I guess that's another playstyle difference between us. My universe is cosmopolitan but it has a fair amount of violence in it--but usually not the violence of someone picking a fair fight, more likely someone picking on a weaker party. As such, powerful creatures can get away with not being tactical battlecomputers because, for example, nobody wants to pick a fight with the mind flayer cities on Falx even if they are spending all their time hedonistically munching on brains instead of preparing for war. They'd rather go blackmail human peasants/merchants into paying them for "protection." The chances of someone randomly picking a fight with a beholder tyrant ship without being paid to do so by another tyrant ship are quite low, so there is no Darwinian imperative that says "all the stupid beholders are dead." On the contrary, all the stupid beholders are still around, bifurcating their colonies and then going to war with each other, in addition to picking on human merchants for cash to fund their wars.
It sounds like your game is a lot more intrinsically, theatrically violent.
We know our play-styles are very different.
The most recent work I did with a beholder was a Death Tyrant leading an army of zombies and undead. They would pull him around on well-protected cart. He would send his army into villages to kill everyone and use his eye while people were dying to add to his army. I prefer beholders as solo creatures leading plots of their own rather than a creature group on space ships. Then again I've never been into Spelljammer of Scifi games. Not my cup of tea.
I prefer to think of beholders as being the highly intelligent antagonist leader of evil than a minion on a ship.
As I told you, I tell stories in these games. I have zero interest in the idea of wandering folk doing stuff solely for pay. Enemies are given motivations, personalities, and a desire to live the equal of the PCs, so they can challenge the PCs. The PCs get caught up in adventures that put them into opposition with an antagonist. Combats are usually part of defeating their plans unless it is some random event I throw in to maintain verisimilitude.
What does that even mean in terms of D&D? Intrinsically, theatrically violent? This game is all theater. Because some people try to call it something else does not change that it is all theater. Artificially created events generated by the mind of a human intended to entertain and a great deal of it involves violence.
The difference between our play-styles seems to involve how we frame the world. You seem to feel you frame the world as a series of disconnected events or places with creatures that the players may or may not engage. You seem to not mind creating that type of material continuously to create the illusion of a sandbox world where the PCs have more control over the direction of their imaginary lives.
I like to have a narrative the PCs follow where they participate in some grand story where there is a key antagonist they must defeat to save the world, kingdom, town, or whatever thing they are trying to save. I create scenes that are part of this narrative involving a variety of situations that lead to the defeat of this antagonist. The PCs world is generally limited to the scenes in the narrative rather than having the ability to move in a random direction of their choosing.
It is in essence the sandbox versus the railroad. I prefer the railroad and you prefer the sandbox. I feel a well-designed railroad can make for an interesting, exciting, and fun trip with a very satisfying and powerful ending that makes the PCs feel as though they accomplished something extraordinary in their lives ending as heroes of the land. All this talk of, "If I wanted a story, I would read a book or watch a movie" means nothing to me. My inspiration for playing this game is and has always been a desire to be a participant in the amazing stories I've read and seen, not wander around as some random person in a fantasy world. I wanted to be part of The Fellowship of the Ring. I wanted to go with Conan on his adventures. I wanted to be a knight in the Arthurian Tales serving Arthur and going on quests. My friends are similar to myself. I try to make them a part of extraordinary fantasy stories as protagonists that end up as the great heroes of their story. That's my preferred play-style.
