writing an important and tense point of character decision making into the game only to have people dismiss the empathetic option as pointless, thereby completely affirming the entire point of this decision being in the game.

The cynic in me thinks that mechanical design has little impact on the success of an rpg. The vast majority of consumers don't actually care about mechanics because they just arent very marketable. The things that sell games are:
- recognisable branding
- nice art
- social capital

Do you have any favourites or odd ones you’d recommend. We do these now and then, and are constantly looking for more!

It’s always baffled me, since one of the things that drew me into the hobby in the first place was how affordable it was.

Overall I wonder if this culture even exists in places where DnD isn’t (or didn’t use to be) the reigning elfgame.

Absolutely sick highlighting here. Or should I say, awesome.