re: ttrpgs, I think my favorite piece of advice I've ever been given by a friend, after spending like an hour telling them abt my super intricate dnd homebrew game, is "why not just make this its own game?".
And this totally changed my perspective on homebrewing bc like,,, that's essentially what ur doing when you get that deep into it. When you're reworking the magic system and making your own classes and races and all new monsters, you've just theseus's-shipped DnD. And like- when I realized I could just write my own game, my ideas also got like 10x better because I stopped being shackled to DnD's existing biases and systems (even if you don't think about it consciously, DnD has unwritten rules of conduct and how to play that you can choose to toss out the window or change when it's your game).
Like I feel like homebrewing has become sort of a pride thing, like "look at me I know the system so well I can add more to it!" which is just silly tbh. Like if it's a matter of pure passion, congrats! Go write a better game than DnD! and if it's about doing it yourself/being the Grand Master Who Created It All- don't make your players be your first unknowing playtesters, when you play in an already developed, different game system, you get to skip a lot of the jank and clunky parts for something someone HAS extensively playtested and edited so it flows better. It's literally better for everyone- just write ur game on the side and enjoy a less stressful tabletop games with ur friends.
AND AND, AS A FINAL THING- if you play games in the genre you want to write about, 9 times out of 10 you'll get a better awareness for how to make that genre good !!! Like if you're trying to make sci-fi dnd, playing sci-fi systems will help inspire you !!!! there is NO DOWNSIDE to branching out creatively at ur table besides ur friends being butts and not wanting to try to learn something new.
I just. aubbhsefwghtergsafiDIAFGSFHFDREYJGFSD. it's time to let go of dnd. I promise it'll still be there when u get back. be actually adventurous you weirdos. stop limiting ur creativity to a janky ass system when you could be playing something better. It's like insisting on making every meal with a pb&j as your only ingredients- like yeah it's a great pb&j, and you sure can try to make other foods with it, but why not just use other ingredients from the get-go instead of continually reshaping and reconstituting this sandwich so that, as the best possible outcome, it becomes a weaker version of the food you could've just gone and made yourself!!! AND, AT WORST- you just have a gross pb&j mess that makes you think "I guess the only food that's good is a standard pb&j since I couldn't make anything else." and that sucks ass !!!! this metaphor is rapidly slipping away from me but you know what I mean. ughrghfthergwhgherugh >:I
yes exactly! i really like the pb&j analogy. and i think dnd is tied to its origins as a war game and a western fantasy medieval roleplay game (tolkein-esque fantasy, essentially). not entirely a bad thing, but like ursula guin said- by ignoring what already exists in the genre you’re doing your audience (and in this context) your players a disservice.
if your players dont want to learn a new game, take the time to teach them! it might mean extra long (or multiple) session 0s but like. it opens up a whole lot more
