Shadows and Dark Secrets [Solo] : S1 E0.2

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The Lay Of The Land (Season 1, Episode 0.2)

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Lextrin Qualit in transit on the slide-train

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I headed out to Hydrodome 17. If you'd never been to Prismata - and who would want to? - you'd realize quickly the limitations on water due to a very dry planet. The planet has tens of billion of people on the planet and water is a highly valued commodity. The Hydrodomes are combinations of massive reservoirs, water purfication systems, and some water structures that the well-behaved, professional class get to enjoy. The really rich have their own pools it is said, but if you aren't one, you'll never know.

Meeting at a Hydrodome probably reduces the odds of overt violence and might get me some useful intel from Kuron so I can figure out if I can get the work done and get paid. And not getting killed is another nice to have feature.

Lextrin Qualit at Hydrodome 17

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I've arrived at Hydrodome 17 and am ambling around the arboretum. I see Kuron sitting on a bench about 15 meters away. She looks agitated or ready for something to break out. I'm not armed - the Peacekeepers would take a lethally dangerous view of any such thing. I think I spot as many as three folk interested in Kuron. I know she's seen me. She gets up and walks to the wet field. I follow as if I have no interest other than the lovely grass and simulated blue sky - another oddity... why blue? Our sky is never blue.

Kuron finishes her lunch and dumps it into a garbage can. She then takes off her coat and heads into the wet field (a big field with sprinklers). She looks like she's having fun to the average person, but the fast-snap reactions we all learned shows if you know what to look for.

I see one of the tails is lagging... probably checking out the bench and the garbage receptacle. He'll be busy for a while. One of the others has reluctantly went onto the wet field, but at the farthest side. I suppose that is supposed to make her noticeable... well, it doesn't work. The last one, another man, is reading a paper and looking out over the aquaduct.

I knew Kuron would hit the comfort stations - not because she needs to, just to make another one of them go diving. She'll gather up her stuff, shake off, then go for a bit of a run. Not a sprint, just enough to force the trails to decide if they fired up. Kuron has athletic shoes, they don't. She'd have a bug in her coat now, but she'd sanitize it when she got back to work.

When Kuron jogs by, she stops for a drink at the citrus juice bar. Then she goes to sit on the railing overlooking the aquaduct. She'll lounge there and look all around. The tails probably aren't going to close up to her. When she is finished, she'll call a trans-urb zipcar. That'll get her back to work. And they'll never notice the high tech earbud she picked up. I set it down in a napkin just before she picked up her order.

She'd be calling me with a crypted comm when she gets to work. I'll get what she has for me and I'll ask her if she needs an extraction. I owe her one. But she won't. These three clowns? She could have taken all three of them without perspiration.

And that's what went down, just like expected. The things I didn't get were the things she dropped on me on the secure comm.

Lextrin Qualit at and about

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I got the call. Kuron told me the mission was a high value extraction and the target is a young female. I poked to find out the client... Kuron was cagey which probably meant she wasn't 100% sure the comms' crypto were dependable. I asked about where the target was last seen. She sent some images. Kuron doesn't have a current location, just one 4 weeks ago when this all started. So far this looks about as lousy as one can expect. I told her to not work to hard and stop worrying. She knew that meant stay sharp and don't let your guard down. I let her know that if there was any worries, she could call me and I'd cheer her up. That really meant I'd initiate a hostile extraction to pull her out.

I figured I might not get the info I needed and I don't like working for unknown clients, even if they are vouched for by those I trust implicitly. I did spent those years on the wrong side of the law. Those folks have ears everywhere. Time to shake some of my contacts to see what comes out.

I started with with Ayisha. Not many know that name, her real one. She runs under many pseudonyms and usually is in disguise and her net diving gear is heavily protected and anonymized. She's was a military black hat cyber sleuth with counterstrike capability. She just didn't like other humans too close.

She meets me and we talk. She does some background hacks. She runs some of the weakly defended parts of the undernet. She pokes into some organized crime data havens. She has a deft hand and doesn't set off the cyber watchdogs.

So, the guy I'm doing this for is a decorated Marine Major and it's his daughter that is the one that has disappeared. Some deeper diving in the underworld data havens showed there had been some money offered for some 'package pickup' but it wasn't clear if anyone took the work; It may still be unfulfilled. The cyber watchdogs were snuffing around so Ayisha bailed because we don't want to tip off anyone this early.

