#RPGaDAY2024 for August

 I know I have been really quiet here for a bit, trying to wrap up everything for Thirteen Parsecs. But I am taking a break to let you know I will be participating in Dave Champman's #RPGaDAY2024 for August. I have done it in years past and this looks like a good list of prompts.

Here are the text prompts.

1. First RPG bought this year
2. Most recently played
3.  Most often played RPG
4. RPG with great art
5. RPG with great writing
6. RPG that is easy to use
7. RPG with 'good form'
8. An accessory you appreciate
9. An accessory you'd like to see
10. RPG you'd like to see on TV
11. RPG with well-supported one-shots
12. RPG with well-supported campaigns
13. Evocative environments
14. Compelling characters
15. Great character gear
16. Quick to learn
17. An engaging RPG community
18. Memorable moment of play
19. Sensational session
20. Amazing adventure
21. Classic campaign
22. Notable non-player character
23. Peerless player
24. Acclaimed advice
25. Desirable dice
26. Superb screen
27. Marvelous miniature
28. Great gamer gadget
29. Awesome app
30. Person you'd like to game with
31. Game or gamer you miss
32. Alternative - Amazing anecdote

There is also an alternate version from Skala Wyzwania. who I do not know but seems to be a name in the Polish RPG scene. Here are her prompts.

Text version of the alternative campaign:

1. Runes
2. Forest
3. Demonology
4. Cosmos
5. Fairies
6. Portal
7. Forgotten City
8. Experiment
9. Heroes
10. Steampunk
11. Invasion
12. Parallel Worlds
13. Zombie
14. Awakening
15. Genetics
16. Dungeon
17. AI
18. Curse
19. Hologram
20. Battle 
21. Disaster
22. Interdimensional Space
23. Ritual
24. Antique
25. Mutant
26. Tattoo
27. Shapeshifting
28. Mimic
29. Knight
30. Trap 
31. Dragons

Each day roll d10 to go with the prompt:

1. Describe a Monster
2. Create an NPC
3. Write a Bulletin Board Quest
4. Invent an Item
5. Write a legend or rumour 
6. Create a random table
7. Create a simple mechanic
8. Present an idea for a Random Encounter
9. Write an Eavesdroppable Dialogue
10. Draw!

I am not sure if I'll do just Dave's, both, or a combination.

In any case, it should be fun.

Monstrous Mondays: Nouveau Orcs

 Still busy this week so this is drive-by. 

Art previews of the new D&D 5R (D&D 2024) Player's Handbook were released including art for orcs as a playable species.  As expected the Grognard crowd is taking this with measured patience one should expect from the elder statesmen of our hobby.

No, they didn't. They predictably completely lost their shit. Again.

This seems especially true of the segments that claim never to play "WotC" versions of D&D and don't pay any attention to them.  So the ones that will be least likely to play this version are also bitching and moaning the loudest.

I mean the art is bit too cutesy for me, but a.) this is for a Player's book, not the monster book. and b.) I am not (nor should I be) the target audience.  That is something I am going to get back to, but let's address the prominent issue; that of non-evil orcs.

When it comes to orcs many like to point to their history as defined by the Professor. This great, IF (and only if) we are talking about Lord of the Rings or Middle-Earth. This is D&D and Gary did nothing else if not spend a lot of ink telling us that D&D is not Lord of the Rings. So all the talk of "Melkor can't create" is cute but has little bearing here. 

D&D and AD&D has had "good orcs" before, this is not a new concept. The Forgotten Realms boxed set had them. The AD&D 2nd Ed Monstrous Compendiums had them. Good Orcs are not a new thing. Even Half-orcs were a playable race as long as they were non-good.

One of the cardinal rules of D&D has always been to change what you want to work with your group. That means yes, people can have "good" orcs, and other groups can have "evil" orcs. This should counter any "one true wayism" that seems to clutter up the D&D-related YouTube channels.  

Besides no one is saying you can't have purely evil orcs as well. I have several sub-species of orc, some good, many very evil. Works great for me. Pathfinder 2 has orcs you can have as characters and still fight. 

I think what the older crowd, of which I am a member of that crowd, needs to realize is that we are no longer being catered to. We do not have the buying power we have enjoyed for so long. This group, or at least many members of it, have said "we are not buying any non-TSR D&D" and WotC has said "fine, we don't really need your money."  And they don't. The younger generations have shown they have buying power all on their own. 

Look, Wizards of the Coast is not without some serious flaws and a lot of blame. Their handling of the OGL, sending out Pinkertons, all the layoffs and firings. Not to mention some rather lack lustre adventures. But freaking out over good orcs? Yeah, that should not even be on the list.

So here are a couple of reminders.

1. Whatever appears in the D&D 5r books only maters to people playing D&D 5r.
2. Nothing posted in D&D 5r effects any other game. Same as nothing in Pathfinder effects any version of D&D.
3. Despite the Chicken Littling out there no past book has ever been changed.

Play how you want. Let others play how they want. Stop acting like it's the end of the damn world.

Better yet, adopt these new orcs into your old-school games to challenge your players.