Pathfinder/D&D

[DancesWithWerewolves]

A spot to talk about tabletop RPG's Pathfinder and/or Dungeons & Dragons.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Sounds like sometime in the beginning of next year, I could be joining a group to play Pathfinder online, but live streaming for a channel. Eventual money is hoped to be gained, but since I'm not setting anything up other than volunteering making the opening/closing them, I would not be in the lion's share portion (I'm cool with that). I'll keep updates.

[Slaughterhouserock]

Streaming with the intended goal of making money, is usually a bad idea. You have to sell yourself and do shit for the audience, rather than what you would want to do. In terms of RPG's, that usually means the DM being a dumbass and/or cunt to make the audience happy, which annoys the players. Or you get a player who thinks they're on fucking stage or some shit, and makes everything a performance, which annoys everyone. Generally, adding money to the mix makes it shit. If you(general you, not you you) think you'll be the next Critical Role, good fucking luck.

Any focus taken from the game to make a stream is maddening, though. Stream goes down? Gotta stop the game to get it back up. Is someone reading the chat? Well that just detracts from the game, too. Some asshat rules lawyer in chat telling you how to game? Guaranteed to happen, and might piss people off. Streaming D&D is only fun if you ignore the stream during play, but then, what's the point? The main fun in streaming is interacting with chat. If you can't do that in a way that won't detract from the game, might as well not stream IMO.

Sorry to rant. I've been involved with the streaming community for long enough to know the kinds of bullshit that goes on in the minds of both the streamers and the viewers, so I kinda went off a bit.

[Reign in Blood]

Seemed like sage advice/forewarning to me.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

I'm already aware of all that. I witness other streams by people I know and the drama behind the scenes, though it's all the Wreckless Eating/Main Event Pong type stuff.

There is no expectation of this at all being a career. The DM just aims to make pocket money doing something he has fun doing.

Personally, I'd rather it not be live, we just record, edit and upload.

No idea what Critical Role is. I don't stream games.

[Slaughterhouserock]

As I said, just ranting about the shit I've seen. I hope things work out fine for you.

Agreed on the recording bit. No distractions, you can edit out any boring bits/breaks, and make it a better viewing experience.

Critical Role is the biggest/most successful D&D stream around. It's been going for years and consists of actors/voice actors playing D&D. I don't like it, though, because it sets an unrealistic example of the game for new players.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

As I said, just ranting about the shit I've seen. I hope things work out fine for you.

Agreed on the recording bit. No distractions, you can edit out any boring bits/breaks, and make it a better viewing experience.

Critical Role is the biggest/most successful D&D stream around. It's been going for years and consists of actors/voice actors playing D&D. I don't like it, though, because it sets an unrealistic example of the game for new players.

I hope it works out for my friend, it's really more for him.

I hope I can convince to do it the recorded way. Live just has so much pressure, too easy to flub.

Ah. I wonder if my groups are anything like that. I fully expect rules-lawyers in the comment section.

[Slaughterhouserock]

In case you haven't seen it yet, Pathfinder is coming out with a 2nd edition. Playtest stuff can be found here if you're interested.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

ah crap.

[Slaughterhouserock]

Was bound to happen eventually. I'm actually surprised it took this long. From what I've read(haven't looked at the playtest stuff yet), it looks like they're emulating 5E now instead of 3.5. Going off of 3.5 was great, since the edition was done and had a huge fan-base that would gladly buy more product that supported it. But if they really do switch it up to 5.P, then that's just dumb. 5E is just starting out, doesn't have as big a fan-base, and the drop in power level would make splat books less useful. Hopefully I'm wrong, and that's not what they're going for.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

I'm...just not thrilled with a new edition. Hearing it going in the direction of 5e makes me even less thrilled. I tried that edition twice, I just can't find enjoyment in it at all. Supporters are like "yeah but you can role play!" and I'm like "you can do that anyway with any system! It's a non factor!"

[Slaughterhouserock]

The only thing bad about a new edition is that they'll stop making stuff for the old edition. You can still play the old edition, but some people have to play "the new thing", which is annoying. It's why I'm stuck playing 5E instead of 3.X. I plan on checking out the playtest to see how different it is at some point. I'm hoping it's not just a homebrew 5E, though.

I don't think 5E is terrible, but there's alot less freedom compared to 3.X. And the "ask the DM" approach doesn't sit well with me, due to having several DM's that were cunts that liked making players miserable. I'm one of the few that enjoys having rules for every little thing. And fuck the people that say 5E is better for roleplaying. Less rules does not equate to more roleplay. That shit is up to the players, and has nothing to do with the system. There's maybe ten minutes of roleplaying in an average session with my group. I've been in 3.X games where people were in character the whole damned time.

In other words, people are dumb.

[showa58taro]

Total noob question but what did we play (version wise) in our HMF game?

[Slaughterhouserock]

Total noob question but what did we play (version wise) in our HMF game?

D&D 3.5

Pathfinder is essentially D&D 3.5 with some heavy houseruling.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Yeah I really like the options in Pathfinder. The one thing I really miss from 3.5e is the Master Thrower prestige class. I've yet to be satisfied by any of the archetype options for any Pathfinder class that tries to replace it (though the Swashbuckler Flying Blade comes closest, imo).

[Slaughterhouserock]

I dug deeper into it and it turns out the playtest isn't going to be released until August, but there's alot of info out already. The terms "simplified" and "streamlined" are being thrown around alot. A good chunk of it sounds like 5E: use of level based proficiency, removing action types, mechanical backgrounds, even focusing on the campaign setting. There's a few differences, but it looks like I was right in my assumption that this will be 5.P.

There are some weird changes, too. Like initiative is skill based. So you roll Perception or Stealth or some other thing for initiative. I can see that getting confusing. Crits are now base on how high above the AC you roll(needs to be 10+ over). Fumbles work the opposite(10+ under), but I haven't heard what that entails. Personally, I think fumble charts and their ilk are some of the worst things ever created, so if they're part of the core rules, it can fuck right off. All in all, it's not looking good.

There's a podcast of the creators playing a game with the new rules here. I haven't listened to it, and don't plan to, but it's there if you want to hear how it works in play.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

I'm no fan of fumble charts. I have a DM that likes to do worst-things-possible if you roll a 1.

One of the reasons I like being a Gunslinger type in his game, if I roll a one, there are gun rules for that I follow, not his chart

Sounds like they're trying harder to get crits too, like it wasn't hard enough for me.

[DancesWithWerewolves]

I had to stop the podcast. That guy at the beginning was too annoying for this early in the morning for me

[DancesWithWerewolves]

Gonna start a game that I'm running tonight. I have a general concept, and I'm going to keep it simple. One of the storylines I'll be doing will be heavily influenced by Humanoids from the Deep.

Including Fish-people raping big titty babes.

[Slaughterhouserock]

Gonna start a game that I'm running tonight. I have a general concept, and I'm going to keep it simple. One of the storylines I'll be doing will be heavily influenced by Humanoids from the Deep.

Including Fish-people raping big titty babes.

Fish-people are always a good time.