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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest&nbsp; 85555" data-source="post: 8849775">I think one thing we all have to keep in mind here is this is largely going to come down to taste and preference. I've been in the hobby long enough to know plenty of people who feel the way you do, but also plenty who feel the opposite, and bridging that divide is always going to be a challenge for a game like D&D. I will say as I have gotten older, open and lighter is my preference. I just find games run better when rules are easier to adapt to a wide variety or situations, when rules are not so involved or there aren't so many that you either need to look them up or master them, and that flavor and imagination take primacy over the letter of the law. On the issue of GMs as designers, here I think people who prefer systems that rely more on rulings by the GM, don't see rulings as design. True a GM might not know the probabilities off hand, but like anything else in the game, they will develop an intuition over time as they make more and more rulings. And the game can help with this by making sure the tools it provides for rulings and the GM advice, helps. On the other end, if you have a more involved rules system, that still requires work by the GM, and by the players, because it takes more system mastery to command the game. I don't think there is a right or wrong here. There is a reason you have a variety of RPGs out there that span the spectrum on this. I know I presently prefer lighter more rulings over rules games, but I have at different times been at different places on that spectrum in my preference. The real question is what D&D needs. One thing I am quite sure of, discussions like these probably won't be a huge factor for WOTC's decision, no matter how compelling any of our arguments are. I think in the 2000s they paid more attention to forum discussions, but now I think they are much more interested in wide scale playtest feedback by not just players who spend a lot of time online. I don't play 5E, so I don't really have a dog in the direction it goes. I do think one thing that was a big draw for a lot of people with 5E, was it was more palatable to the crowd who wanted something where rules were more open (that is at least what people I know who play it tell me when I ask why they like it). I'm sure there are many other factors that contributed to its popularity though. I just know I hear from many who disliked either 3E or 4E who came back to D&D with 5E. I myself was a fan of 3E, but drifted away from WOTC D&D during 4E, and never felt the need to come back when 5 was released because I had found so many alternative editions in the OSR that fit my taste better.</blockquote>

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