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Where an AI may be worse than a random generator is in compliance to rules. AIs are good at approximations, but bad at producing exact numbers. So if you ask an AI to sta a monster, it will pull numbers out of thin air to produce something that resembles what people say when they talk about this...

This is a role-playing decision. Is the monster tactically minded? Does it have a history with any of the characters, or with the archetypes they represent. Should it simply run away instead, or does it have something in the fight that if would risk its life for? I strongly try to avoid...

On the issue of planning, the we have run it is that we do a rough planning together between GM and players. The players describe their smooth planned action (yes in BitD we are all about heists), the GM tells us what is reasonable and what is not, and the plan is adjusted. Then we make the...

I only read this thread to page 2, so I might have missed some wise words. I played BitD for about four months, but only around five sessions. In most sessions we manage two scores. This is an amazingly quick story progression. And this is what I love most about BitD - the low preparation, the...

Problem characters are those that don't work with the group. Rarely, this can be a power issue, usually that a certain build is just too powerful. As a DM, it is much easier to help a weak character than it is to rein in a powerful one. The other category of problem characters are those that...

For me this would be a book on history or historic fiction, not an RPG book. Neal Stephenson's baroque tribology (Quicksilver - Confusion - The System of the World) is a good starting point.

If you deconstruct the classes, turning everything into feats, this could come form a limited feat with abilities that are now class features. So at 5th level you get access to a special type of feats that can do things like give access to spells of 3rd to 5th level, give an additional attack...

I am generally abord with races not modifying ability scores, but it does create some very weird synergies. Playing a mountain dwarf mage is suddenly very attractive for the armor proficiency, for example. Whereas the high elf's extra cantrip is more interesting for a martial than for a caster...

I have some socially inept players who love to play socially adept characters, so I am more or less forced to lean into the rules-govern side of this argument. And I would do so even if these player didn't make me lean that way. That said, when a player makes a passionate speech or acts all...

Well, survival and resource management seems to be popular around here. Not by all, but by some. Like things usually turn out when a phenomenon (in this case RPGs) is mature. :)

Just providing examples here, not opinions: Both the old James Bond RPG and the much more recent Eclipse Phase RPG uses a system where you multiply your skill with an ease factor (higher is easier) and then you try to roll lower than that.

Yeah, this is precisely what I didn't appreciate in Mouse guard after I looked into the rules. The one session I played was all right, its the system that bothers me. If I wanted this kind of game, I'd go for an old boardgame or perhaps play the stock market. But this is my personal preference...

I barely see anyone use such modifiers in roll-low systems, whereas both modifiers and variable DCs are legion in roll-high systems. In a roll-high system it is easy to apply a modifier after the player rolls, and getting close to the DC often leads to some kind of partial success. In a roll-low...

I personally tend to overly focus on this, and I'd say about half my local players do enjoy this aspect. Some on the other hand prefer slow advancement, because that means they can keep laying their characters longer. :)

Anecdotal: One situation when I would prefer rolling low but the system I am using uses roll high is in the Blades in the Dark hack Princess World. In this hack you can increase your effect by increasing the size of the die you are using. You get an effect upgrade each at d8, d10, d12, and d20...

It all depends on the level of heroism/cinematic style of the game, making this a matter of taste. I recall the Western RPG (at least in its earlier Swedish-only editions) required you to spend hours maintaining your skills, but I personally don't like that idea very much. My games are more...

My main issue with riddles is that I suck at them, both at solving and posing them. :( I actually had Chat GPT write a riddle for me when I needed one - however it was not great.

I think this would have the same issue as an African setting, but to a lesser degree. What part of the area is your setting? Africa is huge and diverse, and so is America. You have to decide which part and culture you are exploring, which might make the game less interesting to some people...

Thanks for your replies! I should have written under "consequences" that you can always give the PC a very favorable position with almost no consequences, making the two camps less opposed.

My vote reflects what would be acceptable in a general TTRPG product, like a book or website. I would accept everything in an AI game-master, as long as it works well. I don't think I want AI players, but I can't say I'd object to others who wanted that.