2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Stupid Neutral

2021-01-07T13:57:31Z

2601:681:4B00:2510:390B:5EA0:9C12:51BF: /* Active Neutrality */

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[[File:Neutral_Embassy.jpg|300px|thumb|right|It's kind of like this.]]
{{Topquote|What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?|Zapp Brannigan}}
'''Stupid Neutral''' is a term applied to [[character]]s in any [[role-playing game]] for a specific way of playing a character as absolutely "neutral" in [[alignment]]. Much like [[Stupid Good]] which is Good for goodness's sake, and [[Stupid Evil]] for evil's sake, [[Chaotic Stupid]] for the sake of being chaotic and [[Lawful Stupid]] in following the law even when it doesn't make sense, Stupid Neutral is perhaps the most fried among [[Stupid Alignments]] and represents neutrality for neutrality's sake.

==Definition==
Normally, players who play a neutral character will behave ambivalently towards good/evil or law/chaos, depending where exactly on each axis they sit - the obvious caveat is that at least one aspect of the alignment axis would guide their actions (i.e.: Neutral Good). This means that Stupid Neutral players "should" generally gravitate towards only one alignment: '''True Neutral'''.

But there are a number of problems maintaining that "True" Neutral status, and that problem mostly surrounds the fact that as sentient creatures, we all understand the concept of morality and law, even if we as people don't agree with them. Thus in roleplaying terms, people who espouse "neutrality" generally either accept it and work with it, or can't be bothered by it and events happen anyway.

In theory, a "proper" True Neutral would be more reactive, basically not going out of your way to do anything evil or good and just getting on with things like a normal person - if a sweet payday comes up that requires killing a few folks, you do it since you need the money and you think you can get away with it, rather than for any ideological reason or out of a desire to kill; then,1 you pay your lawful taxes because to do otherwise just invites trouble.

Stupid Neutrality generally requires either being active about it ''(i.e. a conscious desire to maintain a neutral status)'' or absolutely passive ''(i.e. you don't factor important things like consequences into your decision making at all)''. There ''is'' another way, however...

===Passive Neutrality===
Ambivalence towards alignment generally implies they are not bothered by it, or more precisely does not care about the implications of this larger moral frame work. Someone attempting to "act" True Neutral while running with that "don't care" aspect might as well just be Chaotic Neutral anyway: they'll make decisions based upon whatever suits them at a given moment in time, and can be trusted to have the same moral capacity of a chimpanzee. These are the sorts of people who rationalise stealing your shit because they "needed" it rather than out of any particular sort of malice or avarice - but unlike an animal, they actually understood the moral and legal ramifications of their actions and did it anyway.

It could be possible in gameplay to actually play this version of True Neutral to the point of Stupidity, but generally speaking, your [[GM]] cannot really account for your intentions, and only your actions. One '''''can''''' make the argument that following the law does not necessarily make you lawful, and that's true, but constant and willful disregard for the law ''(even if you aren't breaking any laws at that given moment in time)'' is very often considered a chaotic mentality, especially if you know and understand the laws you're breaking and the consequences of doing it. For instance, if you do steal something or injure/kill someone who was only doing their day job, and then knowingly put that person or their family out of business and you don't really care about it, then you've probably done something evil. However, if you justify that your need was greater ''irrespective of any greater good'' ([[Tau|shut up]]), even then you still can't really escape the fact that you've probably done something chaotic.

Of course, it is possible to play passive neutrality without being stupid about it, but likely that renders you an uncontroversial civilian bystander and not a sword-toting heroic adventurer. And at that point, why are you even here?

One can also view passive neutrality, good or bad, as a sort of Skyrim-PC mentality. Accept quests from everyone, whether you agree with them or their organization, make no enemies (or as few as absolutely possible), and generally avoid conflict, taking a stand, or killing anyone who might have a job for you later.

===Active Neutrality===
This is where Neutral gets really stupid...

WANNABE True Neutral players are making a stance on neutrality, as if the cosmos needs to keep good and evil in a state of balance and that neither is better than the other. But if you think a mystic balance needs to be enforced to the point of anal retention, then congratulations: you've just become Lawful Neutral, since all you're doing is [[Just as Planned|imposing or restoring the Universal order]].

This holds especially true if the player is the sort of obsessive narc who tells his compatriots to stop being so good or lawful because the universe is keeping score and needs the balance tipped carefully in the other direction - [[Stupid Evil|perils of checklisting your morality aside]], if you're so intent on see-sawing back and forward on the alignment axis that you eventually start beating up Angels because [[Derp|"the universe needs balancing out"]], then that's pretty much evil in itself. A mass majority of those Angels weren't going to go out of their way to do ''you'' any harm unless you did something REALLY bad to piss them off - like say, [[Fail|declaring yourself the arbiter of balance and deigning to attack '''''celestial beings''''' for not doing so the way ''you'' wanted.]]

Anyone demonstrating the willingness to even consider this angle is basically Neutral Evil with a wig on, because not only is such an act blatantly evil, there's few ways to make it anything other than destructively self-serving besides some Mr. Fantastic-tier mental gymnastics. On a similar note: players who kick a puppy just to counter-balance their "good mojo" and force themselves back to neutrality are Chaotic plain and simple and can just fuck off.

