Homebrew Introspective – The Council Warlock

Welcome back to the Introspective, where I tear apart years-old homebrew in the pursuit of game design understanding. It’s also all my own work, so don’t feel bad about the poor creator of the work – he’s the same one doing the tearing-down in the first place.

Today we’ll be looking at the Council Warlock, one of my more contentious homebrews. Narratively there was the whole “mortal creatures as a Patron” thing, while mechanically it ran afoul of the age-old “INT vs. CHA” argument for the warlock class.

And I think there’s interesting points to make about both. So let’s begin, shall we?

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Late Review – Al’Qadim, Arabian Adventures (Part 2)

Last time, we looked at the entirety of Al’Qadim: Arabian Adventures except for one thing. Today, we look at that one thing: the sha’ir.

“Why wasn’t this a class? How is this a wizard?”

Those are the first of my notes from reading about the sha’ir. Things only went downhill from there. The sha’ir is maddening.

So without any further wait, let’s go!

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Late Review – Al’Qadim, Arabian Adventures (Part 1)

Welcome to the desert! This one is an odd thing to review. It’s kind of a setting book (like Eberron: Rising from the Last War) but it’s also not actually a distinct setting (since it’s located in the Forgotten Realms). But it also is sort of its own setting?

This one’s actually been metaphorically sitting on my desk for quite a while now, so it’s about time. And it’s a weird one for sure, but sill worth looking at.

Anyway, let’s check out Al’Qadim and quick. I originally planned to joke that WotC wouldn’t be bringing this one back any time soon, but with all their poor decisions recently… anything’s possible.

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Homebrew Introspective – Generalist Wizard

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a character option here – more so due to coincidence than any conscious decision. Plus all that nonsense with the OGL is really not ideal. But all the same, I feel examining homebrews is an interesting way of looking deeper into the philosophy and mechanics of the game.

By examining my own homebrews, I can even ensure there won’t be any angry creators coming after me! So let’s take a look, shall we?

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Dungeon Designs – The Living Vault Addendum

In the end, I really did want to go over some of the specific themes I had in mind while detailing The Living Dungeon, and so here we are! I wasn’t originally intending to do these so soon after the original articles, but I’m not in charge of the content pipeline. Come to think of it, I also don’t know who is in charge of it, or if it exists at all.

As a warning, this will include some body horror – the original iteration of this idea was intended to be an aberration-themed nightmare after all. But not all of them are. Just to make doubly sure, all the body horror options will actually have the words “body horror” in their section headers.

With all that out of the way, let’s dive right in!

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DM Me – On the OGL

Honestly, I want to stop reading about this already. I like D&D, thus I don’t enjoy watching the makers of it repeatedly choose mistakes over anything else.

Regardless, I have some thoughts. And I’d rather focus on those instead of my fears or my (depressingly small) hopes.

To summarize, the OGL is the open license under which much of D&D’s mechanics and other aspects can be freely used by others. It’s why we have 3rd-party supplements and adventures, and it also lies at the heart of some major TTRPG competitors, such as Pathfinder (though I’ve heard Pathfinder 2e has moved away from this).

Wizards of the Coast wants to change the OGL. Currently, to them it represents a massive loss in potential profit as it allows 3rd parties, including direct competitors, to make money off of their work. Whether WotC wants to completely remove these other products or merely get their hands in the money pot is uncertain.

I’d like to start by saying that this is a terrible idea and more likely to lower profits than raise them. It’s also not a great time for them to be doing this, since public opinion of WotC seems to be stuck between “uninterested disdain” and “outright hatred.” There are less popular companies out there, but that doesn’t really help their position.

But there are a few caveats too.

For one, whether the online D&D community represents the actual D&D community is not guaranteed. Wherever you have a number of loud and dedicated speakers, you have the possibility of a much larger number of quiet supporters.

There’s also the question of whether or not a majority of D&D players actually know where their content comes from. Given a good portion of it is through online platforms at least partially dominated by WotC, I could easily see many players thinking that everything basically comes back to them.

