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Fictional names/words ... yeah, they might not be able to find a good source. Real-world names and words, though, there are good sources for practically everything if you're willing (or required) to put in the effort. The company I worked for that recorded audiobooks did so under contract from...

I've seen--and done--that sort of thing in Supers play, though point-buy Supers TRPGs are their own various fishkettles. I have a druid character in in a campaign I'm running who's doing much more in the way of control/set-up stuff than direct damage; he's not being any kind of purist about it...

I was presuming this was someone competent--knowing how to play their character, maybe knowing the rules more broadly, just choosing not to optimize as hard as the other people at the table. It does say something about the attitude of a lot of self-professed optimizers, I guess, that you jumped...

Serious question: Have you ever seen a player who was the lone non-optimizer at the table, and how did they react to being asked to optimize more? Another: How far does a player have to go in the way of engaging with the mechanics before you define them as an "optimizer?" Is it in starting...

I think it's worth considering that if everyone else at the table is sitting around -2 on this axis (using your numbers) then someone showing up at +1 or +2 is going to fit in as well as Pun-Pun would at a table that was more centered on this axis. The issue is failure--in some cases refusal--to...

My thinking is that more than one villain, one time, is probably too many. At least, I'd work from that presumption and pay attention to how the players reacted. Whatever problem the recurring villain is causing/presenting if/when they come back should probably not be the same kind of problem as...

Maybe recurring villains aren't a panacea. My own feeling as a player--and as a GM--is that once the PCs have solved a problem, it should probably stay solved; and fighting the same guy again certainly doesn't feel as though anything is staying solved. My approach is to keep important villains...

I've been really happy with the write-ups my wife does from her notes. They're extensive, and as player-side write-ups, they help keep me focused on the interests and goals of the players and their characters.

I should be clear, this is on my fortnightly-ish trips to the local library of my choice. I don't go shopping for books often enough anymore to have an established pattern.

There are people who interact with--get to the fiction of--games through the mechanics. I have been and am still sometimes one. This seems like a different thing from optimizing, which is itself a thing that isn't always a problem (as I said upthread). I mean, I don't think getting to the...

(Again, bouncing off what you said ...) One of the things about (though not exclusive to) most versions of D&D that's kinda optimization-adjacent is the ability to choose how complex a character you want to play. There's a general tendency for more-complex characters to have a higher ceiling...

This is as far as I got in the thread before feeling a need to respond. Anyone who I'm repeating, please accept my apologies. (Also, @Ruin Explorer , I'm not writing this directly at you, just using your post as a bouncing-off point.) It seems to me the problem isn't optimization, as such--as...

I should start making a point to find nonfiction to read, at some point. Of course, by the time I finish browsing the fiction I usually have ten or twelve books to tote around ...

And what they were addicted to would presumably not be anything like so unhealthful. (Intended more as an expansion than an argument.)

We were walking around Wind Cave (in the Black Hills) and had this guy turn our loop hike into a funky-shaped out-and-back hike. DO NOT PET THE FLUFFY COWS

If you're in (among others) Big Bend NP, needing to pee is a very good sign. This might be personal experience.

Well, that's going on my list to look for. Dunno that I'll buy a copy, but I might--I've been grabbing Hiaasen's novels from the library as I've come across ones I at least don't remember reading. I remember his early books being really good, and some of his most recent ones have been, but I...

Unless it's an explicitly goofy one. I mean, if someone thinks mine is funny, that's in the intended range.

I figured, but sometimes disagreements metastasize. Didn't want that to happen. Well, comedy isn't the only kind of improv theater, the only distinction I was making was going for the broader category. It certainly seems as though if you have the idea for the thing you're going to riff on, you...