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Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings

2020-09-06T22:38:47Z

2601:602:C900:68F8:451F:5CB1:4344:B925: /* List of D&D Campaign Settings */

[[Dungeons & Dragons]] had always been replete with [[campaign setting]]s, both those officially released and those created by DMs themselves. From the grim and dark world of [[Ravenloft]], to the noble and chivalrous [[Dragonlance]], they span all manner of interests and themes in order to provide as broad an attraction to players and DMs of all strips.

== List of D&D Campaign Settings ==
*[[Al-Qadim]]: A supplement to Forgotten Realms, taking place on the same planet. Fantasy medieval Middle East at the height of its wealth, science, and power.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], 1 class updated for [[3e|Third Edition]]. Got a token mention in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide]] as a potential location for the "foreigner" background, and the iconic yakmen adversaries were re-introduced via the ''Storm King's Thunder'' adventure module.

*[[Birthright]]: Long ago a bunch of gods died and heroic mortals gained their divine energy. One or more of your PCs is a descendant of those heroes.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons|Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], unofficial porting to 3e taking place at [http://www.birthright.net/ http://www.birthright.net/]. The 5e ''Dungeon Master's Guide'' actually mentioned it as a potential location for adventures and/or planar jaunts, though, which is more than most previous editions gave it, so who knows what the future holds?

*[[Blackmoor]]: One of the three original campaign settings, developed by D&D co-creator Dave Arneson. Later retconned into Mystara as a Krull-esque distant past.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]

*[[Council of Wyrms]]: You are the dragons.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], possibly. No idea if the 1999 reprint used the old [[Dungeons & Dragons]] ruleset or not.

*[[Dark Sun]]: Dying desert world.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]], though most [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition|5e]] adventure modules discuss what would be needed to port them over to Athas, and the creators have stated they do plan to provide more support in the future.

*[[Dragon Fist]]: <s>If Dragonlance were manlier.</s> D&D set in the world of wuxia folktales from ancient <s>China</s> Tlanguo, the land of this setting.
**Last supported edition: '''None'''. Uses a weird hybrid of [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] and [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] rules. Published online-only by Wizards, never expanded or supported. Sold to Green Ronin (where its main creator went) who proceeded to... do absolutely nothing with it.

*[[Dragonlance]]: One of the more well-known D&D settings, thanks to the many books about it. Twisted D&D standards in a [[Setting:Brighthammer 40,000/2nd edition|Brighthammer40k]] sort of way. Home to the [[kender]].
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]], through a licensing agreement between [[WoTC]] and Sovereign Press, though mostly through discussing ways to port stuff over from other books. Unlike Athas, though, Krynn's close enough to Faerun for the conversion to be more comprehensive.

*[[Eberron]]: Magitek adventurepunk in a world literally made of dragons.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]], though it took forever and spent years as just content that was either "translation guide in the back of the book" type or strictly WIP/playtest material.

*[[Exandria]]: Homebrew setting for [[Critical Role]] officially adapted come March 2020.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]

*[[Forgotten Realms]]: The most famous and popular setting.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]

*[[Ghostwalk]]: The [[Monte Cook]] one everyone forgets exists. The Ethereal Plane meets inverse Ravenloft meets Forgotten Realms, and players can play as ghosts.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], one of two new settings created for it. Only published reference was its campaign sourcebook.

*[[Greyhawk]]: One of the three original campaign settings, and the default D&D setting for most of its existence. Revered for being the personal setting of [[Gary Gygax]].
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]], in the same manner as Dragonlance, though in the [[Dungeons & Dragons Forth Edition| 4e]] days it was killed off for a while around its 25th birthday in order to make way for [[Nentir_Vale|Points of Light]].

*[[Jakandor]]: Self-contained setting set on an island divided between magic-loving mage civilization, and magic-hating barbarian horde.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]

*[[The Horde]]: A supplement to Forgotten Realms, taking place on the same planet. Mongols and their related allies and enemies.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]

*[[Kara-Tur]]: A supplement to Forgotten Realms, taking place on the same planet. Ancient fantasy China/Japan with some later material detailing India and Southeast Asia
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]], though the setting/land itself did not advance at all from its original publication. Got a token mention in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide]] as a potential location for the "foreigner" background.

*[[Maztica]]: A supplement to Forgotten Realms, taking place on the same planet. Fantasy post-Columbian America, complete with paladins exterminating and suppressing the believers of native gods.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. Got a token mention in [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide]] as a potential location for the "foreigner" background.

*[[Mystara]]: One of the three original campaign settings, and the first one to be officially published and supported. Partially inspired Greyhawk, it paints a broad picture of the lands around Castle Greyhawk and was designed by David Cook and Tom Moldvay. (Also includes the ''Hollow World'' and ''Red Steel'' settings.)
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons]]

*[[Planescape]]: [[plane]]s, planes everywhere — and we don't mean the flying kind. Established the Great Wheel cosmology. Made famous by the videogame [[Planescape: Torment]]
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], but many elements were taken in establishing the planar landscape of [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] and Sigil appears as the hub of the module ''Expedition to Demonweb Pits''. Some tiny elements reappeared in [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition|later]] [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| editions]], but for the most part the setting and rules are mazed.

*[[Pelinore]]: For all you Britfag grognards out there. Somewhat similar to Ptolus in that it focused on a single city and it's surrounding environs.
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]]. Published and expanded on exclusively in ''Imagine'''s UK edition.

*[[Nentir_Vale|Points of Light]]: The "default" setting for [[4e]]. An entirely new world, called "Nentir Vale," completely separate from any existing D&D cosmology, presented as a predominantly blank slate with various cosmological and historical notes to hold it together before you begin personalizing it.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]

*[[Ravenloft]]: You are evil and being punished in a magic Gothic world that hates you.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]].

*[[Ravinca]]: Hyper futuristic Steampunk setting.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]].

*<s>[[Legend of the Five Rings|Rokugan]]</s>: Officially licensed by the 3rd Edition ''Oriental Adventures'' from [[Legend of the Five Rings]]. At least it led to the creation of ''Mahasarpa'', a related setting with a South-East Asia feel.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] (and every edition of [[Legend of the Five Rings|L5R's own RPG]])

*[[Spelljammer]]: D&D IN SPAAACE!
**Last supported edition: [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]], but authorized homebrew conversion to [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]] took place at [http://www.spelljammer.org/]. Rules for using a Spelljammer ship appear in [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]] ''Manual of the Planes''. The [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition| 5e]] team has discussed it, mentioning that it's a very love-it-or-hate-it setting that makes it a bit of a rough sell, though they ''have'' said they want to do at least a little work with it. Got several mentions in ''Volo's Guide to Monsters'', including the reintroduction of the iconic [[neogi]] adversaries. A Mind Flayer Dreadnaught shows up at the start of ''[[Baldur's Gate]] III'', of all things.

*[[Empire of the Petal Throne|Tékumel]]: The vary first setting ever to be published, and by TSR no less. An elaborate fantasy world based on Eastern themes. A whole language was build around it.
**Last supported edition: Original Dungeons & Dragons (Although the game branched off D&D long ago to become its own thing. Its is currently in its fifth edition, under a whole new rule-set.)

*[[Wilderlands of High Fantasy]]: The OG "Points of Light"-styled setting. Based on the earlier single-city setting ''City State of the Invincible Overlord'', using [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] rules.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]

* [[Kingdoms of Kalamar]]: Fairly standard D&D type world, although with some notable changes - [[hobgoblin]]s replacing [[orc]]s as the primary hostile humanoids. A third party setting originally, the third edition version was officially licensed but written by third party (and really bad mechanically). More known nowadays for becoming the setting for [[HackMaster]].
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]

== Modern & Futuristic Campaign Settings ==
*[[Call of Cthulhu]]: the [[d20 Modern]] version.
**Last supported edition: [[d20 Modern]]

*[[Dark Matter]]: an "all conspiracies are true" alternate version of Earth.
**Last supported edition: [[d20 Modern]]

*[[Dimension Zero]]: 2620 where the Nazis won and natural resources have run out that must steal from other realities to survive.
**Last supported edition: Never. Was mentioned in the campaign primer for Project Javelin (was supposed to be a full [[Adventure Path]] for [[d20 Modern]]), but that campaign was canceled with only the first adventure (which takes place in another setting of the GM's choice) published.

*[[Gamma World]]: a post-apocalyptic future setting and one of the earliest.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]

*[[Masque of the Red Death]]: a spinoff of [[Ravenloft]], set in [[Grimdark]] version of 19th century Earth. Has its own year 2012 spinoff in ''Gothic Earth Eternal''.
**Last supported edition: [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]

*[[Star Drive]]: main setting for [[Alternity]], later stripped of it's name for [[d20 Modern|d20 Future]].
**Last supported edition: [[d20 Modern]]

*[[Urban Arcana]]: Did you really need whole other book to add D&D elements to a [[d20 Modern]] game? Could've been called "Not [[Shadowrun]]", especially when combined with the d20 Cyberscape book.
**Last supported edition: [[d20 Modern]], with a few web-based beta-playtest rules availible for [[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]].