To put it simply: the online community is outraged. What matters is whether anyone else outside of that community actually cares.

Another caveat is the fact that an update to the OGL probably is necessary. As far as I’m aware, it hasn’t been changed since the advent of large-scale online platforms for 3rd party content. I don’t know what loopholes or issues might exist in the current OGL, but it’s just old. An update of some kind isn’t ridiculous.

I don’t actually know what the current status of copyrighting game mechanics is. As I remember, there’s a lot of doubt over whether or not something as simple as “how to roll dice” can be copyrighted at all. Despite my meager efforts in undergrad, I am not a copyright lawyer (and never will be, hooray pre-law!).

Finally, there’s the issue of internet verification. The latest leaked OGL does seem to have quite a bit backing it up. And WotC’s “oh crap, what do we say?” non-response to the situation also seems to imply that there is reason to be upset.

However, I did notice that the outrage over this started well before the leak was even remotely verifiable or trustworthy. As the Internet is wont to do, everyone latched onto the leak and started getting worked up over it without bothering to check whether the thing was a real leak or a blatant fake made in Photoshop. It could still be that this leak is fake or otherwise untrustworthy, and WotC is just following their venerable tradition of terrible PR decisions by not commenting otherwise sooner.

Also I said I wouldn’t talk about my fears, but here we go anyway.

My biggest concern is that WotC has drastically mis-judged the nature of their consumer base. Namely that they think people who play Pathfinder or any other D&D-related system are actual potential customers of WotC.

Because they aren’t. Even in systems based on 5e, the players of those systems are unlikely to switch back to WotC’s D&D if their current preferred system disappears. Add this to the fact that, obviously, competitor systems will move on and adapt to a world without 5e as a base. So even if WotC could completely obliterate Pathfinder 2e, for instance, all that would do is force the creation of Pathfinder 3e, with the exact same player base as 2e.

Another misunderstanding I think WotC has is that they’re capable of handling the D&D world on their own. Here’s a hint – they aren’t. If you take every WotC product released in the last 3 years, it would likely still be enough to support a community of this size for even one year, much less three.

There’s also the matter of quality. This is another case where my place in the online D&D community can skew my opinion, but even still… to me, it just seems like many WotC products are not preferred over products from 3rd parties. Many WotC adventures are solidly mediocre. Some are good, but these generally tend to be the collections of previously-released modules.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh remains, to this day, a campaign series I desperately want to do. Rime of the Frostmaiden is a book I bought, started reading, and then just never really did anything with. But I don’t know, maybe Radiant Citadel is better – I got it recently but haven’t started it yet.

I hear it has a grumpy, old gate-keeping clown named Thaco, which would be the funniest thing I’ve seen in years if it weren’t for all the enraged forum posts about the character that one of my group posts to our chat regularly. Let me put it like this – the sole downfall of Thaco the Clown is that he cannot ever be the funniest clown in the universe because his very existence brings out dozens of even funnier clowns with zero self-awareness.

Let me put this another way. If you feel personally attacked by the portrayal of a fictional clown, then I suggest you pause for a moment and find the nearest non-funhouse mirror you can and take a good long look at yourself.

Okay, back to the topic at hand.

Right now, WotC is facing a very delicate situation. The Old Guard are leaving for a number of reasons and have been for a long time now. The Old Clown Guards have been offended by an objectively hilarious little joke. And the New Blood are wary of D&D due to the various bits of racism and sexism left over from the game’s origins in the last millennium.

Paizo has really stepped up to the ring with Pathfinder 2e, a revolutionary take on their classic game system which makes it vaguely playable without having to dump seven hundred dollars into it and take a three-month onboarding process. The eternal pandemic has made playing in-person as unfamiliar to current players as a rotary phone. And all of the best online play environments are owned and operated by groups and individuals unaffiliated with WotC (while their own system remains, as far as I’m aware, primarily confined to boardroom PowerPoints).

