Baldur's Gate 3 by Larian Games

no d&d system can literally translate over to a video game, though pathfinder kingmaker does an amazing job of it. 5e is much more simplified, but all the complicated stuff happens behind the scenes anyways so i don't think it's all that important. i want to say that divinity 2 had a mode that was basically an unlicensed 5e system, though the homebrew game modes didn't seem to really pick up from what i saw.

as far as the sjw stuff goes, i don't think WotC is really all that bad. sure, there's a lot of otherkin that work there but none of them come across as the caustic kind. chris perkins, for example, is extremely pro lgbtq, but outside of his personal twitter and stuff, that stuff never comes up in any of his work. yeah there's that weird unearthed arcana idea that certain elves could change their gender, but i don't think that ever became actual canon.

also, WotC isn't making the game. they're obviously involved but it's not like they forcing anyone to tell any specific story. it's one of the things i really like about WotC is that they put the barebones info out there and let the DM's tell whatever story they want. Larian is the DM in this instance.

I'm going to wholeheartedly disagree about WoTC. The entire company is infected with rampant SJWism. If you don't see it, you're not paying enough attention. Good for you though. I wish I could have stayed ignorant to it, but I love D&D and I consume a lot of extra content. So, for me, it's unavoidable.

The shift at WoTC had A LOT to do with why I quit playing Magic. I was primarily a grinder (couple Pro Tour appearances) so that shit was increasingly shoved down my throat and I was constantly surrounded by people with ideological views that were diametrically opposed to mine. Not inherently a problem until I was being lectured on the regular by little pencil-necked, soy creatures (or the unwashed, gluttonous mound.)

I went back to playing D&D awhile back and I sincerely hate buying products from a company that is such a massive collection of pandering, virtue signalers, but I (generally) like the products they make even if a lot of the people that make them are bat-shit insane. I can handle hating myself at the register every few months because I play D&D at home with 'normal' people, but tournament Magic at the GP+ level was miserable.

Mike Mearls, however, can suck a giant fucking dick. The guy is the fucking avatar for beta, cuck.

i've never played magic, and i'm completely uninterested in it. do you think more of that platform is focused on the SJW agenda? i'm honestly curious because i don't really see it. i mean, like i said i know there's a lot of... non-standard (or whatever on earth you want to call them) people. and yeah, you have a lot of "betas" like mike mearls, todd kenrick, etc but up until a few years ago, D&D wasn't cool and it attracted uncool people. i'm just going to guess that soon enough you're going to get the jocks machina types to be more vocal and start working at wizards.

but that's just a guess. it could go the other way, who knows. anyway, what exactly do you see specifically from WotC that is pushing a toxic community? i'm not talking about the random dm's at card stores. wizards doesn't really have any control over that, obviously.

Dom said:

WotC has some SJW issues but they haven't fully surrendered to it... yet. It's getting worse though as the more popular members in the community tend to be the kind that include pronouns in their bio, and actively shit on the stereotype d&d nerds/grognards. The sudden rise in popularity has also attracted the usual non-nerd(real) influx of people similar to what has happened to gaming. Money flows in from these people and they start to become the focus rather than the people that kept the hobby alive for decades.

Having women in groups was never an issue for all but the most scuzzy of nerds, for decades, but you wouldn't know that now as pushing a "it's our turn!" agenda based on accusations of a community that refused to let women play, which is complete bullshit. Lies are being sold as fact and the usual clowns are eating it up and raising banners trying to get things changed based on those lies. The D&D/TRPG community has always been one of the most accepting communities of any hobby, not that you'd know it based on all the horseshit rhetoric floating around now.

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yeah, i 100% agree. i think part of the issue is that people are blaming their gender or whatever on their history of not getting into a group because it's easy to do. like, deborah ann woll always says that she couldn't find a group because she's a girl, so while she was filming true blood, she'd bring in modules and just play by herself in her trailer. from her perspective, yeah i can see why she might think that. except. imagine sitting down to play a game and deborah ann woll shows up to be like, hey guys, can i play? the guys that would shun her, are the guys that no one wants to play with.

but here's the deal. i sat in my room and played modules by myself as well. it wasn't because of my gender. it wasn't because i was a jock. it wasn't because of anything that had anything to do with me and everything to do with there being a HUGE stigma about d&d and no one wanting to admit they played. people hid that fact like they had herpes or something.

but the reality is that once you became a part of the community it was like some brotherhood. no one cared what you looked like, no one cared if you smelled bad, no one cared as long as you just fricken showed up to the game sessions. we were just happy to have people to play with. no one really talks about it, but d&d has always been on the forefront of equality. wait a minute! so my female fighter doesn't get negatives to her strength JUST FOR BEING A WOMAN?! yeah, the first editions didn't do that but it changed pretty quickly.

i like to think of myself as fairly forward thinking but when i see something like a female high ranking soldier in a movie or something, part of me is like eeeeehhhhhh... but when my DM says, General Elise Drec'Thellion of the Holy Order of Silver Dragons, i don't bat an eye.

j00t said:

Anyway, what exactly do you see specifically from WotC that is pushing a toxic community? i'm not talking about the random dm's at card stores. wizards doesn't really have any control over that, obviously.

