RPGPundit - commentary YouTube channel from a 5e designer

[odigity]

I just discovered this guy RPGPundit (https://youtube.com/channel/UCFzZEZe6s6OR90Ud7PvTWeA) who turns out to have been a consultant on 5e and producer of his own game series.

He's got tons of mentally-stimulating thoughts on the game, such as "D&D is NOT for making stories" (https://youtube.com/watch?v=owtZ2TThmWI).

Still only at 2k subs, so I thought I'd give him a bump and tip off anyone here who might be interested. (I heard about him from a Superchat on a Tim Pool livestream.)

[Kane0]

Neato, thanks!

[Unoriginal]

I just discovered this guy RPGPundit (https://youtube.com/channel/UCFzZEZe6s6OR90Ud7PvTWeA) who turns out to have been a consultant on 5e and producer of his own game series.

He's got tons of mentally-stimulating thoughts on the game, such as "D&D is NOT for making stories" (https://youtube.com/watch?v=owtZ2TThmWI).

Still only at 2k subs, so I thought I'd give him a bump and tip off anyone here who might be interested. (I heard about him from a Superchat on a Tim Pool livestream.)

EDIT:

After a quick google search, it turns out RPGPundit was removed from the 5e consultants for {scrubbed}.

Calling him a "5e designer" is entirely misleading, and he has lost the right to call himself a 5e consultant.

Personally I'm glad if he only has 2000 subs, and would argue it'd be a good thing if he had less. And although it is only my opinion, I would advise against advertising him on GitP.

[jaappleton]

Original is right.

Frankly, that person isn’t worth discussing. {scrubbed}

[Theoboldi]

There's also the fact that for some reason he's got an irrational, all-encompassing hatred for any sort of narrative systems and storytelling-based roleplaying, to the point of consistently declaring people who enjoy that kind of roleplaying to have something wrong with them.

Not the worst of facts about him, but it's something that makes me weary about listening to any of his opinion pieces. He seems like the kind of man who confuses what he likes with what is objectively good.

[Zhorn]

He's got tons of mentally-stimulating thoughts on the game, such as "D&D is NOT for making stories".
pfft, and there are folks that think monopoly shouldn't be used for making stories either. But I'll be damn if anyone were to make me put away the monocles, top hats, and fake moustaches!

For whatever this person's supposed level of importance is assumed to be, comment like that just sound like the old classic of "you're having fun the wrong way" and "stop enjoying a think I don't approve of"

People like to roleplay, enough so that there's a notable portion of the D&D community that plays the game as a story game.

[KorvinStarmast]

As to "RPG's not telling stories" thing: yes on the emergent thing, he's not the only person who takes that position. Emergent character growth was the original idea. Original D&D (in a lot of ways D&D still does this) provides the framework for the story about how {character name} became a hero or how {character name} tried to become a hero and died trying.

Introduces himself as the boss of the "RPG s___ Lords." Enough, already.
Bye bye, Pundit.

By the way, AngryGM does a heck of a lot better of a job of doing the "I do D&D with attitude" than this person. (Is this the guy that got Mearls into hot water a couple of years ago?)

[jaappleton]

By the way, AngryGM does a heck of a lot better of a job

Yeah I’d be leery about taking any of his advice, too. There’s some stuff he’s done that is more than suspect.

Going back to the original post: When Pundit said he helped design 5E, Jeremy Crawford commented with “I have absolutely no idea who you are.”

So.... That’s really all anyone needs to know, isn’t it?

[KorvinStarmast]

Yeah I’d be leery about taking any of his advice, too. There’s some stuff he’s done that is more than suspect. I suggest you check your PM's.

[NorthernPhoenix]

That video about stories was all i needed to not want to watch any more of his stuff, but thanks for the warning.

[Willie the Duck]

Yeah I’d be leery about taking any of his advice, too. There’s some stuff he’s done that is more than suspect.

Going back to the original post: When Pundit said he helped design 5E, Jeremy Crawford commented with “I have absolutely no idea who you are.”

So.... That’s really all anyone needs to know, isn’t it?

Perhaps more hilariously, right up until he started advertising himself as and internet influencer/youtube commenter and realized that he needed to desperately try to ride, lamprey-like, on 5e's coattails, he complained bitterly about how nothing he suggested for 5e was adopted. So he was the designer that no one remembers, who made suggestions that no one thought were good ideas, routinely badmouths everything (and everyone) related to the game, but wants to take credit for the thing on his internet CV.

[KorvinStarmast]

So he was the designer that no one remembers, who made suggestions that no one thought were good ideas, routinely badmouths everything (and everyone) related to the game, but wants to take credit for the thing on his internet CV. I so want to buy you a beer for this post. :smallsmile:

[MaxWilson]

As to "RPG's not telling stories" thing: yes on the emergent thing, he's not the only person who takes that position. Emergent character growth was the original idea. Original D&D (in a lot of ways D&D still does this) provides the framework for the story about how {character name} became a hero or how {character name} tried to become a hero and died trying.

Introduces himself as the boss of the "RPG s___ Lords." Enough, already.
Bye bye, Pundit.

By the way, AngryGM does a heck of a lot better of a job of doing the "I do D&D with attitude" than this person. (Is this the guy that got Mearls into hot water a couple of years ago?)

On the one hand, I think you're right: there's an impedance mismatch there between D&D and storygaming which in many ways is baked into D&D's DNA. A DM who isn't prepared to accept potential TPK has no business rolling dice!

