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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9370038" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Oh, sure, no question. I just think that making that baked in for ALL players of a D&amp;D-type thing, which is at least nominally meant to embrace a wide variety of options, would be unwise.Black licorice is a selective taste that absolutely isn't for everyone. But replacing it with red licorice to please more people is a disservice to those who actually like it. (In small doses, I'm actually one of them, I actually like licorice-flavored saltwater taffy for example.) Likewise, extreme spiciness is essential for some dishes, e.g. there should be ultra-hot curries out there for the folks who love that stuff, putting in something to ameliorate or mitigate the spiciness would be denying them their joy.The issue lies in setting that setting as the default everyone else has to work around, rather than an opt-in that some folks can implement. Good support for grimdark is tricky because of how hegemonic it often becomes--as you say, allowing even a single &quot;ray of hope&quot; breaks it, sort of like stripping the patina off of just the handles of a tea set, you've ruined the look. I wouldn't envy the designer who needs to thread the needle between &quot;give folks who love grimdark the support they need to really enjoy a grimdark game&quot; and &quot;give everyone else the support they need to not actually have a grimdark game if they don't want it.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9370038, member: 6790260"] Oh, sure, no question. I just think that making that baked in for ALL players of a D&D-type thing, which is at least nominally meant to embrace a wide variety of options, would be unwise. Black licorice is a selective taste that absolutely isn't for everyone. But replacing it with red licorice to please more people is a disservice to those who actually like it. (In small doses, I'm actually one of them, I actually like licorice-flavored saltwater taffy for example.) Likewise, extreme spiciness is essential for some dishes, e.g. there [I]should[/I] be ultra-hot curries out there for the folks who love that stuff, putting in something to ameliorate or mitigate the spiciness would be denying them their joy. The issue lies in setting that setting as the default everyone [I]else[/I] has to work around, rather than an opt-in that some folks can implement. Good support for grimdark is tricky because of how hegemonic it often becomes--as you say, allowing even a [I]single[/I] "ray of hope" breaks it, sort of like stripping the patina off of just the [I]handles[/I] of a tea set, you've ruined the look. I wouldn't envy the designer who needs to thread the needle between "give folks who love grimdark the support they need to really enjoy a grimdark game" and "give everyone else the support they need to not actually have a grimdark game if they don't want it." [/QUOTE]

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