Khrux

I’m just really hoping that whatever they intend to use AI for isn’t art. Ideally there is enough backlash to this that they backpedal again for a year or so, but failing that, I do not want to see it touch the art at all.

In my opinion, WotC is an art company. I don’t really see anything better in 2024 D&D 5e to what is expected in Tales of the Valiant 5e or is in Level up Advanced 5e, or for that matter, any RPG really. The only thing they excel on is the money behind them to have an entirely different relationship with artists. And that’s not mentioning Magic the Gathering which needs the art even more.

There aren’t that many avenues for AI in D&D. You can’t really replace the game design due to the fact that AI can’t really problem solve or innovate. It’s already likely used internally by the finance departments etc, hell it’s built into Microsoft programs, it course it is used. It can’t really be sued to make the writing more efficient because the writing of a D&D book is sacred, you can’t change the word prone to lying down for readability for example.

So it’s likely coming for art or WotC are returning to the idea of AI DMs, which is silly and I have no interest in, and I can’t imagine it being anything but a totally adjacent product to D&D.

I can’t wait to see what evil and terrible way I’m proved wrong.

I thought the same. I assumed it was just people censoring themselves when they wanted to say son of a bitch in front a child, or anyone else who it’s taboo to swear in front of.

Do you mean should add RCS as in they’re expected to, or should add RCS as in “that would be wise”?

A good way to tell the difference between a bee and a wasp is hair. Bees are fluffy like a cute little dog. Wasps are hairless and cruel like my father, who I become more like every time I look in the mirror.

This gave me flashbacks to being on Reddit with the cult of Keanu Reeves. I respect the man but if he’s shown too much love puts him in a situation where anything he does will be scrutinised.

The world has been giving them nothing but praise for like 5-6 years now, I think that’s all.

I’ve read quite a few anecdotes and quotes about Gygax’s misogyny before but I agree with you, I don’t think there is nearly enough information I these gods to extrapolate that it’ embodies all powerful masculine forces as good and all feminine as evil, especially as the article mentions how this perpetuates pre-existing coomo themes in story and myth. Everything we know about Gygax would say he’d lift from myths with sexist themes without adjusting that, rather than add them with intention.

Do do think there is myriad evidence that Gygax believed femininity to be inherently inferior, but that’s different from evil. It’s still stupid and worth highlighting but by excessively demonising him to the point of nearly making things up, it’s just fuel for people to dismiss the valid points.

Some people argue that it would be harder to count on your fingers but we could just surgically give everyone more?

I totally agree with what you say about the gods reflectiing us, however I just meant to mention that Aphrodite didn’t just have plenty of affairs, she was in love with Ares. Also despite being beautiful, she did everything in her power to avoid Hephaestus and had no children by him.

It’s that above all, her favourite lover was war (a high ranking general) and she showed distaste to her husband, a master craftsman.

If it was just about Aphrodite being promiscuous because she was beautiful, she’d have also slept with Hephaestus, what we learn from her distaste for him is that the storytellers who popularised these myths believed that being a great general garnered love while being a great craftsman did not. But also Aphrodite and Hephaestus being married shows the pretense of love between passion and craft, that is really false in the eyes of the storyteller as it’s a loveless marriage.

I believe I got this interpretation from Mythos by Steven Fry but honestly I may have picked it up from some random corner of the internet with no credibility.

I don’t agree with the social commentary the Greeks attached to Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Ares but I do think it’s interesting and goes against this headcannon.

Aphrodite was forcednto be in married to Hephaestus, but does not show him and love, instead she’s in a long term affair with Ares / is cuckolding Hephaestus.

Looking at Aphrodite, not as ‘a woman’s love’ but love and passion itself, what this relationship is telling us is that we pretend that love is for our crafts, or our creative passions, but really our true love is for conquest and victory. We can’t deny out competitive nature, no matter how much we pretend our nature is to create.

Again I don’t agree with that belief but it’s a great insight into ancient Greek culture and morality.

I absolutely agree when it comes to how theyve treated their staff but also lots of staff won’t make that much difference to the design of the book, and multiple open play tests would be ideal to ensure we will actually use the content in the book.

The #1 thing I’d love to see which we almost definitely wouldn’t get would be 20 pages where 20 different designers get a page to just say something they feel the book needs to say. Pick a range of the old guard of TTRPG design, new innovative designers and some of the louder voices in the design sphere due to social media and let them say literally anything they want provided they believe it should be in the DMG. Before it starts, get them all together to confer about their thoughts so no two people write the same essay and there is a broad spectrum from dice maths to pantheon design to checking in on players. It would likely be incredibly valuable information but also work as publicity as people like Mike Shea, Bob Worldbuilder, Matt Colville and Ginny D all would agree that the book isn’t missing that one thing they want, because they put it in there themselves, and these voices hugely colour the views of amateur designers and people passionate about the game like ourselves, either directly or indirectly.

The reason we won’t see that is that it would cost a fair amount to pay the freelance fees for all 20 designers, instead of filling the pages with magic items or other bloat content.

I’m glad they’re coming later. The cat is totally out the bag that the reason the 2014 DMG is so hard to actually use is because there was no time to work on it, and we’re yet to even see any playtest content for the 2024 DMG.

I still say gopiss girl on a weekly basis when someone leaves to pee, and I think that meme was probably 4 years ago by now.