Unpopular opinions go here

[Scribe]

Heres a real one.

I honestly believe that even some (dare I say most?) of the people I disagree with, are too smart not to understand a basic truth.

5e is successful in large part by playing to the tropes it does, because they are foundational aspects of the western view on Fantasy, in a feedback loop.

Fighter - Warrior
Rogue - Rogue
Druid - Druid
Ranger - Hunter
Wizard - Mage
Warlock - Warlock
Cleric - Priest
Paladin - Paladin

On the left, we have D&D, and on the right, we have WoW.

All of this stuff is absolutely core in the public consciousness of nerd/gamer culture.

The reason we have this small selection, is that for the VAST majority of gamers, thats all you need.

We dont need some vast shake up. The majority of players will not have even thought of the stupid things we will gleefully fight over for 100's of pages, and most of the 'must fix issues' are simply not relevant to the majority of players.

Unpopular opinion: 5e was what it needed to be, and its release version was not just fine, it was good, and most of you know it to.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Heres a real one.

I honestly believe that even some (dare I say most?) of the people I disagree with, are too smart not to understand a basic truth.

5e is successful in large part by playing to the tropes it does, because they are foundational aspects of the western view on Fantasy, in a feedback loop.

Fighter - Warrior
Rogue - Rogue
Druid - Druid
Ranger - Hunter
Wizard - Mage
Warlock - Warlock
Cleric - Priest
Paladin - Paladin

On the left, we have D&D, and on the right, we have WoW.

All of this stuff is absolutely core in the public consciousness of nerd/gamer culture.

The reason we have this small selection, is that for the VAST majority of gamers, thats all you need.

We dont need some vast shake up. The majority of players will not have even thought of the stupid things we will gleefully fight over for 100's of pages, and most of the 'must fix issues' are simply not relevant to the majority of players.

Unpopular opinion: 5e was what it needed to be, and its release version was not just fine, it was good, and most of you know it to.

It definitely gets the job done for most people, and I've said as much. I just don't like how it's evolved since 2020.

 

[Emberashh]

Unpopular opinion: 5e was what it needed to be, and its release version was not just fine, it was good, and most of you know it to.

I think it was this topic, but Ive argued before that 5e is, contrary to the popular perception, a rules light game and thats what, as far as game design is concerned, contributes to its staying power.

Despite the large page count dedicated to a whole lot of often complex hullabaloo, the actual game when stripped of all that hullabaloo is tiny, and even more importantly, playable.

D20 as a system just works for being playable out of the box, and you generally don't actually need content for it to work.

Now, obviously this isn't to say that 5e's content isn't still problematic, it obviously is else you wouldn't have massive sections of every RPG space ever dedicated to its problems, but the system is set up in a way that these problems just fall away in practice, because the game simply doesn't break if you let that happen.

This is ultimately why for most people once they find their favorite brand of content (ie, their favorite indie version of DND) they tend to stick with it even though its basically the same game as countless others, including the ones you hate.

But, this is all just mechanics and systems. It doesn't tell the whole story, only why the system isn't always abrasive to the millions who play it.

It also doesn't mean that the system itself is necessarily good or that it couldn't be improved; rules light isn't the secret ingredient. After all, if it was, Pathfinder and Call of Cthulu (nevermind GURPs) wouldn't be the proverbial runnerups.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I don't know if that's true, but I think they do reveal core issues that cause the probelms -- issues that would remain even if cell phones disappeared. Or, more bluntly: you are boing your players and cell phones disappearing won't fix that.

I have to admit I've been tempted to (and on a couple occasions when in a feisty mood did) want to respond to "I want you to be paying attention to the game all the time" with "Then make me want to."

 

[Reynard]

I have to admit I've been tempted to (and on a couple occasions when in a feisty mood did) want to respond to "I want you to be paying attention to the game all the time" with "Then make me want to."

To be fair, that's not just the responsibility of the GM. When it is another player's spotlight time, you need to stay engaged. And when it is your spotlight time, you need to work toward making the scene engaging. This, more than Mercer's GMing or anything else, is what CR excels at and serves as a good example.

But, yeah, if the GM's game is boring, let them know (preferably diplomatically).

 

[overgeeked]

The only thing worse than someone who thinks they’re funny but aren’t is someone who thinks they’re funny but aren’t and is always on.

 

[Tony Vargas]

5e is successful in large part by playing to the tropes it does, because they are foundational aspects of the western view on Fantasy, in a feedback loop.

Fighter - Warrior
Rogue - Rogue
Druid - Druid
Ranger - Hunter
Wizard - Mage
Warlock - Warlock
Cleric - Priest
Paladin - Paladin

On the left, we have D&D, and on the right, we have WoW.

So
5e
D&D
is
WoW

That's your final answer?

 

[Scribe]

So
5e
D&D
is
WoW

That's your final answer?

No, 5e is an attempt at a baseline D&D designed under the assumption that it may well be the final official version following the failures of 4e and as such it leaned into the most traditional tropes to be the most 'D&D version of D&D'.

WoW looks a lot like it from a class perspective, because its understood by many that there is a fundamental version of Fantasy (Western) which D&D covers, and WoW was obviously influenced by.

 

[Cadence]

No, 5e is an attempt at a baseline D&D designed under the assumption that it may well be the final official version

I have nothing in my head saying I had ever heard this before the last few days. What is your favorite place to read more on that?

 

[Scribe]

I have nothing in my head saying I had ever heard this before the last few days. What is your favorite place to read more on that?

There was a YouTube podcast with one of the designers, saying they thought they were writing their own pink slips. I'll search when I get home but it's fairly recent.