It's pretty well established that sparing the bad guy makes you the either the good guy or the lawful guy (or both), but ''don't even think'' about arguing about saving the BBEG's lieutenant or son or whatever, so that the threat of their possible return will keep the forces of Good on their toes in future and not become incompetent from having nothing to fight! In this situation you're committing an evil act by rescuing someone that you <u>intend</u> to go on and hurt people in the future and give the forces of good something to fight against, or you're committing an act of good that's so convoluted that it falls squarely into the realm of [[Stupid Good]]. Either way, if you have to plan years in advance for something that doesn't directly affect you, chances are it's not a Neutral action. The best case scenario in this situation is to walk away - but that's hardly "actively" promoting neutrality now, isn't it?

Basically, what we're saying is that trying to hardline True Neutral alignment in the above manners ''without'' completely and utterly fucking up the entire campaign would require one to be either:

#An actual animal who has no understanding of morality or law whatsoever, or
#A person who has no actual grasp of either.
#Someone who spends their life having no impact on anyone or anything whatsoever.

===Non-Stupid Neutral===
A true neutral character without stupidity is possible, of course. Some examples include a character motivated by enlightened self-interest ("I will save the world because I live here and keep my stuff here"); a character who is playing the angles ("The world is full of powerful factions and I would rather work with the slavers and crusaders than try and overthrow them"); a character motivated by an art or science ("I wanna be the very best, like no one ever was"); or simply a character with multiple motives, good and evil, that roughly balance out to neutral.
Some people prefer non-stupid Neutral to be "evil is bad and all, but I can't be bothered to do anything much about it." This can be VERY stupid for a PC, however. A PC is a miserable bundle of drama and heroics, it wouldn't do for them not to give even the slightest care.

Normal people, however, are often neutral - it's not that they don't care per say, it's more that they want what's best for themselves and those closest to them, and don't really care what provides that safety, good or bad. They care, just not about philosophy and the grand scale of things. In psychology terms, neutral people have their hands full with surviving and, as long as those ends aren't met, they can't be but ''so'' bothered with lofty ideals.

==Examples==
*'''[[Ao]]''' from the [[Forgotten Realms]] probably fits the bill, since he sits back and eats hot pockets all day, not bothering about anything in the multiverse, whether gods are killing each other or not - only stepping in when the universe stops working properly and fixing it like a cosmic janitor with infinite power (and he doesn't even get paid!).
* [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] actively describes True Neutral in Stupid Neutral of the "actively sabotages good, evil, law and chaos when they get too powerful" terms.
* [[Mordenkainen]] (basically the [[Greyhawk]] equivalent of [[Elminster]]) actually lives by the Stupid Neutral creedo of "Good, Evil, Law and Chaos are ''all'' dangerous if they are allowed to get too strong, so the best I can do for the world is keep them balanced". He runs a secret society dedicated to fucking shit over for whoever or whatever he thinks is being too successful and "threatening the Balance". Perhaps fittingly, he's an Abjurer and his legacy spells all relate to wrecking magic - the buffs-eating Mordenkainen's Warding Whip, or the magic item-killing Mordenkainen's Disjunction. He does try to justify this position as Angels would consider [[lawful Stupid|Neutrality as the next great evil]] without contrasting extremes, and everyone knows why a law or chaos victory would suck. It's not that convincing. Notably, he is actually listed as being ''Chaotic'' Neutral in alignment in his most recent appearances in 5e, implying that his overzealous dedication to neutrality ironically makes him not actually neutral anymore.
* Played for laughs in [[Futurama RPG|Futurama]] with the Neutrals, a race of humanoid aliens whose gimmick is that they act [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ussCHoQttyQ as neutral as possible]. Hell, their motto is literally ''Live Free or Don't'', and they'd likely shrug either way.
* Kino from the [[anime]] ''Kino no Tabi'' has been accused of this by some detractors. Without [[Skub|going too deep into it]] and creating a wall text explaining every point on this, let's explore a single moment from the show which is widely considered a moment of Stupid Neutrality: Kino has just left a country which thinks the apocalypse is coming because their book of prophecies [[Lawful Stupid|has told them so]]. When that doesn't happen, a priest tells that the apocalypse has been postponed by 30 years. She them arrives at another country, where she finds that a poet was commissioned by the king to write a sad poem, and did so only after his wife committed suicide. Years later, after the poet died, society arranges for a young girl to recite the [[VTNL|cryptic and extremely long]] sad poem every day. As Kino leaves, the border officer tells her that the poem was written down and a nearby country acquired it, [[Just as planned|calling it the Book of Prophesy]]. After that, while camped overnight under the stars, Kino is interrupted by an army from the Land of Prophecies invading the Sad Land. When she asks why, a soldier responds that a new interpretation of the Book of Prophesy indicated that the next country [[derp|is responsible for their world coming to an end]]. Now here's where Kino's neutrality is called into question, she knows that the country which has The Book of Prophecies acquired the poem in a accident and now think it's some kind of cryptic prophecy to the end of the world when it's actually just the [[edgy]] ramblings of a sad man, and instead of telling that to the soldiers she just quietly watches as they march to the sad country and probably go on to [[Exterminatus|exterminate everyone]] in there over a simple mistake. Even if she didn't manage to convince them, it would have cost her literally nothing to try explain the true nature of the book and the "prophecy" inside it. Because of her neutrality and refusal to take ANY action, including giving logical statements outside of self-defense, she [[Grimdark|basically condemned a country to death]] even as [[Derp|she feels bad for their situation]].

