44
votes
How can I ask a good homebrew review question?
1. State what you want to achieve, and why you want a review.
In order to give you feedback on whether your material is functioning well at its purpose, we need to know what that purpose is. Please ...
30
votes
Do we want a [homebrew-review] tag separate from the [homebrew] tag?
Yeah, let’s do it. These are distinct categories that have separate reader and expert audiences.
Since review has emerged as a distinct question topic it should have its own tag, especially if it’s ...
- 244k
28
votes
Can we develop a system to avoid/discourage subsequent homebrew critique question edits?
It’s often worth exploring the Stack Exchange network to see if other sites have found good solutions to a given problem.
For example, in this case, we have Code Review, which is basically an entire ...
- 357k
26
votes
Are "is this balanced" questions on-topic?
I don't have a strong opinion on whether they're on-topic or not, but they often go like this:
Question: Is X balanced?
Answer: No, here's what would need to change for X to be balanced.
(Here's ...
- 145k
25
votes
Should I make a generic “Is my homebrew game content balanced?” Question with an Answer of “Probably not, No”?
That's Unfriendly and Unhelpful
We come here to solve problems. We give answers to questions that include explanations or backing. When a homebrewer asks a review question, it is implicit that 'is it ...
23
votes
Keep my homebrew stuff secret in order to avoid biased answers
I've cleaned up the comments on your question.
The benefit of mentioning the ring is homebrew is that, if you don't, people will respond going "wait, there's a ring that lets me do that!?" and go ...
- 36.6k
22
votes
What rules/guidance do we want to give for homebrew review questions, if any?
Vote to Close rapid iteration as duplicates
I suggested this in the other thread and there was some support for it. Really this is just an enforcement method for our current guidelines. So here is a ...
linksassinMod
- 31.1k
21
votes
Accepted
For iterated homebrew questions, should earlier iterations be marked as duplicates of later iterations?
We should probably not be closing as duplicate this way.
I've checked with a Code Review moderator about how they handle this. (Code review is currently my measuring stick for what makes successful ...
- 36.6k
18
votes
Accepted
Should questions about Critical Role 3rd party material be tagged Homebrew?
No, this tag is about helping people homebrew their own content.
Firstly, let us look at the current guidance offered by the homebrew tag description:
For questions about homebrewing new rules ...
- 95.3k
18
votes
Is poorly balanced homebrew considered "low-effort"?
Homebrew review is a "show your work" type problem.
Homebrew content creation does not necessarily require a master's understanding of the underlying system. While experienced designers to produce ...
- 31.6k
18
votes
Should we still accept homebrew questions?
Homebrew questions in general, and that question in particular, are probably fine.
There are a lot of reasons why people might create homebrew content. Some people simply enjoy the intellectual ...
- 55.3k
17
votes
Accepted
Close Reason for "Homebrew this for me" questions
I have often seen "too broad" and "opinion based" as reasons to close homebrew requests. I'd recommend using "opinion based" as the close reason.
- 144k
17
votes
How should I ask about my D&D 5e Homebrew being balanced?
As usual, first present your problem, not your solution
Usually, homebrewing something is about creating a new thing that does some particular stuff that you want, but is inexistent in the original ...
- 37.2k
16
votes
Accepted
Should I accept an answer to a homebrew-review question if I think I might be biased?
You are free to accept any answer that you like, even when it has 20 downvotes.
From What does it mean when an answer is "accepted"?
Accepting an answer is not meant to be a definitive and ...
- 19.7k
14
votes
Is "No, this is what that would look like" an acceptable answer?
We have very few rules on what is an appropriate or inappropriate approach to answering questions.
This is a deliberate design choice (as in, it’s been built into the site for us, not a matter of ...
- 244k
14
votes
Why do my questions about homebrew content get downvoted?
Often times, it's lack of effort
While not everyone has necessarily read the meta on how to ask homebrew, we nearly always link to that in the comments for the initial posting.
If someone doesn't ...
- 126k
14
votes
Are we satisfied with the state of homebrew review questions?
I would be disappointed to see them go
I may be somewhat biased as I am one of the more active users on the homebrew tag since I joined the site. However, I do not agree that homebrew question in ...
linksassinMod
- 31.1k
14
votes
Why was my homebrew-review question downvoted even though I followed the criteria?
Those aren’t “the criteria”
The Meta discussion on homebrew-review questions is not criteria for asking homebrew-review questions. A question that ignores it is not automatically bad, and a question ...
- 357k
13
votes
Why are my homebrew posts being downvoted and ignored while another user at the exact same time has many upvotes and thousands of views?
Views are easy: the other question hit the "Hot Network Questions" list 21 hours ago. Yours has not.
Downvotes are a little tougher: even we elected mods cannot see who downvoted your post, nor when ...
- 102k
13
votes
Why are my homebrew posts being downvoted and ignored while another user at the exact same time has many upvotes and thousands of views?
Not to put too fine a point on it, the other post you reference looks a lot more like a warlock patron than yours does. As several comments pointed out, offering 3 choices of feature at most levels ...
- 145k
13
votes
Why was my homebrew-review question downvoted even though I followed the criteria?
The question is difficult to answer objectively
As @nvoigt stated in their comment, the question features a lot of homebrew elements, such as the character's abilities and the fact that the campaign ...
- 9,994
12
votes
Would this structure of my homebrew question be acceptable?
Lead with the new, improved version of the spell. Steps 1 and 2 are not really all that necessary.
Structure it like this:
Link back to the previous iteration, i.e. the previous question
The updated ...
- 36.6k
12
votes
Are "is this balanced" questions on-topic?
Yes, they're on topic and should remain so. We can answer them effectively and can get pretty satisfying answers to these questions that are good examples of our quality guidelines. We agree they're ...
- 36.6k
12
votes
Accepted
When do homebrew suggestions need to be playtested by an answerer?
As always, it's a continuum.
If someone produces an entire piece of content from whole cloth - e.g. a new character class, feat, spell, monster - we really think they should playtest that before ...
- 176k
12
votes
Accepted
Are we satisfied with the state of homebrew review questions?
We should probably improve the meta guidance we give to users for homebrew review requests. I done messed up in creating it the first time around.
See, I asked a generic guidance topic (How can I ask ...
- 36.6k
12
votes
What rules/guidance do we want to give for homebrew review questions, if any?
Very few to no special rules
I am a fan of adding one particular rule (I'll get back to that) but adding on a lot of new rules unique to this one type of question is not going to make homebrew ...
- 36.6k
11
votes
Are we satisfied with the state of homebrew review questions?
Honestly, No.
My answer to another meta question covers the vast majority of my concerns in that many homebrew questions feel like they've been posted before they are ready to do so.
Just like you don'...
- 126k
10
votes
Can we develop a system to avoid/discourage subsequent homebrew critique question edits?
The stack should not be used for iterative design
The way the Q&A system works on this site is not intended for, nor should it be used (IMO), for iterative design processes.
Edits for clarity or ...
- 95.3k
10
votes
How to tag 3rd-party/homebrew content that is published?
We have no tag for content that asks about published 3rd party content and we don't need one
I really don't see the problem that you are. We don't tag every question based on where in the rules it is ...
- 95.3k
10
votes
How to properly review a homebrew?
Note: Examples in this answer are drawn from reviewing D&D 5e homebrew content. This is the most common use case and one that most users will understand, however most of this advice equally ...
linksassinMod
- 31.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible