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   silverwizard (silverwizard@convenient.email)'s status on Thursday, 22-Feb-2024 06:52:55 JST silverwizard

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   • rdonoghue

   @rdonoghue I played a four year long Spelljammer game where we just took everything in D&D 100% seriously. If it made the world incoherent, we just embraced it.

   It was rollicking and weird, hundreds of memorable moments, and so many things in the toolbox. It was wonderful and glorious and fun as hell. D&D is wonderful for that.

   I have no insight to add except - yes! It's great!

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     rdonoghue (rdonoghue@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 22-Feb-2024 06:52:56 JST rdonoghue

     in reply to

     Also, to be clear, I still like what I like, and a lot of what I like is built on decades of my own responses to hitting limits in D&D that were unsatisfying to me and trying to find ways to find that satisfaction. That has accrued into my personal tastes and interests, and I enjoy them a lot.

     But it can also be humbling an alienation to recognize them as an edifice I’ve constructed, not some kind of abstractly “better” version of gaming.

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     rdonoghue (rdonoghue@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 22-Feb-2024 06:52:57 JST rdonoghue

     in reply to

     This is REALLY FUCKING HARD for me to stare down, because I like and value coherence. So much so that the flaws of D&D seem painfully self evident to me.

     But I’m also old and boring, and i have had the pleasure of watching people far younger than me play and love the game, and there is no value in my just deciding they’re doing it wrong.

     Hell. I think a lot of the magic is that there isn’t a wrong way. Not in the bullshit way we say it while silently judging, but in a real way.

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     rdonoghue (rdonoghue@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 22-Feb-2024 06:52:58 JST rdonoghue

     in reply to

     “But”, says some rational part of my brain, “D&D will probably do a TERRIBLE job mechanically representing the things that made the idea interesting in the first place.”

     And that’s super, duper true. D&D is probably going to suck at making it anything but a pile of hot points or some damage dice.

     But…who cares? It will be a brief moment of a shiny, exciting thing, and then we’ll be onto the next one.

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     rdonoghue (rdonoghue@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 22-Feb-2024 06:52:59 JST rdonoghue

     in reply to

     Suppose you run across a cool idea somewhere. Can you use it in your game?

     Boring Answer: check if it fits the setting and genre as well as the sensibilities of my table.

     D&D answer: FUCK YES YOU CAN!

     —-
     I worry this sounds flip, but I’m very serious.

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     rdonoghue (rdonoghue@dice.camp)'s status on Thursday, 22-Feb-2024 06:53:00 JST rdonoghue

     I am slowly making my peace with the idea that D&D’s incoherence is one of its strongest features, and is a reason why so many attempts to “fix” D&D fail long before the size of the business even enters the picture.

     D&D is, ultimately, just enough of an excuse for an infinite toy box of wild bullshit. The imaginary toys are the point, and that’s glorious.

     But it’s also super frustrating if you want it to make any kind of sense. Which is too bad, but not enough to stop the fun.