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Alignment]][[Category:Stupid Alignments]]

Recommended Web Video Channels

2021-01-07T12:39:37Z

2601:681:4B00:2510:390B:5EA0:9C12:51BF: /* JoCat */

This page is dedicated to the well-known content creators who create Warhammer, D&D, and/or other tabletop related content, or history-related channels that are good starting places for research. Creators who are interested in but do not regularly create content around these topics are not included.

Notes to would-be recommenders:
* Entries with no description will be removed. Tell us what it is you're recommending.
* Try to keep the entries in alphabetical order <ref>Although sorted purely by channel name, so if "[[C.S. Goto]]" had a channel under that name, would go under "C", not "G"</ref>, except for Official Channels Run By the Publisher, which obviously should Go First.
* Discuss on the talk page before adding a new channel, and make sure to check if a channel already exists. The former, at least, is not absolutely required, but it makes for a good first step in trying to figure out what you should write in the entry.

==Warhammer Creators==
===[https://www.youtube.com/user/GamesWorkshopWNT Warhammer]===
The official [[Games Workshop]] YouTube channel for Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar. There you can find trailers for new armies, boxes and codexes. But more importantly, you can find tutorials by [[Duncan Rhodes]] and [[Chris Peach]] on how to paint, kitbash and use tools, which let's face it is the real reason to keep up with the channel. Duncan left GW on the last day of 2019 and has since moved onto his own channel.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFMtdiQILuTZr22sKUeAOOA Astartes]===
"The (unofficial) Warhammer 40k animation." This guy made possibly the best Warhammer 40k animation ever. It shows [[Space Marines]] acting like Space Marines, moving ridiculously fast for something their size, utterly overpowering any mortal that tries to stop them and shrugging off damage that would turn a human into a smear on the floor. Go watch it, you won't regret it.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Gco9PWxmJmJ5CqfbChuiQ Auspex Tactics]===
Youtuber focused on the tabletop games rules and tactics. Is very active, uploading consistently, and is up to date with new rules and releases. Does the occasional product review, though has been heavily criticised by anyone who doesn't play Imperium for his lack of uploads on xenos armies. This is either a result of unfamiliarity with the factions requested, or more likely he just hasn't gotten around to it yet. (It's the latter. He has a few xenos armies, and actually does the mathhammer).

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdpGd0jls7VQh6LvcZT_p1A Baldermort's Guide to Warhammer]===
He is a rising Warhammer 40k content creator who specialises in beginner level lore and stories for his videos. Notable for his raw vocal talent, self-written audio dramas, high upload rate, and use of audience participation by forging narratives based on in-comment voting.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/alfabusa Bruva Alfabusa]===
You know who he is, I know who is, we all know who he is. Chapter Master of the now defunct Alfa Legion and creator of the YouTube phenomenon [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device]]. Has also created a few other shows like The Upper Hive and has a bunch of Dawn of War 2 voice lines on his channel from years ago... for reasons most would rather forget.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/VigiliaMortis Chapter Master Valrak]===
A 40K news channel and [[Imperial Fists]] fanboy. Also produces videos on 40K games and gets fairly involved in other projects such as Helsreach. Self-identifies with the Imperium, often using the term "we" whenever he refers to the Imperium winning in a global campaign or story. If you're into that kind of stuff, give him a watch. Hilariously, he scored as Perturabo on a “Which Primarch are you?” personality quiz.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuRNH2cb6VwsZbzILptDVIA Duncan Rhodes Painting Academy]===
Our Lord and Savior [[Duncan Rhodes]]' personal Youtube channel after parting ways with Geedubs. All of his videos are guides to show his painting prowess, though now he's not bound to only GW materials.

===[https://twitter.com/Eliphusz Eliphas]===
Named after the titular [[Eliphas the Inheritor|Inheritor]]. Creates art for [[TTS]] and sometimes voices characters. Is more active on Twitter, but uploads some pretty good videos every now and then. Also made the TTS-verse sideshow Behemoth.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/HeyWoah/featured HeyWoah]===
Up-and-coming Age of Sigmar content creator with a penchant for deadpan delivery and zero punctuation (the good kind) in his videos. Did ''not'' come into AoS from WHFB, his advice is generally newbie-friendly with technical slang thrown in and his faction spotlights are very measured and balanced. Possible contender for best AoS factions summary [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drIXhhOt3hg video] to date. A self-confessed weeb that also regularly streams weeb games on Twitch.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/kokarorloli Karl the Deranged]===
Needs very little introduction. Voices characters on [[TTS]] like [[Marneus Calgar]] and sometimes shows up at the end of episodes just to shout. On his channel you'll find content in a similar vein to TTS, like Ravandil's Quest and the meme-worthy [[Vindicare|Vindicare Assassin]] video.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/KiriothTV KiriothTV]===
A 40K vlogger and once a member of the Unit Lost Gaming channel before becoming a 40K channel. Always keeps up to date with 40K news and gives his 50 cents on the hobby. Also uploads videos on assorted topics that have taken his fancy.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTX2KaSsRsy_HAQgEDs59lg Kitetsu]===
Like Kirioth, but for [[Age of Sigmar]].

