Unpopular opinions go here

[Autumnal]

Gauntlet is just Pong with resource bars.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I was actually debating a post where I would put forth the idea that there are a lot of video game genres that TTRPGs have barely begun emulating, including the genre of "cozy games" to which Stardew Valley belongs. There is even an upcoming cozy game MMO called Palia, so it's moving out of the realm of the single-player expierence. But maybe one of the closest to a cozy game TTRPG off the top of my head is maybe Wanderhome.*

* Edit: Oh! And also Ryuutama!

Kind-of Flatpack?

 

[Thomas Shey]

Among my several near-death experiences, I’ve experienced both near-fatal hyperthermia and hypothermia. Because of the latter, my fingers are still unusually sensitive to low temps, more than 40 years later.

And I will STILL choose cold weather over hot weather. Every. Dang. Time.

I don't think I'd care to live some place that regularly gets really cold weather, but I'd easily trade off colder winters for less hot summers. On the other hand, I should only complain so much given where I've been has been, at most, hitting 90's the last few weeks as compared to what people in Arizona and Texas are dealing with.

 

[Faolyn]

There are a few of the alignment-based planes that turned out cool eventually, but there's a lot that are just sort of...there. I really like Mechanus as this ultra orderly clockwork dimension, and just about anything can be found in the Abyss (all of it generally bad). But I don't get a lot of mileage out of Limbo, Acheron, Carceri/Tarterus, Hades. And the Upper Planes? You could mash them all up into one generic "Heaven" plane as far as I'm concerned. Sure, Greek inspired Heaven is different than Norse inspired Heaven, but I've rarely seen them used for anything interesting; at least the other planes are filled with antagonists or strange beings that require some interesting roleplay to interact with.

Funnily enough, when it comes to the lower planes, I far prefer Acheron, Carceri, Hades, and Pandemonium, since I find those far cooler than either The Nine Hells or the Abyss. However, I would just fine, even happier, if all the lower planes were mashed into a single Hell, with regions or layers for different types of weird evil. Ditto for Heaven, with different regions or layers for different types of paradise. It's what I do for my own (still under-developed) cosmos... that I never really use, because nobody ever travels to the outer planes.

 

[Faolyn]

Each setting, and arguably each culture/species within each setting, should have its own (view of) cosmology, its own pantheon of deities, and so forth. This is a large part of what makes each of those cultures what they are. Players would learn of some of these through their characters, in play.

See, that's logical in the real world, where the gods are... not actually active and don't grant spells. But in a fantasy world, where the gods are active, I don't think it's actually realistic. Why would you have so many gods who just stick in their own little part of the world and never try to expand? Why have so many gods who are in charge of the same thing?

What might be more realistic is a "masks of god" thing: one set of gods, each of which is worshiped under different names in different areas.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Diablo is just a fancy version of Gauntlet.

Both are just roguelikes with a lot of unnecessary graphics slapped onto what worked perfectly well with ASCII.

 

[Aldarc]

See, that's logical in the real world, where the gods are... not actually active and don't grant spells. But in a fantasy world, where the gods are active, I don't think it's actually realistic. Why would you have so many gods who just stick in their own little part of the world and never try to expand? Why have so many gods who are in charge of the same thing?

What might be more realistic is a "masks of god" thing: one set of gods, each of which is worshiped under different names in different areas.

Funnily enough, I had considered a game where the whole "gods of the land" was quite literal. The gods were dead, and although the gods had "died," their spirits still dwelled in the earth, but the geographical area of each god's influence was tied to the area around where they died. So why are there so many gods of the same thing? Because each god's reach in the world is geographically limited.

But that idea is really neither here nor there when it comes to your point above. I quite agree, which is why I prefer Green Ronin's Book of the Righteous or 4e D&D's approach to building a generic pantheon.

 

[Nikosandros]

Both are just roguelikes with a lot of unnecessary graphics slapped onto what worked perfectly well with ASCII.

And they are both sadly lacking in kestrels.

 

[overgeeked]

Both are just roguelikes with a lot of unnecessary graphics slapped onto what worked perfectly well with ASCII.

Anything more complicated than Zork is a waste of time.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Anything more complicated than Zork is a waste of time.

I will not stand for this Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy slander.