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The obvious argument here then, is if the stats have such a limited impact that the difference between high and low isn’t noticeable at the table, why are we maintaining them in the first place? Freeform text descriptors of our characters would seem to do a better job of differentiating...

To be fair, @Pedantic is an excellent poster but also has very specific preferences. I wouldn't view their post as representative of the broader coalition of setting-first GMs.

Well, I'm contrasting them with us, who are probably "overinvested" players. :) Agreed. I enjoy marrative type games, but I feel they tend to fall down in two situations. One, your active and interested players are outnumbered by passive players. Two, your group is simply too large to allow...

I definitely think there's a portion of the "casual" player base that is generally passive. They show up at the table, chime in with actions on their turn during combat, and volunteer some ideas during non-combat play. But they have no interest in doing anything to drive play forward. They...

I mean, I don’t think the level of improv and active thinking needed for a “standard” narrative-type play is much more difficult than a Jackbox game requiring the players to type in phrases.

I mean, they aren’t gnomes.

Only laughing at your first sentence, BTW. Yea, I do think that's an irreconciable difference. I certainly understand the attraction to designing world concepts and then examining their interactions in a simulated environment; that's why there are so many popular video games that do just that...

Probably not. They used the word "cosy" in the marketing, which is a genre flag for being fairly PG/PG-13. Contrast with "spicy", which is the more graphic books.

For sure. As I said towards the beginning of this thread, player empowerment goes along with player responsibility. The more I dictate as a player about what's included in the game, the more responsibility I have to make sure the game is functioning smoothly.

Sure, but it's the good kind of "narrative conflict" tension. I don't think of defiling as "Clearly Evil Villain Stuff", any more than the Dark Side of the Force. It's obviously evil and corrupting, but definitely falls into the "I can do this bad thing for the greater good/to save my friends"...

Tough to say. Throne of Glass started in 2012, and ACOTAR in 2015, but I think you can make an argument that genre didn’t solidify until the rise of BookTok in the early ‘20s, and become mainstream until Fourth Wing.

Fair. I was fine accepting the definition of the poster I quoted within the context of the post; "art" is far too squishy of a word for me to feel comfortable defining its contours.

The DM shouldn't not have fun just because a player is running a concept he isn't a fan of. No one is telling a GM what to do. What I'm trying to do is give GMs a little advice. "Stop being so picky. The player has one character, you have the rest of the world."

Which is why my general opinion on defiling is that should an option for any arcane-using PC to access at any time. Defiling should be easy and powerful. I ran a few session of Dark Sun using Worlds without Number; I had defiling as the default for any high-magic spell. Not defiling required...

We did a Tortles one-shot before, about 2 years ago. Donatello was an Artificer, and Metalhead was a Warforged Fighter. Leo was a Fighter, Mikey was a Ranger, and Raphael was a Psion who was actually Krang in a clone body.

Canon giant turtle?

I absolutely have a response to this, but Eric's Grandma is watching. :)

In my experience, the genre is fairly progressive. But, most same-sex relationships and genderfluid characters are not involved in the primary relationship. So I could see some readers, even more progressive ones, not loving that aspect because it damages their ability to identify with one of...

Did Drizzt and Elminster ambush you in Des Moines? :)