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5RzeTAGL88yeDn9kqs6H_g Lost Legion]===
Similar to the Primaris channel, but are making a film/short series about Eldar Exodites instead. The First teaser looks very promising with the Eldar moving so fast and gracefully that they are blurs. Once again GWs official animations are being shown up by fan animations.

===[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCH4nPsl2ctS365aEfFBwxbg Loremaster of Sotek]===
A laid back Warhammer Fantasy YouTuber and acolyte of [[Tehenhauin]] known for his Legendary Lord and QnA series where he goes in-depth on the various intricacies of the many factions and races in the setting. Excluding his more casual videos, his style is very narrative, like trying to tell a coherent story. Also has several videos for people wishing to get into Age of Sigmar and regularly streams TWW and Vermintide II where he takes questions as well. Most recently, he made a series of Halloween-themed videos that talk about the various monsters and lesser known nightmares of the Warhammer world, while also having an underlying story of his own design.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/Luetin09/featured Luetin09]===
The true workhorse of the 40k Youtube content creators. The sheer volume and variety of content he presents caters to a wide range of interests. From tactics and tutorials, to lore and hobby tips. Also does gaming overviews for various military themed video games. Be warned that some disagree with his interpretation of 40k lore, that being that he thinks of everything as both canon, and non-canon, which is a skubby topic in and of itself for some fans. Has had an amusing time trying to figure out whether Abbadon is pronounced A-bad-un or Abba-don.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4uzNr43jVZOTc0vLmKnniw Mark Louis Spark]===
Creates 3D model renders and is currently in the process of making a [[Horus Heresy]] movie called [[Grimdark|"Death of Hope"]]. Judging from what we've seen so far it looks great, and hopefully won't go the same way as [[Lord Inquisitor]].

Unfortunately, as of 08/2020 the worst has indeed happened, and he has decided to only release the second of his three planned major videos, saying that a grueling RL work schedule, combined with the negative responses he got about his animation draining him of his passion for the project, has begun to negatively affect his personal life. He's made a video on his channel that has the full explanation, and while he is now in a better mind set after a few days from the initial announcement he has committed to taking a break after part 2, and part 3's status will be up in the air for the foreseeable future.

===[[MiniWarGaming]]===
A large network of [[Neckbeards]] playing a variety of wargames, chief among them the Warhammers. Most of their content is more for entertainment than hardcore gameplay, so expect flubbed rules. Also moulds that make you go to sleep

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTRMzE8VJ4WH1F8kKdbYlzw NornQueenAlexis]===
Makes videos that are great to listen to while making models. She uploads a lot of battle reports, rambling videos, vlogs, and her own podcast "The Emperor's Tarot". She used to be on the podcast with 40K Theories and Tactica Imperialis but left for her own reasons. Also voiced [[Miriael Sabathiel]] in [[TTS]].

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8AaO8zkIoxbUp1_p0rl13g Oculus Imperia]===
Makes detailed 40K lore videos narrated from an in-universe point of view as an Imperial scholar. Topics range from histories and tactics of Space Marine Chapters and Titan Legions to individual incidents in Imperial history. Also dabbles in Age of Sigmar lore and actually managed to make it interesting.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBMVgTMALnoD8u3TDnzos0Q Primaris]===
After being inspired by the Astartes series, this guy has decided to create his own based on some [[Black Templars]]. So far the animation looks a little rougher but still very good production wise.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTaGjGmcHYD2fqukCIVfjvQ Richard Boylan]===
Creates videos in SFM and the like. Is responsible for turning [[Grimaldus|Helsreach]] into a YouTube series, and made a live action 40K video that didn't suck (see, it can be done). Is currently in talks with GeeDubs themselves for an official animated special involving the [[Blood Angels]].

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/SnipeAndWibPlay Snipe and Wib]===
A gaming couple with a love for 40K. They create a wide array of content, from vlogs to gameplay videos. Created two videos about [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|Rogue Trader]] that more or less brought their channel into the light, and done look backs on other famous old 40k rule books. Both are in a band called "Fighting Evil is Cool", and Wib's real name is [[Matt Ward]] ([[What|no really]]; he's not '''that''' Matt Ward, just shares a name with him). Oh, and both have been in [[TTS]].

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/StrikingScorpion82 StrikingScorpion82]===
Purely 40K gameplay, specializing mostly in longform and technical batreps. Great for learning how to play a faction in a fun but competitive way.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/galiant609 StringStorm]===
Makes music for [[TTS]] and a bunch of Warhammer-themed music as well. Also created a 40K [[Anime|Singing Idol]] contest series thing. Because of course he did.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGFps_wayzGi5EcgZefZKqA TableTopGuard]===
Ork/Necron specialist who has been putting out a lot of content in the lead up to 9th Edition. Pretty nicely written, in-depth videos on tactics that don't beat around the bush.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSa11XXA7HlmoLTSCy8NuwA Tactica Imperialis]===
Creates lore videos on 40K and gives his thoughts on the tabletop game. He also does a podcast with 40K Theories.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/ThunderPsyker ThunderPsyker]===
Voices Little Kitten in [[TTS]] (this is a theme for 40K content creators) and has made some ace reviews of the [[Dawn of War]] series. Definitely worth a watch.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWVwkGrdqVEGkU3LNlp70fw Winters SEO]===
A 40k wargamer from England. He plays a plethora of armies. Generally a decent guy and one of the first Youtube batrep guys. Really '''LOATHES''' Chapter Master Valrak for reasons similar to what we have stated above. Good for watching while building, painting, or just to see a nice game.

