MDGA

Also I forgot to say, but silliness isn't the factor of the "decline" or whatever. Everyone in all ages of Adohands history had silly gag characters and it wasn't all doom and gloom serious roleplay. It's more of the fact that silly people are not respecting the other individuals they roleplay with. Like if I introduce a guy named Super Evil John that was some cartoon villain that only steals people's left socks, I would not just start goading serious characters to fight him and then give him +1000 to hit with 300d6 damage. A lot of people here are afraid to make weaker characters or have genuine stakes that would cause characters to die, which is another issue with the powergaming of "well I'm using homebrew and that homebrew allows me to instantly kill you or turn you into cheese". That's fine and fun in scenarios that are more similar to Forum Games than an actual tavern.

I think this is a really good analysis personally and also I just love random yapping like this. I’d love to hear what you suggest doing, but I assume we can probably figure that out by looking at your post in depth. I do also know that many people here are teenagers, or have hard restrictions. Some people are just underage, so they should not be here, but then there are others where ddb is their only social media. Generally I’m not a huge fan of social media despite being addicted to it (there’s a really cool book that explains the ties between social media and mental health problems called the Anxious Generation, and as someone with some of these problems, I think they’re definitely linked, although a small warning if anyone wants to read it it has a small section that attributes being trans to social media) but back to the point. Some people have really overbearing parents that won’t let them use discord and other social media and just don’t know that ddb has a social media section and that section can be unsafe sometimes. So I think that’s why people have turned Adohands into chat threads. 

As, actually one of the people that prefers the roleplay aspect and not the combat aspect, I do agree that this is a DnD space and it should be focused on DnD. And I think chat threads could also cause some huge problems that I won’t go into because I’m currently in a phase of being addicted to ddb and I don’t want to get banned. 

No more yap for me because I can’t push out anything more, but I think there are some really strong points, and I like in your post. Ty for the input.

Quote from 50thAltOfBananer >>

I think this is a really good analysis personally and also I just love random yapping like this. I’d love to hear what you suggest doing, but I assume we can probably figure that out by looking at your post in depth. I do also know that many people here are teenagers, or have hard restrictions. Some people are just underage, so they should not be here, but then there are others where ddb is their only social media. Generally I’m not a huge fan of social media despite being addicted to it (there’s a really cool book that explains the ties between social media and mental health problems called the Anxious Generation, and as someone with some of these problems, I think they’re definitely linked, although a small warning if anyone wants to read it it has a small section that attributes being trans to social media) but back to the point. Some people have really overbearing parents that won’t let them use discord and other social media and just don’t know that ddb has a social media section and that section can be unsafe sometimes. So I think that’s why people have turned Adohands into chat threads. 

As, actually one of the people that prefers the roleplay aspect and not the combat aspect, I do agree that this is a DnD space and it should be focused on DnD. And I think chat threads could also cause some huge problems that I won’t go into because I’m currently in a phase of being addicted to ddb and I don’t want to get banned. 

No more yap for me because I can’t push out anything more, but I think there are some really strong points, and I like in your post. Ty for the input.

 I just think that dedicated chat threads should be something like how LCW is used, or just chatting OOC while interacting on the main thread. As someone who had very strict parents when I was younger and on this website, as well as some of my other friends, we never made actual chatting threads and posted our ideas on the main tavern. Also sometimes we made PMs for it instead. I think that if you really want to go back to the old tavern kind of days, everyone needs to stop spreading themselves thin on 17 different threads they're switching between to talk on. Plus, chat threads encourage bad behaviors like talking about other people, revealing personal information, and if you're wanting to talk about your homebrew or worldbuilding, back in my day (the ancient dinosaur times) we just went to the actual dedicated worldbuilding and homebrew section in the DNDBeyond forums.

The main appeal of Adohands was a "main tavern" because when new people appear, they have nowhere to go and no past posts to look at for inspiration to see how things work. Also, the idea of a cohesive story everyone can participate in was the founding principle of the taverns and is what inspired people to join. It would take a complete overhaul of everyone's behavior simultaneously to rework Adohands which I don't think is entirely feasible. You would need to completely abandon all other threads and make one "main" tavern or thread, while also trying to ease out the culture of stupidly strong characters and aversion to anything other than playground roleplay (adding skill checks, actual dnd creatures, making it a game rather than freeform imagination toys). And you'd have to have actual experienced people who can take stances other than "why don't we all just calm down" or "let's not start any conflict" watching over that. PJ is a good example of someone that isn't afraid to disagree with someone and stays logical without being goaded into an actual argument. Otherwise, you run into the walking on eggshells issue of every problem gets swept under the rug instead of being addressed.