== Noteworthy/developed 'homebrew' settings ==
[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings]]
*[[Dragonmech]]
*[[Dungeons: the Dragoning 40,000 7th Edition]]
*[[Golarion]], which ended up with [[Pathfinder Roleplaying Game|its own spinoff RPG]]
*[[Iron Kingdoms|The Iron Kingdoms]], which ended up with [[Warmachine|its own spin-off]] [[Hordes|wargames]], ''then'' [[Iron Kingdoms RPG|its own non-d20 RPG]]
*[[Ops and Tactics]]
*[[Ptolus: City by The Spire]]
*[[Ringwaldt]]
*[[Uberstadt]]
*[[The Unified Setting for /tg/]]
*[[Humblewood]]

{{Template:D&D-Settings}}

Dungeons & Dragons Campaign Settings

2020-09-06T22:38:06Z

2601:602:C900:68F8:451F:5CB1:4344:B925: Undo revision 694280 by 47.187.100.59 (talk)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

2020-09-06T04:52:52Z

2601:602:C900:68F8:451F:5CB1:4344:B925: /* Other books, and more */

{{Game Infobox
|name = Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
|picture = [[Image:AD&Dlogo.gif|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[TSR]]
|authors = [[Gary Gygax]]
|year = 1977 (1st Edition) 1989 (2nd Edition)
|books = [[DMG|Dungeon Master's Guide]] [[PHB|Player's Handbook]] [[Monster Manual]]
}}
'''''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''''' was developed from the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' game in the late 1970s. It allowed for more versatility in making characters and more detail and depth than the basic game had. Not to be confused with Adult Dungeons and Dragons. That would be a FATAL mistake.

==AD&D 1st Edition==
[[Image:AD&D1stprint.jpg|thumb|The original AD&D 1e Players Handbook]]
D&D went all over the place. There were tons of books and finding rules for everything was sometimes a chore. Especially the options that separated race and class, alignments, and finding all the monsters stats [[Old School Roleplaying|could send you through 30 books.]] [[Gary Gygax]] saw fit to begin compiling all of the info into easy to search, themed books.

===Monster Manual===
He started with the ''Monster Manual'' (1977), going through all of the books he could find and compiling them into one book that was usable in D&D, alphabetized, with illustrations and in hardback. The book was still usable with D&D so nobody raged at this.

===Player's Handbook===
Next came the ''Players Handbook'' ([[PHB]]) in 1978, which compiled all the races found in Blackmoor and [[Greyhawk]], and all of the classes. It eased up on the default classes for non-humans. It added more options, detail and equipment, and allowed you to create a character that was technically usable in D&D. It was still compatible and there was no [[rage]].

===Armor Class===
The scale went from 10 to -10 on armor class with 10 being the worst and -10 being best, this being a choice made to incorporate the d20 in an approximation of ''Chainmail'''s combat system. Armor class was essentially representative of a bonus to the attacker. Unarmored targets gave a 10 point bonus, Heavily armored targets gave less of a bonus, and super heavily armored (or extremely agile) targets could impose negatives to the attack roll.

===Dungeon Master's Guide===
The meat and potatoes of the game along with all those nifty new rules in the PHB, came in the DMG. Guidelines for creating dungeons, populating them, filling them with treasure, combat matrices for characters and monsters, and wrapped all the stuff that seemed arbitrary in the MM and [[PHB]] up into a solid RPG.

[[Image:AD&D2ndprint.jpg|thumb|left|A later print with the alternate cover.]]
===Other books, and more===
Soon more books came out for AD&D: ''[[Fiend Folio]]'', ''Deities and Demigods'', ''[[The Manual of the Planes]]'', ''[[Oriental Adventures]]'', ''Unearthed Arcana'', ''Survival Guides'', etc.

===Gameplay===
''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' played much like the original D&D game (not to be confused with Basic, which was not fully compatible) which consisted of playing the role of your character, and resolving actions with a chance of failure by using dice.
Players first create a character using the rules found in the PHB. The Dungeon Master then inserts the characters as appropriate in his campaign, whether homemade or manufactured world or a simple module or one shot adventure.

===History and Longevity===
Depending on how you count, AD&D 1E came out in 1977 or 1979. It lasted to 1989, which means it lived to the ripe old age of 10-12, which is actually pretty old for an RPG (albeit, not one that costs so much, to be fair; other RPGs that offer core in a single volume are usually much cheaper than AD&D, even then). It saw many issues in that time, from being falsely linked to a boy's disappearance in 1979, being linked to a suicide (google Patricia Pulling) and being the centerpiece for the now infamous Chick Tract [[Dark Dungeons]]. Still through it all, TSR saw money come in. When issues arose in the company between Gygax and two other board members, one of the board members sold his stock to an [[Lorraine Williams|ungrateful manager that Gygax had hired]], and rather than ride a ship he thought would sink, Gygax sold his stock to the rapacious she-bitch as well. In 1989, the decision came to publish a new version of AD&D, ostensibly to limit Gygax's royalties.

==AD&D 2nd Edition==
[[Image:AD&D2E1stprint.jpg|thumb|AD&D 2nd edition's first print.]]
This edition added a whole lot of modular rules and fluff material. The core methodology of 1E was still in place, slightly more basic in scope. It also added a huge amount of optional rules from ''Unearthed Arcana'' and the ''Survival Guide'' books. For the most part, the core books work as described above, so this is what's different:

===THAC0===
2E took the combat matrices and made them uniform in function. Every class or kit in the game falls under one of 4 categories, and each category has a different rate of improvement. Fighters, obviously, get the best rate, while non-physical fighters get the worst. The statistic used to implement these categories was called THAC0.

'''THAC0''' stands for '''T'''o '''H'''it '''A'''rmor '''C'''lass '''0''' (zero); it's the minimum number you needed to roll on a d20 in order to hit something with AC 0 (which means the lower your THAC0, the better for you). To handle other armor classes, you subtracted the target's AC from your character's THAC0, and then tried to roll at least this number. DMs often did not share the enemy's AC, in which case you would roll a d20, and <s>subtract it from your THAC0 to show the lowest AC that you could hit.</s> wait for the DM to tell you if you hit since it's his job.

Opinions of this mechanic are divided; some say it's overly complicated and non-intuitive (negative ACs being a common argument), while others don't mind all the basic subtraction (also, thac0 progression can just be thought of as to-hit bonus, negating any math besides being able to reverse your added result in order to know what AC you hit). Others just say that no matter how retarded it is, it's preferable to rolling on a table for every attack.

===Complete (insert something here) Handbooks===
There are a lot of people who want to play something unique, detailed and some people who just want the various bits of fluff to help describe their characters. The Complete Series Brown books detailed limited aspects of the 2E game rules, added optional rules, and player kits to play specific versions of a class. Other resource books that used the same format followed, like the Arms and Equipment guide, Of Ships and the Sea, and others. The Historical Reference books (referred to as the green books) allowed players and DMs to approximate historical situations using the AD&D 2E rules.

===Box Sets===
Well, 1E had box sets as well, but they really became prolific in 2E. The box sets offered new worlds, new developments in some worlds, and fluff the likes of which are hard to match even today. ''Masque of The Red Death'', ''Planescape'', and ''Dark Sun'' are notable campaign setting box sets.

[[Image:AD&D2E2ndprint.jpg|thumb|left|AD&D 2nd edition's Revised printing. Only the layout changed.]]
===Where's the Monster Manual?===
Early in the 2E cycle, TSR decided that instead of releasing book after book of monsters, they would sell a huge binder with the basic monsters in it, and sell packs of sheets to fill it with. Each box set would have sheets with monsters specific to the setting in it, and "galleries" of NPCs and special monsters. They called the binder the ''Monstrous Compendium'', and they eventually released a second binder anyway. It was still much cheaper than publishing books. Eventually TSR would listen to demand and release a basic ''Monstrous Manual'' with the most common critters in it. After the cessation of the binder production, new printings of box sets would have little paperback supplements to the monster manuals instead of the punched sheets.

===Devils and Demons===
After the mess from Patricia Pulling and Jack Chick, Lorraine Williams decided to have Demons and Devils pulled from AD&D 2E. The designers snuck them back in, but changed the names to [[Tanar'ri]] and [[Baatezu]]. Most players referred to them as Demons and Devils though, until the new names gained more proliferation in TSR branded novels. (Specifically, ones about a Balor and a Gary Stu munchk-assed Drow.)

At least two 2e supplements (Diablo: The Awakening, which is surprisingly a good supplement for non-Diablo campaigns, aside from the item tables, and Van Richten's Guide to Fiends) make reference to demons, however.