Is now really the time to start pissing people off?

Anyway, hopefully updates should be more consistent starting soon. I’ll still be talking about D&D regardless of what mistake WotC decides to make next, but whether or not I’ll make anything new for it is up in the air. To me, “D&D” isn’t a trademark because I just can’t see it that way.

Oh, and as always… let me know what you think!

But please don’t send me more links to articles on this story because it’s depressing and, frankly, I really want to stop reading about it.

Dungeon Designs – The Living Vault, part 2

Welcome back to Dungeon Designs and our discussion of “The Living Vault” – a dungeon which aims to feel more alive than any other in existence. Last time, we went over the basic stats for the Living Vault as a creature and an active participant in players’ dungeon crawl. This time, though, we’re going to be focusing more on the actual “dungeon” aspects of this concept.

And don’t worry – anatomical expertise is not required because I sure don’t have any.

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Dungeon Designs – The Living Vault, part 1

Recently I’ve been brainstorming a new concept for a dungeon. Not for any particular reason – I just think it sounds cool. But I wanted to discuss it here to show off my method for making dungeons, which should be informative, entertaining, and/or horrifying.

That last option is primarily for people who have played in my games, who will presumably come away from this thinking “what the hell man, that’s how you came up with this nonsense?” To which I say… sometimes.

Other times I’m just sort of winging it.

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DM Me – Changing Times

Today, we’ll be talking about change. Specifically the changes that WotC has been all about recently, which some have welcomed and others have criticized. Do I, personally, support the changes?

Here’s a whole post about that answer which boils down, ultimately, to “maybe.”

Speaking of change, I finally remembered how to do the “read more” link. So that’s new! And probably good.

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DM Me – Complexity

Welcome back! Today’s unasked question is “what’s the deal with complexity in games?”

Today’s unedited answer is, of course, very complex.

But seriously, let’s just talk about complexity a bit. It’s a tough topic that I feel is the sole differentiator between people who like different role-playing games.

And if that doesn’t sound complex at all, just you wait.

Necessary Complications

To start I just want to explain that I don’t hate complexity. In fact, the nature of rules in D&D is what allows the game to work as a storytelling device – if there were no rules we’d all just be sitting around chatting. The rules create the desire to make something more cohesive.

However I often see people complaining about a lack of complexity. The main difference between 5e people and Pathfinder people is exactly this, at least in my opinion. Pathfinder is complex and 5e is simple.

Even within those groups, however, there are those who want to add more complexity. And that, I feel, is foolish.

A certain level of complexity is required. We have to define what a character can and cannot do, of course, and we also have to define the methods by which the DM can affect the world. These definitions allow us to all understand the game on equal ground.

What these complex systems do wrong is assume that “more complexity = better game” with no regard for context. Adding in a realistic and deep asthma system to 5e doesn’t make it a better game – in fact it does quite the opposite.

At the end of the day, the question is about what content is worth the complexity.

Encumbered with Mechanics

Let’s take Encumbrance (or as Pathfinder calls it, Bulk) as an example. When I first started playing Pathfinder, I was incredibly impressed with Bulk. The 5e Encumbrance system had always been such a pain to track that we had never bothered with it. This new Bulk system seemed much more manageable.

We then proceeded to play Pathfinder and never use the Bulk system. It just hasn’t come up and we haven’t needed it. If someone tries to do something unreasonable our DM can just say “no way” and we’re good.

It wasn’t important in 5e to know exactly how much a cannon weighs, and it wasn’t important to know how much Bulk a cannon has in Pathfinder.

Because at the end of the day we all know that you can’t just carry a whole damn cannon.

Does this mean the Encumbrance and Bulk systems are bad? Not at all! I can see uses for both (even if Bulk is still likely better). But the point is that it isn’t a necessity.

You can also compare this to other stories. How many times did encumbrance come up as an issue in Lord of the Rings? Wheel of Time? Both series mentioned the concept of “there’s only so much you can carry” but in neither case were they central themes of the story.

