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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 8440508" data-attributes="member: 6696971">I obviously don't agree that this is true.I think 5e has a lot of clear principles in its GMing:1 - Find the fun (for your table)!2 - The GM is the lead storyteller and we're all telling a satisfying story (this is a fundamental conceit).3 - The rules and results of rules interactions are in service to play and GMs have discretion there.4 - The GM makes the adventure and the world (or purchases one and uses that).5 - The players make and play bold adventurers who expect to confront deadly perils.6 - IF we're playing Hack and Slash (DMG 34), our 2nd principle is perturbed and we're going to have to figure that out how to resolve that ourselves. So my take (which should be clear) is that the 5e ruleset has two primary issues (5e advocates think these are features not bugs...I disagree):ISSUE 1* Find the fun is not sufficient as a guiding principle for play.  They would have been significantly better if they would have spent more time on this, given structure to the conversation that GMs and players will have (this is supposed to work for all tables of all ages...not just 50 year olds who have played with the same people for 30 years) so they can "find the fun."  Something like the Traveler Lifepath system or the Torchbearer "Build a Dungeon" procedure or the BW/MG/TB/Blades Assessing Factors for Obstacles/Effect (in Blades).Helping people understand how to suss out "the fun" (basically formally establish premise and social contract for play) for each unique table is a good thing.  5e does not remotely do enough work there in my opinion.ISSUE 2* Resolving the intersection of principle 6 and 2 (Skilled Play Priority vs Storytelling Priority).  Like the Find the Fun above, I think more work going into this (something to structure conversation around this) would have been hugely helpful.[HR][/HR]The reality of all of this together (including the lack of help in Finding the Fun and dealing with 6 vs 2 issues) is exactly what I said toward the end of the playtest.  5e is basically AD&D 3e.  Its ethos and its design are significantly impress upon the user a game that is in service to Story Before + GM Storyteller Mandate = DIY Table Heterogeneity.  Because of a very informal Find the Fun and a ruleset that is, by design, a Rorschach Test or "Mad-Lib-ey" in key places, play drift/experimentation is going to be a common occurrence.  That is the DIY Table Heterogeneity.  When hiccups inevitably arise because of play drift/experimentation, see principles 1-3!</blockquote>

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