Ayisha gave me some info from the target's socials and some stuff other stuff that wasn't well protected. Then she bowed out and vanished to lay down a defensive path back home, wherever she was living now. She'll be watching her backtrail.

Next step: review the data and figure out where the first transit will need to head. It'll also give me how big of a team I need and then figure out if I can pursuade them.

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Name	Ayisha (AYE-ee-shah) (insert varied last names)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases		Slice, Ring Zero King, Gibson
Career(s)	Rogue/Hacker at the end of a 4th term now
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Male	Age	31
Skin	Black, medium loose	Eyes	Hazel	Size & Weight	1.87 m, 90 kg
Attributes
Muscles	0	Hardiness	+1	Agility	+1
Intellect	+2	Knowledge	+1	Gravitas	0
Contacts Target Values
Hackers	4	Criminal	4	Family (?)	8
Talents	Gestalt(Computers, +2 on any electonics or computers tasks or the like)		Burdens	Cannot Abide People Getting Close (roll Intellect -2 if anyone gets really close to her)
Skills
Tech(Computers) 3 Criminal(Streetwise) 2 Small Blade 2 Covert(Intrusion) 1 Brawling (Dirty Fighting) 1 Tech(Electronics) 1 Criminal(Forgery) 1 Tech(Sensor Ops) 1 Medical(Trauma Aid) 1 Criminal(Escape) 1 Sidearm(Kinetic) 0 Professional(Legal) 0

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Notes

I have realized that I will, at least for now, write the chronicle from Lextrin's perspective. In case I want to have other prespectives at some point, as I may want to, I will put some information in the narrative as to which character is doing the thinking or talking.

The surprising parts as I gamed through this was: The contact (Kuron) was scared from the outset. And she was holding back information. The unwillingness to divulge the client was a twist. When we got Ayisha involved, I figured she'd get stonewalled, but the double sixes said otherwise. A lot of data to be sifted and hopefully enough to travel to the last known location and gather more info.

Shadows and Dark Secrets [Solo] : S1 E0.1

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A Call From An Old Comrade (Season 1, Episode 0.1)

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Lextrin Qualit

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I've been trying to get off this arid, steaming, corrupt hornet's nest of humanity for my entire life. I swore I'd get off of this dirtball no matter what it takes.

When Kuron commed me about a high-value recovery for an unnamed client, she said that the work could go off-planet. She said we should meet at Hyrdodome 17 at break hour.

If Kuron was sending this my way, it's something outside of military or police channels and it needs my skill set. The other important fact is the money's running short and I like to eat and manage my medical bills. Kuron was being cagey, but she won't leave me out to dry or send me into an ambush.

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Name	Lextrin Qualit (LEX-trin KWA-lit)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases		'Hugh'(huge), 'Stoney', 'Cover', Trinit Lex
Past Career(s)	Marines(Captain, medical discharge), Rogue(medical discharge), Diplomat(Assistant Consul, medical discharge)
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Male	Age	34
Skin	Brown, curly, shoulders, beard	Eyes	Blue	Size & Weight	1.95 m, 118 kg
Attributes
Muscles	+2	Hardiness	0	Agility	+1
Intellect	+1	Knowledge	+1	Gravitas	0
Contacts Target Values
Military	5	Criminal	6	Diplomatic	6
Family(severed)	3	Romantic	4	Other	5
Talents	The Knack(no penalties for not having a skill), Tough(-1 for injury or illness tests)		Burdens	Limp (Damaged Leg), Limited Movement (Broken Shoulder)
Skills
Brawling(Tak Lat, Hard MA) 2 Criminal(Information Gathering) 2 Interaction(Liaison) 2 Ranged Weapon(Sidearm/Kinetic) 2 Blades(Small) 1 Criminal(Forgery) 1 Interaction(Deception) 1 Medical(Trauma Aid) 1 Spacesuit 1 Tactics(Ground) 1 Vehicle(Grav) 1 Weapon(Assault Weapon/Kinetic) 1 Weapon(Assault Weapon/Energy) 1 Weapon(Carbine, SMG & PDW/Kinetic) 1 Weapon(Sidearm/Energy) 1 Investigation 0 Tech(Computer) 0 Vehicle(Wheeled) 0 Environment(Desert) 0

