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I generally like the idea of the Far Realm and think there's a way to link it to ideas like primordial chaos, but that gets close to the Abyss and what 4E already did so I take your point. Seems like a generally good idea to refluff things to suit their theme. The big conceptual themes behind...

I agree with you. Aberrations as a catch all isn't my favorite thing and you pose good questions on how to go about building out the Far Realms and aberrations effectively. Dropping the 4E aberrant origin and Far Realm lore was a missed opportunity! Defining aberrations as creatures whose...

What defines aberrations has so much wiggle room I'm a little unsure of the inherent value in keeping them as a distinct type in a hypothetical 6E. Are they cosmic horrors, psychic creatures, simply weird, or all of the above and more? If we're trying to unify aberrations by saying they're...

I agree with this and would also like to add that that scene is fantastic. Especially after having watched way more of Sam Raimi's horror movies since the first time I saw Spider-Man 2 and forgetting the specifics of the scene. Having a view of a mind flayer attacking a group of people while...

Now I'm imagining how jaded and disaffected the commoner who kept making their saves against random monsters coming from the forest to raid the village would be.

No less than for the financial reason that there may be employees, customers, or potential customers they're disrespecting by doing otherwise. Charisma or Wisdom saving throws for fear and horror saves representing sense of self or force of will?

Also, here's a response from a friend who specializes in First Amendment law who is somewhat of a free speech absolutist and has some issues with that framing.

If bigotry will always find a platform then people who are opposed to it are then obligated to make sure giving a platform to bigotry isn't incentivized by those in positions of authority and power. Disincentivizing people with hateful views from engaging in spreading hateful rhetoric is a...

Charles Stross says they were an invention from when he was GMing a campaign. https://archive.is/20100208231909/http://www.sevendead.com/charles-stross-interview/

I think the topics are pretty relevant. The bit about use of force is applicable to further spelling out social encounters beyond the Persuasion, Intimidation, or attack roll options.

That's not really how the term coercion is used when it comes to strategy or the use of force. Inducement is something like promising to buy a hypothetical 6E once WotC addresses a person's concerns, which is your "spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down" analogy. Coercion (I guess...

By harm do you mean the use of force against others? Otherwise, that line of thinking seems to break down in my mind when we overly simplify harm as a simple binary when it's a complex continuum including persuasion, coercion, inducement/threat of the use of force, and the actual use of force...

I don't think the plague was necessary and it certainly wasn't my intention to suggest so in raising that your narrative overlooked the AIDS pandemic and the failed response. I'm saying it happened, and to not acknowledge it does a disservice to the dead and diminishes the agency from the LGBTQ+...

Also worth acknowledging it took the AIDS epidemic and the deaths of 675,000 people in the US to date to get people to listen. Members of the LGBTQ+ community lead the fight for equality in the shadow of a systemic failure to respond to a pandemic and deserve more credit than the Supreme Court...

Given that we do know about his personal beliefs, I'd still probably recommend those as the ones to read. The stories get pretty same-y if you read enough of the short stories close to each other. Dunwich Horror at least has a slightly positive ending and some characterization. It's funny too...

I'm reading Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler and Experiments in Ethics by Kwame Anthony Appiah.

That gets at another thing WotC could improve for "Appendix E: Inspirational Reading" in the Player's Handbook—provide some kind of context on why they recommend the individual readings and how they influenced the game design. There's very little context and it isn't that helpful as presented...

We can call attention to the odious views that suffuse his works without actively discouraging reading them. And, if calling attention to that does discourage people from reading them, then that's the individual person's choice to not read him. If any of my friends wanted to read Lovecraft and...

Bringing back the Avenger gets my endorsement. Though I miss the Monk as an option.

No, I was asking a leading question to point out that the Marketplace of Ideas framework is still the primary one in effect. :p