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Hasbro Executives Report Their Gambling Habit is Under Control, Not Addiction.

https://ttrpg.network/post/2890134

[Satire] Hasbro Executives Report Their Gambling Habit is Under Control, Not Addiction. - The TTRPG network

When asked for comment, Hasbro Executives report that while they do gamble, what they’re doing is a normal part of their job. “Listen, everyone in our industry and economy deals with growth, and the risks of growth. We need to make investments to attempt to grow or our stock prices will fall as investors chasing profits will put their money elsewhere. So when we spend billions of dollars in 2020 and 2021 to attempt to grow our brand, we do so with the sobering knowledge that this isn’t a sure thing, but calculated risks need to be made.” “But we manage those risks sufficiently, because we have other peoples’ jobs as collateral. I mean, just imagine how we could possibly make these financial risks if we had to shoulder the responsibility for underperformance ourselves!” Unprompted by questions, the executives continued. “And don’t you dare try to put this in a negative light. This is just how our civilization conducts its artistic output. What, do you want people to make fun things just for the joy of it? You sound like a stuttering gap-toothed simpleton. You need to grow up kid!” The Executives took this moment to pull out two Cigarettes, lighting them simultaneously before taking a series of quick drags. “WAKE UP!” They added before going eerily quiet to stare into the middle distance. At time of printing, Hasbro Executives have entered into negotiations with eldritch powers to obliterate all cultural knowledge of Dave Arneson to improve their next Financial Quarter’s figures by half of a percentage. They are additionally hoping to leverage other cultural history of the hobby for tax breaks, stating “You know, like how streaming services destroy art. Can we do that?”

Sure, but even then it doesn’t make a lot of sense that all the different ways that Warlock patrons can present themselves, that they all are great about giving people raw damage potential as a cornerstone of their pact, regardless of how you flavor it.

“What ho, child pure of heart and innocent of mind. You have caught my attentions, a Unicorn who wants nothing but to live and peace, and to see the joy and love of the innocent as yourself. For the true goodness in your heart, I have a boon to give you.”

‘And then it gave me this magic gun!!’

Across the entire panoply of patrons of Warlocks, there is incredible variety.

https://ttrpg.network/post/464263

Across the entire panoply of patrons of Warlocks, there is incredible variety. - The TTRPG network

There are devils who scheme and wheedle souls. There are beings of ancient wills and unknowable intent. One may even have entreated elemental forces from the primal dawn of the world, or Genies who have within them a stunning variety of desires, wants, and whims. Alongside Archfey who encompass a dizzying variety of the beliefs and motivations. What unites them all? They all think Eldritch Blast is a pretty cool spell.

The secret is to not work from what you’d like to do, but to work backwards from what your players want to do.

Seriously, throw out all the prep you have that isn’t landing, and just ask your players what kinds of things they want to do. Then, make stories inspired by the actions or accomplishments they want to undertake.

I had taken the artist’s statement that the art is being reworked as evidence of the art being pulled, and at least future published books not containing them.

twitter.com/i_shkipin/status/1687829743268442112

I should have waited until the actual statement (linked below), as it’s clear that the artist was making something of a lie of omission above, as I believe he purposefully wanted readers to believe that the art was changing in the books, not that he would redo the art to… essentially no promised effect. Maybe he was lying to himself with the hope that he could get another go at?

twitter.com/DnDBeyond/status/1687969469170094083

I’ve updated the title of this post to reflect the info from the official WotC statement on the issue.

Ilya | SuperRare on Twitter

“Deleted previous post as the future of today illustrations is being discussed.”

Twitter

New Dungeons & Dragons Sourcebook AI Generated Art is Being Removed

https://ttrpg.network/post/333057

New Dungeons & Dragons Sourcebook AI Generated Art is Being Removed - The TTRPG network

> A source at Wizards of the Coast has said that Shkipin’s use of AI art was not something that the team was aware of. Further, they state that no text in the book was AI generated. Wizards has said that they will update their guidelines to more explicitly prevent these sorts of incidents from happening in the future. > io9 has reached out to Ilya Shkipin for clarification and comment. Shkipin has further stated on social media today in light of his confirmation and the deletion of his prior posts that “the future of today[s] illustrations is being discussed.”

I don’t think you picked up that I playtest Ed both, though.

The monks played okay, if rather awkward in my playtests of the rules. They could do more damage, but they were all suitably impactful in a fashion that this dance bard cannot replicate with the ribbon features it has been given.

The bard was just a bard with what was effectively a free melee attack cantrip that doesn’t scale with their casting stat. They do not step on the monk’s toes, because they were too busy casting shatter, fireball, and other uses of their magic action.

It’s flavorful and fun, but the impact of the dance bard is not on their level 3 features. It’s their level 6 features that give the class a tonne of impact.

Because I have playtested monks, and their ability to control and knock enemies around while punching more often and for more damage while being quicker than the monk.

The dance bard in my playtest was awkward, and did less single target damage than the monks in my other playtest. It also was not able to attack and disengage for free, giving it much less if a skirmishing feeling.

A bard without any subclass features is a strong and versatile character. With the dance bard subclass, the bard is actually playing suboptimally, and does not outperform the monk in my playtest.

Bigby's Glory of Giants preivew. A practical demonstration of how to use the upcoming book.

https://ttrpg.network/post/277763

Bigby's Glory of Giants preivew. A practical demonstration of how to use the upcoming book. - The TTRPG network

I’m less interested in the contents of the linked free adventure, and the below design notes on the adventure. > # Design Note > If you have Glory of the Giants, you can follow along with the process we used to create this adventure. The basic adventure seed—“a fire giant captures a renowned Humanoid smith”—comes from the Fire Giant Skill table (chapter 2), with additional inspiration from the “Magnum Opus” adventure idea connected to the Star Forge (chapter 4). The name of the giant villain comes from the Giant Names table (chapter 2), and the encounters within the Star Forge are inspired by the Fire Giant Encounters table (chapter 3) and the Elemental Fire Encounters table (chapter 3). The map of the Star Forge is in chapter 4. The giant wrestlers of Fireside Monastery are firbolgs (chapter 6), and several other monsters in the adventure come from the bestiary in chapter 6 (cinder hulk; fire giant forgecaller; fire giant of Evil Fire). Information about fire giant bags (chapter 5) fills out the treasure characters might acquire along the way. WotC is demonstrating how to use this book to make your own adventures. They should have done the same for Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, then maybe people would have understood that it was tip-to-stern the best DM toolkit they released yet.