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I look it as the simplest model is simply playing yourself, with the character as a game piece, and you play to beat the combat/module in the way that will keep your character alive and progressing. More complex than that is creating a more detailed model of a character, with a personality...

It's not harsh, it's observational. And I'm not calling them degenerates! :) A degenerate use case just means a simpler model where the normal modeling rules don't actually apply.

My definition would be this. If the final resolution of a character's mental state and decision-making is always made by the player, referencing their own internal heuristic of what the character is "like", then I would call that "avatar" play. Developing an internal hueristic for how a...

But if your desire is to not have the mechanics drive the resolution of a character's interior state, because you feel the player should have total agency over the character's mental state and decision-making, that IS avatar play. What's the other use case, besides the player being in control...

I demand hard-hitting roleplay.

Fairly obviously, a “Season of Champions” means they’ll be doing the long awaited crossover with League of Legends. :)

What sort of genre is in play here? Character-specific actions being gated makes a lot more sense for a supers or a high fantasy game, than something that's more gritty medieval, in my opinion.

There’s a lot of games out there, with wildly divergent play styles. My preference is to try as many as possible. And I think you get a better experience out of a game if you understand what it’s trying to do and embrace its differences, even if they’re unfamiliar and a little uncomfortable at...

It depends on the game. I'm more prone to want avatar-stance play in an OSR-style game focused on problem-solving, whereas I'm more interested in character portrayal (and letting the resolution engine guide that portrayal) in something like a Pendragon or a PbtA game. I mean, this isn't some...

Isn't D&D about fantasy escapism? If the weather actually influenced my gaming purchases, I'd be way more interested in a book about a hot desert in the depths of winter.

So, basically frame tests of character as true judgment calls, exactly like what I said. A choice has to be made two or more options of moral weight. I'm talking about tests of temptation or will, things like "Can my character be goaded into a fight?" or "Will I resist a bribe?" or "Can I be...

And to me it feels like a violation of the Czege principle. I want players to have agency over judgement calls, where there are two or more options uncertain options that need to have a choice be made between them. But fighting temptation, or exerting willpower, isn't a choice between two...

I'm not admitting anything; I'm celebrating it. What you view as poor design, I find more compelling.

If I already know what my character would do in a situation before it comes up, than why did the GM run the scene? To me, there's few things less interesting than a game where I'm simply demonstrating who my character is, rather than testing my character to see who they become. And me, as a...

The problem I have with this is that it puts a game like Pendragon, widely regarded as Greg Stafford's magnum opus, in the category of "eroding what RPGs are about" because of the system's need for Virtue/Vice checks. I, personally, feel there's just as much creative artistry to be found in...

Warriors will have a much easier time using larger weapons that do 2d6 or 3d6 damage, because they generally have higher Strength. And they'll be able to make 3 attacks with that larger weapon, all with a boon. Rogues can only use backstab with a basic or swift weapon, which limits their...

It means you don't ever have a character where the sum of their stats is below 63 (the average sum of stats for 3d6 down the line) if you don't want to. Doesn't mean you won't have some weird outliers; as an example, if you rolled 18/8/8/8/8/8, that only adds up to 58. You could flip that to...

I mean you can attach various conditions to the result of an action based on the overall damage roll. You could have an ability that says "If you do at least 5 damage on the attack, X condition also occurs." Or you could have another ability that says "If this attack does 0 or less damage, the...

I mean, I also wouldn't be opposed to a "both sides" roll anything approach, either. Make everything into opposed checks. But merging "confirm attack, then roll damage" into "how effective is the attack" just seems like a good way to smooth out table operations. And using different dice and...

I prefer (damage-defense) over die+mod vs target number because it gives you more granularity over possible results.