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Author Topic: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft  (Read 30317 times)

RPGPundit

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The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« on: May 09, 2021, 09:58:17 PM »
There's a lot stupid about WoTC's Woke Ravenloft setting for Dungeons and Dragons. But here's what I think is dumbest!
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Dropbear

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2021, 10:07:31 PM »
I already had my mind made up that this was going to be horrid based upon what I’ve read from the writers’ frequent posts about their “changes”. So this video wasn’t that enlightening. However, it did serve one good purpose. It reminded me that I had yet to purchase Star Adventurer. So I remedied that about two minutes into the video. Settling in to read now.

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #2 on: May 10, 2021, 12:15:52 AM »
I already had my mind made up that this was going to be horrid based upon what I’ve read from the writers’ frequent posts about their “changes”. So this video wasn’t that enlightening. However, it did serve one good purpose. It reminded me that I had yet to purchase Star Adventurer. So I remedied that about two minutes into the video. Settling in to read now.

Excellent! Thank you very much!
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Stephen Tannhauser

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2021, 11:39:40 AM »
I suppose in hindsight it was inevitable -- "safe spaces" and the horror genre are really very hard to render compatible -- but I admit to still being surprised that nobody quite grasped the idea that telling people to make a horror setting not scary is the single biggest self-own I've ever seen.
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Ghostmaker

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2021, 03:18:19 PM »
I suppose in hindsight it was inevitable -- "safe spaces" and the horror genre are really very hard to render compatible -- but I admit to still being surprised that nobody quite grasped the idea that telling people to make a horror setting not scary is the single biggest self-own I've ever seen.
That would be because you have a functioning brain and you perceive the inherent contradiction.

I'm starting to think I'll need a version of Q's famous line from the Star Trek: TNG episode 'Q Who' when I run something darker than PG.

"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."

Stephen Tannhauser

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2021, 03:25:17 PM »
I'm starting to think I'll need a version of Q's famous line from the Star Trek: TNG episode 'Q Who' when I run something darker than PG.

"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. But it's not for the timid."

I don't disagree, though I have to admit the particular original context of that line has always pissed me off: it always struck me as intensely hypocritical for an immortal, invulnerable godlike being, who knows neither fear nor grief, to dismiss eighteen dead people as nothing more than a bloody nose.

I always preferred something like, "A ship which never leaves the harbour is perfectly safe from storms. But that's not what ships are for."
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Warder

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2021, 06:30:27 PM »
Q was always full of shit, even when he was a beeing judging humanity he was aloof. Sometime the trickster angle made him obscure that fact but.. while entertaing, he was quite an arogant prick. Imho.
I really did like his episodes thou, making light of the ''stiff upper lip'' atmosphere in tng was a breath of clean air.

Back to the main topic. Ravenloft beeing made pg/defanged/nerfed.. i dunno, if they want to play the game for children or adults who cant handle horror then thats oke. As i get older i start to give some poeple a lot more leeway than before(and i always gave a lot). In horror games, the gm must be ready to really give the emotions of the players a good trashing. If they say they dont want to be scared then just play another game? Personally i dont give a shit, theres too many options to choose. Will i judge the people who cant handle that game diffrently? Sure, thats my prerogative. If people want to be handled with kids gloves then that means they have serious issues. In those cases i would even reconsider playing with them. A gm must lay down the ramifications of what will be played at the table yes. Its so the game is enjoyable. Yet if a game company thinks they are supposed to be doing that then they are off their rocker. Homebrews and headcannons exist for a reason. Nobody will take this shit seriously if they read other things produced in the past.

So, what can nu-Ravenloft be summed up as? Lame. 

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2021, 06:44:09 PM »
I really did like his episodes though, making light of the ''stiff upper lip'' atmosphere in tng was a breath of clean air.

Ah, well there I'll agree with you. :)

Quote
As i get older i start to give some poeple a lot more leeway than before(and i always gave a lot). In horror games, the gm must be ready to really give the emotions of the players a good trashing. If they say they dont want to be scared then just play another game?

Makes perfect sense to me. I wouldn't even disagree with putting in a page or two near the back headed something like "Scooby Von Zarovich: Playing Ravenloft in Silly Mode", with GMing tips and alternate rules so you can play in that kind of style.

But it's this default assumption that you have to default to erring away from psychological intensity, in the name of the players' mental health, that just throws me. Is the current population of gamers really so prone to emotional vulnerability that this kind of eggshell-walking has to be built into a game? (Don't answer that. God, I sound old. I am old.)
Better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt. -- Mark Twain

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Warder

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2021, 06:48:07 PM »
Tannhauser, your not old, your old school:)

German folklore was meant to scare the shit out of kids. It was supposed to teach them the world was not a place with only good people, it had bad ones in it too. And the kids grew up as normal people. I wonder how the current generation will turn out?

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #9 on: May 11, 2021, 09:53:47 PM »
The dumbest thing about the new Ravenloft are the customers.

It's not like the retard noise wasn't trumpeted before it hit the shelves, nor is any of the woke bullshit any surprise and it's not like the PDF wasn't a few clicks away if you wanted to read it before purchase.

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #10 on: May 11, 2021, 10:05:03 PM »
Meh.  At this point it’s obvious that WotC only cares about attempting to expand a customer base of 20 somethings who will shortly leave the hobby for shear boredom much less not having time to game anymore.  They would rather leave the sweet discretionary income of the Boomers and GenXers that built the brand name in those pockets.

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2021, 10:07:32 PM »
I gave up on WotC’s vision of Ravenloft after Curse of Strahd back in 2016. I haven’t heard anything to change my mind yet.  ;)

Bedrockbrendan

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2021, 10:32:07 PM »
I gave up on WotC’s vision of Ravenloft after Curse of Strahd back in 2016. I haven’t heard anything to change my mind yet.  ;)

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft was the one that showed me WOTC isn't the right fit for Ravenloft. I had hopes though for this. But it definitely doesn't look like something for me.

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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2021, 10:43:19 PM »
Ravenloft was stupid from the get go, only the maps were any good.  I've never understood people's obsession with it, but, every time someone creates a "Greatest classic D&D modules" list, there we see, I6 right up towards the top.

Of course, those lists are never really going to be repeated, like they were in the early 90s, because now old D&D and old D&D adventures are icky and have problematic things in them.
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Re: The Dumbest Thing in New Woke Ravenloft
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2021, 11:08:18 PM »
Ravenloft was stupid from the get go, only the maps were any good.  I've never understood people's obsession with it, but, every time someone creates a "Greatest classic D&D modules" list, there we see, I6 right up towards the top.

Of course, those lists are never really going to be repeated, like they were in the early 90s, because now old D&D and old D&D adventures are icky and have problematic things in them.

I always liked the concept of Ravenloft, but never found the execution done quite right.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


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