I hate to say it man, but this is old news and was long expected by a hell of a lot of us who're deep in the hobby space. The signs for this weren't being signaled just two years ago, they've been flashing for the last eight at minimum. The only difference between then and now is they've upped the brightness of those lights. WotC already sounded its own death knell when they started republishing 5e books with "problematic" elements cut from them. That dire bell tolled even louder when they began doing this and slapping warning labels on older edition reprints. It then became deafening with last year's OGL debacle.
Mind you, this is just D&D we're talking about. Magic: The Gathering is a bigger product for them, and it's been mired in a ton of similar controversy over the last half-decade, too. The wholesale banning of legacy cards. Removing cards from their classic relaunch packs. Charging $1000 for an anniversary box that consisted of a paltry single digit number of booster packs. The proposed removal of terms like witch, druid, and shaman as creature types because using them is "culturally insensitive" somehow.
Like I said, this is old news. None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who's paid a little bit of attention.
They are making changes to the game that will drive away long-time players, and the players they are catering to will never play it.
This is what happens when the left gets hold of something and destroys it. What's even worse is that they are placating the 10 people on x who have no interest in the game.
Pathfinder will go next. This is a culture problem at the top. Anything that isn't explicitly controlled by creators willing to be vilified will be turned into slop. Last Pathfinder campaign I did was Skull and Shackles and the DM who decided to play with a group of normies because he didn't have any nerds who would play with him quit because he didn't like the tone the game was taking... as pirates. He's a she now BTW.
There are plenty of alternatives. You can get old editions of D&D from used book dealers. You can find free versions such as OSRIC. You can move to Pathfinder or GURPS or any of numerous other game systems, some available for free. D&D is not the best system out there by far, it's just the most widely known. Let Hasbro crash and burn. Let the wokies eat each other alive. We have the money so we have the final say. The woke companies can change their ways or eventually go out of business.
Although it's been decades since I did, I'd buy only used 1st or 2nd edition if I ever deigned to buy an AD&D product ever again. These woke theater kids can go pound sand. They're not welcome at any table I run, and I won't stay at any table they play at. I don't need that level of mental weakness agrivating me.
Most NewD&D play will be on mobile devices like a gacha game anyway.
This is likely a step in the Great Bifurcation where you will have the real tabletop Clubhouses who finally completely break with Hasbeen/WotC, and those who sign up for "Dungeons & Downloadable Content (D&DLC). *Cha-CHING*
And this is why I'll go back to the original books and use the base sets and cheap used copies that had complete rules and not hamstrung/castrated versions designed to make you want more. Then I'll kitbash/homebrew my way into more stuff. Screw the nickle and dime scams. OG gamers like me always made their own.
So your argument is basically that you're offended they're trying not to offend people. Perhaps you need a safe space?
D&D has always been about taking the rules that work for your group and rejecting the ones that don't. If you already know this rule isn't necessary for your group, DON'T USE IT. And if your group agrees with your stance, then none of the "lowest denominator" will be an issue anyway.
I dunno, if your gaming group includes someone who just cannot stand to have blood etc. in the campaign, it seems like that is going to be an issue whether a 'consent' form is involved or not, and it probably means y'all can't play with that person, one way or another.
I bailed on D&D a long time ago. Savage Worlds is a game engine that is as clean or crunchy as you want it to be, with NO WOKENESS, just rules and worldbuilding, and the GM and Players build the setting the way they want it.
Sadly, what will have to happen to these IPs is bankruptcy and eventual resurrection by folks who love the game more than their politi-religion. :(
Of course not. No actual game players want this degenerate slop.
This is ESG from Blackrock and other venture capital swine, working to shift people to the social NPCs they want.
Plenty of real role playing games out there, and you don't have to keep buying splat books either. Buy your core rules once and go to town on your Clubhouse.
People have been complaining about DnDs degeneracy for as long as it’s been around. Seems to me this is just the latest flavour of it.
Play it or dont. Who cares what people actually say about it. It’s not like you actually have to -do anything- that the books tell you to or not. It’s always been a buffet.
Plus, if people are going to be triggered by D&D, wait until they discover White Wolf's Carnal Houses: the Shoah or Target Games' 1991 release Kult (For the record, I am not endorsing either of these with this comment...). Perhaps 1990s gamers had tougher stomachs.
From the article: "There is an entire section where DMs are encouraged to have players fill out sensitivity forms about what might trigger them..." Anyone remember the film "PCU" I remember a scene with an angry SJW at the college-admin filling out an outrage form. This reminds of that. PCU was made in 1994. A reminder that this nonsense existed long before 2014.
I played it years ago and enjoyed it. However, when I played it, fundamentalist Christians were on the attack. There is no way I would play it now under those rules. It is just a game. It sounds like some of these players who like the agenda of the new guide, need to get out in the real world more and if the real world triggers them too often then I may suggest a shrink lol.
I hate to say it man, but this is old news and was long expected by a hell of a lot of us who're deep in the hobby space. The signs for this weren't being signaled just two years ago, they've been flashing for the last eight at minimum. The only difference between then and now is they've upped the brightness of those lights. WotC already sounded its own death knell when they started republishing 5e books with "problematic" elements cut from them. That dire bell tolled even louder when they began doing this and slapping warning labels on older edition reprints. It then became deafening with last year's OGL debacle.