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Related YouTube videos, WotC employee/affiliate interview transcripts, social media posts, etc. There's just so much noise. For example: a few weeks ago, D&D Beyond published a YouTube video about racism/inter-sectional bias (lol..........) on their channel. They interviewed a Black woman about her experiences with racism within the TTRPG context and it was beyond cringe.

I'm just shy of 42 years old and I first played D&D at 12 (30 years ago) and in my, considerable, experience, ALL people have been welcome to play. Sometimes for no other reason than to provide enough people to play with. Until recently, D&D has been very niche, but its growing popularity hasn't suddenly made the game divisive. Very, very rarely does anyone care that a player is female, or gay, or trans, or whatthefuckever. It's only when players demand that their professed identity becomes more important than necessary at the gaming table that irritates a lot of players. You're trans? Or Gay? Or Female? Black? Cool. I don't give a fuck until you start making demands that noone else is making. No, motherfucker, you're not special. You're a player just like everyone else.

Of course, there are conflicts between players that are the result of biases, but they're very rare and I would wager every dollar I will ever make that most of those situations can be avoided if players stopped making everything about themselves. Typically, when there's conflict in a game, it's simply because people dislike each other and it has little-to-nothing to do with immutable characteristics. I drop-kicked a a 61 year-old White guy (I'm a White guy) out of my campaign 2 weeks ago after 3 sessions because he was an insufferable piece of shit. I guess I'm an ageist, now.

Also, I just don't understand the logic behind pandering to a demographic that only comprises a tiny percentage of the player base. It's an incontrovertible fact that straight, White males comprise the OVERWHELMING majority of folks that buy WoTC products. So, it's baffling to me why they push such a polarizing message. Putting my personal feelings aside, it just doesn't make any sense fiscally.

*Edit* Fixed a few grammar mistakes.

i guess i'm seeing the same kinds of things, but i'm not seeing them as part of the product itself. if that makes sense. like, on one hand you have a lot of people with personal opinions that are very pro-lgbtq. some of those people work at WotC. some of those people are writers for WotC. so the risk of... infection (that is the only word that makes sense to me) is definitely there... however, on the other hand, let's look at the modules that have come out in 5e... there isn't a single piece of official work that has come out that says ANYTHING about toxic masculinity, neo-feminism, left-wing pandering nonsense.

have some dm's done stuff about that? yeah, definitely. are they officially publicized games? not that i've seen. honestly the closest i've seen to that is critical role. mercer sometimes makes his npc's gay. ashley johnson's character is gay. taliesin IS gay/bi but his characters aren't. (probably is an easy bet that mollymauk was bi, but it never came up so /shrug). but that's just it, it's not really a big deal. mercer is clearly making the point that npc's come in all shapes and sizes and sexual affinities, but it doesn't REALLY make any difference. when mercer tells his crew that a female npc is married to a woman, it's about as impactful as "she also has blonde hair."

i'm not trying to argue with you or anything, you have your opinion and it's valid. i SEE the sjw stuff in the community, but i don't see WotC pandering to them.

I actually find Critical Role quite palatable (at least in the 60 or so episodes of season 2 that I have watched) relative to a lot of other work. Granted, I completely avoid getting to know anything about any of the CR cast outside of what I learn through their weekly stream. It's just become too difficult for me to divorce people from characters. I enjoy the stream and I don't want to ruin it. Also, I think the group is relatively savvy insofar that they understand that they have lightning in a bottle (for now) so they're very careful about maintaining a (relatively) neutral position. There have been more than a few obviously forced, eye-roll situations, but I'm not hoping (or even looking for) something that perfectly aligns with my worldview. I want something that isn't ridiculous and it isn't.

You mention gay characters - I couldn't care less about any of them playing those roles. As I said previously, it's only when sexuality/identity becomes weaponized or used to progress a victim-hood narrative that it grates on me. I find Marisha's gay monk incredibly boring, but it has nothing to do with her being gay. I just find the butch dike trope tiresome.


To be fair, I'm hyper-sensitive to the 'agenda' and I've mentioned that in other, unrelated threads. I suspect that most players don't notice much of it, or just don't care. I probably wouldn't give a fuck (and I didn't for a loooong time), but it's becoming increasingly normalized to lay every fucking "problem" with the game (and world) at my feet (White guy). I have zero tolerance for excuses, but it triggers(.jpg) me to an insane level with I get used as the excuse.

I'm actually excited for them to be heading the project. DoS: 2 had some pretty glaring issues, but the game was amazing.

I do hope that the BG:3 retains the gritty feel of the first two. Some people really enjoy campy RPGs, but I absolutely hate them.

Knew what I was looking at as soon as I got a good look at his surcoat.

"I SERVE THE FLAMING FIST!"

Didn't even realize I remembered that line until that moment.

Based on that trailer, I'd say worries that Larian was going to make it too goofy are feeling a little assuaged. The mind flayer transformation was pretty metal.

I wonder if the voice actors are still around <3 Korgan