This is really underlining my fervent hope/desire to have my daughter comfortably reading before she hits Kindergarten

I feel ya. I'm waiting on two more PC backgrounds for a campaign starting in January or February so I can have the world launch-ready and be able to lay some foreshadowing and hooks for future character moments early on

Yeah, having custom origin options and then failing to include them as baseline in 24 was absolutely baffling. Especially since they made them even more important with stats/feats

Commenting here to avoid polluting the data for other options: I've brought them for our local one shot events (esp games like VtM and Ghosts in the Dark) and I don't think anyone has ever used them. It's hard to tell if folks are just happily occupying a PG13 zone w/o issues or forget to use them

It felt like an immediate step back as soon as I saw the design. I've literally not used a standard background in years. Why is it so hard to say "Pick 2 skills, a combo of 2 tools/languages and a feat from this list"?

It almost feels a little cash grabby, PC options for the sake of selling books

The execution is a shame because I feel like the core concept of two jealous himbo idiots doing increasingly absurd things to try to get Leia's attention and her maturely and competently having to save them all from their hare-brained schemes should have been a slam dunk

Lol it's not something I want to play all the time. I think of it like hand making stuffed shells pasta at home. It's delicious for a special occasion but it's an awful lot of work for a normal night at home

It was very peak 3.5 design. Options for everything. Could probably be streamlined but it did a great job of translating super powered archetypes to manageable d20 rules

It instantly makes my joints ache to think about. I played my first real TTRPG on AIM. I got to know my wife on AIM 😅

We only played a few sessions but it was probably the first real campaign world I ever built/ran. It was so long ago we played on AIM lol

I mean, I love weird settings. I've done Modern Fantasy, Weird West, 80's neon-retro deep sea exploration, even a dark Muppets campaign all in D&D. But they only work when everyone is on the same page. It can't be 3 grounded modern PCs, a space monkey and a muppet. I've got to tell someone no

Once folks have bought a resource, esp. through something like DNDBeyond, they feel like they have the right to use it and even something like tone and setting can't infringe on that. So if I've paid $50 to get Spelljammer I feel like I should be allowed to be a Hippo with a giant musket regardless

I feel like there's a tricky middle ground there. There is a tension between the "here are clear settings or create your own setting, DMs can create a tone, set limits, etc." vs. the fact that player options are marketed directly to players, specifically around usable classes/races/feats etc.

Weirdly it was one of the first TTRPGs I really got to play much. I might have a copy on my oldest hard drive but I'll have to see if it still boots up. I loved the crunchiness of it even if it was sort of silly in a d20 system lol

Games that not only say nothing but actively resist the idea of themes and aesthetics to better support an infinitely expandable marketplace of pop culture imagery with all of its sharp edges and peculiarities sanded off

Yeah, it's amazing how some folks will just go "Screw this vibe I'm gonna _____"
I'm sure there is some inherent trolling but I wonder if Fornite and similar games shoulder some blame. Aang & Peter Griffin & a Power Ranger shooting Ariana Grande & an influencer with machine guns on a Springfield map

Running two community one shots a month has let me try out a massive pile of games very quickly but I've also had to work around really weird stuff. Like the guy who wanted to play a wrestling Greek philosopher for the wuxia themed Hearts of Wulin.

Yeah, it's a highly used name which is why I can't find it. It was a huge resource though, massive list of super powers with multiple tiers, special races and classes, tons of equipment. Like hundreds of pages. Might only have existed digitally

Oh no I get it. I have a whole list of "I really want to play this but it needs a special table" games VtM, Ryuutama, Wanderhome, Quiet Year. Games that seem super fun but have a really specific vibe that players need to buy into or they'll ruin the game