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July 2024 Front Porch Lecture (Patreon)

Published:
2024-07-06 14:00:05
Imported:
2026-06
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Videos

Content

PDM talks economics, interest rates, and how they affect TTRPGs. Seriously. It's interesting.

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Comments

Bagel-Man

Excited as always Professor!

MrGunn
>>142867284

@Bagel-Man Good to see you are maintaining the high standards you are known for. Keep up the great work :D

A Name Apart

The first three pages of knave are amazing " its goal is to help groups create a believable other world that players can explore and interact with through their characters limited only by the world's internal logic and the game Masters rulings" ... " Give NPCs and monsters, personalities, goals, fears, loyalties and motivations, then entangle their lives together" ...

MrGunn

Dear Professor: Glad to hear you are better. I was very disappointed to learn I was in New Jersey and not Jamaica, huge difference, LOL. Thanks for taking the time to make this video for us in the eve of your vacation. The baby boomers owe their prosperity to the New Deal and Keynesian economics, sadly the Boomers and some GenXers continue to vote for supply side economics, lower taxes for the rich, and de-regulation. The result is as great disparity in personal wealth as we had in the Gilded Age, and a Federal minimum wage that has not been raised in 15 years and zoomers who cannot afford to move out of their parents basement. Have a great vacation and don't over do it. Best, MrGunn

A Name Apart
>>142869380

Take a look at government spending as a percentage of GDP and you'll see that we're spending more than ever. We are wasting so much money on useless college degrees and paying for skyrocketing obesity. And we are allowing large corporations to benefit themselves to the harm to the greater Nation through various forms of outsourcing and globalization and immigration

Anthony Johnston

PDM, you mentioned playing Deathbringer in a DC20 test game last GenCon. Got me wondering. Does Deathbringer ever show up as an NPC in any of your campaigns? And what's his class & current level? That axe of his named and/or magical? Thx! Tony Alsp, spot on assessments with GenX & Boomers being the primary $ supporters of many roleplaying games, especially off-brand Kickstarters.

Elizabeth Rowe

Thank you PDM. This make tremendous sense. I wonder if there's a similar phenomenon going on with companies like Disney buying into existing properties--Star Wars, Marvel, and now Doctor Who, and turning them into something unappealing to their existing fan base. Remember Jar Jar Binks? And then wondering why the level of profit isn't what's expected. You think it's maybe a related thing, or no?

Scott

PDM, glad you are doing well. Hope you enjoy your trip to Ireland! Thank you for taking the time to make these videos for us before you go (and while you're there). I always look forward to seeing your content.

Elvis Ramone

Are the seminars going to be broadcast or pay per view via a virtual Gen Con?

Scott Mckay

I am a Millennial, and truth be told, I think different people want different things. If I were a betting person, I'd wager that the reason D&D now appears more YA is that the creators believe their original audience will continue to buy their products regardless. Now, they're attempting to capture different target markets, mainly women and teens. I'm not saying those demographics don't have people who love Conan-like content, but marketing likely decided that the social and theatrical aspects are what draws them in. That would be my uneducated guess.

Peter

Glad to hear that you were having a good day at time of recording. Wishing you more up days towards your recovery. Also, the Economist rocks. I'm multitasking reading it now while listening to your porch lecture. Kids, read the Economist. Your library has a copy.

Spencer Wright

Great as always. FWIW the Knave KS had some significant public relations problems. The gentleman that was in charge of printing and fulfillment was rather combative and made some questionable decisions, which is being charitable.

Ben McInnis

Enjoy your various travels, PDM! From an economic point of view, I think you are absolutely right. The corporations think that targeting one market is wise because that is what their executives are taught in business school and those people are of a generally younger demographic. Meanwhile, as you've said many times before, those with the disposable income are of a different demographic. I think where the disconnect happens is, and I could be completely off base here, the corporation is thinking that if they capture the younger demographic, they will have a longer return of repeat business. Unfortunately, they do not seem to understand that millennials and Gen Z are not as focused on things as boomers and Gen X are. The younger generations are more focused on experiences and that is where they invest their money. The older generations still like stuff and I think the smaller independent companies have recognized that as well as the DIY trend among boomers and Gen X. This is why kickstarters work. They hit the older generations sensibilities and values while at the same time making the younger generations feel like they are part of something which sells to their desire for an experience. If a corporation could capture that balance, they would see success. Sorry for the rambling to get to the point. I hope you enjoy your summer!

