Where should I ask discussion questions?

Question

I've been wanting to ask a few questions that are focused less around getting a ruling or asking for help with a problem, and I'm not sure where I should ask them.

I know Meta is for questions concerning the forum itself, but I'm not sure if the questions I want to ask would be best asked in a forum where the focus is getting a 'correct' answer.

Examples of questions I want to ask, and reasons I'm not sure where to ask them:

What makes a character build 'broken/OP'? I want this to be less of a 'I'm looking for an answer' question, and more of a question that leads to a conversation. So far as I know, there's no 'discussion' tag in the main site.

Why is there so much discrepancy when it comes to alignment? This is something I've wanted to know for a long time, but I feel that I likely already know the answer, so really I'm just looking to discuss it with others.

What is your favorite character build, and why? Not this question, specifically, but a few similar questions. Basically, it's something that I want to get a large number of answers for, and have people talk about.

So, basically, my main problem is: I want to ask a question to start a discussion, not to get an answer. So, where do I ask that kind of question?

Also, before anyone suggests it, I don't want to put these questions in chat rooms for two reasons: 1.) Chat rooms are impermanent, and thus any answer gained in one will most likely disappear as soon as the chat room is closed. I want to ask these questions as much to give people a chance to see other answers, as to give people a chance to answer them.

2.) Chat room formats don't support the kind of discussion I'm looking for. A forum format allows people to give their entire argument, with the ability to edit said argument as the conversation evolves, where a chat room requires you to participate in a debate. You only have to worry about your own answer in the prior, where in the latter you have to worry about defending your every point as you're trying to make it.

Answer 1

First, and before all else, Thank you so much for asking. You are doing everything correctly by raising this question on meta.

Unfortunately, we're not a forum. The best place to raise a question to start a discussion is a forum. We don't support threaded... anything. Intentionally. Comments are ephemeral. Intentionally.

We are a place that's fairly specialized. Specifically, we exist to match information to queries. Whether that information comes from play experience, the rules, or (at worst) our imaginations, that is our purpose.

What you're asking for is a creative argument. The best place I can think of to have discussions you're wanting is on a wave-like service like rizzoma. Invite the best minds, engage in discussion, and then publish the results.

So how can we help?

Well, there are few things that "have no answer." Instead, consider the stipulations that go into any of the major major discussions that you've proposed above. Entire books (or fan-produced handbooks) (Tome of Fiends, Tome of Necromancy) explore fractions of your discussion areas.

Looking at the above, the best forum for extended and interested argument and discussion is a Journal. If you start an academic journal, all of those questions will absolutely be discussed in papers that are around 5000 words. Which is a good place to start for questions that big.) (Of course, I may be biased here.)

Still, we can help. There are stipulations that all of the above have that do have standing: these arguments rely on facts that all parties can use. These facts pertain to real games and real problems. These facts can be assessed "true" or "not true" and therefore... have a place here. Once you've ironed out your facts, invite people to write extended blog posts debating the structure and interpretation of those facts on a blog you have started or can interest in the subject matter.

Answer 2

Come to Chat!

We have threaded discussion in chat. If you want to talk about something that needs it's own room you can create a new chat room for that topic (or to carry on a comment discussion from the main site).

As far as your concerns about chat.

• All SE chat is logged, indexed by Google, and searchable. If you want to start a long discussion open a new room. It might get frozen, but if you have a link to it a mod can always defrost it for you.

• Arguments are a bit problematic. But SE's chat is pretty favorable to long answers as the limit is quite high if you add line breaks. It doesn't allow for the same thought process as the main site, but it's better than cluttering the main site.

Also we have dice.

Answer 3

RPG.SE (like all SEs) is for questions and answers. You can chat with others in the chat rooms but this network of sites has no general discussion functionality by design.

If you want to have a discussion, use a discussion forum. See I've been told my question is better suited to a forum, but where should I go? Forums are better for discussions, while they are horrible for getting questions actually answered correctly.

For your Pathfinder questions, I'd generally recommend the paizo.com forums. Keep in mind any substantive discussion will be derailed into long rambling threads and people yelling about the same damn things all the time. I read and post there myself, but if I actually have a question I need answered to better my game, I ask it here where the site format tamps down the bozos to a dull roar.

Answer 4

I'd assume it would be a perfectly valid rpg.se question if you asked for suggestions on which forum would be good fit for the discussion you wanted to start, as long as it relates to role playing games.

Answer 5

The best place to find people to discuss HackMaster, IMO, would be the Kenzer&Co discussion forums. We have a very active community over there and some of the K&Co "D-Team" hang out there, sometimes on a daily basis. Check out; http://www.kenzerco.com/forums