D&D 5E Discussion

[Gyor]

Now WotC is being sued by 3 THREE of its subcontractors. ACD, Tracy Hickman & maragret Wiess, and the newest, Gale Force 9.

It appears that WotC did to Gale Force 9 what it did to the Dragonlance authors. Ouch.

It makes you wonder which contractors are going to be next? D&D Beyond? Roll 20?

I thought that the Dragonlance lawsuit was about WotC going brainlessly woke (the lawsuit version of go woke go broke), that might have just been the excuse, instead it might be part of a broader plan to internalize what they were previously externalizing, novels, minis, and other accessories for D&D, the D&D MtG card set is likely part of that its another way of squeezing out every cent from both D&D and MtG crossovers.

When 4e imploded and 5e was first released there wasn't alot of faith in D&D, which is why they externalized alot of products at first like minis to let external liciencee companies assume the risk and fiance production, and it work great for a time (the exception was the attempt to externalize novels which was a fucking disaster). They even externalized several of the early 5e source books/adventures.

But now that 5e is a huge success and growing at a rapid pace, WotC doesn't want to share anymore, ir as little as possible, it wants to internalize production to keep all the profits now that its a no longer seen as risky to produce this stuff.

Also there have been things that hint that the amount of products released per year for 5e is going to rise next year, I mean 2-3 classic settings, adventure anthology, more MtG/D&D crossovers, on top of a likely VGTM/MTOF style book, and of course the annual adventure book, some more casual products, ect...,

All this connects to WotC hiring more people, increasing its freelancer pool, and further plans to use the anthologies to train new freelancers.

All of this seems to be related to a new business philosophy WotC adopted a couple of years FIRE which alI learned about thanks to the Magic Historian on youtube. The jist of it is that WotC is under orders from Hasbro to do whatever it takes to double its profits over a five year span of time and its roughly in the middle of that 5 year plan. Things are ramping up. This means a mix of good and bad things are likely coming.

 

[Gyor]

I finally got my copy of Tasha Cauldron of Everything and I almost laughed out loud at the art of Summon Celestial. Its the giant, ripped, black dude who is naked as fuck with a towel weirdly floating over his dick, and no radiant weapon anywhere near him, while he flies down to the the hot, barely dressed elf woman who summoned him. Its like everybody know what she summoned him for and its sure as fuck not for battle. It gives new meaning to the size: large in the summon celestial stat block.

Apparently the artist confused it with summon Erote or summon bootie call, LMFAO.

On a more serious note, I noticed the stat blocks no longer refer to alignment unlike in the UA, which is good for evil clerics as their summoned celestial can now fit just as easily as an dark, fallen angel archtype.

 

[Catacombs]

Its the giant, ripped, black dude who is naked as fuck with a towel weirdly floating over his dick, and no radiant weapon anywhere near him, while he flies down to the the hot, barely dressed elf woman who summoned him.

You got probably -- what? -- three or four jerk-off sessions from this page alone? What else awaits in this book.

 

[Gyor]

TCoE broke the balance between Sorcerer subclasses to fucking pieces. Both the Aberrant Soul Sorcerer and Clockwork Sorcerer have 10 extra Sorcerer spells known, like holy fuck, that two thirds larger then other Sorcerers get (Wild Sorcerer & Dragon Sorcerer have 15 spells known, the Divine Soul & Shadow Sorcerer have 16 while the Aberrant Soul & Clockwork Sorcerer have 25 spells known, like holy shit). The TCoE Sorcerer subclasses have other powerful features to easily on par or better then the XGTE subclasses and PHB subclasses.

And to add salt to the wound, the PHB +1 rule in AL means that the Divine Soul and Shadow Sorcerer can't get the extra features. AL screwed XGTE/SCAG subclass users over royally, the the balance is totally fucked, because the alt class features are allowed if TCoE is you +1. Like what kind of crack where they smoking when they thought that was balanced.

 

[Gyor]

Erinyesl."Catacombs, post: 7032608, member: 24151"]

Its the giant, ripped, black dude who is naked as fuck with a towel weirdly floating over his dick, and no radiant weapon anywhere near him, while he flies down to the the hot, barely dressed elf woman who summoned him.

