Thread 96405885

>I'm gonna run an epic fantasy adveture
>Do you read books in that genre?
>No
>Do you watch movies in that genre?
>I saw LotR a decade ago
>Do you listen to music, read comics, draw pictures, or anything related to it?
>No

Why do people do this?

Say what you will about modern capeshit, that is some pretty cool cover art. Giving 70s Vaughn Bode-type vibes.

>>96405885 (OP)
>Why do people do this?
Imagination and the desire to use it is natural. But people are lazy.

>>96405972
It's a pretty cool comic. Bilquis Evely has a retro style that goes really well with the premise of Supergirl sent into a magic world.

>>96405885 (OP)
>>Do you watch movies in that genre?
>>I saw LotR a decade ago
Have there been any good fantasy movies since LOTR?

>>96405999
While those are trips of truth, can't they play a game in a genre they enjoy?
Why do they want to dedicate time to something they know they don't like?

>>96406057
Probably not. But I like the genre so I'll watch trash and enjoy the parts that work. I like Deathstalker (the first one), Barbarian Queen, Krull, Willow, The Dark Crystal. There's a shit ton of fantasy movies to watch, just because they didn't come out this year I don't see why you'd skip something you like.

>>96406134
If it's not trending on tiktok it's not worth watching.

>>96406057
Nope.
The Hobbit famously sucked due to studio meddling.
The D&D Movie was NuMarvel slop and arguably worse than the infamously shit one with Jeremy Irons from before LotR.
Narnia and Golden Compass, meh. Weird Religious Kid junk.
Eragon, derivative shite.
Harry Potter, barely counts because it's modern. Same for its ripoffs like Percy Jackson and whatever.

There might be a couple "TV" shows but-
Fantasy was really only good before Jackson's Lord of the Rings and after those masterpieces hit, never could compare again.

>>96405885 (OP)
What's the problem? Potentially, the less you know the more you'll make up instead of just regurgitating the came stuff.

>>96406269
Originality is a foregone conclusion bub. Even if you 'make up' some stuff you've never absorbed before it's going to exist already. There is nothing new under the sun.
Experience in consuming the kinds of things you want to produce leads to better production thereof. You know what works and what doesn't, even if not consciously - your brain notices.

>>96406269
It's like a vegan telling you to trust him when he's gonna be in charge of the weekly bbq every week for the foreseeable future. There's no need for them to do fantasy if they don't like it, and if they liked it they'd have it in their everyday life.
Sure, it could be good. But on one hand there's a high chance they'll retread things that were done many times much better, and on the other there's a high chance they'll try to change things to fit what they do like. That's why so much of 5e is weird urban whatever with no lore or high concept or interest in the nitty gritty of the world, because they didn't to be playing that. Play something else.

>>96406057
Wolfhound was alright. It was trying to be somewhere between LotR and Conan, and I think it mostly succeeded.

>>96406509
Actually, let me rephrase that. It's derivative of both Conan and LotR. Like if Conan was the reluctant protagonist handling a mcguffin and Thulsa Doom was Saruman. It's competent enough, but there's probably a reason it didn't break into the international markets.

>>96405885 (OP)
>read books
Games aren't books.
>watch movies
Games aren't films.
>listen to music/read comics/draw pictures
Games are none of those things.

You can run a fantasy game with any imagined aspects that are impossible or improbable, you don't need pop culture to do it. Pop culture may serve as loose inspirations for mechanics, and the characters that may be made through those mechanics, but non-interactive media is not interactive media, and neither should be held to the same standards nor expectations.

Sorry if your feelings are hurt by that.

>>96406920
>You can run a fantasy game with any imagined aspects
yes, why do they decide to ad ones they don't like.
That's the question I made. The imaginary discussion you made in your head shows how limited your own creativity is, you should stop arguing for a while.

spent last night digging through the top 1000 rpg kickstarters. site kept rate limiting me because it thought i was a bot and honestly it was not wrong. who else would waste time scrolling through that much recycled trash

about a third of it was just dnd modules with slightly different covers. then you get the quirky systems, play as mice, play as villains, play as whatever identity checkbox the writer thinks will sell on twitter. there were a few decent ones, some reprints, some free league stuff, but nothing you could not already run with wfrpg coc or cp2020. nothing new, nothing worth the hype

and i think i'm done chasing. none of that matters. settings are wallpaper. mechanics are scaffolding. what actually matters are the scenarios and campaigns, the part you actually play, and i won't be checking any other products from now on.

One of my players in my 4-year Cyberpunk 2020 campaign keeps making excuses for why he hasn't played the 2077 video game. I have never asked him to play the game.

>>96407022
guilt is a weird thing

>>96406934
You should learn better English before trying to have a discussion on a primarily English-speaking website.

>>96406057
Arcane is right there

>>96405885 (OP)
Do people actually do that?

>>96406934
People who run epic fantasy games presumably do like at least their own epic fantasy ideas, though.