===WHERE ARE DEM 'ALF ORKY GITZ??===
Lorraine thought they were ugly. Seriously. Unpleasantness on the part of the player was nixed. It's the same reason the Assassin class went buh-bye.
Half-orcs made a useless, underpowered return in the Complete Book of Humanoids. A powerful and barely changed version of the assassin shows up in The Scarlet Brotherhood.

===Whoa, at least there's fluff.===
If 1E lacked fluff, 2E had too much. From specific campaign setting spell books like ''Pages from the Mages'', to the ''Book of Artifacts'', ''Encyclopedia Magica'' and the ''Priest and Mage Spell Compendium'' series. You also had Dungeon cards, Racial supplementals, etc. The goal of many of these books was to increase the variety and help DMs create unique and interesting worlds using the examples within as a starting point to make their own. There were no real rules about creating this content due to the designers expecting people to actually think about what they're doing so it was very easy to have DMs make some absolutely broken or truly unique and fun.

===OPTION BOOKS===
The Option series brought in several piecemeal procedures for character and scenario creation. Due to a no-playtesting policy at TSR, many builds under the OPTION books can be horribly broken. Allow these at your own risk, DMs. OPTION Series books are often referred to as 2.5 by newbies looking for some sense of revenge after 2E fans made fun of them when Wizards released 3.5. It's not 2.5; none of the core books are invalidated or changed. The OPTIONs are broken, but they still require the 2E core books and as such are still 2E, much as it pains most fans to admit it. Although there are broken class combinations possible under the Option series assuming the DM ignores the fact that he is supposed to provide oversight (notably, it's possible by not turning the page and reading the additional rules on page 40 of S&M to make a priest character who can use Meteor Swarm as an at-will ability), the series also introduces or reintroduces balanced and archetypal classes such as the Monk, Crusader and Shaman and provides critical special abilities for level 10+ characters. Amongst the latter, the Hardiness ability, usable by fighters, paladins, and rangers, allows those characters to delay more "unfair" attack forms such as instant death, paralysis, energy drain and mind control spells briefly, and then to sleep off the effects. Many aspects of these books, such as Combat & Tactics combat systems, and many of the options from High Level Campaigns, made it into 3e.

===Longevity and History===
The game had amazing product and lots of fluff. However the business plan was pretty shit. The combination of high quality materials, low relative selling cost, the glut of settings and material for them, the broken gameplay issues later on due to the no-playtesting policy, meant that TSR basically wrote its own ticket to failure. Still, the game plodded on for an amazing 11 years until ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]'' was released.

==See also==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]''
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]''
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]''
* ''[[Castles & Crusades]]'' - AD&D flavor, 3e simplifications. Actually works.

==Links==
* [http://www.purpleworm.org/rules/ The Purple Worm] AD&D 2nd edition rulebooks from CD-ROM

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Roleplaying]]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

2020-09-06T04:52:04Z

2601:602:C900:68F8:451F:5CB1:4344:B925: Undo revision 694071 by 2601:204:CC03:F1A0:D0A1:5221:9F60:2347 (talk)

{{Game Infobox
|name = Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
|picture = [[Image:AD&Dlogo.gif|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[TSR]]
|authors = [[Gary Gygax]]
|year = 1977 (1st Edition) 1989 (2nd Edition)
|books = [[DMG|Dungeon Master's Guide]] [[PHB|Player's Handbook]] [[Monster Manual]]
}}
'''''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons''''' was developed from the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' game in the late 1970s. It allowed for more versatility in making characters and more detail and depth than the basic game had. Not to be confused with Adult Dungeons and Dragons. That would be a FATAL mistake.

==AD&D 1st Edition==
[[Image:AD&D1stprint.jpg|thumb|The original AD&D 1e Players Handbook]]
D&D went all over the place. There were tons of books and finding rules for everything was sometimes a chore. Especially the options that separated race and class, alignments, and finding all the monsters stats [[Old School Roleplaying|could send you through 30 books.]] [[Gary Gygax]] saw fit to begin compiling all of the info into easy to search, themed books.

===Monster Manual===
He started with the ''Monster Manual'' (1977), going through all of the books he could find and compiling them into one book that was usable in D&D, alphabetized, with illustrations and in hardback. The book was still usable with D&D so nobody raged at this.

===Player's Handbook===
Next came the ''Players Handbook'' ([[PHB]]) in 1978, which compiled all the races found in Blackmoor and [[Greyhawk]], and all of the classes. It eased up on the default classes for non-humans. It added more options, detail and equipment, and allowed you to create a character that was technically usable in D&D. It was still compatible and there was no [[rage]].

===Armor Class===
The scale went from 10 to -10 on armor class with 10 being the worst and -10 being best, this being a choice made to incorporate the d20 in an approximation of ''Chainmail'''s combat system. Armor class was essentially representative of a bonus to the attacker. Unarmored targets gave a 10 point bonus, Heavily armored targets gave less of a bonus, and super heavily armored (or extremely agile) targets could impose negatives to the attack roll.

===Dungeon Master's Guide===
The meat and potatoes of the game along with all those nifty new rules in the PHB, came in the DMG. Guidelines for creating dungeons, populating them, filling them with treasure, combat matrices for characters and monsters, and wrapped all the stuff that seemed arbitrary in the MM and [[PHB]] up into a solid RPG.

[[Image:AD&D2ndprint.jpg|thumb|left|A later print with the alternate cover.]]
===Other books, and more===
Soon more books came out for AD&D: ''[[Fiend Folio]]'', ''Deities'' and ''Demigods'', ''[[The Manual of the Planes]]'', ''[[Oriental Adventures]]'', ''Unearthed Arcana'', ''Survival Guides'', etc.

===Gameplay===
''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' played much like the original D&D game (not to be confused with Basic, which was not fully compatible) which consisted of playing the role of your character, and resolving actions with a chance of failure by using dice.
Players first create a character using the rules found in the PHB. The Dungeon Master then inserts the characters as appropriate in his campaign, whether homemade or manufactured world or a simple module or one shot adventure.

===History and Longevity===
Depending on how you count, AD&D 1E came out in 1977 or 1979. It lasted to 1989, which means it lived to the ripe old age of 10-12, which is actually pretty old for an RPG (albeit, not one that costs so much, to be fair; other RPGs that offer core in a single volume are usually much cheaper than AD&D, even then). It saw many issues in that time, from being falsely linked to a boy's disappearance in 1979, being linked to a suicide (google Patricia Pulling) and being the centerpiece for the now infamous Chick Tract [[Dark Dungeons]]. Still through it all, TSR saw money come in. When issues arose in the company between Gygax and two other board members, one of the board members sold his stock to an [[Lorraine Williams|ungrateful manager that Gygax had hired]], and rather than ride a ship he thought would sink, Gygax sold his stock to the rapacious she-bitch as well. In 1989, the decision came to publish a new version of AD&D, ostensibly to limit Gygax's royalties.

==AD&D 2nd Edition==
[[Image:AD&D2E1stprint.jpg|thumb|AD&D 2nd edition's first print.]]
This edition added a whole lot of modular rules and fluff material. The core methodology of 1E was still in place, slightly more basic in scope. It also added a huge amount of optional rules from ''Unearthed Arcana'' and the ''Survival Guide'' books. For the most part, the core books work as described above, so this is what's different:

===THAC0===
2E took the combat matrices and made them uniform in function. Every class or kit in the game falls under one of 4 categories, and each category has a different rate of improvement. Fighters, obviously, get the best rate, while non-physical fighters get the worst. The statistic used to implement these categories was called THAC0.

'''THAC0''' stands for '''T'''o '''H'''it '''A'''rmor '''C'''lass '''0''' (zero); it's the minimum number you needed to roll on a d20 in order to hit something with AC 0 (which means the lower your THAC0, the better for you). To handle other armor classes, you subtracted the target's AC from your character's THAC0, and then tried to roll at least this number. DMs often did not share the enemy's AC, in which case you would roll a d20, and <s>subtract it from your THAC0 to show the lowest AC that you could hit.</s> wait for the DM to tell you if you hit since it's his job.

Opinions of this mechanic are divided; some say it's overly complicated and non-intuitive (negative ACs being a common argument), while others don't mind all the basic subtraction (also, thac0 progression can just be thought of as to-hit bonus, negating any math besides being able to reverse your added result in order to know what AC you hit). Others just say that no matter how retarded it is, it's preferable to rolling on a table for every attack.

===Complete (insert something here) Handbooks===
There are a lot of people who want to play something unique, detailed and some people who just want the various bits of fluff to help describe their characters. The Complete Series Brown books detailed limited aspects of the 2E game rules, added optional rules, and player kits to play specific versions of a class. Other resource books that used the same format followed, like the Arms and Equipment guide, Of Ships and the Sea, and others. The Historical Reference books (referred to as the green books) allowed players and DMs to approximate historical situations using the AD&D 2E rules.

