The Business: The Delusional Dipshits In Tabletop

Pat here demonstrates a common delusion among the Terminally Online sort.

The delusion: That Wizards of the Coast has any competition within Tabletop.

WOTC is not stupid. They know who their competitors are--Fortnite, World of Warcraft, Genshin Impact, etc.--and there is not Tabletop operator that matters.

Most people who play Current Edition are not Terminally Online and do not care about anything but Current Edition, the same way that most wargamers are 40K Only Andys and don't care about anything else and that cardfloppers are Magic Only Andys and don't care about anything else. If they aren't playing The Only Game That Matters, they aren't playing at all. This has been known for 25 years thanks to Ryan Dancey.

This has been reinforced multiple times, in multiple media where Network Effects are the source of value, over those 25 years. The majority of players in a given medium of that sort are not general players; they are Top Dog Only Andys and refuse to play anything else because, rightly, they see anything else as a waste of time and money. We see the reason most clearly with MMORPGs, but it is there in all of them: the sheer size of the Network enables these people to play how they prefer, and smaller competitors do not. Josh Strife Hayes proved this with math a while back.

Skip to the Conclusion; it's the Highlight skip. That gets to the point I've made, which he independently arrived at.

Pat's assertion that any of these defections matters is delusional. If that were the case, Palladium Books would have overtaken WOTC (or TSR before that) by 1990- by 1995 at the latest. That never happened, and it never will happen. All of these folks, like folks who quit WOW for another MMO, will be back in short order once it becomes clear that Current Edition is where the action is.

Watch for it, and watch how shameless they're going to be about it.

The Culture: Behold This Eggcelent Game In Development

Jon Mollison did a pair of videoes on a game in development.

Brian Renniger's blog is here.

As you can see, this is a loving satire of BattleTech.

Everything is a Work In Progress, but a promising one nonetheless, and just the right sort of thing when you want to have some silly stompy robot fun.

The Culture: Told You New BPL Was Soon

Right after I mention it, the trailer drops.

SOON!

The Culture: You Don't Need To Buy What You Can Generate For Free

Last week, the Funster posted this video.

He's got the right idea. He just doesn't take it to the conclusion: all of the milieu is collaboratively-determined, using random generation first and reasoning out from there.

This is why you don't need to buy settings; the Real Game has the procedures needed to generate one on the fly, so all you need (top-down or bottom-up) is a blank hex map and some dice, generate what players will interact with, and stop. Don't do more until a player makes it necessary.

This is why you don't need to buy adventures; the Real Game has the procedures needed to generate one on the fly, so all you need is a blank grid map and some dice, generate what players will interact with, and stop. Don't do more until a player makes it necessary.

No preparation required. No need to waste time on things that won't get used. No need to pile on the cognitive load.

Now the next part: make the players do the work. Total Non-Stop Braunstein is the way. With the reveal of the existence of gameplay loops being a key driver of action in a campaign, both in general and character-specific ones, we can use these loops as the way to implement off-loading worldbuilding to players without overtaxing them cognitively; they just need to be told that fulfilling the requirements to advance the gameplay loop is their problem to solve, not the Referee's, and then suffer consequences when they don't- no leveling up, minions fuck off for not being paid, holdings go away for lack of maintenance, and even having their man benched for not paying upkeep costs.

There is no need for Endless Product Slop when the Real Game has all that you need to generate what you require when you require it, such that all players participating can just handle their shit themselves as required.

Which is why 99% of Tabletop products are not Real Games, never have been, and never will be- and thus are not fit for purpose, and as a result can be summarilly dismissed.

The Culture: Countdown To Uncle Tex's Next Stompy Robot Profile Video

It's been quite some time since the last Tex Talks BattleTech.

We are due for another. If what I saw earlier holds, this will be about the Black Knight.

No, Sven hasn't dropped anything new in a while other- aside from his Mechwarrior streams (big deal if you're wanting to know if it's worth the money). Big Red has, but his videos about as long as the BPL and Sven's now so they too are few and far between (aside from news videos) but he did drop one recently. Mechanical Frog is far more frequently--weekly, usually, on Mondays--

But everyone knows that Tex's videos are the Big Event. Soon we'll get another. SOON!

The Culture: It's A Purpose-Built Machine With Objective Standards To Be Met

The big thing that the #BROSR found is that the Real Game is a holistic, purpose-built machine whose every part is required to achieve the desired and promised result to the user. It is not a bucket of LEGO. It is not Calvinball. It is not subjective in the least; BDubs has the right of it.

You think I’m exaggerating until yoh see the profile flags of those who use the most moronic talking points. “Ur 1st point makes 2nd pt bad bc it gives me the sads and ur 3rd point reminds me I hate my dad”. 100% #SoupAisle#BROXT #dnd #ThankYouJeffro https://t.co/6rlx8SaUSZ

— BDubs (@Bdubs1776) November 25, 2025

All of the rules that the Bros talk about, and the practices that use them, are designed to interact in order to use emergent properties to generate the end result.

Braunstein is the summary of what the result is, and Total Non-Stop Braunstein is the practical implementation. (From UMBROS, pg. 65)

But what if, instead of running a Session Braunstein now and then, you refused to stop? What if every week, without fail, the factions of UMBROS clashed? Every week, a Session Braunstein. Whystop? Instead make it NonStop. A Total NonStop Braunstein!

Do you believe in three referees working in concert? One running Session Braunstein, one adventuring, one mid-level wars. A campaign in constant motion with every level of play represented. That is the Total NonStop Braunstein.

The TNB method will assure a drastically changing game world week to week. And, if you use 1:1 Jeffrogaxian Time (which you should), then you can easily allow Co-Referee’s to run weekly Sessions in your game world concurrent with your TNB campaign.

Total Non-Stop Braunstein is the Real Game.

The Clubhouse is the institution to realize this ambition.

This is how the hobby survives after the collapse of Conventional Play is complete, the Cargo Cult is dead, and the Normies/Tourists/Casuals fuck off to Vidya/Boardgames which is what they really want as Revealed Preferences have shown for decades. It is underground, it is elite, and it is non-commercial- a true hobby scene by and for those willing and able to meet the standards demanded.

We already know how the fight against the Cargo Cult, against the Soup Aisle, ends. I'll just do the portrait now.

Black Friday 2025

First, the list for you:

• UMBROS in PDF (FREE!) and POD TBA.
• BROZER in PDF (FREE!) and POD (AT COST!).
• APPENDIX N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons at Amazon
• How To Win At D&D at Amazon and at Pilum Press's store.

Second, a link to my Wish List collection. There's been updates to the linked lists.

Third, if you're going out there today in the US good luck. This is Peak CONSUME PRODUCT Madness, so all sorts of crazy is out there; I'll stay home and just order online. For you Euros, I hope you have Christmas Markets that you can enjoy.

Oh, and this is a good weekend to just tune out the madness and just chill out.