===[https://www.twitch.tv/zoranthebear ZoranTheBear]===
Voices - you guessed it - [[TTS]] characters, in particular [[Leman Russ]], but also has a YouTube channel he would upload games to, usually with a 40K twist to it. However, he's abandoned the channel in favor of Twitch. Besides gaming he also does some 40k army building and roleplaying on the side. Most recently Zoran and other members of the TTS cast have started a [[Wrath and Glory]] livestream series called WarHams, which he uploads to his channel.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_N4w4z6CQEBgRfvlwlID_A 2+ Tough]===
Primarily an Age of Sigmar lore channel, with some 40K, Necromunda and other games occasionally being covered. Doug is the host, and he focuses on short and easily digested lore videos, all with a laid back and down to earth presentation. Also hosts painting livestreams, where he answers lore questions and interacts with other Warhammer Youtubers. Works together/shares a Discord server with Rerolling Ones, who generally provide 40K and AoS battle reports.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/remleiz 40K Theories]===
Starring Remleiz and Naerina, 40K Theories makes general lore videos, videos [[Heretek|theorizing]] reasons for the unexplained in 40K, and videos spotlighting fan-made factions. Unsurprisingly, both Remleiz and Naerina occasionally lend their voices to [[TTS]].

==D&D Creators==
Channels that just do readings of stories taken from [[Reddit]] and [[4chan]]'s [[/tg/]] don't count.
===[https://www.youtube.com/c/DnDBeyond D&D Beyond]===
An official channel for D&D that includes interviews with the creators of D&D and with famous D&D players and dungeon masters.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCDWmgX1kc_tEXOd0OJmF_Q/ Adan]===
A less popular but still worth checking out animator who does D&D videos, both based on his campaigns and short skits that make fun of the [[That Guy|typical players]] and events you will likely encounter while playing D&D. Also makes a few songs about D&D.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/AJPickett AJ Pickett]===
Another guy who does videos on D&D lore.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Je57UJURMIx6lrXr3zO4g Blaine Simple]===
Another less popular but worth checking out animator who does D&D stories and videos on how to make character builds based on popular anime characters.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDY38N7kqibfYXX7jSbJNsg CaptCorajus]===
While most D&D channels focus on D&D 5e, Corajus here focuses on the old school rules ranging from the original Little Brown Box to AD&D 2e with videos covering not only the rules but also reviews of a lot of older adventures such as The [[Keep on the Borderlands]] and the [[Against the Giants]] line.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpXBGqwsBkpvcYjsJBQ7LEQ Critical Role]===
The show where a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons. A Twitch live-show (episodes are later uploaded on YouTube) where DM Matthew Mercer guides fellow voice-actors in adventures in the land of Exandria. Their 1st campaign is being turned on an animation that'll air on Amazon Prime. [[Critical Role | For more details they have their own page]]

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfPUcG3oCmXEYgdFuwlFh8w Dingo Doodles]===
Another animator who rivals Puffin Forest in popularity. Mostly makes videos telling funny stories about her life and D&D. Her main campaign story is Fool's Gold, an epic and extremely wacky adventure staring her character Sips, a badass chaotic good uplifted monkey wild magic sorcerer full of [[RAGE]], who constantly is breaking the campaign, much to the frustration of her boyfriend Felix the DM.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/theDMLair the DM Lair]===
Makes videos on running the game for DMs.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/DontStopThinking Don't Stop Thinking]===
Another great animated channel that does videos discussing D&D and other RPGs, as well as telling D&D stories.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/repsesper Esper the Bard]===
Most famous for his videos where he does rankings of D&D monsters and classes but also has campaign videos, tutorials on how to draw maps, original stories, and more.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRDVE5L1LTWhmPAKKbUBGtg JoCat]===
An animator who makes self-described 'crap' guides to D&D in the style of [[Zero Punctuation]]

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/MrRhexx MrRhexx]===
Does lore videos on D&D and other games.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/Nerdarchy Nerdarchy]===
Has a massive number of videos on playing D&D with everything from suggestions on what monsters to use in a campaign, to what the best character builds are for different races, and more.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/NerdImmersion1 Nerd Immersion]===
Does reviews of D&D products and [[DM's Guild]] modules, top 10 lists, advice on playing the game, updates on D&D news, and more.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUpkp-6fXuG9dqfoJ99XTmw Puffin Forest]===
Probably the number 1 most popular D&D animator on youtube. While his animation is far from being the best (his art style is worse than [[Order of the Stick]]), he more than makes up for it with his great sense of humor and amount of content. He mostly talks about D&D, but he occasionally does videos about [[Call of Cthulhu]] and other games. Most of his videos tell funny stories about stuff that happened to him during tabletop games (both as a player and a game master). In others he reviews tabletop games and gives advice to players and game masters. He also has started doing longer video series where he retells entire campaigns in more detail but with without animation, starting with a (relatively) serious [[Curse of Strahd]] campaign. Because of how popular he is, he frequently has crossovers with other D&D youtubers including Zee Bashew and Dingo Doodles.