===Box Sets===
Well, 1E had box sets as well, but they really became prolific in 2E. The box sets offered new worlds, new developments in some worlds, and fluff the likes of which are hard to match even today. ''Masque of The Red Death'', ''Planescape'', and ''Dark Sun'' are notable campaign setting box sets.

[[Image:AD&D2E2ndprint.jpg|thumb|left|AD&D 2nd edition's Revised printing. Only the layout changed.]]
===Where's the Monster Manual?===
Early in the 2E cycle, TSR decided that instead of releasing book after book of monsters, they would sell a huge binder with the basic monsters in it, and sell packs of sheets to fill it with. Each box set would have sheets with monsters specific to the setting in it, and "galleries" of NPCs and special monsters. They called the binder the ''Monstrous Compendium'', and they eventually released a second binder anyway. It was still much cheaper than publishing books. Eventually TSR would listen to demand and release a basic ''Monstrous Manual'' with the most common critters in it. After the cessation of the binder production, new printings of box sets would have little paperback supplements to the monster manuals instead of the punched sheets.

===Devils and Demons===
After the mess from Patricia Pulling and Jack Chick, Lorraine Williams decided to have Demons and Devils pulled from AD&D 2E. The designers snuck them back in, but changed the names to [[Tanar'ri]] and [[Baatezu]]. Most players referred to them as Demons and Devils though, until the new names gained more proliferation in TSR branded novels. (Specifically, ones about a Balor and a Gary Stu munchk-assed Drow.)

At least two 2e supplements (Diablo: The Awakening, which is surprisingly a good supplement for non-Diablo campaigns, aside from the item tables, and Van Richten's Guide to Fiends) make reference to demons, however.

===WHERE ARE DEM 'ALF ORKY GITZ??===
Lorraine thought they were ugly. Seriously. Unpleasantness on the part of the player was nixed. It's the same reason the Assassin class went buh-bye.
Half-orcs made a useless, underpowered return in the Complete Book of Humanoids. A powerful and barely changed version of the assassin shows up in The Scarlet Brotherhood.

===Whoa, at least there's fluff.===
If 1E lacked fluff, 2E had too much. From specific campaign setting spell books like ''Pages from the Mages'', to the ''Book of Artifacts'', ''Encyclopedia Magica'' and the ''Priest and Mage Spell Compendium'' series. You also had Dungeon cards, Racial supplementals, etc. The goal of many of these books was to increase the variety and help DMs create unique and interesting worlds using the examples within as a starting point to make their own. There were no real rules about creating this content due to the designers expecting people to actually think about what they're doing so it was very easy to have DMs make some absolutely broken or truly unique and fun.

===OPTION BOOKS===
The Option series brought in several piecemeal procedures for character and scenario creation. Due to a no-playtesting policy at TSR, many builds under the OPTION books can be horribly broken. Allow these at your own risk, DMs. OPTION Series books are often referred to as 2.5 by newbies looking for some sense of revenge after 2E fans made fun of them when Wizards released 3.5. It's not 2.5; none of the core books are invalidated or changed. The OPTIONs are broken, but they still require the 2E core books and as such are still 2E, much as it pains most fans to admit it. Although there are broken class combinations possible under the Option series assuming the DM ignores the fact that he is supposed to provide oversight (notably, it's possible by not turning the page and reading the additional rules on page 40 of S&M to make a priest character who can use Meteor Swarm as an at-will ability), the series also introduces or reintroduces balanced and archetypal classes such as the Monk, Crusader and Shaman and provides critical special abilities for level 10+ characters. Amongst the latter, the Hardiness ability, usable by fighters, paladins, and rangers, allows those characters to delay more "unfair" attack forms such as instant death, paralysis, energy drain and mind control spells briefly, and then to sleep off the effects. Many aspects of these books, such as Combat & Tactics combat systems, and many of the options from High Level Campaigns, made it into 3e.

===Longevity and History===
The game had amazing product and lots of fluff. However the business plan was pretty shit. The combination of high quality materials, low relative selling cost, the glut of settings and material for them, the broken gameplay issues later on due to the no-playtesting policy, meant that TSR basically wrote its own ticket to failure. Still, the game plodded on for an amazing 11 years until ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]'' was released.

==See also==
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition]]''
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]''
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition]]''
* ''[[Castles & Crusades]]'' - AD&D flavor, 3e simplifications. Actually works.

==Links==
* [http://www.purpleworm.org/rules/ The Purple Worm] AD&D 2nd edition rulebooks from CD-ROM

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Roleplaying]]

SJW

2020-08-17T01:04:44Z

2601:602:C900:68F8:451F:5CB1:4344:B925: /* Do They Have a Point? */

{{flamewar}}
{{fail}}
{{heresy}}
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{{delete|This is possibly the biggest lightning rod of shitposts on the site and edit wars by/against SJWs, so either permanently protect this accursed thing or make it so nobody can blather on about it ever again.}}
{{Topquote|The only way to win is to not read the crazy, and just fap and/or shlick to the pictures.|[[/d/]]}}
{{Topquote|People love to pretend they're offended.|Matt Groening}}
{{Topquote|Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.|Friedrich Nietzsche}}

== Meaning ==
[[Skub]]'s final form.

'''SJW''' stands for '''Social Justice Warrior''', a term originated in the late '90s to mid-2000's, where it was originally more neutral and meant to refer to ardent or outspoken advocates of social change, usually for 'furthering' civil rights. This generally meant someone who demanded that all races, genders, sexuality... any group where members can't leave voluntarily be represented in media and treated with equal respect.

Nowadays, it has a less-than-savory connotation, especially to people within 4chan (''especially'' [[/pol/]] and /v/ - the lattermost is a partial by-product of the GamerGate shenanigans). The modern usage of SJW refers largely to the (usually but not always) left wing-group of people who demand that media and society be inclusive and inoffensive (in practice, usually only to groups said SJW is a part of and those whose beliefs align with them) before all else, basically trying to police all media and, by proxy, the rest of society. See Identity Politics and Intersectionality (a.k.a "who is more oppressed and needs more help marathon"; the dynamics of this is often called Oppression Olympics).

SJWs also tend to chuck that aforementioned respect out the airlock as they prioritize looking and feeling "good" over actually doing good, like most zealots. They frequently employ simplistic and/or ahistorical analysis that could wring both tears and rage from any fa/tg/uy's inner history buff (and not just the ones with military vehicle fetishes, either). Such piping hot takes also open them up to "easy debunking", often by a mix of opportunists looking for an easy 'gotcha', /pol/acks looking for an easy triggering or (perhaps most rarely) people who actually studied their shit - bonus points if said people are left of center and/or themselves part of said minorities on whose behalf the SJWs pull this shit even as they speak over them. Of course, the debunking may itself be poorly researched - most political discussions set the bar amazingly low, if you hadn't guessed. Many SJWs also practice the double standard of selective outrage (attacking a particular person or group over what they said or did, but glossing over similar behavior from other groups - bonus points if the latter group is one the "rager" is part of and/or claiming to defend).

In short, it's associated with activists that advocate a a view of progressive societal change that non-progressives and sometimes even progressive groups, like feminists and minority activists, perceive to be ostracizing, harmful or unnecessary. This being mostly subjective is why the definition is so [[skub|contentious]] to begin with.

Expect Social Justice Warriors to show up or at least be mentioned anytime some combination of the following occurs:

*A) a popular figure does or says something considered offensive, whether legitimately so or otherwise;
*B) some asshole's trying to shut up people they're being rude to;
*C) someone is ''harmlessly'' being a bit less politically correct than people want them to;
*D) someone is being ''far less'' politically correct than the situation warrants; or
*E) there isn't enough presentation in a work for ethno-social groups that are already infinitesimal to begin with.

On that note, feel free to play a drinking game where you take a shot each time [[Nazi|Godwin's Law]] is invoked, and be sure to bid your liver farewell beforehand.

Expect the affected thread and any other nearby discussion to be derailed in short order; this is becoming more and more frequent on /tg/ lately as hobbies like [[Magic: The Gathering|MTG]] and [[Warhammer 40k]] are being subjected to changes that are viewed as "progressive" and generate unholy waves of skub. This often appears in the forms of users being accused of bigotry for either not checking off enough "oppressed minority" checkboxes in character creation, or else portraying certain groups too positively. The sources are generally either the usual crowd of trolls and shit stirrers, or else actual morons who want to show off their 'good guy' badges - aka virtue signaling - and miss the point of their ideals entirely. Naturally, most people who hold similar views prefer to voice them only when appropriate to do so, and outside of the "radical" fringe, they differ from the average fa/tg/uy only by the presence of a few things they think tabletop games could be better at doing. The phenomenon is often referred to as "woke culture" and when it finds its way into media it's "identity politics".