Jim Havoc

Professor DM, Glad to hear you're feeling well. If you like Kelvin Green, try "Forgive Us." It's awesome! Enjoy your vacation. You've certainly earned it.

GegaHub

Always a pleasure! I agree with your comments regarding who is buying the games, to a point. Until recently I ran a retail store (mostly comics but I grew a healthy gaming section) and Gen-Xers and Boomers were buying the D&D books but guys our age were buying them mostly for their kids and grandkids, which was pretty heartwrming, to be honest. But a good deal of millenials were also buying the books, one a month or so but they were buying them. I hope you (Prof DM) continue to improve and feel better, glad to see your spirits are high.

Daniel Gray Webb

I think there are a lot of people in the younger generations who have gotten in from previous generation or D&D streaming that are fed up with big organizations. The love LtoR and other such movies or shows but they hate all the stuff Hasbro represents. So the go out and support all the Kickstart PDF pledges.

David Ford

Glad you’re bouncing back quickly. As a tail-end Boomer (born in ‘61) I only started in with Kickstarter during the pandemic. However, I feel I have made up for lost time 😀. I KS ttrpgs mostly to support the creators, but also to attempt to repurchase my youth. I know that sounds odd, and unattainable, but after taking a break from ttrpgs to, well, live life I purchase these things to try to get that feeling I had when I first discovered the hobby back in ‘79. It works for the most part and I now run adventures for my daughter and my old friends and their children. On to economics: We had that low mortgage rate. House is paid off. We’ve discussed moving (possibly to Europe) but it makes no economic sense to basically start over again. I will continue to spread my “wealth” around the ttrpg community and accumulate more books and systems than I will ever play. I’ll be attending my first RPG con in January (Philly Area Gaming Expo) to celebrate my second, and hopefully final, retirement.

orrin white

Luckily I was able to convert my groups fully to shadowdark, Not that they had much choice because that's what I run now take it or leave it lol.

7DSystem

America has fixed interest rates for the term of the loan... the rest of us do not. You get MAYBE 2 years fixed and the rest variable. Many people have locked into $1 million mortgages in the last few years that are now going from 3% to 6% (probably more). Living costs get really difficult when your repayments go to the moon.

7DSystem

Sell to the kids and the parents will buy

Bryan Stephens

Think you are spot on on economics. Glad you are doing better.

Jay
>>142869380

@MrGunn, this is one of the few times I must emphatically disagree with you. I’m guessing you do not reside in the United States or have a full understanding of its economics. I could provide various citations showing evidence to the contrary of your opinion in both in news disasters such as California recently raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour resulting in service and admin employees are being fired and replaced with AI and kiosks, economic experts such as Milton Freedman explaining what bolsters our economy, and the current economic disparity in income having more to do with a power grab by wealthy elites, corporate greed, and globalization. Regulations are typically set in motion by lobbyists on behalf of global corporations to crush small business here and it would be worth noting that too much bureaucracy is in part how the US is currently falling apart. Exhibit A – Javier Milei in Argentina removed much of the regulation and bureaucracy and in a short time his country is now thriving. Never-the-less, it seems this would be a long and difficult discussion to have here so I will just say that it would be worthwhile to ensure you are well educated in the economics (both contemporary and historical) of any country you feel the need to criticize. Also, we GENXer’s are the feral generation and will just say it’s best to never condemn an entire generation you may not fully understand. In my opinion this video below best describes those I grew up with those I knew my generation. Who let GenX off the hook https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1PCNzqKdOU

Jay
>>142892550

I suspect you may be on to something here. :)