He is a source of much [[RAGE]] on /tg/, because many people find his funny stories hard to believe or think that if they are true, would make him a terrible GM, player, and [[That Guy|person]]. Though he is capable of playing seriously, he usually is the [[Loonie]] (and when he isn't, he is playing with somebody else who is half the time), so if be warned if you can't stand that type of player.

Notably has a hate for D&D 4e to the point of trying to run a game of it (so incredibly poorly that it is cringeworthy) for a group of players who never played it and then complaining about how bad it is and that he "ran it by the book" which he most certainly did not.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/RebaDerps Reba Derps]===
Another D&D animator with a style similar to Dingo Doodles.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCweFJojRAFuxyYxe4KHL8vw Runesmith]===
Yet another guy who does D&D lore videos.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/SethSkorkowskyAuthor Seth Skorkowsky]===
Does reviews of RPGs and RPG modules and gives advice on running games. Has several great videos giving reviews of older AD&D modules. Focuses far more on other systems such as [[Call of Cthulhu]] and [[Traveller]] and is also an author as well.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/TtheWriter T the Writer]===
Unlike most channels that tell D&D stories, this guy does longer videos telling about his campaigns in detail.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5EfKWar21WkaYUSOwPWakg Tulok the Barbrarian]===
Makes videos on how to make Dungeons & Dragons characters based on popular movie, anime, video game, and comic book characters.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDrModnar XP to Level 3]===
A good non-animated channel that does videos on D&D, telling interesting stories and giving useful tips on playing the game. And also video sketches on the shenanigans of a certain Wizard.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCXR2kCo7Lcw_BKwWxo09kw Zee Bashew]===
An animator who makes D&D-related animations on how to use spells, run games, and just general D&D things. It's fun and worth a look if you're new to D&D.

==BattleTech Creators==

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/BlackPantsLegion Black Pants Legion/Tex]===
A miscellaneous, mostly SS13 content, in which a guy named Tex makes a series called Tex Talks Battletech, which goes into detailed, sometimes embellished (due to being an Inner Sphere supporter) accounts of mechs and history of Battletech universe.

He used to frequent /tg/ back in the day, [[Old School Roleplaying|when it used to be cool]], and takes credit for writing the original [[Fur Heresy]].

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpEn1nKT6E_gt75GDK9IJA Critical Rocket]===
A Battletech fan channel, Critical Rocket makes a series of lore videos called Lorewarrior.

==[[Call of Cthulhu]] Creators==

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/PetersenGames/featured Petersen Games]===
The official channel for the peeps behind Call of Cthulhu and various other tabletop games. [[Sandy Petersen|Sandy]] himself has his own channel [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVDIvzRZD39Rv9uR8mqfOBg/videos Sandy of Cthulhu], where he tends to discuss more generalized topics

==[[Lancer (RPG)|Lancer]] Creators==

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/11dragonkid/featured DragonKid11]===
One part memer, one part guidebook, DragonKid discusses quite a lot about each of the various officially available frames, rules, lore and even a couple fan-made homebrews as well. He also did some Battletech stuff as well, but kinda discontinued it when he saw just how much more he got out of the Lancer stuff.

==General War-gaming Creators==

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/GuerrillaMiniatureGames Guerrilla Miniature Games]===
If you are interested in any particular miniature game (Both new and old), it is likely that he has at least 2 or 3 videos covering it. Also covers the larger games like 40K, AOS, Infinity etc... Is a war-game designer himself [Made Last Days: Zombies Apocalypse] and a fairly skilled painter. Overall his channel takes a holistic approach to the hobby and is also fairly chill in his videos, also is not afraid to admit when he dislikes a game or mechanic and doesn't put on act for the videos.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/LittleWarsTV Little Wars TV]===
Possibly '''the''' historical war-gaming channel with a great variety of historical wargames played, showcased, and reviewed on this channel, with some fictional wargames (mostly mainstream-public, like ''Star Wars'') also featured here. These guys are a hardcore, dedicated but also easy-going historical group based in the US and will play almost any historical system, and will often dress up for the occasion as well. Highly recommended if you're looking at those Napoleonic Wars or other historical models and wondering if they'll be as worth it as that 40k battalion box on the next shelf.

==Yu-Gi-Oh Creators==
===[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheDuelLogs The Duel Logs]===
A Johnny who makes gimmick deck replays. He has relatively recently made a lot of top 10s, which would be clickbaity if he wasn’t using it as an excuse to talk about weird card interaction and the game’s history. In particular, his “10 worst” videos are great because rather than say the card is shit while spewing profanity, he suggests ways the card ''can'' be used, even if they're suboptimal, that make it better than the cards ranked worse than it while being perfectly willing to admit that some categories are so strong even their worst instances are still decent. Makes an effort to explain cards and ''why'' they're good/bad very well (in response to disdain for a lot of MTG channels ''not'' doing so), so he’s accessible with minimal experience and/or audio only.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC13UOHk5D9S1cqWkYf8LTmQ Rank 10 YGO (Rata)]===
A Montenegrin Serb who does in depth overviews of various archetypes (and some other stuff). As befitting of someone whose childhood involved living through the Yugoslav wars, he’s very cynical on Konami’s competence and doesn’t hold back when card design is lackluster, yet actually quite enthusiastic when something does meet his standards. Now a doctor of psychology.

