A few years ago I had some disruptive life experiences.  Realizing I needed a hobby, I remembered some nostalgic fun that would
not only keep my mind busy, but would also encourage my creative side and would encourage me to interact with others again. As such,
I revisited a loved and known commodity from my early years, D&D.

The current version at the time was 5e.  I bought the players handbook and read it from beginning to end. It was a good system. I
bought every book that was released up to that point in time in both hard cover and for my favorite VTT. Note that this
was probably over a thousand dollars of investment. I joined a great group and we had a great time.

Then an unfortunate decision occurred.  WOTC decided that they needed to combine Magic with D&D.  I read about Magic and noted
that magic was inundated with issues and questionable practices . At this point, WOTC also seemed to stop listening to what the fan
base wanted.   

Shortly after, I started realizing that the system resulted in OP characters and no sense of the adventure I experienced in my
younger years. It was so easy to min max everything.  Every group had that one player that could destroy the entire encounter without
sweat or sense of anxiety that made the original so much fun. There were times that every player in the group "skipped" their turn
except for the marysue that could basically do everything.  What fun is that?  Yes, I already know, the DM can controll this. One even tried.
This caused even more issues. People started getting offended.

Pun intended, it got "progressively" worse from there. Orcs became a racist trope. They turned every race into marysue humans.
They basically told me that they didn't want the average person who never even contemplated that an ORC was in any way associated
with a black person to buy their product. They added sections in books on how to behave. Really? The result?  I have now saved
well over 600 dollars I would have spent. Originally, I was hoping to have the entire collection as I now have the money to buy it.
They have released over 7 books since my last purchase in both print and VTT since that point. I have bought 0.

In a nutshell, I don't need a company to tell me how to behave. I don't need a company to tell me what to think. I don't need a company to tell me what
to feel. I don't need some bullshit company to tell me how to treat people or how to play a game.  I had wonderful parents that
taught me those things.  I also grew up with diverse friendships from a very young age. This extended all the way through adulthood, values
that transcended continents. I stress this occurred before "they" decided to try to "teach" me how I was supposed to approach life.
I was actually disappointed that WOTC managed to alter my perspective on TTRPG. These people are ass hats.

As such, despite buying all of the books all the way to MORDENKAINEN'S TOME OF FOES in hardcover and VTT, I found that I could no longer support a TTRPG
company that didn't even seem to understand the fact that TTRPG was always inclusive and always welcoming. What I found most funny was that none of the modern purveyors of TTRPG realize that the people that truly made the
hobby great were the counter culture of the time, the ones ostracized for their interests. There was never a time we could not change the rules for any
given campaign. We could always give various races different characteristics. We did not need permission. Creativity had no bounds.
We explored boundaries. In fact as a kid, we had an Orc join the party before we realized that they were some allegory. The Orc was
lawful and was loved and adopted by the other players.  Enough said!

The Result? I began exploring other rule sets and companies.  In the end, I am actually "thankful" that certain companies followed the path they chose to follow. 
What I found funny was that the ones I gravitated to were in the green list.  A couple of them have now received hundreds of dollars in
support of their products. The others will become the twitter of games, totally lacking in enlightenment or creativity, an echo
chamber of their own making filled with people that can't find games.

Question to RPGPUNDIT. Have you ever considered entering the VTT market.  Thinking your products would sell in that market.

Quote from: RPGPundit on September 16, 2021, 07:40:55 PM

Quote from: Ghostmaker on September 16, 2021, 01:48:25 PM
I think we're getting a little too far off track here.

The question about Zak S. is legitimate. But I'd like to see receipts on the 'he encourages followers to harass people' accusation.

(You might want to produce them, btw. Zak has been known to frequent the forum here. And he wrung a settlement out of 'Ettin' from TBP over accusations made.)

I don't think you need that part; Zak has repeatedly pushed leftist ideology, he's only opposed to SJWs when they attack him. He's stated that banning/censorship campaigns are fine against the "wrong people", and just before the whole fiasco with him erupted he was getting into business with other people on the Red List.

Didn't he also backstabbed James Raggie?

Quote from: PonchoGoblin on September 18, 2021, 03:07:51 PM

Quote from: Cypher7 on September 18, 2021, 03:00:35 PM
Darker Hue Studios.  Look woke as shit to me..........

Have quite literally never heard of them

From his bio on their website. "Over the years I have seen the need for more diverse representation within the industry. Why is it that in worlds filled with aliens, foreign landscapes, and fictional universes, the primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males? And why, when I sit down to game with a new group, do people look at me with that oh-man-does-this-guy-even-know-how-to-game look?"

Sounds less about representation and more like a axe to grind. No one I know would ever look at him like that. But as someone pointed out once, if all you hang around are white leftists, is it any wonder they have a bad opinion of white people?

I think that's the part that makes me the most sad. They genuinely believe that every gaming table out there is the way they're describing. To their core.

I made a thread on Reddit recently as I'd just moved back to my home town and was wondering if there were any gaming shops still operating. One was! And several people had good things to say.

