No mention of fixing the godawful way vital information is presented in the module. I ran CoS for nearly a year and I had to read and re-read the adventure because important NPCs are scattered all over the book, map keys are used where a descriptive sentence would suit better, and whole paragraphs are used to describe the color of room curtains before bothering to inform the DM there's a hostile monster in the room.
Are they going to include more charming aspects of Roma culture, like marrying girls when they get their first period, or the fact that any outsider is considered a gadjo and therefore fair game for swindling and exploitation? There's a reason why the thieving gypsy stereotype is so prevalent.
All of that is still being done today, is not like they changed all that much, Or how they have a good history of stealing stuff and how they teach their children to steal from a young age. Having a closed culture does not help them.
I liked this segment on BBC at one point where they acknowledged that gypsies steal and when cops come they just scream racism. Or there was another about how they go to steal and beg in UK and then build huge mansions in Romania.
How exactly did we get to a point where you can not be critical of any culture except for those who have white people in them?
Yep, follow the comics. Because appeasing the mob went so well for them.
Does anyone have any suggestions for decent RPG systems? My current DM has been doing Pathfinder, but we're wrapping things up and they've expressed interest in trying something different. (Pathfinder is an annoying mix of overly bogged down in some areas and underspecified in others.)
We're currently somewhat seriously considering AD&D, but at the same time there's got to be something out there with a decent amount of content that isn't just D&D / spinoffs. (Content more as in templates / bases / game mechanics / lore then as in e.g. fully-fleshed out campaigns.)
Ad&d 2e is best in terms of lore, addon mechanics and pure content, if you have enough braincells to figure out THACO. This is a great gatekeep, by the way. Most nu-school DiVerSITy entryists vacate the premises when you mention negative AC and THACO.
Why did the negative AC and THACO get such a bad rep? Is not that complicated for fuck sake, I understood it when I was 10 and most people did, I hear a lot more people complaining about it now then back then.
Every damn game these days is expected to adhere to a number of universal constants, and any deviation from that formula is met with hostility by people who are either uninterested or incapable of learning anything new.
Ironically, it's that exact inflexibility that originally drove nerds to create their own hobbies rather than participate in popular culture.
Are you looking for something similar to Pathfinder/3.5? Check out Basic Fantasy RPG first. It's free if you just need a PDF, and the books are basically at cost otherwise. Easy and cheap to investigate, at least!
Fantasy Craft may also be a D&D alternative you'd like if "crunch" is your group's style instead.
Palladium Books has a bunch of good alternatives inside and out of fantasy: superheroes, ninjas, dwarves and wizards, and so on.
Shadow of the Demon Lord offers a Warhammer-styled grimdark option that has become popular outside the mainstream.
Something I've only looked at briefly, but has many elements to be interested with, is Open Legend. Ed Greenwood and Matt Mercer (both names I'd guess you know by now) are behind it. Like Basic Fantasy RPG, this is an open source game with tons of potential.
Curse of Strahd Revamped will be one of the first modules revised by Wizards to align with the developer’s renewed focus on diversity and inclusion. The campaign setting was called out for its insensitive portrayal of the Romani people, and Wizards said in a press release that the module will have other changes and updates made as well.
I recommend giving it a try, since you've got a setting and thematics set up already. It doesn't take too much to be able to make your own crunch/mechanics - since you already have themes to rely on for flavor, you can make a stronger product than the guy that tries making an omni system (such a system has little flavor because it can't rely on themes).
I make systems as a hobby (I refuse to publish until I make a perfect one), and find theming to be a struggle because I kinda hate creative writing. Hopefully you don't have the opposite problem and hate doing mechanical writing.
Small recommendation, but you might want to look into reading transcripts of pnp sessions. I have a very small number of sessions under my belt due to social issues, so I try to fill in the gap where I can. It's somewhat ironic, because a large part of the point of pnp is the social experience (and another large part is that it's basically cooperative storytelling, which a writer may get a kick out of).
Reminder that you don't have to use a separate system. You can just use whatever the modern version of D&D is, but have your own world that has nothing to do with the "official" D&D setting and modules. Take it from an experienced hobbyist writer and DM with years of experience (only D&D 5e, with close friends, and only using my own content).