Jay

PDM, thanks for the updates and great game recommendations. I will certainly support the creators you mentioned and after some additional review of D&D 2024 I have decided it wasn’t made for guys like me. Grim dark, independent creators, and home brew is more my speed. Can’t wait to hear your feedback on GENCON and looking forward to the video on “Maximum Player Engagement!” I also don’t like the art in the D&D books for many of the reasons PDM mentioned in addition to the rules content which slows down the game. It seems WoTC may also be pushing a socio-political agenda and I really do NOT want modern culture war or political issues injected into my entertainment. They can kick rocks with “THE MESSAGE”. So, for anyone interested these videos showed up on my feed and I don’t follow any of these folks, but I thought some of you may want to hear what some critics and influencers are saying about the new D&D and WoTC. I do not necessarily agree with all the dialogue in these videos. So, I say you should judge for yourself. Clownfish TV - OG Dungeons & Dragons Creators PUSH BACK Against Wizards of the Coast! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZjHx_KGy9U The Abysmal Critic - D&D Co-Creator Rages Against Wizards of the Coast - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q0gTDCwcBw Gamza Reacts - D&D IS OFFICIALLY OVER (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMpglkl-yXM

Don Bakke

I'll be in Ireland too in a few weeks, but it appears you'll have already come and gone by then. I appreciated every point you made. Your comment about the "YA" style art puts to words what I've been trying to identify as what bothers me with modern D&D art. I suppose I could get flack for this, but I think the DC20 artwork falls into this camp. I am loving the mechanics and am hoping to play it, but the artwork just doesn't win me over. Too whimsy, bright, and clean.

Jay
>>142993568

I completely agree and even though I supported the DC20 Kickstarter, I must admit I feel the same way about the art on those books as well. If you haven't seen much of the new the D&D art you aren't missing much. Some of it is just outright crap in my opinion. I'm far more in PDM's camp when it comes to art style for these games.

Joshua Slavin

Lets just say all of the following is prefaced with "in my opinion". Sure, Hasbro is viewing everything through a lens of "market to the kids, and the parents will buy". However, that means now, that the parents being marketed to are late Gen X and early Millennials. It is these generations with their dual comfort in digital tools, and in person interaction that push kickstarters, gofundmes, and other crowd sourcing efforts. Boomers didn't finance "The Legend of Vox Machina", boomers financed 2 D&d feature length flops. Crowdsourcing was co-opted by larger companies as a way to measure buyer intent, but only after younger generations had to come up with desperate ways to make up for the lack of safety nets that previous generations counted on as employment benefits. I disagree that Boomers are driving significant economic activity. For all the reasons laid out in the video they are effectively hoarding capital, and making it unavailable to be recycled into new enterprises, or new housing starts. In some cases they do move to a new house, often becoming landlords instead of selling. Holding onto this kind of economic ballast is part of why quantitative easing as a policy was even necessary from the mid nineties, through the 2010s. Conversely, Gen X and Millennials, have been the blood and muscle of the economy for the last 30 years. Consider that these two generations, more than any others, have been working during the Dot.com bubble, Subprime Lending bubble, the Great Recession, and a once in a century (hopefully) global pandemic. Each producing effectively a decade of depressed economic activity. Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Google; these are not the products of Boomer thinking or Boomer hoarding. Now imagine if Gen X and Millennials did not have these storms to weather. Boomer hoarding will not last. That is just an actuarial fact. The trick will be how that capital will transfer forward and be put to use. Or will Gen X finally on the top of the heap, repeat the pattern their Boomer parents started? Will it be too late for them to do otherwise?

