The Culture: Is That A Vibe Shift I'm Feeling? Yes, Yes It Is!

Galadriel (speaking partly in Elvish)

(I amar prestar aen.) The world is changed.

(Han matho ne nen.) I feel it in the water.

(Han mathon ned cae.) I feel it in the earth.

(A han noston ned gwilith.) I smell it in the air.

Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

(Monologue, movie version, Prologue for The Fellowship of the Ring)

That, fellow hobbyists, is the mood.

That mood reflects the vibe that is now shifting before our eyes. Something once thought settled and sorted is now neither. The mood shifted, the vibe shifted, and that shift has proven to be techtonic in its nature. Slowly and gradually the effects have manifested, but now we transition "gradually" to "suddenly" as a series of diffuse events are now coming together in convergence upon a single point: The Collapse of Conventional Play in Tabletop.

When someone says, “There is a better way,” be someone who says, “show me and let me try it,” in return. If yuh 40 years immunizes you from learning, all you have is impervious cognitive dissonance, and nobody can remain polite in the face of it. Help us help you.

— Dunder Moose (@DunderMoose) August 14, 2024

More people that once stood against the Bros are coming to see things our way. Why? Because they see the receipts, and they see the effects in action, AND WANT THAT FOR THEMSELVES!

As there is no such thing as "scarcity" when talking about Best Practices, much like there's no such thing as "scarcity" in digital publishing, the Bros were all "Hey Mikey, he likes it!" every time they try it themselves, replicate the effects, and see that the Bros were right as a result.

Y'know, like legit scientists and scholars do.

Night Danger cut a nice video that had that vibe shift energy to it, all about Fluid The Druid's Gangbusters game.

See that? That's the vibe shift.

The very idea of taking what we have heretofore spoke of as something separate and distinct from standard hobby play and making that the standard paradigm of play instead, with Le Get Along Gang as the exception, is that vibe shift.

Like everything else, this too will prove itself a Best Practice and become normalized over the next year or so such that everyone else will be forced to play catch-up again.

Given what's coming for Conventional Play, this is a god-send; it not only solves the usual problems at the table, it solves the bigger macro-level issues with the hobby as a whole.

Because this as the standard model? Sweet fuck-all for commercial potential, so the parasites and clout-chasers leave, and the hobby goes back to being a hobby among many and not a Brand to use as a posing prop for status-signalling or a Lifestyle to LARP.

Outsiders OUT! The gates to the Clubhouse shall be closed to you.