Unpopular opinions go here

[Voadam]

1e had three published settings - Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and the Forgotten Realms. All three of them lean into these tropes and away from pulp fiction.

Apparently unpopular opinion, I really like a lot of 1e Lankhmar.

 

[Moonmover]

Apparently unpopular opinion, I really like a lot of 1e Lankhmar.

I should perhaps have said "original settings." Yeah obviously Lankhmar is swords-and-sorcery.

 

[MGibster]

That memory of watching it while home sick -- that happened to my friend Mike. I heard it, internalized it, and now thoroughly have it lodged in my brain as something that happened to me. This frighteningly common experience is why people question later accounts of events, as Snarf is discussing.

I was in fifth grade and we didn't watch it on television either. Since there was a teacher aboard, there was a keen interest in following the launch, and the principal made an announcement about the disaster over our P/A system. There are some events that I misremember as well. I would have sworn Billie Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" came out in the early 80s, but it came out in 1989. Likewise, I would have sworn Weird Al's movie UHF came out in 1986 or 1987, but it was released the same year as Batman, 1989.

 

[deganawida]

This one feels like an unpopular opinion, or at least that's my experience online (and even within my own group):

I hate character builds. Characters are not a M:tG deck, nor WoW character, nor anything else that necessitates planning for 20 levels.

 

[MGibster]

Racial ASIs make about as much logical sense as racial languages and racial tool proficencies. Identical twins who are separated at birth and grow up in different circumstances (wealthy/poor, rural/city, coastal/desert, etc.) are going to have completely different physiques and mindsets. Such ASIs and features should be determined by your character's Background, not Ancestry.

A Goliath ranges in height from seven to eight feet and weighs between 280 and 340 pounds. It makes a lot of sense for them to have a higher Strength than a Halfling who tops about three feet in height and weighs 40 pounds. I don't care what their background is, it doesn't make sense for them to have the same Strength.

 

[Moonmover]

This one feels like an unpopular opinion, or at least that's my experience online (and even within my own group):

I hate character builds. Characters are not a M:tG deck, nor WoW character, nor anything else that necessitates planning for 20 levels.

Hell, yes. Chargen is the drudgery that you have to work through before you can have fun playing an RPG. Keep it as short as possible!

 

[Committed Hero]

Yes, but ... the Imperial system? Really? Grown adults shouldn't have to look up how Imperial measurements convert to one another within the same system while cooking or whatever. It's objectively dumb.

There is still some conversion required to switch within non-temperature metric units. I've never seen anyone measure anything in hectounits - and don't get me started on deci vs deca. It's like you need to know which steps to avoid!

In honesty, I think it's easier to use the imperial system for dividing things in half for purposes of volume and weight. Once you get down to 0.125 there are a lot of opportunities for mistakes.

 

[aramis erak]

Right, the reasons videogames have levels and classes is because D&D had them

They existed in wargaming before D&D.

the amount of disbelief i'm met with when i try to explain to people that MCU's captain america is actually Chaotic Good, that just because he has morals and works with the government and commends following the law does not make him lawful, so much of his films involve him disobeying authority and breaking rules just to do what he thinks is 'morally right' or to help a friend.

Actually, it varies by edition... the definitions of what lawful is are not stable across D&D editions.

The best way to have coffee is black with a couple splashes of orange juice.

I prefer maple syrup.

Counterpoint, Gradine Edition
10, 12) It absolutely is not. Exploration is the best part, hands down. Nobody wants to sit and play Weird Chess for four hours.

Provably false, due to the absolute.
I've played Shogi, I've played circular chess. I've played triangular chess. I've even tried to play Trek style 3D chess. More importanly, I spent years checking thrift stores and garage sales for a copy of 3M's Feudal... (I now own and have played it a dozen times since 2018. With people who asked to play it again...)

All of those are weird chess variants. Feudal being the weirdest, as it's the only one that's "Move all pieces each turn."

Palladium has some really good stuff. I liked the basic fantasy palladium.

I liked Palladium when I first encountered it... but then I got The Arcanum, which did similar changes away from D&D, but in a much better overall package.

oh i'd happily just DM 2nd edition if I could convince my friends that newer isn't better. Maybe I'm getting old but there is a comfort in knowing the rules are done and done and you can just play.

I used to feel that way. Then circa 2010, I ran AD&D 2E again... and will never again try to. I should really sell it off, but I don't want some Bleep to buy it and inflict it upon new players.

I’m willing to believe it, but I need stuff that’s simpler than baseline D&D, and it’s my impression Morrus doesn’t do that. Do I err?

The Awfully Cheerful Engine is from EN publishing. I don't know if Morrus is Russ Morrisey, but EN publishing does do some very light stuff, too.

Star Wars lovingly depicts Star Destroyers, when PCs are going to be running from Customs cutters.

WEG didn't describe SD's in the core book; the smallest in use was in the first supplement.
I'm too lazy to go dig in the cargo container for my SW d20 books (both 1e and 2e cores)
I can't speak to SWSE...
But FFG doesn't start with them, either. The second corebook, Age of Rebellion, does, but it also makes commanding ships that big part of the texture of play.

 

[Reynard]

They existed in wargaming before D&D.

They did not say "D&D invented levels" -- they said "computer games have levels because of D&D" which is true.

 

[Gradine]

Yes, but ... the Imperial system? Really? Grown adults shouldn't have to look up how Imperial measurements convert to one another within the same system while cooking or whatever. It's objectively dumb.

I think Celsius is similarly more logical -- freezing and boiling are great, logical points on the line -- but the fewer degrees in the human-comfortable range of the scale means it's less precise for day to day usage, IMO. If water boiled at 500 degrees or so, there'd be no question that it's the right way to go.

In a white room, certainly the metric system is superior to the imperial system in pretty much* every way. And yet...

As a product on an American society for nearly four decades, I don't know that I would ever get used to using kilograms over pounds when describing weights, kilometers over miles when describing distances, etc... That has nothing to do with objective superiority/inferiority and everything to do with comfort and familiarity.

And, when discussing measures of temperature, you hit the nail on the head on the one pro* that the imperial system has, generally speaking: granularity.

**Someone else did point out how the whole conversion of teaspoon/tablespoon ratios is stupid and I can't say I disagree with that