I’m depressed at how often right-wingers try to win an argument by creating a fictional reality in which they’re right. (If that, even. Sometimes the dreamscape exists purely to make their opponents look hypocritical, pathetic as that is.)

As a rule, no, but I’ll make some rare exceptions.

It has to be a small studio, I have to be pretty sure I’ll like their next game, and I have to have enjoyed their past game enough that it’s worth throwing them a few extra bucks.

For instance, I’m going to pre-order Slay the Spire 2.

• Mega Crit is an indie studio.

• I thought StS1 was exquisite, so I’m optimistic about a sequel from the same people.

• I playes StS1 for hundreds of hours, so even if the sequel is a whiff, I’d have got my money’s worth from them.

Similar goes for The Haunted Chocolatier, since I played the heck out of Stardew Valley.

My favorite part is when they complain about the overuse of the word “tankie,” then call literally every other kind of leftist a lib.

I love the level-0 “funnels” from Goodman Games. If I have to pick one, let’s say the classic, Sailors on the Starless Sea.

They’re easy to pitch, and really help establish a tone, especially for players who bring a lot of preconceptions from 5e.

Life imitates art, and that art is the board game Twilight Struggle.

(It’s a Cold War simulator, played on a world map, and Canada counts as Europe for game purposes.)

It’s bad enough being one of those states now, and I’m in one of the good ones.

I’m annoyed that I expect Hollywood executive, as always, will take the wrong lesson from it. They’ll see it underperformed and think people don’t want a D&D movie, rather than that they shouldn’t have released it between John Wick and Mario.

My theory is that having a horny bard in the party is pretty common, but it depends on how frequently and how (ahem) enthusiastically those scenes get roleplayed. :P

I played the heck out of NWN when I was a teenager!

…by which I mean I was excited by the character options, so I ended up restarting it over and over again. I’ve done the Waterdhavian Creatures quest so many times I burnt out. :P

I should go back and actually beat the game.

Top of the list, I think, is… just some old-school D&D. Technically, probably Old-Shool Essentials or Dolmenwood, both of which are retroclones of B/X D&D.

I just got into watching Dungeon Meshi and playing Caves of Qud, both of which are just dripping with old-school D&D influence. Plus I’ve never actually ran a full dungeon or hex crawl.

Honorable mention to Burning Wheel, 16-time annual winner of My Favorite Game I’ve Never Played. :P

I love that kind of history. On the topic of cooking, Tasting History is one of my favorites!

And I’m also adding that book to my reading list. I’m kicking myself for not reading enough books, but I’ve gone on a nonfiction kick out of nowhere.

I almost skipped over this video, because I thought it was about some other drama about the origins of D&D, which is mostly just outrage tourism.

Happy to be mistaken! It’s been a little bit since I watched Matt Colville, so I’ll give this a watch when I have the time. And it includes a book recommendation on top of that!

“It’s going to be a maze.”

My favorite was death panels.

“The government is going to decide who lives and dies by gatekeeping access to healthcare!” Motherfucker, that’s what insurance does now. The potential failures of a collectivized system are treated with more scrutiny than capitalism working as intended.

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes, obviously.

I’ve made a habit of saying “Look, [city] was a powderkeg ready to go off before we even got there.” It’s come up in multiple campaigns.

Personally, I also like genericizing D&D.

It’s a shorthand for folks outside or new to the hobby, it skips a hurdle to talk to people about other RPGs with those people, and it weakens the brand identity. Considering how much D&D has coasted on brand identity as the game suffered, I’m all for that.

I’m less likely to do it places like here, because it causes more confusion, but still. It’s fun to say, “Pathfinder is a great way to play D&D.” :P

I didn’t see it until later, but yeah, it’s been around for years. It crops up every now and then from right-wingers trying to test the waters for being overtly anti-democracy. What I found scary was how much more common it got, and at higher levels. I remember a fucking senator repeating that line.

I also use the square vs. rectangle analogy. Granted, we’re not going to convince fascists acting in bad faith, but it plays to an audience.

I really liked that Ed Helms asked a lot of very straightforward questions about Yarvin’s ideology, which just went to show that it completely falls apart if you think about it critically for even a moment. It’s not something you come to believe after listening to the best arguments from a bunch of different positions. It’s something you come to believe because it justifies your own elitism.

FUN FACT: Five Justices of the Supreme Court were appointed by presidents who were inaugurated despite losing the popular vote! That’s a full majority! And purely by coincidence, all of them are Republicans! :D

…alright, obviously it’s not fun. I can’t believe the audacity some people have to act surprised and offended when people say the Court is illegitimate.