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Gobs vs kobs everybody

I absolutely love that the first roll was for a trenchcoat for the Kobolds. Amazing.

Straight people is the difference

Umberto Eco reacted to the Sword and Sorcery phenomenon with some condescending bemusement in the 1970s; as a European, he didn't know what to make of it.

Sorry but i am GM, play many years with many RPG but i only speak French ... 🦕

Really like your videos, Adam.

My favorite movies too. I also draw and art that genre. Fan for life. Absolutely love it

I was reading through the terms on the site, and one thing sticks out. If we as GMs are independent contractors, by definition you can't restrict us from working on other platforms. That's just how the law works. Also, what percent do you take from the total payment? Startplaying gives the exact numbers on that on their site, but if it's disclosed on yours, I haven't been able to find it. I'm genuinely interested to see some competition in this space! It's good for everyone. Still, I do think you need to address these things.

This video is Game Master gold! So many great tips and advice.

I could actually envision scenarios written for Call of Cthulu: Dark Ages going either way. Its typical for horror plots to focus on characters in a particular place. What happens to them individually, do they escape, do they defeat the terror? However, an investigation with twists, turns, red herrings, and a few unfortunate deaths among rounded characters is probable in stories involving mystery.

this guy dressed up like simon whistler for halloween

When people say textbooks are dry, they mean this is what's missing. There's no motivation or story, no personal detail or explanation, just a bunch of facts and events and dates we're supposed to remember even tho we care nothing for those involved. We would of course, but we're given no context. And good teachers fill in this gap. It's the same, as you say, with gaming. Without any pc relevance or other reasons to care, it's just info-dumping.

I started off getting into fantasy with Shannara, which I'd classify as High Fantasy, and stuck with that kind of stuff for a long time. But I gradually became more and more interested in Sword & Sorcery over time. I think the change started when I read The Black Company; that has a very character-driven style, where the world itself really only exists to support the characters.

Goku be like: wow you’re strong let’s fight

I have always gotten my most serious roleplay out of my goofiest characters. Yeetus Cornfather is a name known and feared throughout the realms.

True

I can understand why you might would think so, and there is some truth to it, but I think it's inaccurate to say Conan follows a "might makes right" code. He is a thief, a warrior, and eventually a king, all done and justified by might, that is true. But he also regularly fought against the strong in defense of the weak. Which he would not have done if strwngth was his only moral consideration.

Sword and Sorcery has long been assigned to second class. Partly because of it's beginnings in inexpensive serial publications available to the masses. High Fantasy was birthed in the halls of universities and hard backs, trying to impress others academics. Not to mention a large number of cheesy S&S movies of the 80's can not hold comparison to this century's LOTR movies in production values reinforce the class differences.

1:12 But does Conan ever really change as a person? Isn't he kind of static all the way through?

Well said. High Fantasy tends to be world driven, while S&S tends to be hero driven. Of course the lines can blur.

i dont like alot of the xmen movies but i do like wolverine

The dice goblin when someone doesn't have any or they forgot there one par 😂

Lol

3.5e (tye better one) vs 5e (unwanted bastard child)

I thought it’d be 5E Vs BG3 lmao

I’ve listened to this like 30 times already 😂 Pin?

Most of these S&S stories that I'm familiar with are not at all the typical D&D "kill the BBEG, save the Verse" thing. They're down to earth and visceral, and they're about the characters trying to save their own butts and maybe a few others, and often ultimately just trying to improve their own lot in life. These are far removed from the Moorcock style, for example, or obviously Tolkien, etc. And I can see that working well at some tables. But maybe 5e is a little too magic heavy and power mad to handle that style. Again, depending on the group. But the tone of the character, absolutely.

Conan is definitely a moderately bad guy who fights worse guys. Often accidentally.

I like how the author that created Conan personally knew HP Lovecraft, and they exchanged ideas with each other. It is also why some eldrich horros that show up in the Conan universe also show up in HO Lovecraft's stories. I see the world of Conan as a mix between high fantasy and a Mad Max style setting where sword and sorcery are common and times are often tough. A dark fantasy setting replicated later by ithers inspired by the setting. I also find it interesting that the map of the world is the map of the old world, but from long before humans are thought to exist, to hint at a time long before any known history. Yet with cultures that woukd persist in some form over time. Like the Stygians being similar to Egyptian.

Sounds like USA's army romanticise themselves to be "like Conan". All those mentioned values are how USA's army tries to market themselves. (I am from "barbarian" culture, Sámi people, we and other barbarians have nothing to do, what "civilised" people tells we are like).

Kull was FROM Atlantis, he was not the KING of Atlantis. He was a king of Valusia.

In this mission, stealth is optional.

I liked the point you made on being antithetical to a core belief in the world. I wish that was expounded more in the context of what that might look like in a common DnD setting like the Forgotten Realms from the character perspective.

