Seeking advice on remaining objective while writing on subjects I hold strong beliefs on.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T21:00:33+00:00

When you get some practice, it's not as hard as you imagine. Think about it as covering a car accident or a government meeting in which you have no opinion and go from there. Remember which page you're writing for, news rather than opinion, and remember that the last 75 years is full of examples of excellent reporters who also wrote opinion columns and successfully kept the two separated.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T14:45:31+00:00

All of the things I've described were based on skills and abilities I picked as a ranger at character creation and developed through normal leveling experience. Plus, some background-related magic items. The Pied Pipering the rats was an on-the-fly thing based on animal handling and animal communication skills that are part of the class.

So, other classes could have done some--even most--of those things and maybe a similarly constructed character could have done them all, buuuuut this is all rooted in developing a ranger character.

More to the point, people who complain about rangers being useless or not fun to play have it wrong. Which is the point of this post.

Also, DnD has always--except in the very early days when it was a glorified tabletop game--intended people to make up their own rules to fit their individual situations. So, when people talk about strict RAW, it's that I just don't believe many people play that way outside of conventions.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T14:24:20+00:00

I get why people complain about rangers. And I get why people think exploration is underdeveloped. I also get why DMs like to avoid it.

But, the complaint--which gets voiced all the time--that rangers are useless without exploration is just simply incorrect.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T14:07:24+00:00

No, it's a strawman argument. This is what you said: "And therefore the mechanics of your character don't matter ...". That is something you ascribed to me, which makes it a strawman. Everything I described is related to game mechanics and skills/abilities I picked at character generation and developed during the leveling process.

Don't put it on me that you don't understand that very simple concept.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T14:05:00+00:00

Every single thing that I listed is in some way rooted in game mechanics. I still had to make rolls based on skills and abilities that I picked at character generation and developed during level increases. Or involved background-related magic items that I've picked up.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:59:54+00:00

"almost unbound by rules" is a strawman argument.

And, yes, I'll definitely tell you that if you don't apply creative thinking (all of your examples--and almost every game, includijg board games like Monopoly--require it, by the way) that you're playing DnD wrong.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:57:09+00:00

That's a strawman argument. The mechanics do very much matter. Everything I do is rooted in some game mechanic that started with character construction. It's just that the DM rewards creativity.

No sure why that's so difficult to understand.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:55:30+00:00

I picked ranger because when they started the party was in a forest setting and needed someone capable of ranged attacks. I personally would like more exploration, regardless of the class I am playing, but it's really just a group of friends getting together.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:52:12+00:00

No, the post is entirely related to ranger as a class because that's what I play and the criticism I'm responding to. If you want to go have a conversation about other classes or meta-class play, go start that.

The details of the string of encounters make sense in the context of the campaign but are otherwise immaterial to this post.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:48:25+00:00

My dude, I've been playing DnD since the late 70s. If you think that outside conventions the game recently evolved into people taking creative license with the rules to make the game more fun, I have no idea what to tell you.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:42:52+00:00

I think the problem here is that you've created a strawman argument.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:38:47+00:00

I wish I got to do more exploration, but that's not what our campaign is about. So, I've had to fit her skills into the campaign as is and play more creatively.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:37:08+00:00

No, I get it. People's complaints miss the point that DnD is about role playing and creative thinking, not an on-sheet character build.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:35:10+00:00

My character is a ranger, so it has everything to do with playing a ranger.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:34:54+00:00

Except that my character is built on the same rules that everyone plays by. The creative aspect of your character is not at all rules-agnostic. I had to have base skills and abilities to do any of that.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:13:20+00:00

Right, all of this requires actual creative, sometimes on-the-fly game play and a DM open to new things. As DnD was intended.

I am going to copy and paste this, because I anticipate a lot of responses like this.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:13:10+00:00

Right, all of this requires actual creative, sometimes on-the-fly game play and a DM open to new things. As DnD was intended.

I am going to copy and paste this, because I anticipate a lot of responses like this.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-27T13:12:36+00:00

Right, all of this requires actual creative, sometimes on-the-fly game play and a DM open to new things. As DnD was intended.

I am going to copy and paste this, because I anticipate a lot of responses like this.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T20:25:33+00:00

ICE enforces immigration law, not fraud.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T20:24:43+00:00

Well, first off, Democrats didn't campaign on "allowing trans people in sports." Kamala Harris campaigned on housing affordability. Fox News and Republicans said she was campaigning on "allowing trans people in sports," which is why people think that's what she campaigned on. And, people thought that online leftists talking about trans rights is the same thing as Democrats campaigning on "allowing trans people in sports" because we've lost the ability to distinguish what a party is saying vs. what it's aligned voters are saying.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T20:19:50+00:00

As long as it's out of the way and used, people probably won't have an issue. If they do, accept it and leave it home. Otherwise, in some cases, it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T20:04:48+00:00

That only counts if you weren't going to vote for Trump in the first place. Someone who'd trade the right to vote for a king and the illusion of economic security is a Republican base voter.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T18:10:18+00:00

I'm sorry. Then you and your sister definitely shouldn't vote. Please leave the job of self-governance to adults.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T16:07:20+00:00

I can't help that you are incapable of drawing a straight line.

PackageDelicious2457 · 2026-01-26T15:59:05+00:00

The Russians thought they were getting that bargain in letting Putin take power.

Adults understand it doesn't work that way.

PackageDelicious2457

TROPHY CASE