The

[thetruthaboutumbraldame]

@umbraldame farted and it was so loud I heard it from three states away.

[tictacpbandai]

[thetruthaboutumbraldame]

Maybe it would be better to not come right out the gate with elf pussy.

@umbraldame

[the-halfling-prince]

You can keep a hundred boys in jars or whatever it is that Chappell Roan said

[thydungeongal]

let us not forget that brennan also published an article in which he explicitly argued "d&d 5e is the ideal system for me because it does not have any rules for the things I care about in a game, which means I can make them up myself"

Brennan is a funny guy, but he is also very silly about RPGs, basically coming up with post-hoc justifications for wanting to run mostly everything in D&D when the actual reason is pretty clearly that D&D just happens to be his comfort zone due to lack of familiarity with other games. He's cultivated a pretty good understanding of D&D as a game and its limitations and then learned to patch over those limitations, and then taken his patches as being the result of the game itself being good.

And like sure maybe for him 5e actually is the ideal game, but I think he is mixing up his personal familiarity with D&D with actual benefits of the system. But also idk, to me "I love D&D because of all the stuff it doesn't do" just sounds like. That he doesn't actually like D&D the game as it exists in the rulebooks?

[little-onion-heart]

I think the core of Brennan's argument makes sense, although he probably should have phrased it better if my reading is anywhere close to his intent. My takeaway, although I haven't read it in a while, was basically that they like having rules for combat because they don't feel as comfortable improvising combat, and they like not having rules for social interaction because they prefer to improvise that stuff completely freeform.

Now, this perspective (if it's even remotely accurate) is really only valid for a table that consists of 100% professional improv comedians, and is not really applicable to Regular Dan's game at all. But I can see Dim. 20 being the rare case where the commonly thrown-around adage of "rules for social interaction would get in our way" might actually hold some water.

[thydungeongal]

Oh yeah, and I personally also enjoy games which have very little rules mediation in social situations (like most editions of D&D). But where Brennan goes wrong is trying to tie a game with this empty space to a playstyle that is at odds with it.

Like, it's not just that D&D doesn't have much rules mediation for social situations, but that D&D as a game just isn't the game for you if you want your game to center emotions and social interaction. Even with a table that is 100% good improv comedians they are still basically playing the wrong game because the narrative that they are trying to produce isn't one that D&D is harmonious with.

[dungeonmystic-deactivated202510]

The combat system is Dimension 20's biggest problem. 5e's combat drags down the show's pacing for no benefit whatsoever. Combat episodes have one or two semi-important plot moments, whereas non-combat episodes have plot and character developments happening constantly. Most of D20's combats can be skimmed through or skipped entirely. If you want a system that helps you tell stories and develop characters, the combat rules should also help you do that.

[thydungeongal]

Yep. The problem as I see it is that many people involved in high production quality actual plays want to tell stories where sometimes there are fight scenes, when D&D as a game is aimed at telling stories where the story emerges out of the fight scenes (and other challenges). If the fights in a D&D game feel vestigial or that you could skip over them and the narrative wouldn't change then no matter how good the table is at improvising social interactions they're still, emphatically, playing the wrong game.

[cavegirlpoems]

to my mind it sounds dramatically like Mr Lee Mulligan would be better off running an improvised drama or freeform roleplay - or at most using an fkr-style chance element in key moments - but stapling D&D onto it brings in the audience, so he's stuck with it.

[txttletale]

yeah i was gonna say--i think it's impossible to seriously analyze lee mulligan's comments on d&d without recognizing that he has a very straightforward financial incentive to use d&d on his show

[psi-hate]

these are my dialogue options when you talk to me btw

[umbraldame]

Call me treadmill the way this cat walks all over me

[umbraldame]

Who wants to share a cup of blueberry tea with me?

[identitty-dickruption]

the problem with "I need to criticise myself to prepare for other people criticising me" is that it fails to account for the possibilities that a) nobody will criticise you, or b) the people who do criticise you are not people you value the opinions of anyway. I know it feels like a good defence mechanism, but at the end of the day there is a high chance that you're just being mean to yourself for no reason. consider this

[identitty-dickruption]

suffering is not mandatory

[thetruthaboutumbraldame]

FINALLY I can put my best friends in a terrarium!

@umbraldame

[rot-topic]

All I want to know is if I can have your skull and bones when you die, is that too much to ask for or

[aufline]

*flares my posting tendrils threateningly*

[thetruthaboutumbraldame]

Look at how beautiful my elbows are!

@umbraldame

[thetruthaboutumbraldame]

Claws up the coochie, not a good combination.

@umbraldame

[puppygirl-hornyposting2]

[umbraldame]

💙🦇🖤

[papayajuan2019]

your needs motherfucker do you speak them