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Right, this is why I've found the argument from gameplay more compelling. Consequences are unknowable to the player unless you include negotiation, and negotiation is generally unpleasant and bad gameplay (for the specific understanding of game-as-game). Plus, there are implications if you are...

I'm not sure I understand the confusion. The two options for this feature, Hunter's Target and Swift Feet both have "Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest" which seems pretty clear. Stride and Seek allows you to pick which order you get them in...

I'd probably lean more toward a unique mechanic, more like "pick a list of monsters, here's the point cost for each one from your daily pool of points" or even "design your own unique team using this list of monster traits with costs" over trying to fit this all in the spell list.

This is just confusion about fandom vs. sports teams, right? We're mixing up "be interested in" and "root for?" Mostly this feels like more confirmation that we're trying to shove two disparate things into the same container and getting annoyed when they're incompatibly different.

I'm not entirely sold that we can't do a summoning class honestly, with actual stat blocks and all, but I definitely don't think it should be on the wizard chassis. That's very much it's own thing, and probably should be burning minion resources (summon hit points, bodies/LR, rounds/day...

I'm suddenly getting a massive whitespace appended to the end of every post in the mobile view. I haven't seen anything like it before and it's not a factor in desktop mode. Is this affecting anyone else? Something known I can troubleshoot on my end?

I assumed you're pointing at something here like my frustration with stories where two characters who ostensibly share a goal fail to share relevant information in a plot impacting way? I've read a lot where attempts at "character flaw" simply read as incompetence.

Yeah, I didn't find the idea of exploration of system sitting alongside exploration of genre compelling either, but I still think the thing you're discussing is compellingly different; exploration of system is different from application of system. Same way deckbuilding isn't actually playing a...

I don't think what you're talking about here fits into the same category either. I'm not totally sure I buy the case, but that seems more like system exploration focused sim, if we're going back to the Tuovinen article. That's certainly exploration of system, but I'd argue the gameplay element...

I'm late to the party, but I think there's a subtle broadening of "gamist" going on here. Sometimes it seems to mean "a game that's about pursuing an agenda of making strong gameplay decisions to achieve victory", and other times it seems to mean "a game with overt mechanics that don't map...

This is... Strange. Like, the reason systems are interesting is to present challenges that can be honestly engaged with. If you're not going to do that, you're not playing a game at all, and the whole point of the activity is different. Plus, why would you want the "gamers" there if you're not...

I don't know why you'd want to play a game about it at that point, better just to do collaborative storytelling outright. Plus the rules are kind of the point; it should be fun to use them and know about them. If it's not, then they should be different. I like rules; if there aren't really any...

Not the bit I care about, really. I draw a pretty hard line between "gathering more information about the board state" by asking the GM questions about the world and situation and then deploying rules to resolve it the way you'd like. I like RPGs because they're such a great a source of new and...

My complaints are many. :p The biggest problem though is that play often isn't about using the rules to get a desired outcome, or problem solving the current board state, so much as negotiating with me about what should be possible. That can all too easily veer even further into negotiating...

I've been almost exclusively a GM on and off for the last 15 years. My current group has been playing for 3. I play a lot of games that are competitive, but I'm not especially highly ranked at any of them. I design and playtest board games regularly as well. I don't think I'd describe myself...

Yeah, I put the blame on the traditional insistence on loosely held rules. It's quite difficult to trust the same entity with playing the opposition and handling resolution fairly. It's easier in a world without rule zero and clear resolution systems to not worry about it. Failing that, you...

I really don't think that's a behavior fundamentally related to playful competition. I met up with the same 3 friends to play 18xx games weekly, which are long economic strategy games without any random elements. We're all competing, but it's not especially relevant who wins, so much as how it...

I've never found discussions of "fun" particularly useful or relevant. It's clearly something people can get from games, but isn't exclusive to games, and if you can do it wholly outside the structure of a game, then its either irrelevant or actually harmful as a design consideration...

I generally think that role-playing is specifically the domain of goal-setting, and that it's symbiotic with the "game" stuff to make the complete TTRPG. You could source goals from something else in an unbounded system, like an open ended city building game, for example, but that wouldn't be...

I think there's some confusion here about what "winning" is for exactly. You're focusing a lot on the competitive angle, which I agree doesn't really apply to TTRPGs outside of some really unusual table setups, but that's not the only purpose that setting a goal and checking if you've achieved...