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Name	Kuron Silis (KOO-ron SIL-iss)		Nationality	Prismatan
Nicknames & Aliases
Past Career(s)	Marine(Major, 4 terms, Cavalry then Commandos, decorated twice)
Biometrics
Species	Human	Gender	Female	Age	35
Hair	Black long, straight	Skin	Bronzed	Eyes	Brown
Size & Weight	1.95 m, 118 kg	Marks or Scars	Knife scare on jawline	Decoration	None
Attributes
Muscles	-1	Hardiness	0	Agility	0
Intellect	+1	Knowledge	+2	Gravitas	-1
Contacts Target Values
Military	3	Special Forces	8	Family	7
Talents	Spots Ambushes(+1 to any social, combat, or other trap or ambush)		Burdens	Afraid of the Rich and Powerful(-1 to any attempt to risk the ire of the powerful people)
Skills
Covert(Reconnaisance) 2 Heavy Weapons(Kinetic, Heavy Support) 2 Tech(Computers) 2 Administration 1 Ranged Weapon(Sidearm/Kinetic) 1 Heavy Weapons(Tactical Missile) 1 Vehicle(Lifter) 1 Medical(Trauma Aid) 1 Spacesuit 1 Tactics(Ground) 1 Vehicle(Tracked) 1 Tech(Mechanical) 1 Covert(Intrusion) Criminal(Information Gathering) 1 Forward Observer 1 Brawling 1 Assault Weapons(Kinetic) 1 Explosives 1 Covert(Stealth) 0 Vehicle(Wheeled) 0 Medical(Trauma Aid) 0

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Notes

The Contacts' Target Value is used when Lextrin want to get in contact with that sort of contact as needed. The lower the value, the more able to succeed in finding a contact or a particular contact; The value will likely vary as things happen.

Lextrin was taken out from all 3 of his careers with injuries. The first was a shattered leg (reinforcement in the left leg, limps), the second was a projectile wound in the right shoulder (scarred, -1 to mobility that requires that shoulder), and the third was a vehicle incident while trying to protect the Consulate (concussion, healed).

Lextrin tried to get off Prismata by appying for the Star Navy, but he was not excepted. He drafted into the Prismatan Marines. He was comissioned as a 2nd Lieutant then promoted to 1st Lieutenant. His second led to a promotion to Captain early (a fast riser) but he got discovered some shady dealings by some higher ups and he investigated. That put him in the middle of a firefight and had his leg smashed. It was never clear if that was a trap and his dismissal may have been orchestrated by the dirty senior officers.

When Lextrin got out, he was in a bad head space and money got short and he hooked up with a crew that took scores from the criminal underworld, mostly carefully and quickly. He rose to being the planner for the crew. In his second term, a score went bad and he tried to pull a few of the trapped crew members and he took a serious wound and the crew scattered. He never had a criminal record. He got cleared up with some help from old military friends.

He got a job in the Prismastan Consulate as a Consular Security Officer, but his competence took him to Assistant Consul. Happening on to several terrorists trying to infiltrate the Consulate and he took them on with makeshift weapons. In the fight, which included firearms and a bomb, he was concussed. He was thanked for saving the Consul and most of the Consular staff, but there were those who may again have put their hand in his fate as he was given a honourable discharge from the Consulate. The excuse was that he did not attempt diplomacy with the intruders and he gained and used several weapons inside the Consulate (not that he had a choice).

My Approach To Setting Up A Sandbox Campaign With Movement And Life Beyond Just The PCs

That said, here is how I deal with player agency and avoiding railroads: 

I start with a few major actors (bad, neutral, maybe a few good as far as the players go). I give these actors personalities, a bit of a past, a sense of how they pursue things they feel the need to, and any particular weaknesses they might have. 

I then look at what these major actors would do in the setting (at least at the start). Invade somewhere? Seek to gather resources? Hunt down and capture or kill some folk? Try to open a very long sealed and mostly unknown temple? Etc. 

I consider these major actors to likely have assets and figure a few fairly reasonable groups and their competence. I also think if their leaders might have any  axes to grind with the major actor that is using them. 

Once I have a handful of major actors, and their current projects, and then look to where that might occur (and some of it is bound to be near to the PCs). 

I then come up with a simple plan for these actors as to when and how they launch their projects.

So, how does that tie to the PCs?  Possibly:

* proximity to some minions acting

* hearing about an event

* someone deciding their brother might have been in one of the abductions (as an example)

* an NPC might have reason to speak to them on this matter

* or nothing at all

Over time, these different major actors are going to clash with the players probably (not 100%, but it seems likely) and with each other. 

