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Reelo, might I suggest you carefully read what others have written before responding. Nowhere in my post did I say "buy[ing] tons of stuff..." The point was about spending whatever level of money you intend or need to spend at places that support what we do. I think you might have missed that...

Social media and D&D 5E came together in a way that helped to explode this system. Watching a group of friends who are not teens nor even twenties playing and having a great time, all while expressing their creativity, has had a significant effect. Watching/listening to these shows has made it...

Yes! Great storytelling-roleplaying approach to the game. The dog example (quick and crude as it may be), makes for an interesting side story, which allows the players to interact and earn their advantage. Engage, interact, put your character into the story in a dynamic way. Use your...

My suggestion (IMHO): I've seen a number of articles on the GM's responsibility to make sure the players are happy. It is an important point. But here is my "deeper" take on this theme. What about the GM? Is the GM "earth mother" who is quite happy to allow the players to suckle any way that...

I don't require anything above what the rules require to create the character. However, I strongly urge/cajole/promote the importance of building a multi-dimensional character. If we play RPG's, yet only play the stats, are we really playing an RPG? And if so, what constitutes the "Role?" The...

My statement was directed more to the overall philosophy of RPG playing, rather than the what and how of it. And it is one person's opinion, not necessarily the best or the right one for everyone. But let's not fall into the "exclude the middle" fallacy. Of course there has to be balance. I am...

Why the concern, by some posters, for power parity? As in life, some have been born with greater (and sometimes much greater) natural talents, skills, etc. This desire to balance everything is akin to homogenizing milk. It all gets spun into a sameness. And sameness is death in art, as in life...

I stand corrected. The names for the dwarfs in The Hobbit, including the name for Gandalf (originally Gandalfr), comes for an old Norse poem.

Based upon much of what I have read here, this would seem a fair description: Tolkien's writings played a role in the formation of D&D. However, so did many other sources. And Tolkien drew from many much older sources of myth and fantasy writing--not the least was fantasy writing for children...

A fine summation. Rarely is anything so simple or one-dimensional. And interesting, relative to this thread, the above quote could have been said about Tolkien. It doesn't diminish his work, but it does help to put it into proper perspective. Sometimes the genius is not in the pure creativity...

Originally Posted by Yaarel (Textual criticism is a science. Albeit it is a ‘human science’, like history and psychology, as opposed to a ‘physical science’.) Science is not so much a "thing" as it is an approach. This cognitive technique can be used for studying any subject, whether of a...

I always own up to what I write, not only the content but the context. Tongue in cheek means exactly what I intended. If one can't laugh at the world, and themselves, what is the point of anything, since life is one giant ball of absurdity in which each of us is the butt of the joke. While it is...

Another cognitive nugget: If you can only accomplish things in a fantasy world because you have some "mechanic," perhaps you are not ready to think for yourself. While I have no study to support this, I will make a hypothesis: Free-thinking creative types prefer Castles & Crusades, and D&D 5E...

I don't need to prove a negative, as I am not trying to prove, but to predict. Once again, we--meaning humans--do it all the time. I am making a reasonable assessment based upon current information as to what is not only probable, but quite possible. The fact that Arneson was already...

Thanks for the advice on how to read, but I already had that covered. While it may be true there exists a "clarification," the title stands out such that it is either simply an attention getter, or it is making the truer claim as to the meaning of the posting. If I title a post, "All optimizers...

Balance in all things Good point Greg. I should have been more specific. I was really trying to make the point, clearly not very clearly, that the personality of the character should get as much thought as does the thinking that goes into the "optimizing." To further expand: There are many...

To go back to the original thread question, "Why does 5e suck?" This question assumes that it has been proven to "suck." It hasn't. For an individual to say it sucks for me is one thing, that is a subjective statement. We all have particular likes and dislikes. But to make an objective statement...

Mistwell, while I agree with you on the oranges, tangerines, etc. I think the broccoli stems were quite adequate. Thou the basket weaving could have been somewhat more tightly woven.

For some to claim that it was Tolien who gave us the "zero to hero" character clearly has not read any of the "Jack" stories (of which there are hundreds). The idea of the "reluctant hero" predates Tolkien by thousands of years. Or the possible hero who is drawn into the story by accident, or...

Is it absurd to claim that the human mind can look at facts in evidence and make reasonable suppositions based upon the available information? No, we do it all the time. Without which you and I wouldn't wake up in the morning to hot and cold running water; or modern dentistry; or successful...