>>96406057
>Have there been any good fantasy movies since LOTR?
Guillermo del Toro's Hellboy movies.

>>96407213
If he wants to cleanse himself of guilt he should pay attention when I tell him he's made assumptions about the setting that aren't true! I don't know, people are weird. There's so much dystopian sci-fi out there in so many formats that you can basically trip over it, and if you want crime tv shows you can throw a dart and hit something really great 9 times out of 10. Weird to get hung up over a single game, a relevant game but still just one game. He's been playing for 4 years, he doesn't need to be told how the setting works.

>>96405885 (OP)
>Why do people do this?
Because they are dumb

Last week, Wednesday, library open table game
>New kid shows up
>As in literal kid - at best 17, probably 16, the minimal attendance age
>Post-game talk and analysis and he goes on how he's going to GM Mage the Ascension for his friends next weekend (so it already happened if he went through with it)
>We ask him what sort of prep he did for that, expecting story beats and hooks
>He starts talking how he made this setting for a Cultural Revolution era China and how cool it is
>We exchange knowing looks, but keep prodding him
>He barely read the rulebook, he only ever run DnD (and only two times ever), he didn't prepare even a single-line concept of the incoming game, he has absolutely no clue how to handle open-ended games (and it's not like MtA is some sort of complex game in this field or a complete free-form)
>But he has a list of NPCs to throw into the game and read five different history textbooks (three of which are shit, since it happens I'm after Sinology) in preparation for his game
>On top of it all, he is illiterate in terms of pop-culture to almost Amish levels
>Everyone else present exchange even more knowing looks
>We have to curb his puppy-eyed enthusiasm in the most careful way and form to not discourage him from running, yet point out he is trying to swan-dive into an empty swimming pool
>The kid clearly didn't get out point or suggestions
>Mfw in 6 hours I will probably see him again and get AAR from his game
Like why the fuck so many newfags think that they need to make a complex setting for their game, but it never, ever occures to them they need to have an actual idea for the game itself and at least boiler-plate premise for the today's play?

>>96406920
I'll argue that reading gives you tools to describe things better. Games aré movies aré useless.

>>96405885 (OP)
>Why do people do this?
Because fantasy is so homogenized that everyone feels like they just naturally understand it without having to actually understand it.

>>96406057
dnd prince of thieves

>>96406269
Creativity does not come from the void. We build it in our heads by adding to what we know, and by manipulating and modifying existing ideas.
If you have a solid base to build upon your creations will be better. To modify things you should know what you're working with, if you want to break rules in interesting ways you have to know the rules first.
If your only exposition to fantasy are TikTok memes your setting will be shit.
You can see it in every second thread on here
>Hey what if elves but XY
Sure anon, a dozen books did that already, and your only contribution is making it suck.

>>96406057
No, because movies are the opposite of creativity.

>>96406920
You can draw without ever learning the fundsmentals and even have lots of fun with it. The tricky part is getting others to enjoy your drawings.

>>96408906
This post is bait

>>96405885 (OP)
I did it for years since D&D was basically all my friends wanted to play. For years I just added some elves and shit into horror, soft sci-fi and anime plots and it worked out fine.
Turns out it is actually pretty easy to wing it when when you are playing with a genre you aren't that invested in.

>>96406262
>The Hobbit famously sucked due to studio meddling.
No, it was the same situation as the SW prequels.
The Hobbit is unfiltered Peter Jackson without people telling him that his ideas are stupid.

>>96406037
Did you read the comic?
Women of Tomorrow isn't set in a magic world, it's just True Grit in Space starring Supergirl

>>96405972
No, it's lame and gay and you're a faggot for liking this girlboss soft boy tranny color scheme and composition.

>>96409279
Descriptions aren't as important for some games as others. Depending on the game you're playing, you may never have to describe anything.

>>96410384
You can play a game without worrying about others enjoying it. If you enjoy something, do it because you enjoy it, not because you enjoy the attention you get from others while you do it.

>>96408727
>People who run epic fantasy games presumably do like at least their own epic fantasy ideas, though.
It happened enoguh times to make me think it's a thing. But I'm not talking of people who make epic fantasy games that work as much as much as people who sell it as such and then slowly kill every aspect until they get bored or mutated the genre into something else (romance, political espionage, police procedural, genres they actually watch)

>>96408906
>Like why the fuck so many newfags think that they need to make a complex setting for their game, but it never, ever occures to them they need to have an actual idea for the game itself and at least boiler-plate premise for the today's play?
I'm cringing so hard it's physically painful because that was me when I was a teen. You have to fuck up to learn your lesson, that's just the way things are. People can tell you, but a new type of failure is an alien experience and trying to understand it is like trying to imagine a color you never saw before. If you guys are actually supporting him that's great, you need wingmen to see you fuck up and help you get back up.

>>96410484
I don't know, we have three movies that are unfiltered PJ and they are his best.