This can and does often lead to rifts in communities, fanbases and franchises, with creators (most often independent ones) facing harassment and death threats. Despite this, even the largest companies and fandoms aren't immune (as all sides of the [[Star Wars]] fandom can attest). Any legitimate criticisms are almost immediately lost in the mix of mob mentality - just like most of the internet. When a work that didn't have identity politics suddenly displays these themes, the [[Skub]] WILL fly fast and hard. At best the backlash fractures the fanbse, at worst it shatters the fanbase and leads to a financial loss that sees the franchise discontinued and occasionally the developers also losing their jobs, which is colloquially known as the "Get Woke, Go Broke" phenomenon.

There are plenty of examples, but the average fa/tg/uy is unlikely to care about most of them outside of the few relevant ones discussed further below.

== ...so why is this a big deal again? ==
The crux of the problem is that SJWs act as "moral guardians" to popular culture. Previous moral panics, such as the hysteria surrounding hip-hop, rock music and (most relevantly) tabletop games such as [[Dungeons & Dragons]] ever since each medium's creation, were driven by people who claimed to be protecting their children from the "evils" within certain works, as well as seeing enemies under every rock or choosing to die on hills that are ultimately of no consequence.

To use pen-and-paper RPGs as an example, the mostly-Christian right-wingers of the late 70s believed them to be [[Heresy|a gateway to devil worship and eternal damnation]] because of a misunderstanding. Some of the game developers lifted elements from real-life occultism and black magic practices for themes and stories, which was mistaken for trying to promote these practices - despite Gary Gygax, D&D's co-creator, being a known Jehovah's Witness. The response to this huge outcry mostly consisted of renaming or remodeling a bunch of shit (e.g. [[demon]]s and [[devil]]s were now Tanar'ri and Baatezu and in-universe occult symbols were redesigned). More concerning were a few murders and suicides by known players (the mother of James Dallas Egbert III - James being one of the people who committed suicide - even blamed D&D for her son's death). While it sounds ridiculous in hindsight, DnD had yet to gain the traction it currently has and coupled with some groups considering the murderers and people who committed suicide the face of the games, the games were nearly damned by association.

For more details on that sad, stupid time outlined above, see [[Satanic Panic]].

Where most moral panics in America are often attributed and traced back to said older outspoken conservative Christians, with SJWs it's different - they are generally younger, left-leaning and are either affiliated with new-age religions or atheists (the latter often alongside being anti-religious - ironically, mostly singling out Christianity). While many espouse lefty-hippie ideas of acceptance and inclusiveness, many have turned from simply promoting acceptance of varied interests, lifestyles, and hobbies to policing them for proper behavior and raising hell when they find something they don't like. Maybe it's too objectifying, maybe it's not inclusive or diverse enough, maybe it portrays a group they disagree with in too positive a manner or a group they do like in too negative a manner; either way, it is promoting bigotry and bad behavior and must be changed accordingly. Some extreme SJWs even become bigots themselves, but with different groups targeted and a "tit for tat" approach.

For the modern SJW, replace the religious issues with socio-political ones, pick a random issue somewhere in the Left (sometimes Far Left) using an advocacy dartboard, and you can find someone who is ready and willing to start petitions, run boycotts, and send death threats to the creators of Your Favorite ThingTM.

While there are many key differences, they've joined the ranks of still-existing moral guardians before them through a combination of sheer overzealousness, hatred of particular groups, the usual co-opting by corporations who use their ideologies as a new way to promote their brands and the plentiful organizations and other third parties willing to fund attention-grabbing political actions of varying effectiveness to whatever ends they may desire, whether it be for fame, name or revenge.

That said, compared to the Satanic Panic, any /tg/-related controversies that have occurred since then are hardly a blip on the radar (thankfully so) and are mostly centered around sporadic attempts at pandering by game developers trying to milk what is, to them, a new demographic.

==Further Relevance to /tg/ ==
[[File:SJW in WOTC Staff.png|thumb|right|300px|Typical SJW delusions, seeing people who hate women in places where there are none, while simultaneously implying women are idiots.]]
While SJWs mostly focus on comics, movies and video games, they've found relatively little traction on tabletop games - it's widely considered more obscure in comparison to other forms of media, thus not warranting scrutiny OR continued interest to the SJW's inner hipster. Movies are delivered as a finished product that usually cannot be tampered with, so they have to worry more about what's given to them. [[/v/|Video games]] can sometimes be modded to some extent, but are usually more at the mercy of its creators.

However, as with any game that allows GMs and their players to [[Homebrew|make up their own shit and tailor the rules and setting to their own goddamn pleasure]], the consumers are the arbiters of what is canon or relevant in their private sessions; [[Games Workshop|the companies]] simply provide the setting these sessions take place within. The 'worst' a given fa/tg/uy has to worry about is fits being thrown over given models, [[White Wolf|disingenuous pandering]] [[Vampire: The Masquerade|that's often mandated by higher-ups]] (sometimes enforced by devs and writers), and a loss in quality of [[Black Library|franchise fiction]] (as if [[C.S. Goto|a ton of]] [[Matt Ward|terrible franchise fiction]] isn't already out there). More on that later, though.

Any other debates and criticisms surrounding the medium are either nearly as old as the genre itself, or else commonplace enough that it's not even exclusive to the genre anymore. [[-4 STR]] is something of an exception in this regard, given that the term originated with tabletop itself, and there has also been [[Sociopathic diplomancer gets shut the fuck down|at least one tale of an encounter with someone]] who would very much fit the stereotype. This hasn't stopped them from ''trying'', however, to the point where numerous people in high-level positions in the development of not only [[Dungeons & Dragons]], but [[Pathfinder]], are viewed as part of the same ideological mindset, and supposedly believe that THE problem with D&D, is, of course, the fanbase itself.

While this might seem to hold water due to the nature of tabletop and PnP games, more astute fa/tg/uys and ca/tg/irls might have already noticed the aforementioned logical fallacy with this: [[/tg/|traditional gaming]] is fundamentally an insular hobby populated predominantly by its fans, who consist of a much wider spectrum of people than stereotypes dictate. Trying to ''"mandate"'' inclusiveness and force the hobby to fit a completely different audience who has no real interest (key words) is equal to spraying napalm to put out a fire.

Oldfags can only chuckle to themselves; the neckbeards of old saw people try to demonize or similarly alter their hobbies for [[Gary Gygax]]'s entire lifetime, and know that ultimately, this crap is destined to fail just as hard as previous attempts to kill their favorite hobbies off. In turn, many gamers and self-styled movie buffs who don't understand the "players make the rules" aspect of tabletop thus fail to understand the futility of forcing roleplaying fa/tg/uys to join a "fight" that cannot threaten their fun, even in spite of the stereotype of roleplayers who define themselves solely by their hobby.

The main reason this article exists at all is to detail the perceived threat to the hobby that defines the board and (more often) the annoyance caused by forcing unrelated political discussions on a board of people who are ''ideally'' just trying to play some damn games or otherwise mind their business.

Y'know, like most of the internet.

===SJWs and WH40k===
Now, you may hear complaints about wargaming, and how it has too much [[Imperium of Man|imperialism, war crimes]], [[Exterminatus|genocide]], [[Ecclesiarchy|religious extremism]], [[Inquisition|xenophobia, abduction]], [[Cadian Shock Troops|child soldiers]], [[Daemonculaba|injury and death of minors]], [[Penitent Engine|religious mind-rape driven war machines]], [[Slaanesh|rape, drug abuse, sexual exploitation]], [[Warp|supernatural horror]], etc. etc. While not mentioned by name, you can imagine those complaints had [[Warhammer 40,000|a particular franchise in mind]]. Naturally, you can also imagine the lengths they went to in order to [[Derp|completely ignore]] [[Grimdark|the entire air of black vs. black morality within the setting itself]] (with shades of super-dark grey if you're feeling [[Salamanders|gene]][[Tau|rous]]).

The three most common complaints about Warhammer 40,000 are usually: the absence of [[Female Space Marines]]; the [[Sisters of Battle]] having boob plates; and - tied for third - how 40k models and art seldom depicted non-Sisters of Battle women and non-white humans, despite lore containing multiple, numerous easily-found examples to the contrary.

