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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9410547" data-attributes="member: 8461">Glad we've established that.Which is a commentary on your games, but other than that doesn't really speak to the broader point. The scope of imaginative play is limitless, which by definition means that no one person or group will be able to make use of all of the available possibilities. But just because you don't use those possibilities doesn't mean that they're not valuable or worthwhile. Someone else might very well make use of them, and so something which constrains even the awareness of them (even if inadvertently) is something which I think is ultimately bad for the hobby, compromising the central "anything can be attempted" principle of TTRPGs.Again, this is an argument of personal practicality, rather than the potential effect on the hobby as a whole. Your own experiences with your own group are just that: yours. If you've never played a particular class, that doesn't make that particular class worthless, and if you've never designed a custom spell, that doesn't mean the activity isn't worth at least having an awareness of.The option has been consistently minimized across editions, to be sure...which is why I think it's emblematic of something with the potential to be minimized to the point of being almost totally forgotten if existing spells have so many bells and whistles added to them in the VTT. Again, the option is further narrowed by the more conventional options being so highlighted.As I recall, those were more like guidelines [insert Pirates of the Caribbean meme here] than full-on design rules. And they've been further minimized since.Whether or not they'd leave the VTT in favor of another is a more complex question than that, simply because the VTT will integrate with DDB to a degree, and leaving one means essentially leaving everything you've put into DDB. It's sort of like the Apple Store effect, where people keep their account there because leaving means having to basically recreate everything you've assembled in that particular venue. Likewise, the game not having rules for custom magic items dovetails with what I said before, insofar as those options are being continually minimized; adding bells and whistles to existing magic items further distracts from custom ones being recognized as even a possibility.Again, no one is suggesting that they would take them out of the DMG. The suggestion is that, without custom minis, which are likely to be animated and so more likely to be used, custom monsters will be (further) de-emphasized.See above. Being taken out isn't the issue. It's that they'll be less enticing than a flashy mini that's fully modeled, animated, and has sound effects.Again, that's not the issue I'm speaking about. The VTT will make some things sexier, easier, and more fun to use than others, simply due to technical limitations. Those will, in turn, draw more players to them, pushing the non-sexy options further out of mind, and so (inadvertently or not) discouraging the wider areas of imaginative play.Precisely, meaning that imaginative play remains imaginative, and there are no bells and whistles to make the familiar more appealing than the wider areas of possibility.Which strikes me as a reasonable assumption, to the point of what I think WotC is going to not only want to happen, but encourage. Hence the recurrent spending environment.Which is good for WotC, but that doesn't mean that it's good for the hobby. There are a lot of products that are popular and sell well, but which have detrimental effects elsewhere. Insofar as imaginative play goes, this strikes me as being such an instance, where profit maximization runs counter to the idea of anything being able to be attempted, which is the heart of what TTRPGs are about.Hence why I didn't predict such a thing. I'm just pointing out that the rulebooks will likely be made to dovetail with the VTT. If you can have fun that way, good for you, but it's the people who won't even realize that there's more than what's there whom I'm concerned with. Such as the people who won't see guidelines for custom magic items and so won't think that's even a possibility.I disagree quite strongly.In point of fact, we don't know what's going to be in the 2024 rules yet, and won't until they come out. As for how those rules are further modified down the line (as I recall WotC has mentioned this being the "last edition" which will be changed via small updates in future releases...kind of like software), that's likewise ambiguous, but seems likely to serve their overall goal of moving people to the money-making VTT.Again, something can be a financial success while being artistically barren. If all you see is the flashy spell animations, and there are little-to-no rules for custom spells (which aren't in the DDB's integrated database which the VTT uses anyway), then expect that to drop off even more.Still overly reductive compared to what WotC's promoting.Which is why they'll be minimized in the minds of players even further when the ones that are already there are animated.See above with regard to why this further discourages exploring those options in the course of imaginative play.I believe I've made it very clear, and that your saying "eh, that's not such a big deal" doesn't speak to the points I've raised. Just because you don't think it's a concern doesn't mean it's not a concern.And they'll be supplemented by the changes I've already outlined in what the VTT does, further discouraging looking beyond them. Likewise, expect the rules to similarly give less verbiage to things that the VTT doesn't make sexier.Have you polled most tables? Because I'm not sure why you deputized yourself to speak on their behalf.Animated spell effects are nothing? Really? Having moving, 3D minis that have sound effects are nothing? Fully modeled magic items are nothing? Because those don't sound like nothing.</blockquote>

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