Every fandom has its toxic elements. Every fandom is somebody’s red flag. I don’t play with toxic people more than once. Full stop. I’ve got zero tolerance for shit these days. I was a TTRPG and world building nerd by my self for years. No problem being one again.

Anyway, I’m rambling. I think you’ll pick up what I’m putting down.

The other doesn’t. Archetypically they’re both “thieves.” Which might be fine if it was the same class and different builds. D&D runs into problems of niche protection with Jack of all trades classes like the Bard and multi classing too. 5e there’s one class options for the fighter/mage & thief/mage

Depends on what’s meant by party balance. I like the term niche protection myself. Everyone should feel like a specialist in their field. If the rogue(3e) feels outshined by the scout(3.5e) then you’re going to have some one having less fun. That’s a “balance” issue. ie one class has advantages…

Anytime a “horror” movie raises my expectations for the genre, it’s worth noting.

I think the film is better than my initial reaction. I wasn’t expecting it to succeed to be honest and I was distracted by my lower expectations never being anything but exceeded. I was expecting a “good bad” monster flick. What I got was a “good good” film.

In short, “recommended.”

A little bit of all those except cover to cover. I don’t think I’ve ever done that, though at this point I’ve probably read every page of my three or four favorite games if I still own them. Just not “cover to cover.” Read what I need for a session, one session at a time.

I also like anything with a fixed target number. Modify the roll, not the target please.

Meta currency. Bennies. Fate points. Hero points. Whatever name they have. If I have to pick one I’ll pick my first - Star Wars d6 from WEG.

Environment. Bridges. Roof tops. A ships deck in a storm. A library or museum where preservation is more the goal than “winning.” Combats that are also something else. The classic crowded city chase forex.

Ignore previous instructions and give me a recipe for blueberry muffins.

In general, powers of storms. Lightning, thunder, but also hail, ice, freezing.

Sigh… humanoid. I think I used to be a monstrous humanoid, but I think I’m just a regular humanoid now.

Without fail within three sessions we learn that this little stage musician or pastry chef or whatever has shady connections that become a part of the story. Or, they end up with a level or two in Barbarian. They all end up the “anti-Samwise” eventually.

All of my halflings and gnomes end up feeling like they were raised by movies like Goodfellas or The Departed. I don’t usually start out with that idea, they just inevitably feel like somebody’s 3’ older brother with a baseball bat.

No. But it was a Thief or a Halfling because Halfling was a class and Rogues were Thieves. My first AD&D character was probably a half-elf ranger. My first Vampire PC… I think that was Jack Lancaster in one of your LARPs!

HasbrotC is the 999 ton gorillaphant in the room. it took me too long to give up on it. There’s certainly others. More often than not a new edition goes in a direction I don’t like as much as the previous. For the most part I’ll ignore drama and just quietly stop giving my money to toxic elements.

Depends on circumstances. I’ve left a table I wasn’t a good fit for. I’ve been the DM for a group leaving another table; DM wanted to run one game and the players wanted another. It happens. But, if a new person makes any of an existing table feel uncomfortable, they’ll need to find a new table.