Here is a handy quick-list of refutations, to make everyone's lives a little easier:

#Warhammer 40,000 originated as an ironic parody of hard-right authoritarianism, born out of the explosion of progressive UK Sci-Fi and Fantasy that erupted as a reaction to [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Margaret Thatcher]]'s policies of moral regulation and strong executive power (as well as all the other shit that happened in living memory during the 20th Century). Warhammer 40k took the piss out of the conservative UK government in the same way ''2000AD'' did, via satire and cautionary tales - this context has been lost over time with the growing popularity of the game, the growth of the company itself, and how the right-leaning political climate being satirized is no longer dominant in the UK (Margaret Thatcher herself also ''died'' several years go) while its current political climate is an entirely different beast.
#Anyone who actually reads the fluff knows that the Imperium as a body doesn't care about sex or race on that level, because the encroaching forces of [[grimdark]] make any form of discrimination impractical. Women and other minorities regularly participate in every level of Imperial society. The lack of female models is a semi-regular issue that ends up at the feet of GW, who already get enough shit from pearl-clutching moral guardians about [[Hot Chicks|Sisters Repentia and Daemonettes]] to generally want to avoid gender controversy and making "redundant" models. [[Mutant|The discrimination that ''does'' happen in the Imperium]] has some credible backing, in that the Imperium is an empire of semi-justified zealots: mutation is a common symptom of exposure to [[Chaos]] or [[Genestealer|other very bad things,]] so they figure it's best to not take chances.
#:Female Space Marines also have a well-defined fluff reason for not existing: recent lore stated there were in-universe attempts that failed badly enough to warrant discontinuing them. And of the section of the actual playerbase that clamors for female Marines, you can guess how many do so [[Rule 63|with impure intent.]] At any rate, important characters have a higher percentage of female or LBGTQ+ representation than expendable meatgrinder characters. This goes for both old characters like Yarrick (revealed to be gay) and new characters like Arch Magos Exasus (who is non-binary).
#Until recently, GW was also [[Commorragh Slaves|terrible at sculpting female characters in most cases]]; the Sisters of Battle were a rare exception for years, and that's likely ''because'' they're just power-armored humans with boobplate.
#GW so rarely listened to their own customers that complaining wouldn't have changed shit no matter how obvious the problem was. Nowadays there is a MUCH better chance for more fan-interaction, but there you go: anyone looking for change should be taking it up with GW, not Warhammer fans.
#When it comes to racial representation, they've previously said that their idea was for humanity in 40k to be as ethnically and physically diverse as they are across Earth in real-life. GW said the reason for having majority white people in the art was because the early art teams were small and made art of what they knew (the UK is still populated by 95% white people, although interestingly where GW is in Nottingham is nowadays only about 65% white), and this pattern just became an unthinking habit. This is typical of a lot of fantasy work, which is often based on history or mythology from Europe or Asia where lighter skin colors are believed more common. While it is discriminatory, it's 'unconscious bigotry' as opposed to GW being actively malicious. [[Image:5zft MoOz3I.jpg|thumb|right|200px|It begins!]]
#Every Warhammer Fantasy and 40k player knows that GW is simply [[End Times|bad]] [[Abaddon|at]] [[Matt Ward|making]] [[C.S. Goto|writing]] [[Storm of Chaos|decisions]]. Asking for well-written ''anyone'' from GW is like praying for a miracle. Furthermore, some of the most interesting characters in Fantasy were female, and got written out of canon as the years went on, so best believe the fans were already outraged over that.

If you read GW's Annual report: 2015-16, you'll find there were complaints about most of the staff being male even back then. To GW's credit, they answered: "The Company does not consider that diversity can be best achieved by establishing specific quotas and targets and appointments will continue to be made based on merit." (p. 15, if you're bored enough to check). That kinda contradicts with the "principle of boardroom diversity, which was first introduced into the Code in June 2010" mentioned on the same page, but you get it.

On the other hand, it should be noted that GW has been somewhat 'addressing' things, in [[Age of Sigmar]] anyway. Several human models have non-white skin tones in their official paint jobs (and most of them look laughable with it, as they're rocking classical European features. Painting grizzly white doesn't make it a polar bear, you know), there's black Sigmarines and at least one black Ultramarine, there's more than one model for a Sigmarine woman, a gender neutral Magos is mentioned in Have Thorpe's ''Wrath of the Omnissiah'', the 8th edition Sister Repentia design is more covered up and bulked up, and in the early days of AoS, the most promoted faction other than Sigmarines and Khorne was the mostly female [[Sylvaneth]] led by [[Everqueen|Alarielle the Everqueen]]. Meanwhile, [https://spikeybits.com/2017/10/female-representation-40k.html GW has promised on social media to "improve female representation" in 40k], specifically referring to reducing "boob-plate" in the miniature line and artwork.

Note that this is in no way indicative of GW suddenly bending the knee to an all-powerful cabal with nothing better to do than impose identity politics on Warhammer. The Stormcast's hairstyle could be nothing more than garish visual design. The Daughters of Khaine ''could'' be viewed as a caricature of radical feminists, being a violently misandric society where the men are literally slaves to the women... or it could be because they're [[Drow]] with the serial numbers filed of. And the gender-neutral Magos makes some sense - the Mechanicus shuns the flesh, which would presumably include gender roles. It should be noted the above examples might just be a case of the developers finding a character or design interesting, political views aside, but something got lost in translation. And of course, there's the fact that their money is as good as anyone else's and only the most badly run corporations would pass up a chance to get more customers.

Ultimately, people with prejudices or extreme political views - whatever those are - playing the game and buying the merchandise doesn't mean the whole fandom or the developers endorse those views, so it's best to just make and/or buy the product as you see fit and let whoever wants to enter the fandom enter.

Unfortunately, GW isn’t helping, with them controversially posting a statement on Twitter that made [[That Guy|some people]] stupidly claim that Warhammer was “bending the knee” and going woke. [[Skub|Division ensued]] between those who thought the message was simply reaffirming Warhammer’s openness to all fans and disavowing those who are gatekeeping for no good reason, and those who thought the escapism of Warhammer was under threat by SJWs. Retarded at the end of the day, but Geedubs could have worded it better (and timed it better, considering current events at the time making such a message seem not politically charged a nigh impossibility).

===What do???===

Unless you meet them face-to-face, '''nothing'''. It's your hobby, and at day's end, any changes you make to doing what you love and loving what you do should be ultimately ''your'' decision. Don't care so much about what other people think, let alone some fanbrats and/or political sheeple who probably don't even give a shit about it to begin with. Anyone who DOES care enough about diverse characters and settings will eventually take matters into their own hands and [[Homebrew|brew some up]] [[Get shit done|themselves]], as they should. Half the fun of Warhammer is [[Your dudes|making your armies your own]] anyway, like most tabletop games, so why wait for GW to change? Besides, they're not interested in what you specifically choose to do with your game- you're not even remotely that important.

And even if by some improbable chance they "wreck" whatever game it is you play, nobody is stopping you from just playing the old version. They're not the fucking Thought Police- and besides, any [[grognard]] worth the title would've been doing that already.

The ''wrong'' response (and this is almost always true, by the way), is to insult the fans for liking something they don't like. But hey, whatchagonnado? "Pretending to be offended" can cut '''both''' ways, and complaining about people liking something you don't like is [[Twilight|almost]] [[Drizzt|as]] [[Ironclaw|popular]] [[The End Times|here]] as [[Grognard|complaining about people ''not'' liking something you love]]. And as long as someone makes their dudes "wrong," [[That Guy|''someone'']] will always be yelling. Yet again, ''like most of the internet.''

==Do They Have a Point?==

===TL;DR:===
'''It's complicated.''' Many of the points the SJWs raise aren't incorrect in themselves, ''but'' they are often distorted by proponents and detractors alike to further their respective agendas. Regardless of your stance on the social issues in dispute, keep in mind that it's not black-and-white.

===The long version===
While the term represents legitimate grievances and real issues, as hinted earlier "SJW" has also seen use as a snarl word by people on the right to shut down arguments, regardless of any merit they might have. This snarl creates a crude caricature of modern leftists to smear a rather large body of people (e.g. lumping said leftists with liberals, even though not all liberals are left-wing and may participate in said smears themselves), misrepresenting any position left of the "snarler" as a threat to any cultural aspect you can think of (like say, entertainment and gaming). Sometimes it doesn't matter if the SJWs in question (or their supposed position) are even partly real, or just convenient caricatures up to and including the most blatant trolls. This use of the term is especially true of those on the [[/pol/]] side when they don't want to scare the normies - or at least let the caricatures do the work for them. After all, who's gonna pay attention to someone when they or their views are successfully cast as "[[That Guy|rocking the boat?]]"

Some fiction ''does'' have problematic elements, and all fiction has a certain degree of subtext woven into it (intentionally or not) by its creators and/or the general worldview of the day. For example, in a lot of 1950s fiction, female characters would usually be sidelined to supporting roles such as home keeper, while a male protagonist would be the guy who took charge and get shit done - even in a science fiction setting where many futurists would have speculated that women would take a greater active role in future society. Most times, writers consider the way things are done where they're from to be the way things "should" be, unless they're exploring a "what if" scenario or criticism of an aspect of their society. Tropes built around the worldview of a generation persist into the next and often serve as the foundation for that generation's works - it's part of human nature for people to write what they know, take their worldview for granted, and/or follow the leader without considering the implications.