Those actors agendas move forward (and there would be rolls for how successful if the PCs aren't there) and return to the point of planning for the next cycle. (and all major players may not be re-evaluating and pivoting on the same schedule)

Players would probably run into the major actors' minions in some way and may not even realize they are part of any sort of larger plan. The minions may have minions (repeatedly) to give cutouts and a structure for the players to deal with. 

You don't need big details for most of that - just a small file card of the people that are powerful or well enough to be known. Some of them may falter or pass or depart, new ones may arrive to the setting. 

In this respect, the fate of these plans (PC present or not) will have to be resolved. 

Each project step could draw the attention of the characters or run into the characters. 

In effect, there is a (computer analogy) a background process running for each major actor. There is resolution engine (a roll) to produce some outcomes maybe with some modifiers that may apply. Then that outcome leads into what's next. 

The players can, and likely will in the early part of the campaign, not see the larger actors and their goals. It may take multiple encounters and some finding of information (or some other smart way of discerning that there is something bigger going on and to search for who might be involved). 

The players, for their part, can be pursuing their own interests. If they don't impact the players (due to lack of proximity or knowledge or apathy), then its simple for the GM to take a few minutes each post-session to see what changed and how the actors might act (their actions will be randomized but with respect applied to their nature and goals and their limited knowledge of what is happening). (You only have 4-6 of these big actors at any  point). 

Players have all the agency, but things in the environment can come up that might draw them in. Or they might on their own jump in. Or they may let big events while smaller events have their attention. 

I don't like just encounters randomly popping up - it fails to consider the notion that some powerful NPCs would have a plan that they will be trying to push forward. I like the idea that there are key actors that are in motion even as the PCs are. 

It's possible the players may align with one (just because 'strong boss!') or as a way to get knowledge or to foment a clash between other major actors and their minions. But we don't know that... but there is some structure and action at the highest level that runs without the players unless the players wade into it somehow. 

Now, the PCs are likely, but not guaranteed, to engage in some actions that will yield the raw intel to figure out something bigger exists and is in action.  I kind of expect them to pursue such things, but I won't force them - their choice is unburdened (in 95% of times... sometimes you end up ambushed or in trouble so there is a degree of compulsion but it comes from the situation and actors, not really from GM desires). 

I find this way to let the major actors be active and engaged in their own agendas and the smaller folk (including the players at first) may be ignorant or not ready to pursue these larger issues). 

It's mostly sandbox, but a sandbox populated with some powerful people or entities with agendas and their decisions will be randomized, with % based on what would make sense for them  (sometimes several things so maybe they don't end up doing what I thought they would). 

You want the world to feel alive and moving. You want the layers to feel engaged in it but having the knowledge that their agency is prime. 

Also, just to be clear: Even writing a encounter table is an act of GM intervention. Even if all the possible outcomes of a D100 giving 100 outcomes is there, someone loaded the table. So there never quite 100% random things coming at the players. The scope is determined by the encounter size, type and intent. 

In that respect, I still think my method is effective in having motion in the world without stealing much from the player's agency. They also have to be the ones to figure out much of what is going on and what they want to do to address it. That's all them. And thus that's also theirs as far as end game and what it looks like - many, many possible ways. 

D&D Isn't What It Used To Be : A Mixed Bag

Recently, WotC ended a retro lookback on Dungeons and Dragons for the 50th anniversary video with 'This isn't D&D anymore.' The assumption was they said that to distance themselves the language back then, the lack of diversity and inclusivity, and maybe also some of the toxic folks in the RPing community.

The RealmBuilderGuy recognized that but also looked back on what D&D used to be including the game aspects, the sense of hazard, and other aspects.

I felt it was a well thought out piece. On the other hand, I reflected on some of the parts of the game as it was in the early days that I don't miss anymore. I lie somewhere between and betwixt the game as it is now (3.5E, 5E, D & D One). That incurred me to put my perspective as someone recognizing good and less useful things in the current and near future game vs. the old game.

You may want to read his view as a contrast and an appreciation in what I think thereafter.

https://www.realmbuilderguy.com/2024/02/this-isnt-d-anymore.html?m=1

When I think of Dungeons & Dragons, I think of endless adventures, delving into catacombs, exploring the unknown, and hopefully barely surviving to tell the tale at a local tavern with a treasure hoard hidden away

I always liked the more open wilderness adventures over caverns, but otherwise, most of what RealmBuilderGuy are things I appreciate.