You got probably -- what? -- three or four jerk-off sessions from this page alone? What else awaits in this book.[/QUOTE]

LMFAO, I could see shaping the Summon Shadow Creature spirit as something out a twisted hentai porn movie.

Or making the Summon Fiend spell devil version a hot naked Brachina (pleasure devil).

Or making the Summon Construct Spirit a Blowup Doll/Real Doll.

Dream of the Blue Veil vision of another world could be erotic.

Art wise the closest sexy art I've seen so far is the Tiefling Aberrant Soul Sorcerer art.

 

[Bara]

WotC did to Gale Force 9 what it did to the Dragonlance authors. Ouch.

Im ignorant of Gale Force 9 what do they do exactly and what were they working on for wotc?

 

[deuxhero]

And to add salt to the wound, the PHB +1 rule in AL means that the Divine Soul and Shadow Sorcerer can't get the extra features. AL screwed XGTE/SCAG subclass users over royally, the the balance is totally fucked, because the alt class features are allowed if TCoE is you +1. Like what kind of crack where they smoking when they thought that was balanced.

 

[Bara]

Yeah messages like those do not make me sad that Mearls is essentially in exile at least from the public eye as there are people that want his head for having a bad fried.

 

[Caim]

Ah yes, Mike "women and minorities are not intelligent enough to play 4e" Mearls.

 

[Gyor]

WotC did to Gale Force 9 what it did to the Dragonlance authors. Ouch.

Im ignorant of Gale Force 9 what do they do exactly and what were they working on for wotc?

They make D&D acessories like spell cards, monster cards, minis, ect...

 

[mediocrepoet]

And to add salt to the wound, the PHB +1 rule in AL means that the Divine Soul and Shadow Sorcerer can't get the extra features. AL screwed XGTE/SCAG subclass users over royally, the the balance is totally fucked, because the alt class features are allowed if TCoE is you +1. Like what kind of crack where they smoking when they thought that was balanced.

When buying a game, consider the personality traits and douchebaggery your money encourages in the dev. Then consider whether you would prefer supporting a game made by people who don't feel the need to soapbox on twitter.

 

[Bara]

Its the giant, ripped, black dude who is naked as fuck with a towel weirdly floating over his dick, and no radiant weapon anywhere near him, while he flies down to the the hot, barely dressed elf woman who summoned him.

So Trove has the book on there now and I can see all the art. I though this was a exaggeration but holy shit you weren't joking. They even have the ugly girl from the original Eberron cover in this and I'm starting to think this is some ones self insert.

Some of the art in this book is just wacky and I've honestly seen better art from individual publishers of 5e content. Like seriously the art to represent a cleric of order is a guy holding a shield shaped like a sheriffs badge with a wanted poster glued to the front of it? Why the fuck would he put it on the part of the shield where he can't even see the poster. I could maybe understand the inside of the shield for quick reference.

But honestly the rest of the art is passable or okay but 5e art is so bland.

As for the books mechanics apparently Rune Knight size increasing feature can stack ontop of other sourced of size increasing? You can be Duergar godzilla apparently now continuing the tradition of editions past second going more and more into the super heroic.

 

[Gyor]

https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/d...dnd-improvements-racial-depictions-take-years

“Alignment is going to be shifting entirely into a roleplaying tool used to describe the moral compass of an individual,” Crawford explained. “It’s not something we’re going to be leaning on as a way to describe entire groups.”

“We don’t consider what we’re doing in Tasha’s Cauldron to be the end of our work in this regard,” he explained. “It’s actually a part of a much broader set of steps we’re taking, which are really going to take several years to fully implement as we change how we treat some of these aspects of the game.”

Crawford also confirmed that Wizards had been working on an upcoming Dungeons & Dragons sourcebook for release in 2021: “This very week we’re putting the finishing touches on a book that comes out next year.”

 

[deuxhero]

Again: Eberron was able to ditch alignment because the setting was built from the ground up on conflict spawning from national and religious struggle where any faction can be the antagonist of an adventure (allies are only slightly more limited, mostly due to factions like the demon cultists that want to release overlords and turn the world into a hellscape were intended to be straightforward villains). This can't be grafted onto existing settings.

