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So, upthread I mentioned that I don't think I think much about mechanics being modern or not, but that design might deserve that kind of consideration. I think that still holds, for me, but let me also write this, and see where it goes... It can be said that design is where engineering meets...

Mod Note: Folks, Please use this red text as an opportunity to back the heck down from this headbutting. Thanks.

Insert Cheesecake Factory analogy here. It seems to me that D&D is doing pretty well, all things considered. I said that designers have to make choices - but that doesn't mean they have to double-down into one single thing we'd identify as a specific playstyle.

No single game/product can handle all the commonly desired styles of play well - there are too many priorities that wind up in conflict. Designers must make choices about what they want their games to do well, and what they are willing to sacrifice to get it. It is not unlike cars - the...

I frequently use published adventure content, for which I need minimal prep. When I am writing my own, I tend to go into most sessions with sketches and bullet points, a few statblocks ready to go, and so forth. Low-ish prep. When running a more tactically-focused system, I will do more prep...

That's actually a pretty good question. I think you might be setting yourself up for that feeling. I don't know you personally. And what I am about to say is a demonstrable thing about people in general, not necessarily you at this instant... People, once they've put an (even minor) stake in...

Mod Note: Folks, it is time to disengage, before disengagement is provided for you. Stop making it personal, now, please and thanks.

Fine. Junkware. It does not seem to be generating significant value when it gets there. We'll talk about that more in a bit... "Remaining staff". So, staff has been let go. You then replace their productivity with that supposedly produced by AI. To-may-to, to-mah-to. That is actually where...

Why is support of one specific theme the only valid "intent"?

Spending a year travelling Europe... and slaying monsters and being coated with gore as you go... I think some of the dark backgrounds come along with people trying to square being okay with the wholesale violence many games entail. "I had a happy childhood, but I'm just as happy beating your...

The Lost Colony game includes an explanation for characters from earlier settings to show up in later games.

Deadlands, Deadlands: Hell on Earth, and Deadlands: Lost Colony might fit the bill.

There's a bit of a gap between "knowing the difference between them" and "actively denigrating one" though. General purpose tools are not "aimless", and dismissing them as such does come across as pretty condescending or pretentious. Sorry.

Not a bad choice - especially for an online game. I've been playing a FAE online Space:1889 game through the pandemic, that just wrapped up recently. If I were running a face-to-face game, I might also consider Fate Core, because more of the Fate System Toolkit, and its magic subsystems...

"Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." - THHGttG

There's lots to learn on Mars, but also, Mars isn't going anywhere. Meanwhile, this thing is going by, and ain't coming back.

Yep. I said why I objected to the "true nature" phrasing - its use in the common parlance has connotations that aren't appropriate - and I gave space to speak about detailed composition. You've given us no sign why this "true nature" language is appropriate or important in this context. Have...

S'okay. Those books wouldn't have been beamed out into space - "visitors" will not have read them.

It isn't hypothetical. When my Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign ended, one of my players stepped up to give me a break and give me some time to work out what we'd do next! I describe myself as a "service oriented GM" - I have my most fun when I am giving payers what they want. So, rather...

Of course not! Because (duh!) - not much light has been shed on it yet! We use vague categories when we don't know much! The universe, and science, moves at its own pace, not yours.