Sean Merwin

I'm just going to make sure I didn't miss any of my points. There is this thing about a self-selecting audience. When the rules come out, if players are...

functioning members of society they will read the rules and they will say i like this game or not for me yeah and those who like the game will play the game and those who don't like the game will go find another game and so when you change those rules that you create what you're saying is you player have chosen this game to love and now i'm going to make it a different game

functioning members of society they will read the rules and they will say i like this game or not for me yeah and those who like the game will play the game and those who don't like the game will go find another game and so when you change those rules that you create what you're saying is you player have chosen this game to love and now i'm going to make it a different game

that you might not love. And so that's not an excuse, it's not a reason to change or not to change, but it's just something in interpersonal relationships and large segments of people making choices that changing things triggers. Right. It triggers that.

that you might not love. And so that's not an excuse, it's not a reason to change or not to change, but it's just something in interpersonal relationships and large segments of people making choices that changing things triggers. Right. It triggers that.

I mean, Darkson is that right. Darkson is take everything you're used to and we're going to flip it upside down. Right. The elves are not in tree villages and the most noble the uppity people ever. Nope. They are scoundrels and they run across the desert. Right. And and everything on right. The halflings are cannibals. I mean, we're just changing everything.

I mean, Darkson is that right. Darkson is take everything you're used to and we're going to flip it upside down. Right. The elves are not in tree villages and the most noble the uppity people ever. Nope. They are scoundrels and they run across the desert. Right. And and everything on right. The halflings are cannibals. I mean, we're just changing everything.

And so that is only fun if you want to buy into that. Otherwise, it'd be a tough ride. And I've met a lot of people as much as I love Dark Sun. I've met a lot of people who say, yeah, that setting's not for me. I don't like anything about it or I don't like these five things or whatever.

And so that is only fun if you want to buy into that. Otherwise, it'd be a tough ride. And I've met a lot of people as much as I love Dark Sun. I've met a lot of people who say, yeah, that setting's not for me. I don't like anything about it or I don't like these five things or whatever.

Yeah, and it's funny because a message came in right before we started recording that really sums this up. So I wanted to say thank you to the MP Gossage via YouTube. I like the idea of settings putting certain constraints on the game to change how it feels, but talking as a GM of public games, I have often seen the opposite.

Yeah, and it's funny because a message came in right before we started recording that really sums this up. So I wanted to say thank you to the MP Gossage via YouTube. I like the idea of settings putting certain constraints on the game to change how it feels, but talking as a GM of public games, I have often seen the opposite.

People will hunt through setting books for custom feats, species, spells, subclasses, and then add them to their character, giving a real mishmash of characters who appear together with no coherence. So we have the human fighter with the damn pier wall running rogue with the war forged moon Druid called Grimlock. And yes, that, that is a thing.

People will hunt through setting books for custom feats, species, spells, subclasses, and then add them to their character, giving a real mishmash of characters who appear together with no coherence. So we have the human fighter with the damn pier wall running rogue with the war forged moon Druid called Grimlock. And yes, that, that is a thing.

And it is sometimes uncomfortable to have those sorts of conversations for a very short, like one shot adventure.

And it is sometimes uncomfortable to have those sorts of conversations for a very short, like one shot adventure.

I mean, I find it interesting that the 2024 5e character building process is

I mean, I find it interesting that the 2024 5e character building process is

does not speak more to that idea of thinking through your character concept um it it has the steps and how you go through them are kind of these process steps but they aren't they don't really pull out and do a holistic thing around it um they'll they'll address that a little bit within steps but it it leads to i think to that kind of disjointed thinking or it can

does not speak more to that idea of thinking through your character concept um it it has the steps and how you go through them are kind of these process steps but they aren't they don't really pull out and do a holistic thing around it um they'll they'll address that a little bit within steps but it it leads to i think to that kind of disjointed thinking or it can

I like that. I like that they started with class, but I also understand why that would be the last thing you would want to start with. But in order to get a system in place that... really forces a player to think through those steps. It forces the player to think through those steps who might not want to think through those steps.