Though such tropes ''can'' serve as useful indicators of the author's beliefs and/or the cultural zeitgeist, many of these tropes also do not age well, becoming discredited in some fashion as society and attitudes towards history change over time; a fair number of MST3K episodes snark at this. Understanding how this process works, and the ramifications thereof, is a perfectly valid approach to identify problematic matters and address them in future works. This has far more practical applications than trying to be as inoffensive as possible merely for the sake of it, which often does the subject matter(s) a disservice - it is frequently an exercise in futility, and besides that, context is key. One series having [[Fantasy Armor|metal bikini armor]] is not a problem (especially if its general tone is tongue firmly in cheek), but when that becomes the norm even in more serious works, especially without justification, then it's become an issue.

Furthermore, acknowledging problematic elements in a work is not the same as a condemnation of its quality or wanting it censored because of that (usually) comparatively small element - this assumption is a classic Hanlon's Razor scenario, assuming malice where at worst stupidity may exist. The presence of certain views or "biases" in a work doesn't mean that the modern reader will instantly like or adopt said views. No one is immune to propaganda, but reading Atlas Shrugged doesn't automatically make you an Objectivist; being a fan of the Imperium of Man doesn't make you a militaristic theocracy advocate, reading The Lord of the Rings does not automatically make you a monarchist, and so on. Aside from tarring all people with the same brush as being easily impressionable morons, that's mostly putting the cart before the horse and attacking symptoms rather than the actual cause, i.e. what would lead someone to seek reinforcement of that particular worldview via reading or producing fiction, for instance - [[Skub|a nuanced topic that would take up a page on its own and isn't likely to be done real justice here]].

There are numerous reasons why there's "pandering" in /tg/ media, beyond the points discussed above. For one, many companies want to broaden their consumer base by taking in new demographics. As the world gets interconnected and as society becomes more diverse, there is an increasing demand by people who aren't heterosexual white men to see people who aren't heterosexual white men in Western media, be it as the hero, getting the girl/guy, or "just" being more than a sidekick (matters of representation and diversity in non-Western media - such as China's film industry or India's Bollywood - and related questions of double standards/selective outrage in the complaints are [[Skub|something that would warrant several paragraphs, if not their own page]]). Putting all your eggs in the established core demographic basket can be as disastrous as trying to appeal to a new demographic at the expense of that initial base (AKA "biting the hand that feeds you"). For example, the former was a contributing factor in the [[/co/|Comics Crash of 1996]], focusing too much on the established fanbase at the expense of bringing in new ones by (for example) abandoning magazine stands for comic stores, only to lose it all when they failed to appeal successfully to either while driving much of that old fanbase away.

The 'threat' to any given body of work, much less works within the domain of our hobby, does not lie merely in conflicts between people with different political views, but more often in foolish mass-marketing mandates. And when those politics themselves become mass-marketed, the parasitic corporate practices it enables, along with framing the matter as one of a dichotomous nature - be it unintentionally, actively, dishonestly, and/or otherwise - provides further ammo to the "fringe" ideologues involved, supporters and detractors alike, that they may continue their never ending game of philosophical sportsball, and only the most short-sighted and/or fanatical sorts, especially "SJWs", consider that to be a good result.

Thankfully, some solutions are straightforward; there is absolutely no reason that you could not make the the Inquisitor in your Warhammer 40,000 campaign [[Mordecai_Toth|black]]. In the typical Tolkien-knockoff fantasy settings, you can (depending on how cosmopolitan or travel-allowing the setting is) include a few black characters, and the bare minimum requirement is a sentence to the effect of "their parents were from a distant land where humans look a bit different" (though Tolkien himself had ethnic diversity among humanity in his setting; the Drúedain people of LotR were non-white and opposed Sauron, while there were those among the Free Peoples who knowingly or unknowingly aided Sauron). Population dynamics, such as the oft-cited 1:1 ratio of male-to-female, suggest that there needs to be a pretty good reason NOT have a mix of characters (such as an epidemic that only effects males or females). The lack of LGBTQ+ people is often a point of contention, as it is very difficult to calculate the actual number in any population, given the inherent dangers in certain regions and the vagueness of personal gender/sexual identification. Adding said characters if they're written well and fit the story is, in general, a positive and just good business, especially for those who are transparent about the reasoning behind their works. Of course, the lack of ''official'' representation may still rub people the wrong way and not everyone has the aptitude for homebrewing a setting, but it's better than trying in vain to appeal to an entity that sees you only as a source of profit.

The problems arise with executives and other figureheads who don't know any better: some only care about lining their own pockets, and engage in the usual out-of-touch appealing to what the kids are into today without understanding the how and why of it; others fail to distinguish between diversity and tokenism as a result of pushing an agenda-based quota; and still others use the work to push their views and beliefs onto others, the latter two groups ignoring that their franchises are sold to people and not reductive demographic abstractions. Then there are the marketers and PR representatives who encourage this behavior in the vain hope that "new demographics" will eat it up no matter what; when this is almost inevitably proven wrong, they will double down on the pandering, which alienates those who support the view represented by not giving them what they actually wanted while further souring those who don't endorse said view.

When further combined with the tendency of sensationalist media outlets to lionize or demonize whoever they have to in order to meet their given slant's quota, as well as the presence of astroturfing and other means of manufacturing outrage in support of or against said slants, you have the recipe for a failed market or a doomed franchise at best. In a worst-case scenario, you end up creating a new set of problematic cliches and stereotypes. That the majority of fiction is political in some shape or form '''''does not''''' absolve writers of their responsibility to skillfully and properly handle what, if any, politics they acknowledge, lest we get propaganda masquerading as entertainment - and the groups they're expecting to eat that kind of slop up may very well be the first to notice.

== See Also ==
*[[/pol/]] - /pol/ is the largest face of the "alt-right", the yang to the SJW's left-leaning yin... if the analogy works when one side has a much worse track record and without the excuse of at least having a good cause to hide behind. Exudes a very similar rage to their perceived enemies, but it has a chance of ranging from hilarious, to the pot calling the kettle black, to "[[Edgy|Hitler did nothing wrong]]", to actual Neo-[[Nazi]]s and mass shooters.

[[Category:Meme]][[Category: RAGE]]

Loli

2020-08-12T19:04:30Z

2601:602:C900:68F8:451F:5CB1:4344:B925: /* See Also */

{{Cleanup}}{{sick}}{{bad}}
[[Image:Yotsuba.gif|thumb|right|Yotsuba, mascot of 4chan. She is ''sacred''.]]

{{Topquote|In other news, children are getting sexier...and that's pretty cooooool.|Tom Tucker, Family Guy}}

The term '''loli''' is used on 4chan to refer to girls who appear to be prepubescent, aka "petite". The word is derived from ''lolicon'', a Japanese term which is itself an abbreviation of ''Lolita complex''. Within the [[anime]] fandom the term ''loli'' is often used to refer to any girl that meets the aforementioned criteria, regardless of sexualisation or lack thereof. A well-known example of such a loli is [[Yotsuba]], the mascot of 4chan.

Some people contend that using the term ''loli'' to describe a character always implies some level of sexual attraction on the part of the speaker, which is false to varying degrees. There are some who also claim that a character's given age can exempt them from loli status (for example, the character Konata from ''Lucky Star'', who is 18 years old but is generall seen as a loli due her design of being short, petite and having a [[DFC|delicious flat chest]]). Loli is frequently used to also describe pubescent but still underaged girls which is, technically speaking, not correct but most people let it slide as there is no specific term for girls aged 13-17 in wide usage among the anime community (although there is one outside the weeb community: Jailbait). The fact that most artists can draw an adult or a child but many find making teenagers who don't look like either a small adult or a tall child kind of harder to do possibly contributes to this. Ultimately as far as American law is concerned, underaged is underaged whether you're fifteen or eight. Also under American law is that drawings of fictional characters aren't people, since they aren't real and all that (barring tracings). This does not apply in Canada where it's an excuse to be stalling assholes at customs, looking through every page of comics and artbooks to make sure they don't have any loli.  The general rule of thumb is someone stops being a loli when they look mature enough to start being described as a woman.

Related to this is the slang otaku term "moe" (萌え, pronounced [mo.e]), which literally means "budding," and a pun on "burning" with passion or light or life. One of the possible origins is believed to be Moe, a loli from the anime ''恐竜惑星'' (''Kyouryu Wakusei'' lit. Dinosaur Planet) which is rather obscure. This originally described a sort of protective or paternal/maternal instinct invoked onto certain characters. These days it's either used by people to describe girls that are adorable and cute to the point that you want to take care of them.

The [[rule 63]] version of loli is shota, which is typically preferred by either women or extra, extra creepy men (or some very sad men who want to vicariously relive their adolescent fantasies of being ravaged by an older woman). Much like loli, the term shota is also often used to describe pubescent boys rather than just aged twelve and under kids. As with their female counterparts, the dividing line between a shota and a simply young looking man is based on whether you'd probably call the person a boy or a man.