On the other hand, while RPGPundit has some interesting things to say, he's pretty tedious. AngryGM has an awful signal-to-noise radio but at least his rants are in text instead of video so it's somewhat easier to skip over the noise.

Final thought: if you want deep thoughts from the core 5E design team, see the video in my .sig. If you want deep thoughts on the theory behind D&D gameplay and how to improve as a DM, check out Justin Alexander, e.g. https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/15140/roleplaying-games/game-structures-part-3-dungeoncrawl

[KorvinStarmast]

On the one hand, I think you're right: there's an impedance mismatch there between D&D and storygaming which in many ways is baked into D&D's DNA. A DM who isn't prepared to accept potential TPK has no business rolling dice! We have an accord. :smallcool:

RPGPundit pretty tedious. Yeah.

AngryGM has an awful signal-to-noise radio but at least his rants are in text instead of video Yep. I got his book. Guess what? The signal to noise ratio is waaaaaaaay better. A lot of the filler and dreck is not there.

see the video in my .sig
Already did. Interesting stuff.

I've been reading Alexandrian since about 2015, ever since a post on RPGSE mentioned his three clue rule. He's got some very useful insights on a variety of game approaches.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Original is right.

Frankly, that person isn’t worth discussing. They’ve also spewed some absolute vile things on social media.
This right here. You see Pundit (or his pseudonym, Kasimir Urbanski) attached to anything, stay well away. They cultivate a reputation out of being an edgelord, picking fights with anyone who isn't in their narrow circle of "real RPGers". Case in point, they persistently encouraged the derision of non-traditional RPGs under the moniker "swine games".

They're a font of vitriol at best, when it comes to analysis.

[MaxWilson]

Yep. I got his book. Guess what? The signal to noise ratio is waaaaaaaay better. A lot of the filler and dreck is not there.

Hooray for editors! Maybe I'll check out the book someday, although my style is so different from AngryGM's style that I'd be reading more for insights into game theory than tips on DMing. (E.g. I loathe AngryGM's Paragon Monsters/two-monsters-in-one-body approach because it's purely gamist with no diegetical justification, so the abstraction leaks.)

As for the video, yeah, I know you've seen it. I meant to address that part to the OP directly.

[Asisreo1]

Hooray for editors! Maybe I'll check out the book someday, although my style is so different from AngryGM's style that I'd be reading more for insights into game theory than tips on DMing. (E.g. I loathe AngryGM's Paragon Monsters/two-monsters-in-one-body approach because it's purely gamist with no diegetical justification, so the abstraction leaks.)

As for the video, yeah, I know you've seen it. I meant to address that part to the OP directly.
I thought I was the weird one for being extremely hit or miss on AngryGM. I expected his attitude and I have a decent filter when reading stuff but the content doesn't always align with my playstyle.

[Trask]

EDIT:

Calling him a "5e designer" is entirely misleading, and he has lost the right to call himself a 5e consultant.



Is it really fair to say that hes "lost the right" to call himself a consultant on 5e if he literally was a consultant on 5e? Especially if the actual designers of 5e took his advice/accepted his work on their game. {scrubbed}.

[MaxWilson]

Is it really fair to say that hes "lost the right" to call himself a consultant on 5e if he literally was a consultant on 5e? Especially if the actual designers of 5e took his advice/accepted his work on their game. Someone's political opinions/attitude doesn't void all the things they've done, good or bad.

I agree with Trask in that history isn't something you can lose. If a person is a significant design influence on D&D (e.g. Dave Arneson), their insights can be interesting, and that remains true even if they are both a terrible person AND currently feuding with the legal owners of the D&D brand (Gary Gygax => TSR => WotC).

However. "Consultant" is very different from and subordinate to "designer," which BTW is one of the reasons I never understood why the Zak S. thing was a big deal in the first place. I have no particular reason to believe that RPGPundit was ever a significant design influence in the first place. What little I know from threads like this one suggests the opposite. It's not about "losing the right," it's more about "he's padding his resume" together with "I don't generally get anything useful out of his videos," especially the latter. (In contrast, JeremyCrawford clearly WAS involved to some degree in writing the actual PHB, but... I still don't generally get anything useful out of his videos either. Ergo I'm clearly not as interested in resumes as I am in useful gaming advice :), preferably in text format unless there's a good reason to do a video. I do feel that Matt Colville's presentations do work well as videos, thanks to his careful writing and editing and polished delivery.)

[Unoriginal]

Is it really fair to say that hes "lost the right" to call himself a consultant on 5e if he literally was a consultant on 5e? Especially if the actual designers of 5e took his advice/accepted his work on their game. {scrub the post, scrub the quote}.

The actual designers literally didn't know who he was, and apparently he *himself* said that they didn't use any of his ideas.

Also slightly off topic, but even if you do the work, you can still get your title removed. An attorney who loses their license/right to practice can no longer call themselves "Master X, attorney" anymore in an official capacity, for example.


It's not about "losing the right," it's more about "he's padding his resume"

Fair. Maybe saying "lost the right" is overly dramatic of me when it's more "he's trying to milk something that doesn't mean anything."



I do feel that Matt Colville's presentations do work well as videos, thanks to his careful writing and editing and polished delivery.

I can't fault Cloville's editing or video-making skills, but I can't stand his content in any medium. I shake my head at AngryGM's work when I'm made aware of it, but Cloville's just infuriates me (and in one notable occasion literally made me see red).

[odigity]

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[MaxWilson]

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[jaappleton]

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[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Closed for review.