No mention of fixing the godawful way vital information is presented in the module. I ran CoS for nearly a year and I had to read and re-read the adventure because important NPCs are scattered all over the book, map keys are used where a descriptive sentence would suit better, and whole paragraphs are used to describe the color of room curtains before bothering to inform the DM there's a hostile monster in the room.
Are they going to include more charming aspects of Roma culture, like marrying girls when they get their first period, or the fact that any outsider is considered a gadjo and therefore fair game for swindling and exploitation? There's a reason why the thieving gypsy stereotype is so prevalent.
All of that is still being done today, is not like they changed all that much, Or how they have a good history of stealing stuff and how they teach their children to steal from a young age. Having a closed culture does not help them. I liked this segment on BBC at one point where they acknowledged that gypsies steal and when cops come they just scream racism. Or there was another about how they go to steal and beg in UK and then build huge mansions in Romania. How exactly did we get to a point where you can not be critical of any culture except for those who have white people in them?
Yep, follow the comics. Because appeasing the mob went so well for them.
Does anyone have any suggestions for decent RPG systems? My current DM has been doing Pathfinder, but we're wrapping things up and they've expressed interest in trying something different. (Pathfinder is an annoying mix of overly bogged down in some areas and underspecified in others.)
We're currently somewhat seriously considering AD&D, but at the same time there's got to be something out there with a decent amount of content that isn't just D&D / spinoffs. (Content more as in templates / bases / game mechanics / lore then as in e.g. fully-fleshed out campaigns.)
Ad&d 2e is best in terms of lore, addon mechanics and pure content, if you have enough braincells to figure out THACO. This is a great gatekeep, by the way. Most nu-school DiVerSITy entryists vacate the premises when you mention negative AC and THACO.
Why did the negative AC and THACO get such a bad rep? Is not that complicated for fuck sake, I understood it when I was 10 and most people did, I hear a lot more people complaining about it now then back then.
Every damn game these days is expected to adhere to a number of universal constants, and any deviation from that formula is met with hostility by people who are either uninterested or incapable of learning anything new.
Ironically, it's that exact inflexibility that originally drove nerds to create their own hobbies rather than participate in popular culture.
Because people are dumb and cannot do simple math in their heads.
Are you looking for something similar to Pathfinder/3.5? Check out Basic Fantasy RPG first. It's free if you just need a PDF, and the books are basically at cost otherwise. Easy and cheap to investigate, at least!
Fantasy Craft may also be a D&D alternative you'd like if "crunch" is your group's style instead.
Palladium Books has a bunch of good alternatives inside and out of fantasy: superheroes, ninjas, dwarves and wizards, and so on.
Shadow of the Demon Lord offers a Warhammer-styled grimdark option that has become popular outside the mainstream.
Something I've only looked at briefly, but has many elements to be interested with, is Open Legend. Ed Greenwood and Matt Mercer (both names I'd guess you know by now) are behind it. Like Basic Fantasy RPG, this is an open source game with tons of potential.
Good thing the old stuff is still good. Yar har fiddle dee-dee, being a pirate is alright with me...
rpgs?
burgers?
I recommend giving it a try, since you've got a setting and thematics set up already. It doesn't take too much to be able to make your own crunch/mechanics - since you already have themes to rely on for flavor, you can make a stronger product than the guy that tries making an omni system (such a system has little flavor because it can't rely on themes).
I make systems as a hobby (I refuse to publish until I make a perfect one), and find theming to be a struggle because I kinda hate creative writing. Hopefully you don't have the opposite problem and hate doing mechanical writing.
Small recommendation, but you might want to look into reading transcripts of pnp sessions. I have a very small number of sessions under my belt due to social issues, so I try to fill in the gap where I can. It's somewhat ironic, because a large part of the point of pnp is the social experience (and another large part is that it's basically cooperative storytelling, which a writer may get a kick out of).
Reminder that you don't have to use a separate system. You can just use whatever the modern version of D&D is, but have your own world that has nothing to do with the "official" D&D setting and modules. Take it from an experienced hobbyist writer and DM with years of experience (only D&D 5e, with close friends, and only using my own content).
The only thing more important to WotC than sucking feminine penis is charging 99 dollars for cardboard.