Unpopular opinions go here

[Dannyalcatraz]

There is no RPG that has vehicle combat that is fun to play out.

Any time I’ve been in a RPG campaign in which significant vehicle combat was involved, I opted or urged for the use of any vehicle combat game to handle it, if that were an option. So wargames like Star Fleet Battles, Starfire, Car Wars, Battletech, Crimson Skies, OGRE/G.E.V. and others were always on hand.

I sometimes do likewise when doing the mass combats for battles & wars, like using Federation & Empires for Star Trek fleet battles.

 

[Lanefan]

Except, not really. The fact that a game may use a spell point system or a spell slot system says nothing about what what the decision points for those systems entail or their relative complexity. The argument that spell points are an added layer of complexity compared to spell slots is an an argument built on a house of unsupported assumptions.

Upcasting (with slots) or points-boosting (with spell points) is an easy thing to get rid of, if one wants to simplfy things. Just have the spell effects automatically scale with caster level instead a la 1e-2e D&D.

 

[Lanefan]

Anyone that can't see how having spell points over a convoluted table in a game that has half casters, one-third casters, pact casters, and multiclassing in it...I'm not sure if you are looking at the whole picture. Also, spell tables encourage upcasting. Out of first level slots but want to throw a magic missile? Well, let's look up that description to see how that works again. With spell points-just cast a magic missile.

Ideally, the answer to the bolded question should be "sorry, you're out of luck; cast a spell of another level for which you still have a slot available".

The second bolded bit is the exact reason why spell points become more and more broken as character levels advance.

 

[Lanefan]

I suspect you are replying to someone I am no longer interested in listening to, but the answer to this remains the same as the last time you asked it in this very thread.

No, it is not theatre if there is no audience.

This sounds like one of those pointless "if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if nobody hears it?" questions (the answer of course is "yes it does").

Theater is still theater even if nobody happens to be watching at the time.

Just like singing is still singing even if the only person who can hear it is the singer.

 

[Lanefan]

Although I have thought you could probably get back some of the grittiness and high crunch of many 80s and 90s games by relying on VTTs to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Gear having finicky modifiers like Weapon Type vs AC, or expansive hit location and critical charts with lots of possible effects could be implemented pretty easily that way.

Except that means you have to play on a VTT, which makes the whole exercise pointless.

 

[overgeeked]

If you’re going to make an RPG about storytelling, you should read up on actual storytelling and how it works. Likewise, if you’re going to make an RPG specifically about mirroring the episodes of a TV show, you should read up on actual screenwriting and how it works.

 

[Gradine]

So much of both the tedious bookkeeping and the analysis paralysis of D&D combat centers around tracking how many times you can do cool things and figuring out whether it's worth it to spend those times in any given situation, and the most boring level up features are all about slightly increasing the number of times you can do cool things, and the worst rated classes and subclasses are there primarily because they don't get enough uses of their cool stuff.

They should just let everyone do their cool stuff all the time

 

[overgeeked]

So much of both the tedious bookkeeping and the analysis paralysis of D&D combat centers around tracking how many times you can do cool things and figuring out whether it's worth it to spend those times in any given situation, and the most boring level up features are all about slightly increasing the number of times you can do cool things, and the worst rated classes and subclasses are there primarily because they don't get enough uses of their cool stuff.

They should just let everyone do their cool stuff all the time

If not all the time, balance things are doing several cool things per combat instead of per day.

 

[Tutara]

This sounds like one of those pointless "if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound if nobody hears it?" questions (the answer of course is "yes it does").

Theater is still theater even if nobody happens to be watching at the time.

Just like singing is still singing even if the only person who can hear it is the singer.

You’re confusing cause with effect. Theatre is the result of the action, not the action itself (“I sing” or “I act” makes sense, “I theatre” does not). I can recite a monologue on my own in a room, it isn’t theatre unless there is an audience. You are entitled to your opinion, but it is (appropriately!) an unpopular one in academia.

Anyway, this is the last time I’m getting drawn out on this tangent. Moving on, all the best.

 

[Reynard]

Except that means you have to play on a VTT, which makes the whole exercise pointless.

Now, I bet THAT is an unpopular opinion. if not for VTT play I would not be playing at all. My player pool is dispersed across the country.