I also agree with his sentiment that the current edition (and by the looks, the incoming new one) is combat-centric and little attention to discovery, mystery or social interactions. I do lament mechanics over role-playing at the table. And from 3E and onward, they were so worried about character balance (a fantasy within a fantasy...) that they had to quantize everything and have a rule for ever situation and thus settled in the slowness and the crunchiness of the current iterations.

That said, I should note that I have found there are players who are not very comfortable role-playing (tongue tied, don't want to be the focus, etc) but they'd like to try a character who might have those qualities and their gateway into broadening their character choices a bit is letting them engage in social interactions that are lightweight and there is where the skills might apply.

Sure, we'd all like everyone to emote and show off their improv skills, but a lot of us aren't that guy or gal. We'd settle for 'I try to befriend the merchant' followed by a role with some feedback and maybe several of such exchanges. It's more bland, but it can be a gateway to slowly expanding the comfort in role-playing more fulsomely and it helps those who can't easily bridge the emotional parts (like some kids on the spectrum). Forcing everyone to play out your character by acting in character can make the experience very unpleasant for some and nigh impossible for others. That doesn't improve the game nor does it make a better experience for anyone at the table.

The RealmBuilderGuy identifies that, back in the beginning, we used to be afraid of the dark. That's true. But lamenting a cantrip of light is not the way to deal with that. The solution of not having a simple utility spell for light easily available while having magic missiles going off.... that just grates on me. It's like every failed fatigue/exhaustion mechanic in D&D - removing fatigue often happened as a level 3+ spell while fixing punctures and slashes and crushes by level 1; That just does not make any sense. I like the game part to be 'play to discover what will happen' but not the unfathomable restrictions that are only there to prevent a reasonable happening.

If we want to have wizards and other casters, yet limit them: exhausting casting (reduced speed, need to consume some food and hydrate), material components that are consumed, costly components, and casting that fails (no gauranteed success), and limited spell points, and easier counterspelling. Another thing is to have very few casters in your setting and a fear/loathing of casters that weren't tied to a religion. Those are things I made manifest when I ran a 19 year real duration campaign and later on, we were using D&D 2.0 with the Player's Option books. Wizards were careful about casting their big spells and often shot off more spells two levels down than their max.

DMs and players alike have eschewed things like tracking encumbrance, rations, water, and ammunition as they have been deemed "uninteresting" or "tedious" and don't help "move the story forward". Those might be correct in the very linear, rail-roady experience of adventure paths and official WotC "campaigns". Now players expect to either find a bag of holding early in the adventure to take care of the pestering question around encumbrance, or it is simply ignored completely. But in a true emergent sandbox campaign, as was more prevalent pre-3e D&D, such things are vital as they can drive the campaign (i.e., "story") in new and unexpected directions.

Why are these things more correct in a railroad than a sandbox? I don't see much support for that strange assertion. I never saw players getting bags of holding or portable holes until 7th or so level and we only ran to a 12th level cap (we liked grittier gaming). Even then, it was usually just the bard or rogue that got them as the others had things to chase.

There's also the fact that my desire or my players' desires to become fantasy accountants is non-existent. You don't need fine detail to tell if a character is encumbered; The GM and the player should recognize that. Also, IME, most players either never use a thing that hides in their backpack or it is used but they'd forget the limits of their bas or just plain forget to remove the expendable asset so it really didn't work and for the massive work involved, a bad solution IMO.

Here's an inane part of many of these games: You can pack your backpack to X weight, but add another gp? Nope. Or I know exactly how much a thing works. Or the notion that characters function as well on each day with no variation; That doesn't line up to human experience. Precision and complexity in a task does not mean the outcomes looked for have been usefully enabled. Are all coins the same size? No! And 10 of them are a pound? Are you throwing gold frisbees?

Much easier for rulings instead of rules and less character sheet delving. Everyone walked to the dungeon (9 miles, chilly wind, some cold drizzle) then headed into the dungeon. You probably count as tired (of a continuum of fresh, ready, tired, exhausted, collapsed) and the GM can just say that. Maybe there's a roll for a tough character to shake it off to ready for him or her.

Similarly, you can treat supply as a roll for something you need that is in the 'miscellaneous equpment'. If you've stocked up on something, you might get a bonus. If you haven't mentioned going to the town to reload recently, you get a penalty. Food and water acquisition can be done similarly - referenced to when the group last went to the provisioner as a modifier and a roll.Same with dealing with weather and shelter issues.