It almost 100% true that most D&D campaigns attempt to emulate Tolkien and other high fantasy stories. Over the last 10 years (maybe longer), I have been coming across players who want to emulate anime shows. Unfortunately, I have almost no knowledge of anime and was never interested in the genre, which is sad for both me and those players, lol.

I think there's a key thread running through any morality in stories like this... it's all ultimately to protect those you love. In a more lighthearted, optimistic fantasy, it's simply identifying that evil causes needless death while good protects life... in a more cynical and/or deeper work, being as tough and dangerous as possible IS how you survive and keep protecting people. You could probably put it on a graph, where that is one axis, and the other axis is "super thoughtful vs hambrained thoughtless focus on the immediate and pragmatic"

the concepts in this video are objectively wrong.

And then they all start a new campaign with the same characters and old DM is purposefully left out of the group chat

My go-to dice set for five dollars.

I enjoy both, I loved Lord of the Rings and Conan….. but a story that doesn’t have good character development with goals, strengths, fears and misbeliefs tend to become boring. At the same time, a black and white of totally good or totally evil characters competing against each other is also kind of dull. I think George RR Martin is superior in some ways through his books because although he introduced magic early on it doesn’t overpower the story, but also there are many great protagonists and antagonists vying for their own intersecting goals and all the characters are somewhat with only a few truly good or bad characters (Jon Snow vs the mountain comparison). Although the show really was vomit in season 8, most of it was great and the books have been awesome. More to the point, the character development was mixed in with the world building and magic does exist with dragons, ice zombies, people who can be resurrected, red female mages and faceless assassins who can have powers, etc. Harry Potter is another series, as is the Witcher show… they are separate sub genres of fantasy as well showing that is still interest in stories that have magic and strong characters, just requires at the core….. great writing.

Interesting. I hadn’t thought of these stories quite this way. So here’s my question: Where would you put Ursula K. LeGuin’s Earthsea books in this? Thanks!

Always like hearing your voice

I'm not sure I quite agree with the conclusion that sword and sorcery plots can be identified by moral ambiguity. I would say that Solomon Kane (another Robert E Howard character) doesn't play so much with moral ambiguity. Solomon is a black-and-white Puritan with no shades of gray. He dispatches evil rather it benefits him or not. He literally spent years hunting down the French mercenary for the murder and defilement of a young girl he never even knew.

Yeah, you also have Dragon Slayer, Lady Hawk, Excalibur, Dragon Heart, and a few lesser known cult classics from that time were more on the Sword and Sorcery side. I burnt out on high fantasy in my late teens (late 80s). Dungeon crawl Classics is what got me interested in fantasy again. Sort of why I dig Goodman Games a bit more than the leading brand of fantasy RPG. To m high fantasy feels , plays, and runs like a mythic historical super hero game with magic. In Swords and Sorcery magic is hard and a spell fumble can mess you up but pushing yourself and succeeding can mean you out do yourself. MCC and DCC gimme that feel.

Ok, so this is definition made by one of my fathers Dnd buddies: High Fantasy: Look! Magical tower with evil wizard! We must slay him and save the world. Sword and sorcery: Look! Magical tower with evil wizard. Lets go and steal his sh!t.

thanks for the differences i was thinking about trying to figure out some kind of weird fantasy D&D type story and thought sword and sorcery was almost going to fit. But when you said Conan type stuff and listed examples I realized THIS wasn't for me and what I was looking for with the morally ambiguous characters. I wanted to do more of a growing arc and stuff with maybe one of my characters starting off as a stuck up jerk to someone who cares for their comrades and stuff. your high fantasy definition SORT OF 🤷‍♂looks like what I'm after but not quite. mostly becasue I think I sort of have some world stuff in it, but I think i mostly want to use stuff like stock D&D type fantasy world with a few extra things.

Howard's characters are NOT amoral(at least, not the MAIN ones). They all have an ethical code, to which they adhere. It might not be considered "civilized"(indeed, many of his characters evince a definite CONTEMPT for civilization), but it is STILL moral, by THEIR standards.

I think an equally powerful question that parallels with your question of "Will this D&D group be a good fit?" would be the question of "Am I willing to fit in with this group?". It is far easier to adapt than it is to search for the perfect group. This is coming from 48 years of DM experience and the question is equally applicable to both DMs and Players.

Are sword and sorcery and low fantasy the same thing?

For me Sword and Sorcery is defined by two things. 1. Magic is inherently evi, it's dark and mysterious, it corrupts those who use it and is exclusively used for evil. 2. The hero doesn't use magic, he probably isn't a good guy per day but he's not evil enough to use magic and he'll have to overcome his enemies using the riddle of steel.

1970s & 80s DM here... This is exactly, 100% spot on correct!😅