have been horrifying in a TTRPG setting.
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@wideofthepost Still hilarious to me that he keeps that profile picture even after being called out by the creator of Bojack Horseman.
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@JimSterling It’s important to note that if microtransactions were really about player choice, they wouldn’t be offered in lieu of financial compensation.
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@dorminjake Wildermyth is so good. I wasn’t surprised by the comparisons to D&D. For a lot of people, Wildermyth is closer to what they think of as D&D than actual D&D.
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See also:. Abrams: "I'm going to make a big mystery out of who this character's parents are.". Johnson: "I'm going to follow up on that with a reveal that people genuinely aren't expecting that speaks to her inner psychology.". Nerds: "Johnson *ruined* Abram's vision for Rey!".
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To also be clear, portraying systematic killing of other species/races as a good thing is problematic no matter the medium, but there’s something way more visceral about it in a TTRPG that makes it harder to ignore.
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People too often assume those without power will use violence to get what they want. In reality, those that have power will use violence to get what they want. In other words, if someone wants to be a professional killer, they’ll sign up to be a guard, not a bandit.
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I’m so thankful for my experience running a D&D 4e campaign because now, whenever I’m running a game and combat starts to get stale, I can just think, “How can I make this like 4e?”. It always improves my games.
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@benmekler Finally. Someone who takes Mr. Bean seriously. Maybe a sign we’re close to finally getting an adaptation of “The Dark Bean Returns”.
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Both have the problem where some characters outclass everything everyone else is doing, but 5e makes it so much simpler. If you’re casting spells, you’re already halfway there. If you know the handful of overpowered spells, you’re done.
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Meanwhile, in TTRPGs, you have to talk about it, and that inherently prompts self-reflection. Saying, “I attack the guy standing over there because he looks like a bad guy” hits different in a TTRPG, even when the context is similar.
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This isn't even me going, "D&D players *have* to play another game." I just ask. what would it take to make you play another game?. Because if "WOTC is attacking the community and doesn't value us" isn't going to make you stop making D&D content, what will?.
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@GunnerDobbins Plus it’s the only one where it ever feels like Batman + Gordon against the rest of the police force.
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This isn’t me saying indie RPGs are inaccessible. It’s more about reframing the conversation. These are the things people look for when picking an RPG. If you’re suggesting a game, it will go much better if you can also point to the resources available, not just the easier math.
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@the_tweedy I rarely feel grief when someone leaves. However, it’ll hit me when I come across something I want to do with them, share with them, or give to them.
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@EPM106 I wonder if people just forgot who Allen was. He doesn't have much to do in the first act but is pretty important in the last act.
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@CosmonautMarcus Reminds me of when I was complaining to someone about Tarkin in Rogue One, and their response was, "I didn't even notice he was CGI!"
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There’s tons of adventures I can use, and for many of them, I can find multiple actual plays, reviews, and specific advice. And because D&D’s loop is dead simple (get quest, do quest), the players know exactly what they’re supposed to do.
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By the way, both of these are inferior to powergaming in Pathfinder 2e, which is essentially:. “You can basically take whatever you want and it’ll work, but if you take this feat, it’ll give your allies +1 sometimes, which is by far the most overpowered ability you’ll get.”.
Powergaming in D&D 3.5e compared to powergaming in D&D 5e is so funny. In 3.5, making a broken build is like, “Take this race, these feats from these 8 different source books, these classes and prestige classes, cast these spells before combat even begins.”. 5e: “Take Fireball.”.
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People forget how much the last writer's strike actually succeeded. - Increased pay for writers.- Ensured that when Netflix and Amazon started making shows, they'd have to use guild writers.- Gave the writers of Heroes an excuse as to why S2 sucked.
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@targaroth It’s way easier to say, “A few things, like casting a spell, require 2 or 3 actions because of their complexity” than it is to explain that each action fits into a hierarchy that is so inconsistent that the tabletop version has major inconsistencies with the video game.
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@itsmrmask Also, you don’t get to be a military strategist by being a conscientious objector just doing it for the paycheck. You have to be good at your job.
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I love that Ethan’s cover in this film is that he’s just so autistic that people stop asking him questions.
I’ve thought about this every time I’ve been stuck in traffic since 2006
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It’s relevant too that the method of interaction in a video game is often some form of violence. Think turning on Zonai devices in TOTK or manipulating objects with one of the many Gravity Guns. It’s just your way of interacting with the world.
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@XiranJayZhao @TheDailyPlanet And his alt is Superman tweeting about people recognizing him but also not recognizing him (a la Tony Hawk).
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@IronsparkSyris I’m glad this is doing numbers because I had to look up Pathfinder lore for it.
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Like you don't have to like that choice, but the reasoning for that choice is 100% J. J. Abrams. He's the one who decided the most important person in his universe would decide to just leave while the Sith are growing in power.
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@GamerTakes From a gamer point of view, have you considered that the abuse is your fault? /s.
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@NoraReed Linehan lost his Steam account in the divorce, which is probably the most divorced a divorced man can get.
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You don’t even really need to know the best feats. Getting your key stat to 20 will do you way more good than most of them. You’re looking at making like 4 or 5 decisions *in total*.
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The final version of Dungeons of the Dungeons is below, and you can get the PDF and print version here: I wanted to give a thread on some of the design behind the game and why people should be looking at Pasión de las Pasiones. (1/19) #tabletopchopshop
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Trying not to be too much of a discourse account but I can’t imagine saying, “I just think it’s fun treat an entire people group as bad guys you should ‘take care of.’”. Like maybe take a second and think why some people might be bothered by you finding that “fun.”
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This is getting popular so time for a spicier take. Abrams never had any plan for Finn beyond, "He's the red herring for Rey." He put Finn in a coma so that he could have the Rey reveal be more impactful. Finn is the most frustrating part of the new trilogy and TFA was why.
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I'm so glad I've started muting my threads when they go big because I swear that I see the same tired debates over and over in the comments. I don't have it in me anymore to explain that a game where 90% of the game rules are about combat is. about combat.
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@SiddhantAdlakha The worst example of this by far is still when Black Widow told Hawkeye, “This is just like that time in Budapest,” and later we learned she was talking about the time they killed a child together.
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