==History Channels (The Kind That Don't Show Ancient Aliens 24/7)==

Because "realism" is something of a debate, actual [[Wargaming]] is a thing, and the general assuming a setting should be "[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LikeRealityUnlessNoted Like Reality Unless Noted]", we'll list some good "realism argument" and "actual military history" channels.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4mftUX7apmV1vsVXZh7RTw Drachinifel]===

Drachinifel is a British amateur historian Youtuber with a keen interest in naval history focussing on Age of Sail to the end of WW2. Known for his Five Minute Guides (which are almost always over 5 minutes), Sunday Drydocks answering Youtube and Patreon questions which range from one hour to 4 hours(!) and Rum Ration specials on naval topics. Also has an extremely good memory. His most popular videos as of 15 December 2020 are on Operation Rheinubung, USS Texas and the Battle of Samar.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/ForgottenWeapons Forgotten Weapons]===
'''The''' historical gun guy. He's fairly good at covering the plusses and minuses of the weapons he covers, and he covers a ''lot'' of different kinds of gun, from the world's smallest pistol<ref>It fires 2.7 mm rounds, for the record</ref> to actual, full on machine guns<ref>As in, require an emplacement and set up and a spare man just to hold the ammo.</ref>, to very famous weapons<ref>One of his most popular videos covers the single worst assault rifle ever made, the SA80--and before you ask "how does that tie into the 'Forgotten' part of the name?", he was covering the developmental history of the SA80, which features plenty of not-very-well-known prototypes.</ref> to historical oddities<ref>Such as the Nazi Belt-buckle gun or the "Krummlauf" curved barrel, which is almost as crazy as it sounds.</ref>. The man is largely an academic and historian, which sets him apart from most gun channels<ref>One of the main causes of his popularity is that he avoids the politics of guns, except as it affects the weapon in question (and usually sticks to either the law in question, or military procurement arguments, both of which are at least specific enough that a given argument is directly falsifiable, unlike in gun control debates). If this sounds odd, realize that [[:Category:Argument bait|the arguments around gun control]] are frequently so polarized that [[Skub|it's fairly easy to get massively annoyed at people who you (theoretically) agree with]] because they're too preachy or using bad debating tactics.</ref>, but he's still got his fair share of [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofp812mY6R4 goofy moments and memes]. When his fans started calling him "Gun Jesus," he [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI3x30iamHc fully adopted the meme]. If you want to have painfully obscure weapons in your campaign, he's a good place to start looking for such.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCggHoXaj8BQHIiPmOxezeWA History Buffs]===
This channel focuses on blockbuster films based on history; not only are you given a detailed summary for the historical context of the film, but also notes where the film may deviate from historical accounts; very useful if you were ever shown such a film in history class and developed an inaccurate understanding of the events shown. Film selection includes such classics such as ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Waterloo'', ''Tombstone'', etc... as well as some genuine stinkers like ''Kingdom of Heaven'' and ''Timeline''. He’s not afraid to say when a movie is garbage as a film even though it’s historically accurate (''Alexander''), good despite being totally inaccurate (''The Untouchables''), or has a good reason to be less than accurate (''300''’s framing device of propagandized oral history). Most will be war films or other genres of action-based historical dramas, like Westerns and Gangster films.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv_vLHiWVBh_FR9vbeuiY-A History Civilis]===
Mainly Roman history, told from a top down perspective with coloured squares.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/THFEProductions Invicta]===
Like History Civilis above, but with better art and more of a Roman focus.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/lindybeige Lindybeige]===
Very much a nerd's nerd, and easily mistaken for a crazy homeless man living under a bridge, but he's covered a lot of stuff that's of interest to /tg/. Some topics include discussions on medieval arms and armor, tanks, castles, historical battles, etc. If you want the /tg/ stuff, the "Weapons and Armor" "History" and "Warfare" playlists are of interest. Though take his info with a grain of salt as a lot of his videos contain bad history and he is very biased towards England when it pops up (like saying the Bren Gun is better than the MG-34/42 using a lot of inaccurate information and claiming Napoleon was as bad as Hitler) the playlists mentioned above are mostly fine though. He even covers some tabletop-specific gaming material in his various discussions, ranging from scenery creation to fantasy weapon design, to complaints about 4th edition, and even a contest for the creation of a "[[Wat|Surprise Elemental]]."

