D&D (2024) Things You Think Would Improve the Game That We WON'T See

[payn]

If character generation isn't harder than filling your taxes, are you even really playing an RPG?

#GURPSbyHRBlock

Reminds me of Pathfinder. Every time the characters gained a level, the players would groan about how it felt like "having to file their taxes before the next gaming session."

I like it.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You're the one who seems to think simple = good. I didn't argue the opposite.

Am I?
That is interesting.

Could it be that it is only what you read into it?

Could it be that you really need to look up how "equalities" work? You might also look up "inclusions".

You might also look up on the KISS* design principle.

*Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. (2016, June 5). What is Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)?. Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/keep-it-simple-stupid

Edit:
While googling for you, I also found the YAGNI** design principle linked at the bottom.

**"You ain't gonna need it." which translates to: "Don't add feature noone uses".

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Nowhere on the simplicity - complexity spectrum is objectively always good or always bad. It's all about context and preference.

Did anyone disagree with this? For 5e that means, simplicity is better, because more people seem to prefer simplicity over complexity*. That does nit mean, that there is also money to make in a more complex RPG based on the 5e chassis for the slightly smaller audience that include you. LevelUP I look at you.




*Works for apple too. That does not mean I particularily like their products. I was close to throw one them against my wall, to be honest.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Am I?
That is interesting.

Could it be that it is only what you read into it?

Could it be that you really need to look up how "equalities" work? You might also look up "inclusions".

You might also look up on the KISS* design principle.

*Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. (2016, June 5). What is Keep It Simple, Stupid (KISS)?. Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/keep-it-simple-stupid

Edit:
While googling for you, I also found the YAGNI** design principle linked at the bottom.

**"You ain't gonna need it." which translates to: "Don't add feature noone uses".

I don't agree with the universality of KISS and similar principles, and I am on record many times regarding my disdain for popularity being a guiding light in design.

Keep trying to paint me as ignorant though.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Did anyone disagree with this? For 5e that means, simplicity is better, because more people seem to prefer simplicity over complexity*. That does nit mean, that there is also money to make in a more complex RPG based on the 5e chassis for the slightly smaller audience that include you. LevelUP I look at you.




*Works for apple too. That does not mean I particularily like their products. I was close to throw one them against my wall, to be honest.

Popularity only matters insofar as maximizing profit is concerned. Neither principle is a priority for me in game design, and I do not care how many or how few agree with me on that.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Reminds me of Pathfinder. Every time the characters gained a level, the players would groan about how it felt like "having to file their taxes before the next gaming session."

We're playing through Outlaws of Alkenstar now, and part of that seems to be because general and skill feats often aren't very sexy. General it seems to go Toughness, Fleet, then Assurance then "who cares". Skill has some great stuff for certain skills (Bon Mot! Battle Medicine!), and then just dreck for others.

 

[cbwjm]

How is your opinion of what's good any better than mine?

How is your opinion better than mine, you often come across as if what your saying is fact and better than current design.

So fine, I'll say it like this. I believe that creating a unified mechanic that consolidated so many mismatched systems into the d20 system was a stroke of brilliance that made it far easier for everyone, new players and old, to play the game.

 

[Stalker0]

con is now so irrelevant, 90% of characters have CON 14.
you could delete it, give everyone +2 HP per level, move CON saves to STR and most people would not even notice that you now play with 5 instead of 6 abilities.

I mean sure if you move all of the things a stat does to other things than yeah that stat wouldn’t matter.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I don't agree with the universality of KISS and similar principles, and I am on record many times regarding my disdain for popularity being a guiding light in design.

You are still mixing up logic.
Popularity is not the design goal. Popularity is what you get if you follow good design principles.

Keep trying to paint me as ignorant though.

Not my goal. But as long as you think I believe "poularity = good" or "popularity => good" , I try to help you understand.

For your information it is "KISS => highest level of user acceptance and interaction". As you can read in the article I linked to.
And "highest level of user acceptance and interaction => easier time of gaining popularity".

That logic can't be logically turned around to "popularity => good" so popularity is not a useful design goal. KISS is. And popularity is what hopefully follows.

That said, there are a lot of factors that can also lead to popularity.
And WotC uses popularity as an indicator for the acceptance of their design. And a lack of popularity not always means it has to be simpler. I think the acceptance in the playtest often was just a measurement of power level rather than good design. I hope they had a good way of unraveling it.

 

[Lanefan]

I believe that creating a unified mechanic that consolidated so many mismatched systems into the d20 system was a stroke of brilliance that made it far easier for everyone, new players and old, to play the game.

While at the same time causing some mechanical elements of the game to not do their jobs nearly as well, either due to a loss of granularity or a loss of bespoke aspects that made them work better.

Roll-under-stat for perception or knowledge or memory etc. is a good example of these. It made each point in each stat mean something, it had a clear bespoke aspect (low is good) that kept everyone aware of what was being rolled for and why, and it provided slightly more grnularity than roll-plus-bonus.