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  1. Ruin Explorer

    LLMs as a GM

    I kind of agree, but I don't think it's because the fundamental functionality as much as what some LLMs can autocomplete. What you're describing isn't fundamentally that different from fancy autocomplete. It's just got more layers to it, more of a recognition of syntax and so on, so maybe on...
  2. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    By "needs roleplay" do you mean "needs a backstory justification"?
  3. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    Even as you typed this you knew it was not what I said, so why even say that? The problem is people burning down the game to "win". Playing builds you don't even enjoy is just a symptom.
  4. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    Opinions aren't points, mate. You haven't pointed that out, you've expressed that opinion. Which is fine but different. And I strongly disagree with your opinion, because it seems like shallow Californian-style "peace and love" to me rather than anything practical. It's important to recognise...
  5. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    Sure, "jerk optimizers"/munchkins absolutely do thrive in easy games. That's why Monty Haul games tended to be associated with them. Especially because "jerk optimizers" are often not very good at optimizing, so they benefit from the easy-ness particularly. But that's a distinct subset of...
  6. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    I'm intrigued by this. What positive motivations could you even conceive for someone actively trying to "win" D&D, at the cost of the fun of both other players, and themselves (because we've already established they're not even having fun in any conventional sense as part of the premise)...
  7. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    Really? I would say 5E reaches far above that. Assuming you put your highest stat as your primary, and increase that from time to time, D&D's worst combination of race/class/subclass is probably like, a 5.5/10 where the best is probably a 10/10 (excluding multiclassing for now). And that's...
  8. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    What are you talking about? I'm not psychoanalyzing anyone. I'm talking about people who have actively made that decision. They exist - some of them actively admit it, for god's sake. They're rare, but they're a thing. And if someone is intentionally trying to "win" at an RPG, that is an...
  9. Ruin Explorer

    Diamond Distributors Asks Bankruptcy Court For Ownership of Publishers' Consignment Inventory [UPDATED]

    This seems pretty bad, RPG industry-wise. Diamond dumping a bunch of inventory on the market at low prices is probably not great period, but that the money it makes will then likely not actually go to any of the companies who they took that inventory from, but will compete directly with the...
  10. Ruin Explorer

    LLMs as a GM

    This is a very good post and I suggest people study it and understand it, honestly.
  11. Ruin Explorer

    LLMs as a GM

    AI might, LLMs won't. LLMs require significant work to even manage (c.f. this entire discussion), and ultimately are just predictive text writ large. They can't think. They can't come up with solutions. They can only spew out words in orders that seem likely to be appropriate to their prompts...
  12. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    The only real difference is mindset. The actual characters at the table may well be identical, mechanically - they'll just be played very differently! Someone who plays something they don't even like, simply because it's powerful and that's all that matters to them, not even having actual fun...
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  14. Ruin Explorer

    Winning and losing in RPGs...

    Minor point of order - players OR referee, not players AND referee. If either doesn't want the campaign to continue past the TPK, that campaign is over, and I've seen both situations. In fact, in a 2E campaign I ran, it came down to one player - he created a situation which lead to a TPK, he...
  15. Ruin Explorer

    Bob Worldbuilder debunks the Daggerheart license “scandal”

    Whilst I concur, and big respect for intentionally not covering because you correctly judged it "non-news", I will say that in this era, sad though it might be, it is kind of useful to have videos like this, however manufactured, to point people to, because for whatever reasons, it seems like...
  16. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    Yeah absolutely. This idea that optimized PCs and good roleplaying are somehow in opposition to each other is, frankly, not only pernicious and a little bit offensive, but demonstrably and obviously wrong a simple factual level, and even on a basic rational level! At best it's essentially a...
  17. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    I mean, I accept that may be how you choose to use the word, but if you interpret other people as meaning that, you're just intentionally confusing yourself. And if you use "optimized" without any clarification, to mean that, you're just confusing others. It's anti-communication. I mean, it's...
  18. Ruin Explorer

    D&D General What do you say when someone is thinking of quitting your game?

    Yeah I think that's about all you can say without knowing why they're quitting on a deeper level. My personal experience is that things don't generally just "stop being fun", there are usually more specific reasons, even if they're not directly connected to the game. Pretty much everyone (touch...
  19. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    This is a nonsensical statement. "Thrive" is relative. Non-optimized PCs benefit more and "thrive" more in a game that is "made easy for them". Optimization is less fun, less interesting, and makes less of a difference in a game where everything is "made easy", so the idea that optimizers...
  20. Ruin Explorer

    Optimization and optimizers...

    I don't think those people exist outside groups of bitter teenagers, who aren't really worth considering in these discussions because they grow up. The simple fact is, if you were a "snitch" on other people's PCs like that regularly, you'd become persona non grata in most groups within a...
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