We are incredibly excited about a new direction for our Central Kentucky Folk RPG play club as well as our international online Discord play club for the coming years!
From now on, we’ve simplified our rules around our two core principles for community and gameplay:
Be Kind. Don’t be political.
Additionally, from now on we will focus exclusively on what we call “Folk RPGs.” Our community worked together over a few days to start to define this emergent gameplay style and community which we feel encompasses much of the hobby, excluding only the mainstream, consumerist part of the tabletop community, and this is what we came up with:
Definition of Folk RPG:
1. The table is the authority, the table is ours. 2. Community drama and issues outside of tabletop do not govern or drive the actions of the table. The table is the authority. 3. Not loyal to a brand, corporate or group mindset. 4. Whatever happens at the table is real. Whatever happens on the internet, may not be. When playing on the internet, we treat it like an analog, in person table. 5. The fictional world, quality of play and camaraderie are more important than the rules, mechanics or products. 6. Community is important, as defined by the table and those at it. Pass on what you have learned, in person, to people outside the hobby. Honor the lineage and traditions of the tabletop hobby and it's luminaries, but be not bound by them. Drive it forward, make it your own. 7. If there is an RPG rulebook, break all the rules. Mutate and contort them into a joyous chaos experienced by the table. The table, and those at it, are the authority.
Folk RPGs are something you do like knitting, fishing or meditating. It raises the spirit, it unites instead of divides. It can be understood, spoken and participated in by all people.
Consumerist, brand, corporate RPGs are something you buy and subscribe to such as box sets on Wal-mart store shelves, merchandise, TV shows, official modules and adventure paths, and organized play. The brand/consumerist mindset sees D&D as something like the Marvel cinematic universe or Pokemon, that can be bought, participated in, traded, adhered to and discussed and dependent on a corporation controlling an intellectual property.
This distinction is most evident in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, combined with the "brand name" consumerist, corporate hobby where you can "buy D&D at Wal-mart" wear t-shirts, watch shows and collect plushies. While many of us do buy D&D products, it does not control what we do at tabletop roleplaying game tables with others. D&D for us is not a product. It is a folk tradition that can't be controlled by any one person, corporation, faction, trend or political movement.
You can play the mainstream, corporate game and do so in a folk way. The mainstream, consumerist, brand hobby is valid for those that enjoy or borrow from it. But we have found it necessary to establish a space for the rest of us. For the weirdos, the pariahs, the punks, the madmen. We built the hobby and it has become something else. Now we pass on the beautiful chaos of storytelling and togetherness, departing from brand control.
We are excited to continue this adventure with everyone and look forward to our many adventures together in 2023 and beyond. If you are looking for a table to play at and are in the Central Kentucky area, look us up on Facebook and MeWe: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2153575574938009
If you are not in the Central Kentucky area and are looking for a group, come chat with us on Discord where we run almost a dozen games a week on our server!
A new direction for our play club in 2023
We are incredibly excited about a new direction for our Central Kentucky Folk RPG play club as well as our international online Discord play club for the coming years!
From now on, we’ve simplified our rules around our two core principles for community and gameplay:
Be Kind. Don’t be political.
Additionally, from now on we will focus exclusively on what we call “Folk RPGs.” Our community worked together over a few days to start to define this emergent gameplay style and community which we feel encompasses much of the hobby, excluding only the mainstream, consumerist part of the tabletop community, and this is what we came up with:
Definition of Folk RPG:
1. The table is the authority, the table is ours.
2. Community drama and issues outside of tabletop do not govern or drive the actions of the table. The table is the authority.
3. Not loyal to a brand, corporate or group mindset.
4. Whatever happens at the table is real. Whatever happens on the internet, may not be. When playing on the internet, we treat it like an analog, in person table.
5. The fictional world, quality of play and camaraderie are more important than the rules, mechanics or products.
6. Community is important, as defined by the table and those at it. Pass on what you have learned, in person, to people outside the hobby. Honor the lineage and traditions of the tabletop hobby and it's luminaries, but be not bound by them. Drive it forward, make it your own.
7. If there is an RPG rulebook, break all the rules. Mutate and contort them into a joyous chaos experienced by the table. The table, and those at it, are the authority.
Folk RPGs are something you do like knitting, fishing or meditating. It raises the spirit, it unites instead of divides. It can be understood, spoken and participated in by all people.
Consumerist, brand, corporate RPGs are something you buy and subscribe to such as box sets on Wal-mart store shelves, merchandise, TV shows, official modules and adventure paths, and organized play. The brand/consumerist mindset sees D&D as something like the Marvel cinematic universe or Pokemon, that can be bought, participated in, traded, adhered to and discussed and dependent on a corporation controlling an intellectual property.
This distinction is most evident in Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition, combined with the "brand name" consumerist, corporate hobby where you can "buy D&D at Wal-mart" wear t-shirts, watch shows and collect plushies. While many of us do buy D&D products, it does not control what we do at tabletop roleplaying game tables with others. D&D for us is not a product. It is a folk tradition that can't be controlled by any one person, corporation, faction, trend or political movement.
You can play the mainstream, corporate game and do so in a folk way. The mainstream, consumerist, brand hobby is valid for those that enjoy or borrow from it. But we have found it necessary to establish a space for the rest of us. For the weirdos, the pariahs, the punks, the madmen. We built the hobby and it has become something else. Now we pass on the beautiful chaos of storytelling and togetherness, departing from brand control.
We are excited to continue this adventure with everyone and look forward to our many adventures together in 2023 and beyond. If you are looking for a table to play at and are in the Central Kentucky area, look us up on Facebook and MeWe: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2153575574938009
If you are not in the Central Kentucky area and are looking for a group, come chat with us on Discord where we run almost a dozen games a week on our server!
https://discord.gg/zbr37hQU
Be Kind. Don’t be political. We love you all!