>>96410484
It's not. Jackson was brought on to Produce one movie directed by Del Toro. It waffled so long that DT split and Jackson had to pick it up or WB canned it.
Then they decided, not him, to make it three films like LotR. They also pushed for 3D, high frame rate, gave him less than a year to shoot, and most of the other shit that sucks about it.

At least by his account, if he had it his way: We'd have a single (or maybe two) Hobbit films by Del Toro that were given plenty of time to come to vision.
You're really just thinking of George here.

>>96405885 (OP)
>ITT: anons who had never heard the term "outsider art"

>>96410537
It's not just description. You have efficient information delivery, pacing, foreshadowing, alternative ways to present the same thing if there's a confusion. There's a reason why people chose to read fiction books and not technical manuals even if the later is much more direct and clearer.

Unless you meant wargames or board games, but that's clearly a different thing. We could say that if you don't like fantasy Talisman is gonna be shit Monopoly or something like that, but even then everyone's enjoyment isn't going to be as impacted for a single dude not wanting to be there.

>>96410657
Which ones, the ones in which he had to be talked out of having Aragorn fight Sauron directly?
>>96410664
Stop making excuses. 3 movies and overlong time notwithstanding, none forced Jackson to have Radagast as a stoner with a bunny sled.
Or to have "Nazgul Tombs" which contradict how the rings work and go against even the comments made about what a "wraith" is in the very DVD commentary of the original LotR movies.

>>96410828
no, the good ones, the ones with gore and sex.

>>96410858
Those are cool but that's the only tone he can do unsupervised.

>>96408906
I'd love to hear some post-game details about this kid. First time GMing is rough, but the only way to learn how to do it is to do it.

>>96411041
eh, i've been playing with the same two crews for the past 15 years. objectively shitty dms, one is power tripping, constantly cockblocking player actions no matter how fun or leveled they are, the other keeps dropping significant plotlines that players were invested in because he's chasing some new idea that just energized him. newcomers usually drop after two sessions once they see what's going on. and yet we still play, because in the end it's about hanging out with your friends, and the dm's role is maybe only 20% of what really happens in a session.

>>96411102
I've been there. It was better to drop the game and keep in touch, game shit was killing the friendship. What made me realize it the most was getting a coupel new players at the same time and seeing how for one his input was actively opposed or and the other rewarded to the absurd taking over the session every time, and our reaction was
>yeah, that's how it goes, I'm gonna go outside and have a smoke and buy some snacks while this resolves
there clearly was no love left. Now we chat a couple times a week, play some vidja, it's a much better friendship.

>>96410828
>making excuses
Look, maybe everything is a personal attack to you but not to well adjusted people who aren't terminally online.
Why would I make excuses for some fat bloke like I had to defend him and by proxy me?
I'm just telling you the facts as stated.

You're saying something else, and frankly I don't believe you because this is 4chan and any fuckwit can spout any bullshit. ThyeCBR article, that everyone references, says he decided to cut it in the end, not that he "had to be talked out of it".
And who wrote it in? You do know a director doesn't write the screenplay usually right?

>>96405885 (OP)
>I'm gonna run an epic fantasy adventure
>Do you read books in that genre?
>No, but I watched a lot of fantasy anime!
>Do you watch movies in that genre?
>No, but I watched a lot of fantasy anime!
>Do you listen to music, read comics, draw pictures, or anything related to it?
>No, but I watched a lot of fantasy anime!
This describes current tRPG situation much better, OP.

>>96411553

Honestly that would be something. Hell, probably better than what passes for "good fantasy movies" for the average anon.

>>96405885 (OP)
Someone who is not heavily invested in the trappings of a specific genre are not fettered by them, and may end up coming up with ideas that have a profound effect on the genre as a whole if it gains enough popularity.

>>96410549
>Sorry anon, I can't make it to the next session.
>Nah, I don't know when I can play again, but feel free to continue without me.
>Oh, the others cancelled as well? Bummer.
>Hey maybe we can grab a beer instead.

>>96411553
It depends on your age, I feel you also get a lot of
>I played a ton of jrpgs from the SNES
which is even worse

>>96411137
the worst thing is that this can have a detrimental effect on the players. over time, playing with a powergaming gm can make you munchkining yourself, constantly looking for ways to exploit the rules and carrying that playstyle with you even into more permissive environments. still, what i wanted to say to beginning gms who worry they're going to mess it up is - relax, you aren't as important as you think you are

>>96411789
>Me thinking of boat racing movies
>"They should have a Martian, with a laser gun..."
>Boat racing movies changed forever

>>96411789
This shit is so pervasive and has plagued every game I've ever run and played in for the last decade that is has driven me to take the fucking Solo Pill.

>>96412231
I didn't mean power gaming but power hungry. Just classic abussive shit and trying to keep players in check throug the game

>>96410537
What kind of ROLE PLAYING game do you play if you don't have to describe anything? Blind people in a pitch-black featureless room: the RPG?