 

[Spectacle]

Again: Eberron was able to ditch alignment because the setting was built from the ground up on conflict spawning from national and religious struggle where any faction can be the antagonist of an adventure (allies are only slightly more limited, mostly due to factions like the demon cultists that want to release overlords and turn the world into a hellscape were intended to be straightforward villains). This can't be grafted onto existing settings.

Hold my beer.

 

[Bara]

So Expedition to the Ruins of Castle Greyhawk finally gets a PoD option like the rest of the Expedition series for 3.5 on Dmsguild. Which again makes me wonder why is it they still don't have PoD options for 3.5.

 

[Archibald]

Again: Eberron was able to ditch alignment because the setting was built from the ground up on conflict spawning from national and religious struggle where any faction can be the antagonist of an adventure (allies are only slightly more limited, mostly due to factions like the demon cultists that want to release overlords and turn the world into a hellscape were intended to be straightforward villains). This can't be grafted onto existing settings.

Nobody there gives a shit about these things.

 

[Gyor]

Again: Eberron was able to ditch alignment because the setting was built from the ground up on conflict spawning from national and religious struggle where any faction can be the antagonist of an adventure (allies are only slightly more limited, mostly due to factions like the demon cultists that want to release overlords and turn the world into a hellscape were intended to be straightforward villains). This can't be grafted onto existing settings.

A lot of the stuff Eberron gets praised for, like dealing with races, alignment and a engineer type caster (Artificer vs Clockwork Mage) for example Zakhara did first.

 

[Gyor]

Yes I'm serious, having playable "monster races" that aren't seen as inheriantly evil, like Goblins, Orcs, Orges, and so on were integrated into Zakharan culture.

And the Clockwork Mage and Astrologer classes from Zakhara would make wicked Artificer subclasses.

 

[Bara]

As of Dec 2nd I don't know how much of this is newly update or always been there but DMsguild has had a policy update. Most of is is no shit Sherlock but other bits are funny.

Such as giving a content warning on a link to explain one of their rules, banning of artwork that has extreme gore (only bloodless dismemberment is okay), also all nipples must be covered at all times even for men.

Here's whats under the "What are other rules or requirements for my content?" section.

Spoiler

This license does not allow:

• Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, discriminatory, or other bigoted views or hate speech.
• No mentions or implications of rape or other forms of sexual assault as defined by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). Content warning: This link details definitions of assault, rape, force, etc.
• Mentions of overt real-world political organizations or individuals. For example: A parody of a politician is ok, but the exact likeness and name of that politician is not.
• Gratuitously explicit depictions or descriptions of harm being done to children, especially such descriptions that cannot be distinguished from real life. For example: A scene that details how a human bandit tortures a child after kidnapping them is not ok. A reference to monstrous hags luring children into a forest is ok with no “on-screen” depictions of harm. A scenario involving a human bandit restraining but not harming a young prince to abduct him for ransom is acceptable.
• Explicit descriptions of sexual acts. Any reference to sex or suggestive behavior by or targeting creatures under the age of consent in their respective fantasy cultures.
• Sexually-derived or excessive profanity.

This license does not allow artwork that depicts:

• Real or simulated sexual acts (including manual, oral, anal, vaginal, etc.).
• Full nudity or exposed genitals. The region of the breast, coded for any gender, that contains the nipple and areola must be covered by an opaque material and not be visible as an outline through that material.
• Extreme gore, mutilation of body parts, and intense violence. Some fantasy and unrealistic violence allowed. For example: Bloodless dismemberment is acceptable.

This license allows:

• Alcohol use, tobacco use, and fantasy drug references. For example: A phosphorescent mushroom that produces hallucinatory effects when eaten is allowed. A reference to a real-world drug like cocaine is not allowed.
• Suggestive themes, including references or non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior in written material and any same-sex or gender-queer expressions of said behavior.
• Depictions of disease, physical illness, and mental illness that are respectful of the dignity and personhood of real-life individuals with similar illnesses.

This seems to be a wotc initiative as it's only on the Dmsguild. Drivethrurpg section was last updated November 21st and dosen't have any of this listed there. At least Lamentations of the Flame Princess is still on drivethrurpg if that's anything to go by.

