WotC WotC Winter 2026 D&D Community Survey

[Not a Decepticon]

If Enworld built a car, it would have options to drive it automatic or manual drive, front, back or 4 wheel drive capability, and run on gas, electric, or a crank in the front for those who still want to hand start it.

This monstrosity costs 82,000 dollars?! I'M RUINED

 

[Artamo]

Because the ruleset very blatantly empowers the player and imo encourages that kid of behavior by taking away DM's tools to nip it in the bud. Bad design doesn't stop being bad design by removing player who exploits it.

I would argue that every design is bad if saddled with the responsibility of preventing bad players from derailing a game.

 

[Remathilis]

Then it's not a playtest, it's an exercise in BS.

Again, then, not a true playtest in the slightest.

I'm going to assume you have never played a "limited access beta" for a video game before. It's not like they send you the code and tell you squash bugs, or ask you how you would rebuild whole sections of the game. They give you a vertical slice and say "is this fun?" Did the netcode hold up? Does a section need tweaking? Did anything spectacularly break? It's mostly to see how you public is going to react to the game than it is to see if the game is balanced.

Once you realize all public access betas are market research and not balancing tests, you can approach with with the proper mindset.

 

[Remathilis]

I would argue that every design is bad if saddled with the responsibility of preventing bad players from derailing a game.

Something something rules can't prevent a bad player/DM....

 

[BenjaminPey]

the ruleset very blatantly empowers players

The horror!
The horror!

 

[Not a Decepticon]

I would argue that every design is bad if saddled with the responsibility of preventing bad players from derailing a game.

I would argue that bad design is the design that empowers bad players. Especially when its a design that feels added because someone was afraid a bad DM can destroy the bastion...and a bad dm still will do it because they don't give a rats bottocks what the rules say to begin with. It solves no problem but generates more problems for good DM who was unlucky to have a bad player.

The horror!
The horror!

How about you quote the entire sentence instead of taking a part out of context to make me look bad? Could you do that?

 

[Parmandur]

I heard and read many rpg horror stories where a player got mad their NPC allies or followers turned against them due to their amoral actions, and that they had to face consequences of these actions. There is a sad contingent of people who want to play rpgs like SKyrim and Bastion rules gave them easy way out of all consequences.

So you have seen this actually happen in practice...?

 

[BenjaminPey]

Because the ruleset very blatantly empowers the player and imo encourages that kid of behavior by taking away DM's tools to nip it in the bud. Bad design doesn't stop being bad design by removing player who exploits it.

Your wish is my command, my DM.

 

[Artamo]

I would argue that bad design is the design that empowers bad players. Especially when its a design that feels added because someone was afraid a bad DM can destroy the bastion...and a bad dm still will do it because they don't give a rats bottocks what the rules say to begin with. It solves no problem but generates more problems for good DM who was unlucky to have a bad player.

But this is my point - if a bad player (or DM) is going to ignore the rule or play counter to what is considered fair play by the table, how could any ruleset possibly compete with that? I definitely agree that rules can become torturous in their language because they’re trying to solve a problem with the way people communicate and interact. My preferred solution to that though is for the rules to not even attempt to handle that problem.

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

I know this would increase word count, but I think it's weird that rpg rules rarely provide examples for how a rule is supposed to work.

I think, if it is difficult to word something in a way that is easy to ensure that everyone who reads it has the same understanding of RAI, it would be a good idea to have a sidebar that shows some examples of how the rule is supposed to work.