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I think this is more accurate as a description of the 2014 edition. What I've seen of the 2024 DMG has fewer options and more directed advice. It seems pretty clear to me at this point that WotC intends for players to be running more-or-less linear railroads, with combat encounters that don't...

I wasn't aware of that. FWIW, I'm happy to grant that level 20 encounters will be tough, but I've literally never played any. What most interests me are the levels that people frequently play at -- any balance over about level 10 is just gravy, as far as I'm concerned. Right. It's that 'sweet...

OK, I think I was reading too much into the difference between 'floor' and 'ceiling'. I stand by my flabbergastedness though. Dealing with scaling problems at higher levels doesn't help anyone if the baseline difficulty is so low it won't be a challenge anyway. 'Deadly' was never very helpful...

Wait, so you're saying that for a group of say, level 5 characters, a 'hard' encounter is actually easier than in 2014, so long as they don't get overwhelmed by a horde of mooks? Also, there is no deadly difficulty? Are XP values for monsters still the same as they were in 2014? I'm...

I think there are some cases (e.g. perception or investigation) where rolling in secret is actually better. My complaint isn't about secret vs. open rolls, it's about trust. Anyway, let me reiterate my previous concern: the official advice for DMs in the book for DMs for the new edition of...

I never fudge, and I never want anyone to lie to me about results. Otherwise, why are we even rolling the dice? I want an RPG, not the DM's story. I don't understand why anyone would be surprised that I don't want people to cheat when I play games with them.

Hmm. And then... Still very much in the realm of the impossible thing before breakfast, then. I didn't have high expectations of this book, but I might actually prefer the 2014 book's scattershot approach to straight-up telling DMs to railroad their players. Some of the other advice isn't...

1, i.e. 'meh.' I'm a little curious about what will be in the DMG, but that's about it.

This is a good post, but I'm going to quibble about one thing: The GM (MC) has tonnes of authority, and the setup is explicitly very traditional. It's just that they are enjoined not to do railroady BS. Like, some of the hard scene framing in the examples of play would make your average 5e DM blush.

I am once again compelled to sully this thread with my pedantry. Apologies in advance. I think the author of that blog (which I found interesting and insightful!) has a serious misunderstanding of what the 'system' in 'system matters' means. System means the system in use, and includes things...

The purpose of categorisation isn't to validate anyone's preferences. Take it as given that I generally accept your preferences as valid, and want to understand how to support them. When we start taking these terms ('cultures','agendas', whatever) and using them as personal identifiers, things...

I don't see how you got from that essay to any of those assertions. I also don't think it's productive to unearth ancient grudges in any discussion whose aim is enlightenment.

I understand the concept of purist-for-system, I just think it's very much of its time. IMO, there's a reason that style of design fell out of use. That doesn't mean that every unfashionable bit of design is bad -- but I think you can read something like AD&D or Rolemaster and find that there...

[citation needed]

I have it on good authority that the more popular a thing is, the gooder it is also. It's a crime that we even let people who aren't influencers make RPGs, honestly.

The distinction I (and I think @pawsplay , but I don't want to put words in their mouth) have been trying to make is between functional and superfluous detail. The Riddle of Steel is a game about driven people staking it all on vicious sword fights, and it has detailed and bloody rules for...

The problem with RPGs is there are too many of them and I don't have time to play them all. Like @Thomas Shey said, supers games might interest you. I've heard Marvel Universe is good, and not as crunchy as Champions/Hero, but I haven't played it myself. 13th Age is a really good suggestion...

I think might be compatible with neotrad if it means 'player railroading', but not if the arcs are looser and work more like flags -- characters are not static bundles of traits to be expressed if the game is premised on the idea of those traits being challenged. In the latter case (which is...

I think we're going to have to agree to disagree, then. I don't see any point in the article you linked that isn't either good advice for running/designing RPGs as such ('clear agency for PCs' and 'Chekov's gun' in particular), or an incidental technique that doesn't imply any particular agenda...

Isn't this just play as such? If there's no system, even an informal one, just force, I don't think we're even talking about RPGs anymore. Certainly not in a sense in which it matters much which system we are nominally playing. I think some 'indie' or 'story' games actually do just this. Is...