Unearthed Arcana META: whose homebrewers know their stuff?

[Frankie1969]

If you have an RPG content balance decision you want community advice about, which sites would you trust? Whose wisdom of crowds is wisest?
Or better yet, turn the question contrapositive: think what communities would you NOT trust for good advice, then vote for the opposite.

 

[Deset Gled]

Or better yet, turn the question contrapositive: think what communities would you NOT trust for good advice, then vote for the opposite.

The one I would absolutely NOT visit is TheRPGsite.

I am highly unlikely to use DNDBeyond. Not because of any of the recent OGL stuff, but because WotC has gutted their forums before, and I don't trust them not to do so again on a whim. Also, my current party uses Roll20.

I should probably go back to GitP one of these days. I haven't been there in years.

 

[Ondath]

I should probably go back to GitP one of these days. I haven't been there in years.

I visited their forums just to see how they are reacting to the OGL debacle, and it turns out the topic is banned there... I was pretty shocked to be honest. Oh well, different site, different rules.

Personally, I think ENWorld is a safe bet since I'm pretty impressed by the DMing experience that I see on a daily basis. Reddit is a safer bet due to the sheer numbers game providing more feedback, and the rest I feel are too niche or not really focused on the kind of games I'm playing to be useful.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

If I was hombrewing content for a game and it is something relatively close to standard, RAW, of that game, and I wanted the most precise technical treatise on the ramifications of everything my homebrew did vis-à-vis the game, rules as written, including every scrap of obscure official content, I'd take it to RPG StackExchange. That place is excellent at producing reliably "correct" answers, but struggles with things that can't be framed in terms of correctness (and the more your hombrew strays from official content the less there is any "right" answer about any part of it). At least it was that way when I used to hang out there a few years back. Or at least for D&D (which is what you seem to have in mind).

If I wanted actual practical advice and to have an actual conversation about it I'd bring it here.

 

[bedir than]

I find this question framed oddly

The answer to which knows there stuff and which is crunchiest isn't necessarily the same.

A greater amount of crunch shows a lesser knowledge of 5e

 

[TwoSix]

Unearthed Arcana on Reddit is definitely the overall strongest community, although you need to be on their Discord to get really focused conversation.

I would certainly check GiantITP, although they are much better for 3.5/PF1 discussion than 5e.

ENWorld has solid contributors, but it's a little thin on overall input.

D&DBeyond is a ton of chaff for very little wheat. StackExchange is pretty much a giant gamble, and too slow if you're looking for focused discussion.

RPGNet I've avoided for years, and they've never been a homebrew D&D focused community.

 

[Frankie1969]

Unearthed Arcana on Reddit is definitely the overall strongest community, although you need to be on their Discord to get really focused conversation.

Interesting.
My experience with the sub in the past was they're easily impressed by pretty art and prefer good flavor text over game mechanics. Has that changed?
I might need to look at the Discord.

 

[TwoSix]

Interesting.
My experience with the sub in the past was they're easily impressed by pretty art and prefer good flavor text over interesting game mechanics. Has that changed?
I might need to look at the Discord.

I would say the community as a whole is cautious of new mechanics, unless they're really well explained or they're coming from a well-known creator. And yes, the stuff that gets the most upvotes is the pretty art stuff, no question, but even stuff with relatively few upvotes can generate interesting conversation in the comments. The overall community is pretty knowledgeable.

 

[MNblockhead]

I've flirted with the forums listed and others. But I never felt compelled to keep going back like I have this site. ENWorld just scratches my gaming news and discussion itch. I'm not exactly why that is, but the following all play a part:

1. I mostly play D&D but am interested in at least being aware of other systems. ENWorld discussion is heavily focused on D&D but still has good content on other systems. I especially like the Kickstarter and publisher roundups. Also, it is rare for their to be a system that there isn't several people here who can share general opinions and advice for newbs. If I wanted to deep dive into another system, I would spend more time in other communities that focus on those systems, but I mostly play D&D with only the occasional one shot or mini campaign in other systems.
   
   
2. Good moderation. Moderation keeps the scope of focus on gaming. Within that, however, they are pretty open and really only come down on people who are being uncivil. The ignore feature takes care of the rest but in the years on hear, I've only used it maybe two or three times. Things just don't get too out of hand on ENWorld.
   
   
3. A personality behind it that you can engage in other media. ENWorld is not just a forum, but a publisher, and a podcaster. There is discord and a separate TTRPG news site, but I really don't engage with those. I've subscribed to the EN5ider Patreon on and off and have backed one of its Kickstarters, and have bought some of their products (mostly Awfully Cheerful Engine stuff). And I listen to every episode of their podcast. Haven't really gotten into their live streams, mostly because of time constraints, but all together it creates an organizational identity that once can get attached to in a way that is not the case with most other forums.
   
   
4. Supports both high and low engagement. There are times, like recently, when I am heavily engaged in ENWorld discussions. But there have also been periods when I just didn't have the time. But I could quickly log in and skim over the news and feature articles and still be engaged in the hobby without getting sucked into hours of reading the discussion threads. When I'm really busy, there really doesn't seem to be much point in visiting most other forums.
   
   
5. Article series. The paid writers that post various article series ensures that there is a regular stream of generally good-quality content so if I get tired of whatever discussions are popular, there is still something interesting to read.

All in all, ENWorld has the best balance of curated content and well-moderated discussions, especially for D&D players, of any gaming forum I've looked into. Its like Morus has been doing this for a while and learned a thing or two about managing a gaming forum.