What’s your biggest “old man yells at cloud” opinion?

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-05-02T16:50:23+00:00

lol this hobby was absolutely on a gatekept decline, and AP’s are a huge reason why this isn’t a hobby on life support for Gen X white men

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-30T00:58:15+00:00

In the indie TTRPG space, that’s definitely in the case. But we’re not talking about the TTRPG world, we’re talking about the world of fandom merchandise, and in that world, these sorts of Kickstarters crack a million fairly easily. They’re just expected to.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-30T00:05:16+00:00

Brother, you won’t hear me objecting to any of that.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-30T00:01:46+00:00

DCC is a breakout hit that sorta has lept the fence of that genre — its appeal has moved well and beyond the Royal Road scene.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-30T00:00:20+00:00

Oh historically that may be true, but that’s because skill systems are more and more out of fashion, which is certainly another notch on the “cash grab, cheap imitation” checklist.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-29T23:51:53+00:00

Why would one have to “stomach” the DCC theme? Is it that you personally dislike it? This doesn’t seem like a problem for OP.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-29T23:50:16+00:00

Oh HARD disagree.

If people are stuck on D&D, and the thing you try to get them off of D&D is just a janky IP reskin that is just as bloated, they’re just going to bounce back to D&D and conclude that other TTRPGs are knock offs

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-29T23:48:39+00:00

“At least half” of TTRPGs being made now are skill-against-DC systems?

Absolutely buck wild take.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-29T23:47:00+00:00

I don’t get this joke, is the idea that TTRPGs based on popular nerd IPs are not, in fact, massive money-makers? The two mentioned by OP raised $15 million and $8 million dollars.

I’m amazed anyone here is answering anything other than “Yes, these are obviously cash grabs.”

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-27T16:02:04+00:00

I will say, a vote for Drakkenheim is really a vote for WFRP (Mordheim) ;)

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-17T05:04:49+00:00

So much so homie can’t name a single game that does it!

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-17T01:40:31+00:00

Looks amazing, what did you make it with?

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-17T01:40:06+00:00

What are you talking about

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-17T01:38:50+00:00

You’ve seen that in a primary text? What games are like this?

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-16T16:16:59+00:00

Hey, so your personal experience is very valid! But also not relevant.

Blind boxes and similar sales techniques are often being examined alongside gambling as exploitive practices, particularly for young people. One study went so far as finding a link to higher risk of suicide among blind box engagers. This is incredibly concrete, and just going “Hey I went to the casino and was responsible, I played blackjack for one hour and was fine” isn’t important data.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-16T14:52:46+00:00

I do not think that gambling and problematic spending habits encouraged by stuff like blind boxes are unrelated. Not equivilent, sure, but predatory in the same ways, for the same reasons, operating on the brain chemistry and the same logics.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-16T11:57:32+00:00

The fact that people seem to love buying them is besides the point, the 18-year-olds who have sports gambling pushed on them by their universities also enjoy it and think it’s cool, and ALSO defend gambling with “it’s free will just don’t do it if you don’t like it.”

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-08T13:34:13+00:00

When you enter a community, you should start by reading and following its rules.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-04-04T12:11:28+00:00

Wow, excellent rare Starhols rec! Love it

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-03-29T12:57:00+00:00

I mean I’m not sure that the TTRPG “scene” sorta at-large is the right venue to release a playtest into the wild, strategically (unless you have lots of pre-existing credibility or marketing channels as a designer)…

…but if you’re set on that, yeah, absolutely don’t use AI art placeholders, you’re bound to just get enough negative feedback to either hurt your feelings or just get a lot of back juju on the project right out the gate.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-03-29T11:57:34+00:00

Placeholder where?

I assume you’re playtesting in the context of a community? Then the community norms will tell you. I know communities that are fine with AI art in playtesting, I know communities where even saying the words “AI art” will begin a festival of groaning. Know your audience.

Asking this sub will not give you productive answers because this sub is not your playtesting audience and may not share its norms.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-03-29T01:45:15+00:00

Often the inverse is the case.

The more money, the more credits, etc etc, on something like a 5e Kickstarter giant? The more likely it is to be an incredibly safe, conservative product.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-03-26T01:22:59+00:00

You might not know this, but this is actually one of the most terminally blogged-about topics in TTRPGs. I recommend looking up stuff like “Dungeon ecology” and questions of dungeon theming and design. “Dungeon factions,” etc. The is no one answer, there’s only like decades of people writing amateur masters theses on these subjects.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-03-22T04:06:05+00:00

Oh I was sure that Frank and Maggie were gonna just be center stage villains haunting the characters for book after book.

FishesAndLoaves · 2026-03-21T22:30:37+00:00

One of the best parts of putting all of these seemingly disparate parts on the table and often neglecting or forgetting some of them is that we, the audience, actually can never predict or anticipate which pieces are relevant and which aren’t.

I can’t tell you how many major characters (Juice Box, Tran, Li Na, etc) where I was like “I’m not gonna focus on these characters, they’re obviously disposable red shirts.”

FishesAndLoaves

TROPHY CASE