 

[Gyor]

As of Dec 2nd I don't know how much of this is newly update or always been there but DMsguild has had a policy update. Most of is is no shit Sherlock but other bits are funny.

Such as giving a content warning on a link to explain one of their rules, banning of artwork that has extreme gore (only bloodless dismemberment is okay), also all nipples must be covered at all times even for men.

Here's whats under the "What are other rules or requirements for my content?" section.

Spoiler

This license does not allow:

• Racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, discriminatory, or other bigoted views or hate speech.
• No mentions or implications of rape or other forms of sexual assault as defined by RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network). Content warning: This link details definitions of assault, rape, force, etc.
• Mentions of overt real-world political organizations or individuals. For example: A parody of a politician is ok, but the exact likeness and name of that politician is not.
• Gratuitously explicit depictions or descriptions of harm being done to children, especially such descriptions that cannot be distinguished from real life. For example: A scene that details how a human bandit tortures a child after kidnapping them is not ok. A reference to monstrous hags luring children into a forest is ok with no “on-screen” depictions of harm. A scenario involving a human bandit restraining but not harming a young prince to abduct him for ransom is acceptable.
• Explicit descriptions of sexual acts. Any reference to sex or suggestive behavior by or targeting creatures under the age of consent in their respective fantasy cultures.
• Sexually-derived or excessive profanity.

This license does not allow artwork that depicts:

• Real or simulated sexual acts (including manual, oral, anal, vaginal, etc.).
• Full nudity or exposed genitals. The region of the breast, coded for any gender, that contains the nipple and areola must be covered by an opaque material and not be visible as an outline through that material.
• Extreme gore, mutilation of body parts, and intense violence. Some fantasy and unrealistic violence allowed. For example: Bloodless dismemberment is acceptable.

This license allows:

• Alcohol use, tobacco use, and fantasy drug references. For example: A phosphorescent mushroom that produces hallucinatory effects when eaten is allowed. A reference to a real-world drug like cocaine is not allowed.
• Suggestive themes, including references or non-explicit depictions of sexual behavior in written material and any same-sex or gender-queer expressions of said behavior.
• Depictions of disease, physical illness, and mental illness that are respectful of the dignity and personhood of real-life individuals with similar illnesses.

This seems to be a wotc initiative as it's only on the Dmsguild. Drivethrurpg section was last updated November 21st and dosen't have any of this listed there. At least Lamentations of the Flame Princess is still on drivethrurpg if that's anything to go by.

Given WotC has published books with nudity, this is hypocracy. You can't even do a Hulk or Conan like character. Who ever writes these rules should look for work in a none cultural industry.

I'll add Baldur's Gate 3 has nudity, various FR novels have had depictions of rape and explicit sex, incest, ect..., so these rules where designed by woke drone idiot with no idea about what the Forgotten Realms are like. FR has enough sex Gods/Goddesses to have their own Pantheon, and enough words for sex, workers and brothels they could form their own language. So fucking stupid.

 

[Gyor]

https://support.drivethrurpg.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000698086-Scarred-Lands?mobile_site=true

For comparison the Slacarian Vaults publishing rules, it's basically the Scarred Lands equivilant to the DMGUILD and I don't see any rule against nudity or explicit sexual content, but adults have always been the target demographic for The Onyx Path and they've never pretended to be "family friendly" content.

 

[Bara]

We'll thankfully third party stuff can still be sold outside of DMsguild or just sell it on Drivethrurpg if they adhere to the ogl.

Only ones really hurts are the ones that want to use official worlds & characters.

 

[Gyor]

We'll thankfully third party stuff can still be sold outside of DMsguild or just sell it on Drivethrurpg if they adhere to the ogl.

Only ones really hurts are the ones that want to use official worlds & characters.

True, although we most creaters won't be effected in practice as far as I can tell.

 

[deuxhero]

This license does not allow:

• Mentions of overt real-world political organizations or individuals. For example: A parody of a politician is ok, but the exact likeness and name of that politician is not.

So much for any more Masque of the Red Death material. Also got to laugh at "under the age of consent in their respective fantasy cultures." since the loophole in that is stupidly obvious.