Because ultimately we aren’t reading those books to hear about the inconveniences of carrying everything you might need. We’re reading for epic battles, dangerous adventures, and fantastic magic.

And that begs a question…

Is Anything In Need of More Complexity?

So are there places where D&D could use some added complexity? Personally my answer is no – say what you will about 5e’s many issues, but one thing they seem to usually have a good grasp on is the principle of “simple and playable above all else.” Something Pathfinder unfortunately doesn’t share.

But there are a few places where D&D just doesn’t have enough specificity. The clearest example of this is in crafting magic items, which as far as I’ve seen has never gotten any clarification. Some people make magic items somehow and that’s pretty much all you get.

So would 5e benefit from having rules on making magic items? Yes! Does 5e need those rules? No!

For one, crafting magical items is something that only spellcasters can do. Even more than that, you generally only find three classes behind magical item creation – wizards, artificers, and clerics. While a sorcerer or warlock could make a magic item, that isn’t as much in their fantasy (and most of the warlock’s magic item fantasy is fulfilled by the Book of Shadows and Pact Weapon).

Additionally magic item creation is normally a higher-level activity. You could get some 1st levels making potions, and 5th levels may dabble in trinkets and scrolls, but you usually don’t expect significant magic item crafting until you hit like 10th level. And, no matter what people may actually want, the numbers consistently show that the majority of games never get past the mid levels.

So if we did add a magical item crafting system, it would only be usable by an extreme minority of characters. Now you might be thinking “that’s perfect then! it doesn’t matter if it’s complex if only a few people will use it!” And you’d be right in that.

But we’re still left with two issues. The first is bloat – even if a given mechanic is not intended to be used by 90% of players, it’s still on the books and thus taking up space. The second issue is that just because it’s intended for high-level play doesn’t mean it’ll stay there.

Another problem presented is the slippery slope issue. If we have a system for creating new magic items, shouldn’t wizards have the ability to create new spells? Should we add the ability to modify existing magic items?

I hate slippery slope arguments, but in this case my point is more that “these are all equally valid concerns” rather than “doing this one thing will inevitably cause all of these other problems.” We physically cannot perfectly simulate fantasy life (unfortunately) and so we have to be careful with what we spend effort on.

Sounds Awfully Complex

Ultimately my gist is that I always see these “a new ruleset gives 5e some much-needed complexity!” clickbait titles and immediately think “have you not played D&D?”

And this ties into a trend online in which simple systems are seen as insufficient. That if a game (of any kind) isn’t complex then it isn’t worth playing. But in reality it’s the simplest games that get the most success.

I know Minecraft is a typical example, but there are others as well. Early Hearthstone got its success from its simple mechanics (which are now dead somewhere in a ditch). Super Smash Bros is successful because of its “party game first, fighting game second” design. Look at all of these successful games and what you generally find is an inner simplicity that makes them so appealing.

And I know there’s a market for complexity. Many people get bored with these simplistic games and eventually move on to more complex ones. But those people, as far as I’ve seen, are in the minority. And the best games, the ones with the most success, are the ones that are exceedingly simple but still have sufficient depth to keep fans of complexity interested.

I feel that most tabletop RPGs fall into that latter category. Base 5e is simple to play and easy to learn (for the most part). Pathfinder 2e is more complex, but is ultimately still something you could pick up and play without only a moderate amount of prep time.

Both also have other options to add complexity. If you want to, you can multiclass in 5e in order to get a character that more closely matches your preferences. The absolute glut of feats available in Pathfinder 2e means that you can customize your character to be as simple or complex if you like.

And finally, due to TTRPGs’ nature as a collaborative experience, the games need to be simple so that everyone can play them. You need a group of people, and you need rules that a group of people can understand and agree on.

So if you want to add complexity, go right ahead. But the game doesn’t need it to be a good game.

Please. I already had to learn THAC0 once, I don’t want to have to do it again.