Covering lots of little things today.
I saw the new Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player’s HandBook two weeks ago. One of our Friendly Local Game Stores had it from the Wizards of the Coast Brick and Mortar Program, apparently. I had a chance to thumb through it a bit. For $50, it’s not a bad deal if you’re really into D&D.
That said, I’m not really feeling the new 2024 D&D groove. It looks really artsy to me. Not much of the art really drew me into the game that much. The new rules, classes, etc seemed very blasé. It’s just not for me. I’ll keep referring to it as “the Ampersand game.”
Sorry, family. I’m happy for you if that’s your cup of tea. Otherwise, I can’t bring myself to put more money into Wizards of the Coast’s pockets. I’ll probably look through the other core books when they come out. Speaking of which, I’m sure the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide should be landing in the hands of D&DTubers and other select social media influencers any day now. Far be it for me to knock anyone with ADHD, but WotC seems to have the attention span of an aggravated gnat and apparently they think we do, too.
Disclaimer: This is my blog. This is how I see things and how I feel. There is little factual information being presented. If you have issue with anything being presented, please contact me privately on X (Twitter,) Instagram, BlueSky, or by email. Otherwise, there are lots of platforms out there for you to vent your feelings and opinions, too.
What’s this got to do with Freedom Day?
Regular visitors to my humble blog here know that I reserve the 19th of every month to take a deep breath and be thankful for not having to work for the corporate overlords who sh🦆tcanned me back in 2021. I do not miss them, and I’m sure they’ve completely forgotten my name by now. Needless to say, it’s only furthered my disdain for slimy large corporations.
Wizards of the (Bloody) Coast is a subsidiary of good old Reptilian Overlord driven Hasbro. Like most major corporations, the mere mention of Hasbro/WotC makes my skin crawl. I practically need a shower just discussing them and some of their various shenanigans.
I don’t have to mention The Great D&D Open Game License Debacle of 2023, the Pinkertons incident, or that whole ugly laying off of 1,000 (mostly WotC) staff right in the middle of the holiday season. I mean, I still do because people seem to forget such things fairly rapidly because the “DungeonTubers” or D&D cheerleaders on YouTube, Instagram, X (Twitter,) and elsewhere have all seemingly forgotten just how bad WotC D&D can be. They’re too busy shouting out all the free product and other perks they get from being WotC’s pet influencers.
I apologize because I do try to keep it positive, but every so often I slip.
Let me talk about the game that does have me super excited these days. It’s called Dragonbane. It’s somewhat similar to the Ampersand game in the way it runs and plays only with several key differences. The first difference being the price point. The second thing is the ease of playability and character creation. Third is a ruleset that is super easy to learn and remember. Last is a company that doesn’t cause so much trouble in the community on a regular basis.
The price point of Dragonbane is excellent compared to most other TableTop RolePlaying games. The core rules boxed set is more value for the money than TTRPGs as well as most advanced boardgames such as HeroQuest, Talisman, Gloomhaven, or HeroScape. The Dragonbane boxed set, for $40-60 physical, gives you a full rulebook, dice, adventures, standees (like miniatures) and some other odds and ends. It reminds me so much of that old red boxed set from back in the 1980s.
Second, character creation takes 15 minutes give or take. Dragonbane character creation takes up about 30 pages of the rulebook minus spells and gear. Compare that to the 2024 Ampersand PHB that takes over 150 pages of just character class info and requires an online database to effectively create a character. Is it any wonder why I recommend Dragonbane? I can literally bang out a character 100% analog in the amount of time it takes some people to choose a character class in that other game.
Third, the rules for Dragonbane are dead-bang simple to learn and master. Figure out what skill applies to the roll. Roll a d20 under the skill number. 1s are great! 20s are bad. That’s most of it. Spellcasters are a little more involved, but not as much as other games. The action economy is move plus one action. Given that the character may want to reserve that action for a dodge or a block, players have to be smart and think on their feet a little more in order to keep their characters alive in combat.
The last thing is Free League Publishing. I will talk about them for free all day and night. They have been very good to me as a small time blogger in this hobby. Their Public Relations team is kind, thoughtful, considerate, and very helpful to everyone without having to send out massive boxes of product and cause some sort of community crisis every time a new release comes out. I think Free League is without a doubt the best company in the TTRPG hobby right now.
I’ve had good times since being freed of corporate Mcservitude.
Please understand if you’re working hard for one of these corporations to put food on the table and keep a roof over your head- more power to you. I have a lot of love and respect for all of us who are just trying to get by from one day to the next. I’ve been fortunate thus far in life to have escaped the rat race for now. I’m grateful to still be going even in my currently diminished capacity.
The reality of it is, I’m over 50, college educated in two fields, dealing with a host of mental and physical disabilities, and trying to help keep my family of six afloat. I’m so happy and grateful every day for my wife and all the awesome things she’s done to keep us going. If not for her, I might be living under a bridge somewhere. No corporation or local business will touch me with a 10 foot pole as far as hiring goes. My real advantage lies on the Internet through online publishing and possibly social media.
Life has several up sides over the last three years, though. I’ve had time to grow spiritually by meditating almost daily. I’ve gotten to write for this blog almost every day since January 2022. I’ve been fortunate and grateful that I get to enjoy two of my hobbies on a daily basis. Oh, and I might finally get going on YouTube. (There’s a lot involved with that last one. Yeesh.)
The TTRPG Tie-in.
I try not to leave the house most days. I do get out to meditate and take a walk. Otherwise, my focus is on all things roleplaying game related. I’m not quite where I want to be- yet.
Ideally, according to my personal vision board, I’d like to be writing best sellers on DriveThruRPG.com and getting all expense paid trips to Gen Con. I’d leave the house for that. Not to mention the side benefits of having a little hobby money flowing in from my website, DriveThru, and some industry clout.
I want to work with/for someone reputable like Free League, Chaosium, maybe even Goodman games. I think it would be pretty groovy having a paying gig with someone, but still keep it fairly low stress. I have a little time during the day when I’m not cooking, cleaning, chasing kids, etc and it would be lovely to have a sense of purpose. I’d at least like to do something meaningful to me.
I see WotC and Pathfinder publisher Paizo as basically the same company at this point. I don’t know if they’ll ever make it official, but it wouldn’t surprise me. They regularly flip employees between Paizo and the D&D team at WotC. It’s almost like there’s a deal behind the scenes that we don’t know about. (We’ll put that one under the tinfoil hat for now and come back to it later.)
I’m all for wealth and prosperity. I still firmly believe that dream can be achieved without caving in to becoming a pawn for a large corporation. There’s plenty of room in the TTRPG industry for all of us.
Thank you for being here today with me. I appreciate you. Please embrace the things that bring you the most joy.
Jeff's Game Box 