How accepting /tg/ or 4chan as a whole has been of loli and shota has varied quite a bit over the years, though it's worth noting there's always been those who are ''really'' into them as well as those who think people into it probably belong in jail. Most of /tg/ falls somewhere between the spectrum with most just choosing to ignore it if they aren't into it. The fluctuations are often caused by the people who are into it migrating onto another image boards, predominately from /b/, /a/ or /c/ (though /jp/ occasionally gets in on the action as well). Though as /tg/ is a work safe board and as of late that has actually started being enforced you're going to be seeing far less loli and shota, at least not any that would warrant bans.

Overall as fetishes loli is certainly on the extreme [[skub]] side of things. Sure there are a lot of fetishes that are much more bizarre and esoteric in the [[/d/|"why would anyone think this is hot?"]] sense as anyone who's looked at /d/ can tell you, but none of them carry anywhere near as much baggage. (Well, aside from [[Furry|furries]], but that may not count as furries are historically detested for ''overlapping'' and ''overdoing'' not directly furry fetishes (e.g. scat, underaged, vore, among others), rather than or in addition to the "bestiality" argument, as well as just plain existing.)

Loli should not (and, indeed, cannot) be confused with [[Shortstack]], the fetish for an adult-figured woman who is much smaller than the typical human man, typically around the height of a child. Indeed, shortstacks often have exaggerated hips, buttocks and/or breasts, which makes them quite visually distinct. "Oppai Loli" is the arguably even-more degenerate offshoot of loli, as it takes a loli character and presents them with adult-sized (and usually exaggerated) breasts on their otherwise childish frame, much to the dismay of many fans of shortstacks.

==Dungeons & Dragons==
The Glantri [[Known World Gazetteer]] has very incomplete rules for a child spellcaster: When they cast a spell, they have to roll 4d4 and if the result is over their age, they suffer one of twelve catastrophes instead. If an NPC, they also gain a level for every 12 months of study to a max of half the parent's level. Nothing else about this is mentioned. It says this should be reserved for NPCs, but then immediately says it can be possible as a result of a PC's heir taking over after their death.

[[Eberron]] has the [[Lolipope]], but her stats block has nothing to indicate her age.

===d20 System===
Various d20 games, but not [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|the original]], have had rules and ways to play as a child character which will inevitably be used to play as a loli.

====d20 Modern====
''[[d20 Modern]]'' actually includes the ability to play as a child character in the core rules, tucked away in the same section covering playing an old one. This manifests as a -3 penalty to strength and constitution and a -1 penalty to everything else for those under 12 and no penalty for those 12-15. While playing a 12 year old loli seems tempting, they are literally [[Traveller|unable to complete character creation]] using only the core book without a high dexterity since every starting occupation but one (which has high ability score requirements) has, often bizarre, minimum age requirements and taking one is mandatory. Splat would fix this by introducing new occupations without an age minimum, and ''Critical Locations'' (a maps supplement of all things) would explicitly offer an alternative to occupations with no or low minimum age.

====Star Wars d20====
''[[Star Wars d20]]'' and its successor ''Saga Edition'' would retain the above mentioned aging rules of ''d20 Modern'', though there's no starting occupation to create problems. It's tweaked slightly by giving 12-15 (and its non-human equivalents) a -1 penalty to all ability scores (which also apply to those under 12 due to how the aging system works). Unlike its parent system, ''Star Wars'' RPGs actually encourage using these rules and state it's most likely a character that starts as a level 1 Jedi is underage, especially during certain eras.

====Pathfinder====

[[Pathfinder]] 1e has a number of rules that get tied up with the loli trope. The first is rules that let you play below the average adventurer's starting age, which are simultaneously utterly terrible (for requiring you play an NPC class) and OP (it briefly mentions, as a weakness, your ECL is actually lower for this so your [[Adept]] gets extra XP and eventually becomes higher level as a result). Another is the absolutely [[Skub|wonderful]] feat "Childlike" which lets Halflings pass themselves off as human children. The first book of ''Iron Gods'' includes rules for [[Android]]s that look like children but have adult minds. The [[Kitsune]] exclusive feat "Realistic Likeness" breaks many of the general rules of polymorph spells, which should allow impersonating a child.

There is also the class archetype "Magical Child" for the Vigilante class that makes your transformation into your superhero identity flashy, allows you to have a familiar but gives you a rather poor spell progression using the Unchained Summoner spell list. The rules don't say you ''have'' to be a child to take the archetype, but it is heavily implied.

Lastly, the iconic character for the Kineticist class is a young human girl named Yoon. Despite breaking the rules, Yoon is playable as a pre-gen in PFS games and actually one of the better first level pre-gens thanks to her high AC and HP (avoiding the issue of first level PCs going splat easily) and virtually nothing resisting fire at that level. If you want to make everyone at a public game awkward without actually doing anything of note yourself, play Yoon for credit toward a Dark Archives faction PC. Half the early scenarios for the faction have a side mission that a slutty baroness offers a faction member sexual favors for completing, and these offers are in player handout stuff so the GM can't change it on the fly.

====Mutants & Masterminds====

[[Mutants & Masterminds]] explicitly supports playing as a child, due to a long history of child superheroes like Captain Marvel (the real one), Power Pack, and countless sidekicks. This has no inherent stats effect, Superboy is still super strong, but some trends (high power, low on skills) are suggested and it will count as at least one complication.

==[[BESM|BESM 4e]]==

Playing children isn't directly supported with any specific rules but it does provide some guidelines, chiefly reducing the amount of [[Experience|Character Points]] a character has at character creation (it is assumed most characters will start with between 50 and 74 CP, children though being inferred to have between 0 and 24 CP). This can woefully weaken the character at the start of a game, though that makes sense since you are playing a child but also feels a bit out of place for a system that is meant to play a lot like your favorite [[anime]].

==GURPS==

Memes aside, [[GURPS]] does indeed have rules for playing lolis, almost all of which are drawbacks. So while you can, you're not given any incentive to do so except the points any disadvantage gives.

==Kids on Bikes==

Kids on Bikes offers the players three age ranges to play as, one being child (the others being teen and adult). Each age range gives two stat modifiers and some sort of bonus. Children, in this case, heal faster and are generally better liked. These adjustments and such don't change the largely narrative nature of the game though and based on how stats are allocated you could be stronger, smarter or otherwise better than an adult in many cases.

==OVA==

Another anime-styled RPG, this one is even more open-ended than BESM but explicitly has rules for characters who are young or old in the "Ageism" weakness which has 3 ranks of severity. At rank 1 you are basically a young teen or someone past their prime, rank 2 you're a child (or simply look like one) or clearly and old ass, and rank 3 you're basically a kindergartner or someone so old they may well be on life support. These drawbacks tend to come up when you're dealing with people such as when you're trying to convince them of something like "there are monsters under the bridge." It's not exactly the best but the system is meant to be fairly open-ended so, like BESM, it works but could use some extra crunch to it.

==Savage Worlds==

In [[Savage Worlds]], Young is a major (8-12) or minor (12-17) Hindrance, depending on just how young you go. In addition to the social penalty, you also lose attributes and skill points, which is bad because one of the big reasons to take an Hindrance is to gain more of those. It does however give a free [[Action Point|Benny]] or two a session. The ability to trade a Benny for Power Point refill, and need for Edges (the other major reason to take a Hindrance) to know magic and improve it means loli characters can make very good spellcasters (or super science inventors, which is more or less the same as magic in Savage Worlds)

==[[Star Trek]] Adventures==

With a bit of a history of children getting into Starfleet (or at least getting caught up in the ongoing adventures of a ship or station as seen with Wesley Crusher, Jake Sisko and myriad of other kids/teens), it is no surprise that the core rulebook for this game had to make some passing mention of how old a character can be. The way they handled it? "As long as the character passes an exam to get into the Academy, they can be an officer." They do say the average age of a cadet is someone in their twenties, but they don't explicitly say you can't play younger either. So go out there and get a whole crew of rascals but beware any strange green energy beings telling you to murder all of the adults, okay?

==[[Eclipse Phase]]==

This is a rather unique case as the setting is one of "transhumanism" set in the future after a cataclysmic event rocked the solar system. In it many (if not most) people upload themselves into either android or cyborg bodies referred to as "morphs" and the process of going into a morph is called "sleeving". One of these morphs is called a "neotenic" and is meant to be child-sized if not outright child-looking. Some people sleeve into these neotenic morphs only to take up less space on spacecraft (where space is at a premium) but it's heavily implied many people who sleeve into them do so for less-than-savory reasons and people find this really gross and many locales actually have these morphs declared illegal. That said, if you're in an area where it's not illegal, go ahead and resleeve into one so you can be the little girl.

==See Also==
*[[Loli Daemonette]]
*[[Lolifex]]
*[[Lolicron]]
*[[DFC]]
*[[Lolipope]]
*[[shota|Rule 63 Loli]]
*[[Furry]]
*[[Noh]]

===Gallery===
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[[Category:Not related]]
[[Category:Weeaboo]]