Then someone came in and said don't go, it's a total cringe fest, it smells, they're creepy. I asked if they wouldn't mind relating any specific anecdotes. They had none. It was a lesbian couple, and some men had stared at them when they'd come in. That was it.

I of course went myself to check it out, and saw a fairly diverse crew of geeks playing MtG and Warhammer. The hygiene was fine. People were welcoming.

People find what they're expecting to find. If you walk in with preconceived notions about how people view you, then you're going to walk into some self-fulfilling prophecies. Sad =/

Quote from: Neonsmri on September 18, 2021, 09:39:15 PM

Quote from: PonchoGoblin on September 18, 2021, 03:07:51 PM

Quote from: Cypher7 on September 18, 2021, 03:00:35 PM
Darker Hue Studios.  Look woke as shit to me..........

Have quite literally never heard of them

From his bio on their website. "Over the years I have seen the need for more diverse representation within the industry. Why is it that in worlds filled with aliens, foreign landscapes, and fictional universes, the primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males? And why, when I sit down to game with a new group, do people look at me with that oh-man-does-this-guy-even-know-how-to-game look?"

Sounds less about representation and more like a axe to grind. No one I know would ever look at him like that. But as someone pointed out once, if all you hang around are white leftists, is it any wonder they have a bad opinion of white people?

Ok, but what have they written? I know that right now the red list is being kept to bigger selling items so that it doesn't serve as free marketing for smaller people. If none of their stuff is even close to a best-seller on DriveThru or they haven't written anything, they are fairly inconsequential to the industry.

Also Jesus the first post essays from people, that was a lot up above but at least it ended nicely!

Quote from: ChrisFox on September 18, 2021, 10:17:26 PM
I think that's the part that makes me the most sad. They genuinely believe that every gaming table out there is the way they're describing. To their core.

I made a thread on Reddit recently as I'd just moved back to my home town and was wondering if there were any gaming shops still operating. One was! And several people had good things to say.

Then someone came in and said don't go, it's a total cringe fest, it smells, they're creepy. I asked if they wouldn't mind relating any specific anecdotes. They had none. It was a lesbian couple, and some men had stared at them when they'd come in. That was it.

I of course went myself to check it out, and saw a fairly diverse crew of geeks playing MtG and Warhammer. The hygiene was fine. People were welcoming.

People find what they're expecting to find. If you walk in with preconceived notions about how people view you, then you're going to walk into some self-fulfilling prophecies. Sad =/

It's because the people on Reddit warning you about it and making anecdotes don't actually play anything, just like a good portion of the Twitter idiots that are assmad about the list

Quote from: Altered on September 18, 2021, 05:27:01 PM
A few years ago I had some disruptive life experiences.  Realizing I needed a hobby, I remembered some nostalgic fun that would
not only keep my mind busy, but would also encourage my creative side and would encourage me to interact with others again. As such,
I revisited a loved and known commodity from my early years, D&D.

The current version at the time was 5e.  I bought the players handbook and read it from beginning to end. It was a good system. I
bought every book that was released up to that point in time in both hard cover and for my favorite VTT. Note that this
was probably over a thousand dollars of investment. I joined a great group and we had a great time.

Then an unfortunate decision occurred.  WOTC decided that they needed to combine Magic with D&D.  I read about Magic and noted
that magic was inundated with issues and questionable practices . At this point, WOTC also seemed to stop listening to what the fan
base wanted.   

Shortly after, I started realizing that the system resulted in OP characters and no sense of the adventure I experienced in my
younger years. It was so easy to min max everything.  Every group had that one player that could destroy the entire encounter without
sweat or sense of anxiety that made the original so much fun. There were times that every player in the group "skipped" their turn
except for the marysue that could basically do everything.  What fun is that?  Yes, I already know, the DM can controll this. One even tried.
This caused even more issues. People started getting offended.

Pun intended, it got "progressively" worse from there. Orcs became a racist trope. They turned every race into marysue humans.
They basically told me that they didn't want the average person who never even contemplated that an ORC was in any way associated
with a black person to buy their product. They added sections in books on how to behave. Really? The result?  I have now saved
well over 600 dollars I would have spent. Originally, I was hoping to have the entire collection as I now have the money to buy it.
They have released over 7 books since my last purchase in both print and VTT since that point. I have bought 0.

In a nutshell, I don't need a company to tell me how to behave. I don't need a company to tell me what to think. I don't need a company to tell me what
to feel. I don't need some bullshit company to tell me how to treat people or how to play a game.  I had wonderful parents that
taught me those things.  I also grew up with diverse friendships from a very young age. This extended all the way through adulthood, values
that transcended continents. I stress this occurred before "they" decided to try to "teach" me how I was supposed to approach life.
I was actually disappointed that WOTC managed to alter my perspective on TTRPG. These people are ass hats.

