Recent content by Jacob Lewis

@I'm A Banana Appreciate you taking the time to go through it so closely. I won’t reply point by point, but I think there are a few areas where our views intersect in useful ways. You’re right that disengagement isn’t automatically bad—attention will naturally ebb and flow. My focus was more...

This is all well and good, but when are we going to see the numbers for traumas experienced, enemies made, and relationships ended as a result of playing? I'm sure anyone who's been playing since 'the Dark Times' (aka the 80s) can probably check at least one of these boxes. Represent! 🤤🤘

That’s a great example of how player and system expectations shape what we even try at the table. I’m not very familiar with Traveller, but it sounds similar to another system I’ve used—FFG’s Star Wars RPG—which encourages improvisation because its mechanics assume flexible use of skills in...

While I think “wasted turns” is usually a term you hear from the player side—someone spending a resource, power, or opportunity only to see nothing happen—I think it can apply to the game itself. If a turn requires a player to act, but only produces change when the action succeeds, that’s wasted...

I really appreciate you bringing this perspective—it’s one that doesn’t get voiced often, and many would dismiss as unrealistic simply because it doesn’t exist at their table. Or worse, they’d argue the player is “playing the wrong game.” In my experience (and from a similar place of...

I think you’re hitting on a common pattern: in systems like D&D, the rules train us to express almost everything numerically—bonuses, modifiers, extra damage—so our instinct is to “solve” engagement or narrative issues the same way. The challenge is that not all meaningful contributions or...

Thanks for these thoughts—there’s a lot to unpack. I especially appreciate the observation about how D&D’s wargame roots create expectations that every character must be fully involved in combat. That’s exactly the structural lens my essay is exploring: turn-based systems inherently isolate...

Exactly—and that’s the distinction that matters. Systems like Dungeon World or Daggerheart are built to reward narrative reactivity. The GM’s “offer an opportunity” or the use of spotlights is baked into their core feedback loops. What I’m talking about isn’t importing those systems into D&D or...

I agree about the risk of adding complexity. The real pitfall is when we try to solve mechanical problems with more mechanics. What I’m suggesting (and only briefly touched on in the essay) is a response to the narrative—something that breaks the mechanical loop without breaking the system...

Inspired by another thread on the topic, I decided to take a slightly different angle and dig a bit deeper into why players lose engagement during combat, exploring broader approaches—both structural and narrative—that can help keep everyone involved throughout. Introduction I consider the goal...

I understand why people reach for the 2e comparisons — it’s the clearest precedent we have for overextension and audience fragmentation. But that argument assumes the same market, audience, and infrastructure that existed thirty years ago, and that’s simply not true anymore. It’s become a kind...

Perhaps. But then again, WotC has already shown they’re willing to take risks—for example, crossing brands with Magic: The Gathering, Stranger Things, and Critical Role, each aimed at niche or outside audiences. Those products don’t appeal to everyone, but they still consume development time and...

They absolutely do, though — D&D is explicitly branded as “the world’s greatest roleplaying game” and continuously positioned as the origin and foundation of the hobby itself. And to be fair, it has earned much of that distinction. Its legacy, reach, and influence are undeniable, and its current...

I think there’s a lot of unexamined assumption in that framing. You’re describing an idealized table of close friends who all share compatible preferences and are content to compromise. That certainly exists, but it’s not universal—and it’s not a design metric. Many groups aren’t built from...

I get the joke, but that's actually driving it home for me. Nobody actually wants to “oppress” other playstyles, yet the structure of D&D creates that perception by default. Any time someone advocates for their preferred approach—whether tighter balance, more freedom, deeper story, or greater...