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For me, mechanical vs. personal might be another red herring. I think there are two different types of incompleteness at work here. #1 is when the delegation of authority is lacking. 5e is clear in its most basic play loop, but for some other things I would argue (and I can go to the text to do...

Actually, I think the stuff in Moldvay (or Mentzer or Denning, which are the two I'm familiar with) works pretty well. I think the word 'scene' might be a red herring here: it could just mean answering basic questions like 'wait, where are we?' and 'are there any bugbears here?'.

Well, notwithstanding what Jay said in the interview, that bit I posted is actual, concrete rules, and stricter than the equivalent rules for 5e. Is there some thing in the RPG community where no-one wants to admit they're a game designer?

50% of the PHB by volume. MM has 20 different colours of Chaos Warriors.

I dunno, man. I don't feel like an old-school dungeon crawl and railroaded 'adventure path' are the same game. Maybe not even the same medium, in really horrible cases. You telling me B/X doesn't have rules for stocking dungeons and exploring them? And, yeah, OD&D in particular has massive...

I think you might misunderstand me. I'm not saying I want more crunch, or that I'm uncomfortable making rulings, or that you're a bad wrong DM for doing so. I'm actually very comfortable making rulings and inventing stuff -- it's part of the fun of the game, for me. What I'm saying is: I want...

Anti-magic fields are the only thing standing between a cabal of spellcasters and galactic domination. Or, slightly more seriously: between magic in 5e and it's worldbuilding implications. Too late, monkey's paw has already closed. Blue-armoured Ultraman Fighters will be coming to D&Done.

Without procedures for playing the game, you literally cannot play. So, people invent or import their own. If it works for you, it's not a problem. For you. re: your first point, I agree that lots of games have holes in their rules. 5e is merely a particularly bad offender. I'm not talking...

Those are the last people you should ask! In my years of experience running and playing 5e, I've noticed that some classes/builds are much better at solving problems and generally being the centre of attention, while others are good at dealing damage, or taking damage. Full spellcasters tend to...

This is really fascinating to me. Would you mind giving me some pointers as to where to look to learn more, or maybe expand on it a bit?

I'm not making any judgement about whether you need the game text to spell this stuff out in order to play. I'm just saying, this stuff doesn't exist in 5th ed. Generally, people substitute procedures from older editions, or stuff they've learned online. You absolutely are joining the dots when...

I would submit that 5e as written absolutely is incomplete, to the extent that it's actually unplayable. There is no group that plays it and does not join to dots with houserules. The trick is, this isn't obvious from a player's perspective. It's the DM-facing part of the game that is...

I won't speak for others, but IMO, bards and paladins are both ridiculous. Bards are almost-wizards that also have amazing skills, and can be made into passable fighters; they are good at everything. Paladins have access to almost the same toolset as a standard fighter, have spells and...

Where is that furtive pygmy when you need it?

I actually do like the odd bit of bean-counting survival stuff. But, it's a very specific playstyle. What's striking about travel and exploration in 5e is that the rules hamper old-fashioned crawl play just as they do looser ways of framing scenes. We all lose. Except the people who hate trees...

I don't think that's strictly fair. In Basic, 1e, and 2e, limited slots and actual Vancian casting meant that spell selection was a big deal. Wizard spells had to be found, like magic items, and could not be taken for granted. Only elves and dwarves had infravision, and they were generally less...

I think it's important to remember that the optional rules for gritty realism and mundane combat options are tucked away in the DMG, while stuff like feats and multi-classing are player-facing. I've never played in a 5e game in which players didn't request access to multiclassing and feats, even...

I seem to be the only one who thinks Folk Hero was good. Look, there's got to be some kind of background that says 'peasants think you're cool', and that one did the trick. Peasants thinking you're cool doesn't go that far in a world ruled by knights and sorcerers, by the way. I actually think...

Yeah, PF2e multiclassing and subclasses look great, though I haven't played them. One thing that struck me about them when I first saw them was how well the subclasses let you express different concepts or themes. And, if your concept doesn't work with the existing options (want an Artorias-like...