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In addition to what @Ruin Explorer and @hawkeyefan said, maybe try a few different games and see what clicks? I know you said they were already a little invested in their characters, but you can always come back to an old game after trying a couple of others.

Yeah, this. As described in this thread, what I'm seeing as the salient features of OC/blorby play are: Strongly character-driven play, with player authoring of both the past and parts of the future. (question for @GobHag : do players work together when making their characters, or is it OK to...

OK, so character-driven play, with some pre-planned events or arcs? How much of what happens is planned? The blog post you linked (about which... the less said, the better) gives the example of Pendragon. IIRC, in Pendragon, the broad events of the campaign are fixed, but all kinds of wild...

If I ever want to really annoy some OSR person (I don't), I'm torn between insisting that Pathfinder is OSR, or that everything after OD&D is not OSR. "Oh, you're into TSR-style D&D? It's a bit too mainstream for me. They really sold out after 1974, it just wasn't the same."

Honestly, the 'Six Cultures' essay is a bad piece that confuses more than it illuminates, and seem to mostly exist to defend certain types of branding or subcultural identification. Regarding OC specifically: every account of it that I read seems to describe a different thing, and some of them...

This thread is a pretty good argument for bringing D&D back to Moorcock-style 'Law and Chaos as cosmic forces' type stuff (which I think has been missing from this discussion). Paladins don't need to believe in particular god, or even Chaos itself: they just need to perform the correct rites...

I've played a fair bit. The combat is good, and I've had fun with the out-of-combat stuff, despite the rules seeming very minimal. The problem lies where the game tries to suture those two parts together. Lancer has its own version of 5e's '6-8' encounters, and it works about as well. My...

Stuff like this makes me think that a big part of the true value of 'AI' is alienation. That is, completely severing (or making invisible) the relationship between people and their work.

Until I am able to appropriate funding for my Fun Police, we'll just have to takes people's word for it. Also, niche is good! I already know way too much about D&D. This is an interesting idea. Unfortunately for me, I'm allergic to watching or listening to other people play RPGs. If you can...

I didn't realise this was a sensitive issue. I've amended the OP to avoid unnecessary arguments. FWIW, I understand why things are the way they are, but it's still frustrating.

For sure, the hype cycle is a big part of the problem. In case it wasn't clear: I didn't mean to exclude written reviews. In fact, I prefer written reviews!

Thanks for the recommendation. I've actually played Ironsworn, and enjoyed it, but there were a couple of flies in the ointment. For example, I don't really like momentum, and the way the harm system leans on it. Combat in AW feels much more snappy and brutal; with Ironsworn, I get that D&D...

Can we crowdsource a list of TTRPG reviewers who definitely play the games they review? Here's the list so far: Quinns Quest Seth Skorkowsky The Indie Game Reading Club Any format will do. Written reviews, podcasts, youtube, whatever you've got.

I'd be interested in hearing about people's play experiences of some of these games. I'm honestly a bit jaded about the next big thing in RPGs, whatever it is, because I worry that a lot of it is just hype. When I read articles about this stuff, it's not clear to me that the writer has actually...

I know I've expressed some criticisms of this art, but I don't hate it, and at the end of the day, I'm happy to live and let live. I'm not even particularly invested in D&D at this point -- it's more of a curiosity. A variety of different art styles is probably a good thing for the game and the...

FYI, Birthgrave should probably come with some content warnings for SA. I don't think it's exploitative, but it's certainly there. There's also some race-related sword & sorcery tropes which... Might be an attempt at subversion, I'm not sure, but I certainly raised an eyebrow. And, yeah, it's...

This is a really hard list to write. Based purely on what I'm thinking of at this moment: I second (or third) the Earthsea books. Especially the second one. The later books (I'm halfway through the 5th) are criminally underrated, and give you a magnificent, naturalistic, morally- and...

I'm at fault for escalating this discussion. A few quick thoughts before I see myself out, because I think this issue is actually important, as trivial as it might seem. How is it possible to judge something without having a standard to judge it by? Take it as given that I don't think 'feels...

Side note: my inner pedant is compelled to point out that people were riding horses into battle long before the invention of stirrups. Stirrups just give you more stability.

Sorry if I insulted you. It was certainly a provocative comment, but the point was to provoke consideration. Like, what is it about 5e, specifically, that you like? Because flighty fighters, wizards with limited spells, d20s, saving throws, armour class, etc. are just tropes. These elements...