Quote from cynophobia_ >>

Quote from 50thAltOfBananer >>

I think this is a really good analysis personally and also I just love random yapping like this. I’d love to hear what you suggest doing, but I assume we can probably figure that out by looking at your post in depth. I do also know that many people here are teenagers, or have hard restrictions. Some people are just underage, so they should not be here, but then there are others where ddb is their only social media. Generally I’m not a huge fan of social media despite being addicted to it (there’s a really cool book that explains the ties between social media and mental health problems called the Anxious Generation, and as someone with some of these problems, I think they’re definitely linked, although a small warning if anyone wants to read it it has a small section that attributes being trans to social media) but back to the point. Some people have really overbearing parents that won’t let them use discord and other social media and just don’t know that ddb has a social media section and that section can be unsafe sometimes. So I think that’s why people have turned Adohands into chat threads. 

As, actually one of the people that prefers the roleplay aspect and not the combat aspect, I do agree that this is a DnD space and it should be focused on DnD. And I think chat threads could also cause some huge problems that I won’t go into because I’m currently in a phase of being addicted to ddb and I don’t want to get banned. 

No more yap for me because I can’t push out anything more, but I think there are some really strong points, and I like in your post. Ty for the input.

 I just think that dedicated chat threads should be something like how LCW is used, or just chatting OOC while interacting on the main thread. As someone who had very strict parents when I was younger and on this website, as well as some of my other friends, we never made actual chatting threads and posted our ideas on the main tavern. Also sometimes we made PMs for it instead. I think that if you really want to go back to the old tavern kind of days, everyone needs to stop spreading themselves thin on 17 different threads they're switching between to talk on. Plus, chat threads encourage bad behaviors like talking about other people, revealing personal information, and if you're wanting to talk about your homebrew or worldbuilding, back in my day (the ancient dinosaur times) we just went to the actual dedicated worldbuilding and homebrew section in the DNDBeyond forums.

The main appeal of Adohands was a "main tavern" because when new people appear, they have nowhere to go and no past posts to look at for inspiration to see how things work. Also, the idea of a cohesive story everyone can participate in was the founding principle of the taverns and is what inspired people to join. It would take a complete overhaul of everyone's behavior simultaneously to rework Adohands which I don't think is entirely feasible. You would need to completely abandon all other threads and make one "main" tavern or thread, while also trying to ease out the culture of stupidly strong characters and aversion to anything other than playground roleplay (adding skill checks, actual dnd creatures, making it a game rather than freeform imagination toys). And you'd have to have actual experienced people who can take stances other than "why don't we all just calm down" or "let's not start any conflict" watching over that. PJ is a good example of someone that isn't afraid to disagree with someone and stays logical without being goaded into an actual argument. Otherwise, you run into the walking on eggshells issue of every problem gets swept under the rug instead of being addressed.

 Thumbs up

I agree with quite a bit of that post. And I'm glad you were here to share opinions.

I also want to communicate things to the newer people about my preferences. Like when I post something very specific on onions (Normally D&D or other relating things) I want someone to respond with that thing in mind. Not them just saying 'Hi' which is something I've seen more commonly.

And to a lot of people, this may surprise you. I love roleplaying so much more than combat. I pretty much hate combat and basically the only reason I join the combat threads is to test whether I can build characters correctly, which I then use to help DM newer players. because who's better to teach about the rules than the person who's made incredible minmaxing. But that doesn't change the point. I would rather test homebrew stat blocks, that I've made against other homebrew stat blocks that other people have made. The Stat Block tester thread that I did with Cyno and Lactonius were probably my favorite combat based threads in this forum. 

And. Yes. The Walking on eggshells issue is very big issue, I know this probably because I was one of the people trying to shove it under the carpet.

The Golden days of DDB are gone. I think that the best we can do is make chat threads less prevalent (Probably just onions and Just a Support thread) and then have a collboration in taverns thread. Where people work together to make taverns. I also think that, gradually, the list of rules in taverns have gotten smaller. Much much smaller. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. But some of the rules that have been lost (No combat without consent, no homebrew, among other things) were needed. Because roleplay threads are meant for roleplay.

One of the roleplays that I read a while back, and has stuck in my head for four or so months, is one where two roleplayers just roleplayed combat. They didn't use rules. They just roleplayed what each character did. I'm not saying that is how all of adohand's should be run. I'm just saying that Combat and Roleplaying need to be in separate categories. 

