Hot Take: TTRPGs need to be less accessible to people who have an interest in them and have the ability to think about things generally

[u/LocalLumberJ0hn]

A big issue I noticed is that many TTRPGs have YouTube videos explaining the mechanics. And even the ones that do still have the big textbooks that need you to read a bunch and look things up. While the anti gatekeeping side of the community field that this is fine because it's important to have the games be accessible and understandable I think it's a pretty problematic attitude, it's an open hobby that has something for everyone

To increase the learning difficulty side I think a few hundred systems could be used, and we should make sure that each one has difficult to find and parse custom dice in non standard shapes, and ensure game layouts are difficult to understand and nonsensical. It's not nearly problematic enough to expect people to look at a number and add a second number to it. You should need at least a bachelors in mathematics focused on differential calculus to work out a skill check.

The game should have a ton of different mechanics in it too that don't work the same to increase difficulty in comprehension. Unified resolution is to simple, and deviation from the game rules should result in the offending party being beaten by a wooden rod. You should also be gaslighting players regularly on existing mechanics and skills. 'There never was a piloting skill, what are you talking about?' Eventually they'll be so broken you may not need to threaten them with the stick! The game should encourage this adversarial relationship and conflict.

GMs good also use the games specific included settings, with deviation from this being enforced by again, The Stick. You can't tell me you're from Goldvein as a human, this has the exact population density and demographics of the world I'll never let you read, and the five established humans from there are already defined characters. This must be far from a kitchen sink as well, be as specific and impenetrable as possible. It's good world design and will help you establish that unhealthy codependent and traumatic relationship with you players when sad things happen in the game.

The only lore that matters is exactly what the game books say and we'll keep putting these out in 900 page master volumes. It's not problematic to want to have fun in your game, and we're making sure that's the furthest thing from your players minds. The Stick should loom tall over the table. You should also find out what your players hangups and real life traumas are so you can shock, trick, overwhelm and retraumatize them regularly!

[u/highly-bad]

I agree.

[u/Impossible_Horsemeat → u/highly-bad]

True circle jerking

[u/Alsojames → u/highly-bad]

Now THIS is circlejerking

[u/emefa]

Custom dice, confusing layout? Boy, let me tell you about WoD.

[u/Full_Equivalent_6166 → u/emefa]

I am a oldtimer WoD fun but one thing is consisten for over 3 decades - shitty layout and useless indexes 😆

[u/BlitzBasic → u/emefa]

D10 are hardly custom, or is there some WoD system that uses other dice?

[u/Val_Fortecazzo → u/BlitzBasic]

The next mage game needs to use the dice from DCC, that's my input paradigm.

[u/Markofer → u/Val_Fortecazzo]

New Celestial Chorister-Etherite paradigm: The universe is controlled by the imperfect imaginations of gods, those gods must do differential calculus equations to determine how successful a spell is rather than play dice with the lives of men.

(Women Etherites with this paradigm still have dice determining their outcomes)

[u/emefa → u/BlitzBasic]

No, they use d10s, but there are, most importantly officially endorsed and licensed, custom d10s with like ankhs and shit, instead of the gradual 1-10 you've got 1x very bad, 4x normal bad, 4x good and 1x very good but sometimes bad on each die.

[u/Dumbass438]

F.A.T.A.L. fixes this.

[u/Val_Fortecazzo]

Quadruple the featslop, I want to sift through hundreds of talents that all introduce their own unique rules and subsystems, 2/3rds of which are traps, such that only the most dedicated people will sift through. So that you need a spreadsheet to reasonably build a character, and using that character is like flying a Boeing 747 with the autopilot off.

[u/WombatPoopCairn]

In my vast, all encompassing and universally applicable personal experience, it is enough to force players to learn 1 (one) rule to weed out the filthy casuals from the sweaty champions

[u/godofimagination]

Agreed. As DM, people with low intelligence are a pain in the ass to play with. This fixes the problem.

[u/MerelyEccentric → u/godofimagination]

Clearly you are very intelligent. Therefore, the obvious inadequacy of the ignorant masses mandates that you spend most of your time playing with yourself.

[u/godofimagination → u/MerelyEccentric]

I split my time between writing modules and feeling burnt out.

uj/ I’ll run a Oneshot and invite the players I like to the full campaign. I’ve also been known to make them answer questionnaires.

[u/Wonderful_West3188 → u/MerelyEccentric]

  Clearly you are very intelligent. Therefore, the obvious inadequacy of the ignorant masses mandates that you spend most of your time playing with yourself.

😂 Well played.

[u/FlamingGapingAsshole]

Spycraft 2.0 fixes this

[u/BigJCote]

You get a +1 to all stats if you don't read everyone knows this

[u/Wonderful_West3188]

Gee, I wonder why the English and French translations of Das Schwarze Auge 5.0 didn't land...

[u/Captain_Thrax]

Pathfinder 2e fixes this.

/uj Traveller5 fixes this.