Unpopular opinions go here

[Professor Murder]

Would frequency of play be a factor in this equation? So some RPGers get to play every week, other average twice a month.

I tried to leave the time consideration squishy. Mainly, I mean people who are going to stick in the hobby, instead of people just passing through. No shade on people who gaming doesn't click with, but for those who get stuck in, I honestly feel you become a better player by being a GM, at the very least.

 

[Reynard]

Everyone who engages with the TTRPG hobby for any reasonable length of time (say, more than 1 year) should feel an obligation to GM at least one game.

As a corollary, "forever GMs" should force themselves to play every once in awhile as a refresher on what players experience.

 

[Willie the Duck]

To be fair, I am entirely convinced a lot of splat books were published in the 1990s with the idea that more people would read them than use them in a game.

This certainly describes 90% of my 90s White Wolf purchases. For 90s A/D&D, it was more 50:50 (a lot of the setting material is stuff that only might come up; everyone did start buying dog pepper and tar paper and other thievery equipment once Complete Book of Thieves came out, but it often got forgotten once play commenced). For other games like GURPS or D&D 3E, there were a lot of purchases that involved the hope that this new nugget of text I skimmed in the FLGS would be the one that remade my game for the better.

I'm waiting for the really Final Fantasy before I start playing. Otherwise, it just feels like false advertising.

No, the name is meaningful and accurate. It was Sakaguchi's Final attempt at making a hit game (otherwise he'd go back to university), and possibly Square's as well, as if it wasn't a hit they could easily have gone bankrupt.

I consider that less a D&D problem, and more of a player problem. Plus, it’s not limited to just D&D. It’s just more obvious there due to D&D’s ubiquity. Any RPG with any complexity has rhe same issue, in no small part, because the GM is frequently the only player at the table with the rulebook or knowledge or experience with the game system.
And if BG3 penetrates the 5e community enough to help, that’s GREAT.

Unpopular opinion -- we spend far too much time splitting hairs over responsibility and fault. D&D has a RTFM problem (how big a deal it is is certainly up for debate), and exactly if it is a game problem or player problem is relatively immaterial*. The problem exists, and my hope is that the D&D(2024) devs are putting many times as much effort into making the gamebooks accessible and communicative as they are rearranging the deck chairs with class abilities. *Not completely, of course, as knowing the why of the problem does help you solve it.

 

[innerdude]

Unpopular opinion: I prefer rules systems that don't tightly couple rules to a bespoke setting.

If the rules aren't flexible enough to be ported with minimal effort outside whatever bespoke setting the author dreamed up, the game is destined to become a resident of the Grand Duchy of Fantasy Heartbreak.

 

[Pedantic]

As a corollary, "forever GMs" should force themselves to play every once in awhile as a refresher on what players experience.

"Everyone trapped in the mines should be forcibly dragged up to see the sun and eat cake once a year, no matter how much they protest!"

 

[Warpiglet-7]

The dog owners in our neighborhood seem pathologically incapable of not having their dogs run away regularly. The outdoor cat owners in our neighborhood always seems shocked when their little one hasn't found its way home... even when the post in the neighborhood group right before theirs is again about coyotes being seen. The cat lovers also seem offended if it is pointed out that their cats have the same restraint/stay-in yard laws in town as the dogs.

Had a dog growing up - it only ever got out of the yard twice and only went in a bedroom once. Currently we have two small-australian-crested-dinosaurs that have the run/flight of the living room.

We have coyotes hawks and owls! Even with a fenced backyard we don’t take it for granted…

The dogs are supervised as much as the kids All of our cats have been indoor cats. I am too overprotective to do otherwise.

 

[Professor Murder]

Unpopular opinion: If you don't like a game, keep it to yourself unless asked. Instead promote the games you do like.

 

[Gradine]

Done! @Gradine , that was awesome! Also, Mystic Quest did have a rocking soundtrack, and I found it overall fun.

Here's my unpopular opinion: Final Fantasy Mystic Quest is a great game

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

As a corollary, "forever GMs" should force themselves to play every once in awhile as a refresher on what players experience.

IME, most “forever GMs” would LOVE to be players, but are not afforded the opportunity because they’re in a group (or groups) where nobody else is willing to run games.

 

[Faolyn]

This is why I believe that Batman is stuck in "arrested development" as a petulant manchild in the minds of many people. Batman is constantly rebooted before Batman gets his sidekick Robin. Robin (and the subsequent "Bat Family") is essential for Bruce Wayne's character development. Batman needs Robin. Batman is a better person and character with Robin. But because some people view Robin or sidekicks as "silly," Batman can't progress beyond being a brooding manchild in a cowl.

They should just skip past Dick Grayson and Jason Todd and go straight to Tim Drake, since he might be the first one to have said that out loud.