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I think a lot of these simulationist rules are vestigial, but they are easy enough to ignore, and it’s okay to have them around for players who like a more hardcore game. More of them could be made optional so as not to confuse newer players.

Speak for your own D&D social contract. We see it as a cooperative game, not a dictatorship. We did recently mutually agree that a player was not a good fit, and then I had a conversation with him. He turned out to agree. We’re still close. One of my (many) problems with alignment is that it...

How can a player interpret THEIR character anything but correctly?

Yet, rather oddly, Mercer runs Daggerheart in Age of Umbra almost exactly the same way that he runs D&D and other games, even at times "fixing" player descriptions of their monster kills. The only instance I can recall of players being handed the narrative reains was briefly in episode 7 (I...

I agree. I also suggested Fiasco in my response, as it is great for one-shots and tends to have such gonzo plots that players don't feel a lot of pressure to contribute in a certain style. I've played with all sorts of different players, most of whom never GM, and they have all loved it (but I...

To me, this seems like a disengenuous or unkind response. Presumably, you've chosen to GM and know what goes with it. Many players do NOT want to GM, and people in general can be put off by being put under unexpected pressure.

I note that in Age of Umbra, the one time Mercer really uses this technique (episode 7, I believe, when they are exploring the house), the players, experienced as they are, don't do anything consequential with it.

I make the opportunities available for players. Some run with it, most do not, and some are clearly nonplussed and dislike the experience intensely, specifically because they feel put on the spot. Oh, and a few of the players who run with it will become disruptive and start competing. So you...

I don't recall anyone ever interpreting it that way at the time, though sometimes players made characters with the intention of eventually being a bard, and occasionally they even followed through. Certainly no one was ever bothered if a player made a fighter intending to be a bard, and then...

I love that online play is an option when necessary, but agree that in-person play should be the priority. I think that having people physically present together is (mostly) better for people, and better for gaming specifically. I was surprised by how little integration there was between the...

Am I the only person who thinks these are more complicated than a simple character sheet?

I'm a DM 99% of the time but would love to be a player more often.

I found myself hunting around so often that I finally did a filtered search just for humanoids on DDB, sorted by CR, and then made a spreadsheet of all of them sorted by explicit or implicit class.

In retrospect, this adevnture is such a great concept, especially for the 50th anniversary - fighting Vecna across D&D settings - amazingly poorly realized. When I adapted it I basically changed everything except the maps, starting with chucking out the entire Kas subplot, and drastically...

Our babysitter had to kindly explain this to me some years ago. "Just so you know..." I've never felt so old.

The good news is that the original starter areas are basically untouched, except for a bit of weird flavour about goblin craniums that you can safely ignore. And now all the maps are on DDB. I've run it, didn't bother with any of the new stuff, and it was the same old LMoP we all know and mostly...

Lol I literally live in Victoria, BC. Victoriana is our whole sub theme. I teach Victorian literature. You’ll have to try harder. That’s not even an argument. The fact is that steampunk aesthetic is not authentic Victorian, it is its own thing. It is loosely inspired by Victorian and Edwardian...

You seem to be having trouble with the notion of "steampunk aesthetic." If you aren't looking at current D&D and noticing a steampunk vibe to a lot of the art, then I guess we're seeing different things. Or is this like a gatekeeping thing, where "ackshully even though they look the same it's...

I didn’t realize those were the entirety of steampunk aesthetic. My bad. Edit: also, from the current DMG. No steampunk aesthetic there, at all (though sadly, we can't see how the airship passengers are dressed to confirm whether there are any top hats or bustles): Though there is this one...

I think we’re all agreed that D&D is and has always been a fantasy mutt, but I also think the OP has a point in asserting that the steampunk aesthetic is an increasingly pervasive element.