Recent content by Jacob Lewis

Right. It's a concept whose time may have passed. With so many different systems out there being published and accessible, there's no need for a single universal system. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter how good or inventive the system is, but how many people are playing it...

Agreed. Continuing down that rabbit hole of thought, I believe there are other systems that are flexible enough to convert most ideas and settings in a similar way. We don't see those very often from publishers because the motive is to broaden their market. Obviously, you're not going to waste a...

Weird. I thought everyone was happy converting their own game systems and ideas everything using 5e. Does that make D&D a generic system, or has the premise of a generic system become moot at this point? 🤔

Likewise. Sure! First, I don't disagree with that approach. I think it is how it should be handled, regardless if the game has rules and mechanics to support you doing it. But I do feel that a lot of systems fall short in this area, leaving it to the GMs to compensate for what I feel is...

I know nothing about Exalted, so thank you for sharing and explaining all that! Based on your description, it sounds like a familiar pattern of trying to make non-combat as interesting and engaging as combat in that system. But from their perspective, "interesting" and "engaging" means more...

That's fairly common advice, but I wouldn't pass that off as a solution to anything. It's compensation for a game that doesn't provide what is needed because they couldn't figure out how to make the necessary rules and mechanics to make their system work. You're either improvising or doing the...

I've given this some thought. I have been going through this process myself with my own projects, so it has been on my mind for a while. It's possible, but I would not frame it that way. If combat is "important" to the game and takes up 200 pages of the manual, then an equal amount might be...

These are very strong opinions supporting non-factual ideas. If we believe there is no other way to accomplish any of these things, then how can we expect anything different to make a change? But let's make sure we're talking about the same things here because up to this point, we're both being...

Fair. I re-read it and realized I was heavy-handed with some of my word choices. Wires got crossed, too. I allowed myself to get rushed when I should've cooked it longer. I've amended my post, but I'll need to come back when I have more time to put better words together. Or at all.

Serious question: Did the rest of the post not explain "why not" to you? Because when you pull one sentence out of context like that, it reads different than what was actually wrote. So I don't know if you're legitimately wanting another explanation or a clarification. But you're not giving me...

I'd take that a step further. In a lot of games, you'll make more decisions and roll more dice removing all hit points from opponents than you will dealing with anything else. You might spend an hour or longer in real time to resolve a fight that takes less than a minute in game time. But only...

I did say "almost", but I probably should've gone with "largely", or something that sounds less accommodating or exhaustive. The constraints are different, but your pool and parameters have widened immensely. You may find more people able to fit in a particular time constraint because 1) they...

Playing online has made this particular point of contention almost irrelevant now. Covid proved that it was a viable way to play the game without ever leaving the house, or confining yourself to just the people in your immediate area/town/city. It may not be the preferred way for everyone, but...

I think I know this one...: Fighters are the red meats, Paladins are the white meats. Barbarians are meats charred over an open flame. Clerics are potatoes, Druids are vegetables. Rangers are fish, Monks are all other seafood. Wizards are lasagna, Sorcerers are pasta. Warlocks are pizza...

That is essentially how it's been done since the hobby began. And that has worked out for a lot of people. Heck, I might even suggest it worked for most people. They would not be playing anything if they weren't able to make it work. But it isn't always easy, or pleasant. "Storyteller" and...