Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
DMs - What makes You...
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Ruin Explorer" data-source="post: 8705654" data-attributes="member: 18"><p>1) Changing rules.</p><p></p><p>Depending on the game it's usually one of two things:</p><p></p><p>A) The rule is just not fun. I understand how it works, and why it's there, but I don't find it to actually make the game more enjoyable for my group, so I change it.</p><p></p><p>B) The rule is just bad or dumb. Not a reasonable rule but un-fun, but a bungled or poorly-designed rule. 5E has very few of these, I can't think of any non-optional ones. But a lot of RPGs have plenty of these, especially RPGs from the 1970s through to the mid 2000s (when game design started to get more disciplined). The only immediate example I can think of in 5E, a rule which doesn't even achieve its stated goal, is the entirely optional Sanity rules, which are literally perverse, in that they achieve the opposite of the stated goal.</p><p></p><p>2) Crafting different lore</p><p></p><p>Different to what? The default? 5E has very vague and Realms-centric default lore, so I think anyone playing outside the FR is going to be "crafting different lore", technically.</p><p></p><p>As to why, usually because it's more interesting and I'm not trying to do the same things as the default, Realms-centric implied setting.</p><p></p><p>3) Not includes certain races/classes/backgrounds.</p><p></p><p>First off, backgrounds being included here shows a very common confusions. Backgrounds don't exist. I mean, they do, but they're all <em>merely examples</em>. You're not supposed to either be limited to them, nor to force your players to choose among them. So backgrounds can be ignored. They should always be stuff that actually exists in the setting. Classes/races, it's usually down to what role they play in the setting and what the tone of the setting is. You don't necessarily want every D&D race in every D&D setting. The same goes for classes - some settings don't fit certain ones - Artificer, Monk and Cleric are particularly likely to "not fit", I'd suggest (though Cleric fits most existing D&D settings). The classes in D&D are specific rather than generic, so them existing at all tells you something about the setting.</p><p></p><p>Like most DMs, I am obviously flexible on this. If a player has their heart set on playing a specific thing, there's usually a way to work it out.</p><p></p><p>4) Combos.</p><p></p><p>I've never had to disallow a "combo" in 4E or 5E. Last I did was in 3E with certain PrCs which were just blatantly better than core classes for virtually no cost.</p><p></p><p>5) Books.</p><p></p><p>I've never disallowed "by book" in any edition of D&D.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ruin Explorer, post: 8705654, member: 18"] 1) Changing rules. Depending on the game it's usually one of two things: A) The rule is just not fun. I understand how it works, and why it's there, but I don't find it to actually make the game more enjoyable for my group, so I change it. B) The rule is just bad or dumb. Not a reasonable rule but un-fun, but a bungled or poorly-designed rule. 5E has very few of these, I can't think of any non-optional ones. But a lot of RPGs have plenty of these, especially RPGs from the 1970s through to the mid 2000s (when game design started to get more disciplined). The only immediate example I can think of in 5E, a rule which doesn't even achieve its stated goal, is the entirely optional Sanity rules, which are literally perverse, in that they achieve the opposite of the stated goal. 2) Crafting different lore Different to what? The default? 5E has very vague and Realms-centric default lore, so I think anyone playing outside the FR is going to be "crafting different lore", technically. As to why, usually because it's more interesting and I'm not trying to do the same things as the default, Realms-centric implied setting. 3) Not includes certain races/classes/backgrounds. First off, backgrounds being included here shows a very common confusions. Backgrounds don't exist. I mean, they do, but they're all [I]merely examples[/I]. You're not supposed to either be limited to them, nor to force your players to choose among them. So backgrounds can be ignored. They should always be stuff that actually exists in the setting. Classes/races, it's usually down to what role they play in the setting and what the tone of the setting is. You don't necessarily want every D&D race in every D&D setting. The same goes for classes - some settings don't fit certain ones - Artificer, Monk and Cleric are particularly likely to "not fit", I'd suggest (though Cleric fits most existing D&D settings). The classes in D&D are specific rather than generic, so them existing at all tells you something about the setting. Like most DMs, I am obviously flexible on this. If a player has their heart set on playing a specific thing, there's usually a way to work it out. 4) Combos. I've never had to disallow a "combo" in 4E or 5E. Last I did was in 3E with certain PrCs which were just blatantly better than core classes for virtually no cost. 5) Books. I've never disallowed "by book" in any edition of D&D. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
DMs - What makes You...
Top