Why would I want those sorts of simpler systems? Speed of play. More time facing the situation and the fiction rather than their own character sheets. Another aspect of that: In the real world, in skirmishes, quite often people lose track of how many rounds they have fired, yet in games that have ranged combat, they always remember how many shots they've fired. Same with how much am I carrying? I can guess roughly, but it's never an exact number. And how you wear it matters. Real life has day to day fluctuations of how things are going to - didn't sleep, didn't eat much, got a sprained knee, etc. Yet game-ish rules make everything provide complete information and thus lose some of the variability of life.

Now we come to what really bothers me, the aspects of the old game that never set well or certainly doesn't now: Murder-hoboing, treatment of women, Genocide (that DMG did contain lairs with children and females (non-combatants), and the entire insanity of carrying around vast amounts of loot as if that was the only valuable thing to take from a FRPG.

Murder-hoboing is horrific. You role into some aboriginal population (goblins for instance) and slay them and take all their stuff. Then you feel good about that. Reminds me of the plunderers that ravaged many such communities in our real world and for about the same reasons. That and enforcing one groups religion on another. Not something I want to see at my table.

Treatment of women: The chain bikini? Women as needing rescuing from men? All the women built like centerfolds or else they were hag-like? The list goes on. The game drew from Dark Ages and Medieval times and glorified that perspective in the early D&D. That was an injustice historically and a stupid, juvenile, diminuitive approch to the game. Not acceptable now.

Genocide: You killed all the goblin warriors. You know the women may breed and the little ones rise up to be warriors. Instead of finding other ways to not kill everything, genocide happens because advancement comes only from GPs or GP equivalents. The genocide is not something I accept and the necessary violence to improve your character at the expense of the defenseless is hard to justify in any world.

The focus on money as the primary way to advance - usually at the expense and with little justification (as its former owner would attest) - is flawed and not acceptable either. Doing great things - those should reward you. The focus on wealthy is part of what ills our larger world; Do we want that in our hobbies?

There are many good things from old school and there are some from the new. Here's my list of things I want at my table, having spent time saying what I don't abide:

• Combat as dangerous and murderousness leading to enemies banding together to take you out. Combat should be a real risk and thinking and using your brains and negotiation ability to avoid combat should seem like the wise choice.
• Exploration and Discovery is welcome. As someone I recently read (forget who) (paraphrased) "The best parts of the game are those that don't happen on the character sheet."
• Social interactions, negotiations, diplomacy, intimidation, con jobs, manipulation, etc.... they have a place and also tend to not be driven by the character sheet (mostly driven by the thoughts and stratagems of the party).
• Reactions with some variability, the critical necessity of morale checks, getting lost, trying to get less lost - these are all good things.
• Common sense - not making rules to effect a particular in-game effect caused by the McGuffins in the setting and the rules (magic, many species close together, etc). If you build your world and GM it using some common sense, your players will find playing more natural and flowing rather than balking at rules that seem out of place or that are stupid (I can burn you with a fireball, but no continual light?).
• Different cultures being showcased but not such a weak portrayal as to make it comical.
• DM trying to discover at the table with the players.
• No railroads (well, other than some that an NPC group might want to force you down) and player agency are the basis of all good games.
• Faster combat including more fluid mechanics and less necessity to dig up the character sheet or dig into a rulebook.
• Rulings in almost all cases should be good enough without need for game rulebook diving.
• As combat is dangerous, other creative solutions need to be considered. Creativity, rationality, imagination, strategic and tactical thinking, and a willingness to reach beyond the norm to find ways to avoid combat.

Final Thought: D&D is not what it was. Some of that was a loss, some of that was a necessary growing up as gamers and humans. D&D of today has a flavour that also will need to change over time. There are good aspects of some changes (not just in D&D but in other games that allow us to see other approaches) and some things have been put aside but are now being recognized as valued.

The best game is the one that plays smoothly, the one that makes combat a low-choice on the strategic checklist, the one that is inclusive and respects all people at their table, the one that makes us think in many ways - how to solve puzzles, how to break cyphers, how to protect an area, how to create more trade and properity, how to manage others so that they are valued, and how to think beyond the obvious for possible solutions. The best game is a GM who listens, also thinks, and rules decently and that keeps the game moving ahead while everyone is still enjoying themselves.

We can have better tables than either old D&D did and better tables than the current generation are getting.

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Gelitanatious Cube image https://mythjourneys.com/gallery/dungeons-and-dragons/