#operator's polemic

the distinction between board games and TTRPGs only exists in your heart baby

there should be like secret extra editions of dnd that wotc denounces as false like christian apocrypha

i understand why people do it and it's obviously well intentioned but i think mechanically incentivizing the use of safety tools is a silly practice because it then mechanically incentivizes doing things you know will result in safety tools being used. and of course i don't think anyone would actually follow that to its logical conclusion and do that but it is what that kind of mechanization inadvertently makes into 'optimal play' which is imo a bit of an oversight

the best thing you can do to make your ttrpg good is to give it a specific point of view. knowing the limitations of that point of view will free you from the burdens and exhaustion of having to write as a perfect exhaustive external observer while also creating a stronger text that people can remember and connect with

now i think you should be allowed to enjoy tabletop games however you like with one exception which is that if you play warhammer 40k, a game that lets you build an army of combat nuns or zombie robots or xenomorphs or british football hooligans or communist smurfs or bdsm elves, and say 'hm, i thikn i will play as the space marines, i like that theyre all a A Big Guy With A Gun', then they should feed yo uto the emperors glowy chair