As such, despite buying all of the books all the way to MORDENKAINEN'S TOME OF FOES in hardcover and VTT, I found that I could no longer support a TTRPG
company that didn't even seem to understand the fact that TTRPG was always inclusive and always welcoming. What I found most funny was that none of the modern purveyors of TTRPG realize that the people that truly made the
hobby great were the counter culture of the time, the ones ostracized for their interests. There was never a time we could not change the rules for any
given campaign. We could always give various races different characteristics. We did not need permission. Creativity had no bounds.
We explored boundaries. In fact as a kid, we had an Orc join the party before we realized that they were some allegory. The Orc was
lawful and was loved and adopted by the other players.  Enough said!

The Result? I began exploring other rule sets and companies.  In the end, I am actually "thankful" that certain companies followed the path they chose to follow. 
What I found funny was that the ones I gravitated to were in the green list.  A couple of them have now received hundreds of dollars in
support of their products. The others will become the twitter of games, totally lacking in enlightenment or creativity, an echo
chamber of their own making filled with people that can't find games.

Question to RPGPUNDIT. Have you ever considered entering the VTT market.  Thinking your products would sell in that market.

Entering it in what way?

Quote from: Snowman0147 on September 18, 2021, 05:43:54 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit on September 16, 2021, 07:40:55 PM

Quote from: Ghostmaker on September 16, 2021, 01:48:25 PM
I think we're getting a little too far off track here.

The question about Zak S. is legitimate. But I'd like to see receipts on the 'he encourages followers to harass people' accusation.

(You might want to produce them, btw. Zak has been known to frequent the forum here. And he wrung a settlement out of 'Ettin' from TBP over accusations made.)

I don't think you need that part; Zak has repeatedly pushed leftist ideology, he's only opposed to SJWs when they attack him. He's stated that banning/censorship campaigns are fine against the "wrong people", and just before the whole fiasco with him erupted he was getting into business with other people on the Red List.

Didn't he also backstabbed James Raggie?

Yes. He condemned Raggi for having his picture taken with Jordan Peterson.

Quote from: Neonsmri on September 18, 2021, 09:39:15 PM
Why is it that in worlds filled with aliens, foreign landscapes, and fictional universes, the primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males?

LOL, someone claiming they can determine someone's preferred sex partner by looking at a piece of fantasy art* tells me all I need to know about them or their products. (Not to mention assuming a "male" gender, which is totally bigoted by his own standards no doubt).

* Gay Prom excepted, if you call that "fantasy" ... or "art".

So Kevin of Palladium Books in an interview has pretty much announced who will be taking over the company from him in the future. Anyone know anything about this Sean Owen Robertson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iubKJhZjm3Q

Quote from: PonchoGoblin on September 19, 2021, 01:31:09 AM

Quote from: Neonsmri on September 18, 2021, 09:39:15 PM

Quote from: PonchoGoblin on September 18, 2021, 03:07:51 PM

Quote from: Cypher7 on September 18, 2021, 03:00:35 PM
Darker Hue Studios.  Look woke as shit to me..........

Have quite literally never heard of them

From his bio on their website. "Over the years I have seen the need for more diverse representation within the industry. Why is it that in worlds filled with aliens, foreign landscapes, and fictional universes, the primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males? And why, when I sit down to game with a new group, do people look at me with that oh-man-does-this-guy-even-know-how-to-game look?"

Sounds less about representation and more like a axe to grind. No one I know would ever look at him like that. But as someone pointed out once, if all you hang around are white leftists, is it any wonder they have a bad opinion of white people?

Ok, but what have they written? I know that right now the red list is being kept to bigger selling items so that it doesn't serve as free marketing for smaller people. If none of their stuff is even close to a best-seller on DriveThru or they haven't written anything, they are fairly inconsequential to the industry.

Also Jesus the first post essays from people, that was a lot up above but at least it ended nicely!

How about they just write games.....Damn I know it's a novel idea buuuuuuuuutttttt you may garner a larger market share. And to address the whole "primary antagonists are predominantly hetero white males? "  Comment.  It's simple.  That's more than likely what wrote the content, and as such was easier for them to write in that context.   Easy.........

Another one to consider:

13th Warlock- RPG artwork (NSFW). Some is in Scott Taylor's Folio Black Label product line. Also associated with Infinium Game Studio

So far as I can tell (don't follow closely enough nor have I followed them for more than a year or two), green.

Quote from: Cypher7 on September 19, 2021, 05:16:34 PM
How about they just write games.....Damn I know it's a novel idea buuuuuuuuutttttt you may garner a larger market share.

RPG authors sticking to writing game material...what kind of crazy talk is that?  

welcome to the site.

Quote from: lordmalachdrim on September 19, 2021, 12:25:52 PM
So Kevin of Palladium Books in an interview has pretty much announced who will be taking over the company from him in the future. Anyone know anything about this Sean Owen Robertson?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iubKJhZjm3Q

Found a thumbnail bio. https://tabletop.events/conventions/chupacabracon-vi/pages/sean-roberson

I suppose we could do worse than the line editor for Savage Worlds (Rifts) and who's helped author a number of Savage Worlds books. I can't find any social media under his name though.

Quote from: Altered on September 18, 2021, 05:27:01 PM
All of this is good. Read Altered's entire post

Welcome aboard Altered. We hope you find the discussion to your needs. And thank you for your post. Good stuff.