Does anybody know of any other forums besides this one that discuss RPGs and fantasy literature and also have a decent enough sized community to get real discussions going?
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Does anybody know of any other forums besides this one that discuss RPGs and fantasy literature and also have a decent enough sized community to get real discussions going?
rpg.net
myth-weavers.com
Enworld can be good, methinks.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohandas
Is there a reason you're having troubles with this forum?
This one's fine for most purposes, but discussions involving gods or clerics are problematic due to the absolute ban on mentioning real-world mythology or religionQuote:
Originally Posted by JNAProductions
Fair enough. Good luck on your quest!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohandas
Forums as a medium are slowly dying, tbh. This is probably the single most active 3.5 discussion forum on the Internet. There's a few other places, but not much.
Try reddit maybe?
What's with that anyway?Quote:
Originally Posted by Heliomance
When I look at this "Friendly Banter" section, there are threads that haven't been posted on for over 40 days on the front page... I certainly don't remember that being the case when I first joined this community... I just checked, that was 13 years ago... now I feel old.
Anyway I also remember posting on the old WoTC boards at that time, and they were hopping with activity.
Why don't people post to forums anymore. Do I need to go on about "kids these days"?
I imagine it's a proliferation of mobile devices allowing easy access to constant active chats, as opposed to coming home when you have time and just catching up on everything that's happened over the day all at once.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aliquid
I know that even for running play-by-post games, people in my groups have expressed a preference to run it over Discord, rather than forums - even though it's basically the exact same format, postwise - because they're able to much more easily have it at their fingertips with mobile devices.
Discord isn't great for PbP because it has a 2,000 cap limit per post and doesn't allow for colored text or any other good formatting like any forum that uses BBCode.
Yes, I am aware, and that's why I personally prefer forums... but, it's the choice between Discord and playing with friends, or forums and the game never actually being played. So, alas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Razade
Chatrooms are garbage for any sort of long running or reasoned discussion. They seem like the kind of thing that would be best suited for small talk and idle chatter.Quote:
Originally Posted by DataNinja
Also, don't chatrooms date back even further than BBCode forums? I'm old enough that when I look at chatrooms I see a dated and obsolescent relic of the past.
Oh, I'm sure, but the difference is that now you're able to easily be perpetually connected to the chatrooms - no needing to leave off when you leave your computer - allowing a constant conversation to be held. And, while it's terrible for long discussions, I've found that a lot of people just want something that's enough to hold their attention for a while. Forums are too slow for a lot of people.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohandas
And while I see the benefits of different methods of communication for different types of conversations and discussions... I think it's hard to refute that online interaction today (what with all things social media, for instance, with their difficulties in Searching) tends to trend towards the immediate, the here-and-now. It's just what's new that's most important, not that thing from a few months ago.
Nope. BBCode stands for bulletin board code. Bulletin boards were created back in the day of 300 baud modems. These used regular phones lines with audible tones. The squawky modems with loud noises.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohandas
I like ENWorld. Lots of active discussions there. But the environment gets a bit... trollish at times. I try to to limit myself over there, too easy to get caught up in crap arguments etc.
RPGNet... Don't like it at all. Not as active as here or ENWorld and the moderators there have a decided political/social agenda. If you don't agree with their views they will ban you. I got a 24 hour ban for a discussion I was having with someone and the other party agreed I had not broken the rules. But the Mod said since they didn't agree with my views they were giving me a 24 hour ban for not agreeing with them. I've heard similar stories from lots of people about that place, including many professionals in the RPG industry.
The RPG discussions here are, imo, the most friendly, but not as active and diverse as ENWorld. but you also get a lot of other stuff here as well.
I'll definitely avoid them then. I prefer forums where the mods lean towards apathetic and nihilistic. I'll check out EN World though.Quote:
Originally Posted by LordEntrails
Oh, these are the most infuriating ones. At least here I know people don't have an agenda against me even if I don't necessarily agree with a choice.Quote:
Originally Posted by LordEntrails
I am not OP but there is no need for a problem to want having different discussion partners. Educated people with time on their hands will always inform themselves from different sources, be it news, other media or similar. Let's say our community has convinced 75% of people a particular new 5e source book is crap. Over on other forums the reviews could be raving in how good the book is. And with partisan news on the rise, and polarised opinions being far more popular than moderate stances (just check the big youtubers clickbait titles) even your own opinion is skewed towards either "abyssmal" or "divine".Quote:
Is there a reason you're having troubles with this forum?
This as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sporeegg
(In addition to this site's aforementioned limitations of being a fantasy RPG forum where people aren't allowed to discuss mythology or the dark ages, both of which are more-or-less required reading for fantasy worldbuilding)
BBCode is from 1998, chatrooms are from 1971. A bulletin board, per se, can be just a cork board, so that would go very far back, but the first informatics bulletin board system (CBBS) is from 1976, although I am sure there are predecessors.Quote:
Originally Posted by shawnhcorey
Quote:
Originally Posted by DataNinja
I like forums too since I don't have a lot of chat aps. Facebook gets too "loaded" with multiple groups.
I like dragonsfoot.org and Enworld. dragonsfoot is mostly focused on AD&D and OD&D. Enworld doesn't seem as active as it was. I'm qstor on both enworld and dragonsfoot as well.
I don't know if I can stomach ENWorld's layout. It's even more offputting than this site's ban on discussing mythology.
Can anyone recommend a fantasy/rpg site that uses the same general type of forum software as here but doesn't care if you discuss mythology or history, even if the site isn't particularly popular?
vBulletin is disappearing across the Net, replaced by newer stuff (mainly XenForo, from what I've seen). I have no idea what EnWorld uses, since I haven't been there in eons. If you aren't going there, you're options are kind of limited. Reddit is always possible, but any thread there will disappear in about a day, so forget on-going conversations. Plus, it's often a cesspit. The Chans are even worse on that score.
Probably you should poke around RPG.Net and see if it's too your liking. No limits on history, mythology or religion discussions, as long as you remember to keep it civil and aren't pro-Nazi. Racism, sexism and such are also heavily frowned upon (hence the site's Trump ban, because if he was a member they'd have to ban him--also, the flame wars were unreal). As with any new site, check the terms of use before getting too deep. Unfortunately, I don't think you can read Tangency Open* without being a member any more, but Other Media should be available.
Oh, and no slagging members is interpreted to include industry professionals, since they're often members any way (but not always publicly so). This leads to some conflicts as the whole #MeToo thing continues to expand into gaming-adjacent territory and there's the conflict between Treat With Respect and F*** Predators.
*Which denies you the chance to read the reactions to the LiveTweet of the Vic Mignogna thing on Friday--I think the LawPack in general got plastered over how unbelievably unprofessionally that was handled by Vic's lawyer.
The chans are terrible. The they're generally impossible to navigate and the threads disappear almost as soon as they pop up. I wish there was a board that worked like a chan board in terms of anonymity and lack of rules but used vbulletin imstead of the chans' terrible imageboard format.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogar Demonblud
I would say that Dragonsfoot would be a good place to go for Myth/Hist style questions, since their specific-edition focus will not be a hindrance there. Otherwise, I only really know sites dedicated to various game systems or settings (such as the Piaza for the D&D setting Mystara/Known World, or Citizens of the Imperium which is the main Traveller site), are fairly political (RPG.Net or therpgsite), or constrain allowed topics as a reaction to politics (here, RPGRpub, enworld).Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohandas
Yes it will. I want to discuss mythology and history specifically in the context of worldbuilding and homebrew. I do not care to discuss them by themselves for theirs own sake; if I did I'm sure there are plenty of forums specifically for that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Willie the Duck