Mind you, this is just D&D we're talking about. Magic: The Gathering is a bigger product for them, and it's been mired in a ton of similar controversy over the last half-decade, too. The wholesale banning of legacy cards. Removing cards from their classic relaunch packs. Charging $1000 for an anniversary box that consisted of a paltry single digit number of booster packs. The proposed removal of terms like witch, druid, and shaman as creature types because using them is "culturally insensitive" somehow.
Like I said, this is old news. None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who's paid a little bit of attention.
"None of this comes as a surprise to anyone who's paid a little bit of attention."
New people are waking up every day.
D&D is dead, long-live pathfinder.
They are making changes to the game that will drive away long-time players, and the players they are catering to will never play it.
This is what happens when the left gets hold of something and destroys it. What's even worse is that they are placating the 10 people on x who have no interest in the game.
Remember folks! This isn't made for us anymore.
Pathfinder will go next. This is a culture problem at the top. Anything that isn't explicitly controlled by creators willing to be vilified will be turned into slop. Last Pathfinder campaign I did was Skull and Shackles and the DM who decided to play with a group of normies because he didn't have any nerds who would play with him quit because he didn't like the tone the game was taking... as pirates. He's a she now BTW.
The CalArts Cancer "Beholder" in the image above tells the entire tale of Woke D&D.
Keep your old books.
Read up on Bradford Walker.
Build your own Clubhouse.
Kick the dust of Hasbeen/WotC from your feet.
What's that Bender meme? "Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder"
There are plenty of alternatives. You can get old editions of D&D from used book dealers. You can find free versions such as OSRIC. You can move to Pathfinder or GURPS or any of numerous other game systems, some available for free. D&D is not the best system out there by far, it's just the most widely known. Let Hasbro crash and burn. Let the wokies eat each other alive. We have the money so we have the final say. The woke companies can change their ways or eventually go out of business.
Although it's been decades since I did, I'd buy only used 1st or 2nd edition if I ever deigned to buy an AD&D product ever again. These woke theater kids can go pound sand. They're not welcome at any table I run, and I won't stay at any table they play at. I don't need that level of mental weakness agrivating me.
Most NewD&D play will be on mobile devices like a gacha game anyway.
This is likely a step in the Great Bifurcation where you will have the real tabletop Clubhouses who finally completely break with Hasbeen/WotC, and those who sign up for "Dungeons & Downloadable Content (D&DLC). *Cha-CHING*
gacha game? I couldn't tolerate an RPG on a phone... honestly, I can't stand phone games, but that's me.
Same, but that is the direction Hasbeen/WotC is going.
I don't doubt that "Want to be a 12th Level Paladin? Only $6.99, with Holy Sword!" is just a year out from initial launch.
And this is why I'll go back to the original books and use the base sets and cheap used copies that had complete rules and not hamstrung/castrated versions designed to make you want more. Then I'll kitbash/homebrew my way into more stuff. Screw the nickle and dime scams. OG gamers like me always made their own.
Truth. AD&D 1E forever!
So your argument is basically that you're offended they're trying not to offend people. Perhaps you need a safe space?
D&D has always been about taking the rules that work for your group and rejecting the ones that don't. If you already know this rule isn't necessary for your group, DON'T USE IT. And if your group agrees with your stance, then none of the "lowest denominator" will be an issue anyway.
I dunno, if your gaming group includes someone who just cannot stand to have blood etc. in the campaign, it seems like that is going to be an issue whether a 'consent' form is involved or not, and it probably means y'all can't play with that person, one way or another.
I bailed on D&D a long time ago. Savage Worlds is a game engine that is as clean or crunchy as you want it to be, with NO WOKENESS, just rules and worldbuilding, and the GM and Players build the setting the way they want it.
Sadly, what will have to happen to these IPs is bankruptcy and eventual resurrection by folks who love the game more than their politi-religion. :(
Again, I’ll ask. Is there really a customer base clamoring for this?
Of course not. No actual game players want this degenerate slop.
This is ESG from Blackrock and other venture capital swine, working to shift people to the social NPCs they want.
Plenty of real role playing games out there, and you don't have to keep buying splat books either. Buy your core rules once and go to town on your Clubhouse.
Whodathunk the national pastime for cisgen neckbeards and medicated Goth chicks would attract pervs? My shocked face. 😮
People have been complaining about DnDs degeneracy for as long as it’s been around. Seems to me this is just the latest flavour of it.
Play it or dont. Who cares what people actually say about it. It’s not like you actually have to -do anything- that the books tell you to or not. It’s always been a buffet.
Dont eat food you dont like.
Sounds like a bunch of jive. I support the Old School Renaissance.
The simple solution: use old rulebooks, and only play with people you like.
Plus, if people are going to be triggered by D&D, wait until they discover White Wolf's Carnal Houses: the Shoah or Target Games' 1991 release Kult (For the record, I am not endorsing either of these with this comment...). Perhaps 1990s gamers had tougher stomachs.
From the article: "There is an entire section where DMs are encouraged to have players fill out sensitivity forms about what might trigger them..." Anyone remember the film "PCU" I remember a scene with an angry SJW at the college-admin filling out an outrage form. This reminds of that. PCU was made in 1994. A reminder that this nonsense existed long before 2014.
I played it years ago and enjoyed it. However, when I played it, fundamentalist Christians were on the attack. There is no way I would play it now under those rules. It is just a game. It sounds like some of these players who like the agenda of the new guide, need to get out in the real world more and if the real world triggers them too often then I may suggest a shrink lol.