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I pulled this section out, because I think you're broadly right here (in that there's a rejection of adventure path style or sometimes even Hickman revolution altogether play structures) but the specific elements you call out are in incompatible tension. You can't both leave blanks and create a...

I feel like we're on the verge of rehashing the same points all over again. "Play to find out" is a strong signal that you as a player of this game should be looking for enjoyment in surprising outcomes; the bit that is delightful is watching novelty that no player could have anticipated unfold...

I feel like we're talking past each other. The GM fudging point is orthogonal to what I'm talking about; the sentence I quoted above homes in on the bit I'm focused on well. The point of play is gambling and enjoying a mutually surprising outcome, not in trying to make the most effective series...

I don't actually see a contradiction. All of your examples turn over agency to chance; the player does not know and cannot force an outcome, and the enjoyment is presumably in learning which outcome does occur, not in making choices to achieve a specific outcome. I think the phrase is trying...

I've taken to reading it as an admonition, instructing players not to care about making a specific state come to pass.

Unfortunately, my lived experience is very different. I'm down with your design goal to inject variety, but I think the current state of 5e has led to a class of players who just don't see a reason to internalize the rules structure, and we're in a world where the "I attack" fighter with a...

Sounds halfway to the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. I think neutral deck searching/depletion is a bad mechanic generally, but if you could put a better game around it, that was headed that direction.

I think you'd get a lot of the way there by more aggressively loading up weapons with perks and dropping specialization bonuses. If Polearm Mastery's effect is a function of wielding a polearm, you're taking out a lot of barriers to start with. You could also get there with a bigger item level...

Moving to an actual piece of bad visual design: it's a little awkward that the rules for concentration ask you to cover them with the spell you're concentrating on, right? You'd want the "what breaks concentration" stuff to be visible over the spell, if you're assuming players don't understand...

It might be interesting to add a shared shop of cards, instead of a random draw, to give players a little more control.

Definitely an interesting idea. I think you'd benefit from setting some limits on table talk, to prevent players from maximizing their returns across the whole party. I can envision a scenario a player with a low hand gets stuck with it indefinitely, as the other players cut them out to minimize...

Right?! I want to know so badly what normal procrastination feels like. Does it feel good, is it like, fun to put off tasks?

Oh, I picked feats, but I have a specific proposal. I'd like to see material that convinced different character resources into a singular purpose. In particular, I'd love to see attunement slots repurposed into something other than activating some magic items. Feats that repurpose attunement...

I've had good results with the non-stimulant options, but that's very variable from person to person. My doctor randomly disappeared (seems to have taken a job with Kaiser without telling her patients), her office was replaced with a walk in clinic and they cut off my prescription and would not...

What do you call those discrete packages of mechanics that players use if not rules? I don't think there's a reasonable carve out here.

While it can and should vary based on the game and genre, I generally like PCs that are more powerful/impactful than the "baseline" person, but not in a unique way. Ideally, "adventurer" is an established class of powerful people that have a known impact on the world.

That feels like a stronger argument for a more detailed character creation system with more variability, not less.

This is all a question of degree right? It's not wild to have a specialized Oracle of the Moon Pool, it's pretty crazy to have a unique ability on a local sergeant of the watch.

Movie rules unconsciousness might be the single most common genre trope ascended to setting norm. Bonking someone on the head to put them out temporarily, without any complication more severe than a headache later is both utterly unrealistic and utterly normative.

It's just regression to an older, better design. The issue was moving the benefits from general rules about being unobserved or the invisible keyword to the spell itself.