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCodbH5mUeF-m_BsNueRDjcw Overly Sarcastic Productions]===
As the name implies, the duo in charge of this channel summarise history, historical figures, and myths both well-known and obscure in gloriously sarcastic (and cartoonish) fashion. Blue usually handles the more historical aspects, while Red covers the literary and mythological. Excellent for getting an overview of parts of history without going into absurd levels of detail, and for learning about commonly-expy'd mythical figures. They also talk about tropes and give writing advice.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/scholagladiatoria Scholagladiatoria]===
A HEMA instructor and antique sword seller who discusses the details how weapons were actually used and the distinctions between types of swords. Prone to rambling about context.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/shadmbrooks Shadiversity]===
A historian and fantasy writer who discuses things about the middle ages you probably didn't know, common misconceptions about the middle ages seen in fiction, how to make fantasy more realistic (for example designing a back scabbard that actually works), reviews of fantasy movies and tv shows, and more. He tends to ramble a lot though, so be ready to do a lot of time-skipping or go look somewhere else if you want a straightforward answer.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLfMmOriSyPbd5JhHpnj4Ng TimeGhost]===
The guys best known for running a "World War II: Week by week", a channel that covers World War II, week by week, in real time, and, with a different presenter, The Great War, which is more or less the same thing for WWI. Indiana Neidell, the primary presenter did the week by week coverage on the Great War channel and has moved on with some of the crew to the World War 2 and Time Ghost channels. The Great War channel continues with the post war events<ref>For example, America officially signed the treaty officially ending the war 3 years after the war ended--and the debate involved is significant to understanding why isolationism was such a big thing in America in the lead up to WWII.</ref>.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/todsstuff1 Tod's Workshop]===
Propmaker and engineer Tod Todeschini covering various replicas of antique arms he has made. While many channels talk about the history of the weapons, Tod's Workshop uniquely focuses on their construction and the physics reasons they are the way they are. Of particular note is his [[crossbow]] series, where he covers the history, power and mechanical design of many, many types of crossbows, and his ongoing "Lockdown Longbow" series where he uses a crossbow capable of firing arrows at the same speed as a longbow to test how different types of armour fare against a variety of arrows.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/jastownsendandson Townsends]===
A series focused on the day to day life of 18th and early 19th Century America. This means it covers a wide variety of topics including construction, clothing, music, laundry, writing, brewing, and (especially) cooking instead of the military campaigns typical of history lessons. Despite the late focus, most of what it covers is applicable to pre-industrial society in general and it often talks of how things were done before this, giving you an idea of the day-to-day life of a pre-modern commoner. Be sure to be well-stocked on nutmeg.

===[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheChieftainWoT The Chieftain's Hatch]===
A tank commander and tank historian does examinations and explanations of old tanks (The guy happens to be [[Vidya gaems|World of Tanks]]' in-house historian, and has done multiple talks at the Tank Museum at Bovington). Also some model tanks. He's also a contributor to the channel World War Two week by week.

===[https://www.youtube.com/c/VoicesofthePast Voices of the Past]===
Dramatic readings of primary sources from history, with some annotations on things like conversions for historical units and present day locations. The words of sources like Marco Polo on anything, Aztecs on Conquistadors, Europeans on Japan, Japan on America/Europe, Rome on China and China on Rome provide excellent fuel for describing alien cultures and strange lands. The [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAp30mf1pYY accounts of conquistadors slaughtering and looting Aztecs in response to learning of their widespread practice of human sacrifice] reads much like the chronicles of a group of [[Adventurer]]s.

==Writing-Related Stuff==

For people writing their own campaigns, settings, or other stuff.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFQMO-YL87u-6Rt8hIVsRjA Hello Future Me]===
An Author who breaks down various fictional universes and explains how components of them work. He discusses Imperialism, war, worldbuilding, fallen characters, and even mentor figures in great depth. Has a tendency to heavily reference the Lord of the Rings movies or ATLA for very good reason. Is generally a decent channel if you want to get better at writing, and a nice enough fella who manages to avoid drama like some of our other...*ahem*...inclusions in other sections.

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ogrx6d9oohf6D42G44j1A Terrible Writing Advice]===
Pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: Awful, awful writing advice, delivered sarcastically. Hilarious as all hell, though. Includes references from everything and anything form Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, 40k, DnD, and even Doctor Who. Is also an author himself, but that much should be obvious.

==Skub Containment Zone==
{{skubby}}

The following are too [[skub]]by to be included in the main lists. A sufficiently large group dislikes them that they fall very firmly under a "Love or Hate" status. Either way, they're directly /tg/ relevant, and they come up on /tg/, so we're listing them here anyway. In other words: You may not like the following, based on how many people don't.<ref>If you've ever played Toe Jam & Earl 2: Panic on Funkotron, you may now play "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNHDzqsnfVM Hyper-skub zone]" in your head.</ref>

===[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChS9wazLlTUHSTeKVG39hZw Arch (formerly Arch Warhammer)]===
Arch (formerly Arch Warhammer) makes Warhammer 40k and Horus Heresy lore videos, both in general format ("Who are the [[Mortifactors]]" "What is a [[Titan_(Warhammer_40,000)|Titan]]?") and longer, multi-video works ("What was the [[Badab War]]?" "What was the The Siege of [[Vraks]]?"). Also covers video games, especially Warhammer video games, as well as occasionally dipping into [[Edgy|edgelordery]], [[/pol/]][[Fail|itics, general controversy, and drama]]. Is generally considered the living avatar of [[Skub]] due to multiple controversies not detailed here; if you wish to know more, don't worry, ''someone'' will probably tell you. As of 6 of January 2021 the Arch channel has been terminated.<ref>Except for the only bit that's possibly amusing to an outsider: His unofficial sub[[reddit]] mod team was taken over by his detractors, and turned into a [https://www.reddit.com/r/ArchWarhammer/ subreddit about Warhammer architecture].</ref>


===[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFI3kfmevIHBNZlXYi0Y-zm7b2lrDWlfN Counter Monkey]===
We have an [[Counter Monkey|article on him already]]. Go read that for the details.

==Footnotes==

[[Category:Approved Media]]
[[category:Social Media]]