And I also think that the forum games have... well. I might end up just stopping posting the forum games other than a few threads. Because I also think that the forum games have gradually declined. With some of the best threads. They've lost there fun for me because, well, all of the responses are just one word. While they were fun at the beginning. Now it's just boring.

And. As one of the people who used to post simply for the sake of posting. Posting for the sake of posting isn't fun. I used to count every single post I made. Now I don't even know how many I have. Simply because I don't care. All I want here is to talk with my friends. Roleplay. And occasionally fight.

Although I don't think I'll leave the never-ending-arena. because I don't want the first place to be something that people will fight over. I want it to be a reward. For killing Tahua. Essentially I've made a boss fight.

Personally. I think new taverns need to be much more thought out. Like some of the taverns I've made/worked on took around three days to make. I think that should be a minimum. I also would love if there was a tavern set in 

I haven't really joined any combat threads because the rolls are a bit unfamiliar and I prefer to play with people I know IRL

Quote from Tana___ >>

I agree with quite a bit of that post. And I'm glad you were here to share opinions.

I also want to communicate things to the newer people about my preferences. Like when I post something very specific on onions (Normally D&D or other relating things) I want someone to respond with that thing in mind. Not them just saying 'Hi' which is something I've seen more commonly.

And to a lot of people, this may surprise you. I love roleplaying so much more than combat. I pretty much hate combat and basically the only reason I join the combat threads is to test whether I can build characters correctly, which I then use to help DM newer players. because who's better to teach about the rules than the person who's made incredible minmaxing. But that doesn't change the point. I would rather test homebrew stat blocks, that I've made against other homebrew stat blocks that other people have made. The Stat Block tester thread that I did with Cyno and Lactonius were probably my favorite combat based threads in this forum. 

And. Yes. The Walking on eggshells issue is very big issue, I know this probably because I was one of the people trying to shove it under the carpet.

The Golden days of DDB are gone. I think that the best we can do is make chat threads less prevalent (Probably just onions and Just a Support thread) and then have a collboration in taverns thread. Where people work together to make taverns. I also think that, gradually, the list of rules in taverns have gotten smaller. Much much smaller. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. But some of the rules that have been lost (No combat without consent, no homebrew, among other things) were needed. Because roleplay threads are meant for roleplay.

One of the roleplays that I read a while back, and has stuck in my head for four or so months, is one where two roleplayers just roleplayed combat. They didn't use rules. They just roleplayed what each character did. I'm not saying that is how all of adohand's should be run. I'm just saying that Combat and Roleplaying need to be in separate categories. 

And I also think that the forum games have... well. I might end up just stopping posting the forum games other than a few threads. Because I also think that the forum games have gradually declined. With some of the best threads. They've lost there fun for me because, well, all of the responses are just one word. While they were fun at the beginning. Now it's just boring.

And. As one of the people who used to post simply for the sake of posting. Posting for the sake of posting isn't fun. I used to count every single post I made. Now I don't even know how many I have. Simply because I don't care. All I want here is to talk with my friends. Roleplay. And occasionally fight.

Although I don't think I'll leave the never-ending-arena. because I don't want the first place to be something that people will fight over. I want it to be a reward. For killing Tahua. Essentially I've made a boss fight.

Personally. I think new taverns need to be much more thought out. Like some of the taverns I've made/worked on took around three days to make. I think that should be a minimum. I also would love if there was a tavern set in 

 It took me over a week to fully flesh out Harry Potter, but I forgot about the author and it never got interest.

The main problem is less people. SO MANY of the og DDBers from the days when I was new (Gibber, Jester and Arch to name a few) Either barely post or don't post at all. We don't get many new people who contribute as much to roleplay. Sure, they post, but there's no effort to it. It's posting for the sake of posting.

I personally took a big break from the site recently, so I can understand why people take hiatuses. I've kept up with some people through discord because it's easier to use, but actively taking time out of the day to converse here can be an effort.

However, it irritates me when people put no effort into RP posts. It makes it hard to have a good session when all the other person says is "yeah" and "nah".  
On the topic of RP, it seems like nobody puts any effort into dedicating their time to threads. We could get threads to 1000 pages easily before because people stuck to them. Now, with less people and the people there not sticking around (I'm probably a culprit of this as well) no thread can survive. Also, threads get stale. Nothing ever really happens. We need more threads like what Smorgasbord and DAO were: Active, with big events that kept people coming back. God TTRPG seems to be bringing this back a bit thankfully.

I'm not sure about some of the points you guys are making but that's due to me not being as intelligent. Anyway, that's it for me. probably not very helpful but I dunno.