RPG Reviews

RPG reviews are completely messed up. The vast, vast majority of reviewers have no experience with the actual product in question. They've never run the module, never run a full game with the system, and only have conjecture about the content and comments on the art. It seems like just an extension of marketing, rather than an actual look at the merits of a given work. The juice comes out in play, not speculation.

I don't watch video reviews, but I imagine the problem is even worse in that god forsaken realm. Every day I am recommended a Questing Beast video, in which his mouth is agape beside an image of the latest greatest RPG book.

Instead of these, I tend to favour play reports and, especially, retrospectives. They aren't common, and good ones are rare, but even a poor retrospective is worth more than a hundred reviews. Table Top RPGs are enjoyable to me in part because the experience of them is "slow" compared to other mediums. Different player groups and campaigns are also highly unique. You can't review a table top game or module like a review. 

Playing TTRPGs kicks ass, but much of the culture and related "content" (Detritus) is completely backward. I think the reviews are mostly for people who collect games and enjoy them as a conceptual exercise, rather than those who actually play and run RPGs.

Comments

  1. GB NilssonMay 21, 2024 at 11:45 AM

    This is something that has bothered me for a while as well. The equivalent would be basing your movie review only off the screenplay without ever actually having seen the film.

    ReplyDelete

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