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The assassin is much more different from the rogue than is being suggested because of the domains, although Nightwalker makes a decent enough classical assassin and Poisoner should be a Rogue not an Assassin. More accurately the subclasses should be allowed to change domains. The big difference...

I'm simply going to laugh at the idea that Apocalypse world has few meaningful choices during character generation. And then try to work out what "just going up the middle" would even be in that game.

Session Zero is a surprisingly new thing in the history of RPGs, in part because fighting over or waiting for the rulebook leads to a bad introduction to a game. To the point the term barely existed before the 2010s and even indie games from the late 00s/early 10s you'd expect to talk about...

Equally in my experience when strangers meet the default optimisation level at an open table is +3ish ("smart naive choices" such as maxing your primary stat) - and +4 in a +3 game isn't a problem (and neither is +2). On the other hand +0 or more rarely a +1 can get the character killed - and...

I'm sorry to hear that.

Learning your character so your lack of knowledge of what you have chosen to play doesn't cause slowdown at the table as we all have to wait for you is not an optimisation issue. It's a good manners issue - and there are some optimisers who also have this type of bad manners (generally because...

Alas no :( It's just over a month since the first book came out and they can't keep it in stock.

I've been known to refer to Fear as my "shoulder demon"; I get far more Fear than I'd consider it fair to make things up in a normal D&D game.

When you're throwing out the jerks I suggest starting with people who love sending people crying from the table; I find it hard to imagine being more of a jerk than this at a gaming table without actual physical violence. I would then move on to people who define a group that people call...

You can't win an RPG. But you can lose. As I have said before if you are taking seriously being in a life or death situation with a non-suicidal character then you will try to optimise your in character decisions like equipment and spells. Yeah. The anti-optimisers using a term people use for...

Good on you to know what didn't interest you. Ahh. This is open acknowledgement of the irregular verb. You only use optimizer, something you'll note people are happy to call themselves, as a term of abuse. And you've just contradicted yourself. You did not, by your definition, walk away from a...

But you didn't state that. I can only go with what you've actually been explicit about here. The single most common reason someone has a poorly optimised character in my experience is that they are a newbie who doesn't actually know what works. What it says is that optimisers prefer to assume...

There are two things I'd like to add to this I don't mind the players not here to win but here to have a good time with their friends - who will play with a vague imitation of good play Playing with Chaos Gremlins is fun - and there are many games that really work well with chaos gremlins. D&D...

It depends. Is the non-optimiser playing within the limits of their character and are they happy to do so? And how much practical danger are they in? And how much of everyone's time are they wasting by not having the common courtesy to learn how to play their character so having to faff around...

In about 25 years of roleplaying I have never seen anyone try to play anything in the +5 Pun-Pun range unless that's the point. Well yes. In most tabletop roleplaying games from D&D to Call of Cthulhu I am playing someone fighting for survival in a world with the darkest power. If I am not...

My game of Daggerheart this week that included a full session zero. The advance notes (all mental) We've got the campaign frame (5 Banners Burning) and I'm going to be leaning into Babylon 5 Make sure they have conflicted relationships [Which they succeeded at magnificently with little...

I don't know. But you and numerous others seem to be mounting a massive defence here of the bad behaviour of insulting people with a different playstyle to yourself. What does it say about you and those who use optimisation as an insult? And when people who don't know each other meet the single...

Yeah. Now is not the time to bring out a d&d adjacent narrative-heavy game inspired by 4e or Apocalypse World, with 10 levels and simplified monster stat blocks. At a guess PF2e is going to keep more of the "tactical D&D" market than Draw Steel gets - even if I hope otherwise.

There are parts of the 4e itches it doesn't touch. For those Lancer or even Gloomhaven would be better - but it's eaten most of Dungeon World 2's potential market I think, and is utterly devastating for 13th Age's new edition.