Jim Van Cura

For perspective, I'm a 53 year old GenX'er. With that, I don't think Boomers, or most middle class people, hoard wealth. Rather, they can't outspend the growth of their money. The way you accumulate wealth is to live frugal, make a lot of money, and make smart choices based on the first two. Once you are the kind of person who lives frugal (from necessity) it's hard to start blowing your cash just because you have it. Me and my wife have a high saving rate and we are accumulating a lot of wealth. However, our wealth accumulation is due to living modest and we are frugal because there was a time in life we had to be. Our needs are met and we chose not to inflate our lives. I think the Economist article is confusing hoarding with frugality. Economically speaking, Boomers are the luckiest generation. They have been in power for so long that they skewed the rules of the game in their favor. It's not their fault they can't outspend the growth of their money. Once you have a paid up lifestyle it doesn't cost much to live. So why spend it if you don't need to. Buying consumer items you don't need is idiotic. Buying things like rental properties or other investments only makes sense, which leads to more wealth accumulation. You don't go from being smart with money growing your wealth to being dumb with money going to zero by death. People don't operate like that. Lastly, Boomers will eventually give their money away to long-term care facilities, which are outrageously expensive. This is why, as Joshua stated above, Boomer "hoarding" won't last. The rest will become generational wealth, which will lead to a whole other set of problems between the halves and have nots.

Daniel Defazio
>>142916309

Thanks for the insightful response. I can tell you that PAGE is a GREAT choice for a first convention. I was just saying privately to another YouTuber that I like it better than PAX.

Don Bakke
>>142993568

To clarify, I'm only referring to their promotional artwork as seen on their Kickstarter page. I'm guessing you've seen this and their cover art. I am assuming their interior art is much of the same.

Jay
>>142966486

Your comments are appreciated as always PDM. and thanks for the tip regarding Clownfish. I hadn't heard of these folks before they showed in my feed. Therefore, I'll continue to remain skeptical of them until they prove trustworthy. Of course, that depends if they even have any content worth watching that is.

Chuck Thorin

Heart of the Saint is pretty cool and the best of the recent LOTFP releases. And Shadowdark and Knave 2E are both great games.

Cee-Jay

Everything else equal, older people are generally going to be wealthier than younger people. Also from a demographic standpoint, there are more total Boomers compared to Gen X and Millennials. There isn’t anything sinister going on here... mostly just complaining.

Cee-Jay
>>143051975

I'm Gen X. Even after my friends and I finally had “real” jobs, we piled into old, beat-up houses (like 8 people in a house), bought thrift store clothes, rode bikes or drove beat-up cars, etc. and saved tons of money. And when I finally did buy a house, it was a fixer-upper in a dangerous urban neighborhood.... actually the first two were like that. Our kids went to public schools. We shop at discount stores. I still live in a house that’s pretty basic (and quite dated), we only have one streaming service, I have a 6 year old phone, 15 year old TV, 28 year old stereo set-up and I buys used, non-descript vehicles... one is 16 years old and the other 10 years old! And I worked my but off for decades in a job that I didn't love but paid great. I can afford small luxuries that bring me joy like indie RPGs and the occasional used electric guitar. And I can afford to make a lot less money (but still decent money) doing a job I love. Like you said, live frugal. Know what your priorities are. Accept the consequences of your choices, own the results in your life.

Christopher Gauci

I think you are spot on. Even that feeling of ' I could not get that as a kid...but I can now... I want it all!!' :)

Christopher Gauci

Ps: hope you recover well and quick. Thanks again.

Benjamin Pavier

Great, candid lecture. To weight in my 2 cents. I feel as though younger people don't place value on physical books. Some have told me they disagree with them in principle. I'm 30 and books are a luxury item. I view them as art and a privilege. Younger people seem to be happy not owning a lot of physical things. They do seem yo want digital and intellectual property ASAP however.

Eric Mason

To be honest I suspect many wealthy boomers are so used to being the centre of attention due to being such a large portion of the demographics that they're having a hard time realizing that unless you really, really want to leave a large amount of your estate to taxes, you need to start unwinding early. It's not about you anymore, it's about your legacy. I was an adult for the deaths of grandparents and parents. The trick is to start gifting your children, and ideally grandchildren the amount you can do tax-free each year. Plot out what you need to live on, then gift the surplus each year. A few thousand a year doesn't mean much when if you are wealthy, it just gets reinvested, waiting for that massive tax bill when you die. A few thousand a year makes a massive difference for young people starting out. It can keep them out of debt or reduce the time they are in debt and can get established with decades to save for their own retirements.

Timothy Kesling

I agree. As a boomer, I am more flush to stretch my gaming bucks. I went many years buying only what I absolutely needed. The Internet was a great boon to economical gaming.