37 votes
Accepted

Are questions about escape games on topic?

We accept questions about LARPs (live action roleplaying games), as discussed in Are questions about LARPs on topic?. Escape puzzles would be off topic here, however. Most escape games do not have ...
  • 174k
30 votes
Accepted

Are questions about alignment on topic?

Only specific kinds of alignment questions are on topic. There are a variety of kinds of alignment questions, some of which can be constructively handled by our site and some that can not. There's not ...
  • 174k
28 votes

Are all questions that are even tangentially related to Computer-Based RPGs or computer games off topic for this stack?

You have two questions, one of which is on topic here and one of which is on topic for Arqade. "How does Baldur's Gate generate stats" is a video game question that should be asked on Arqade. Once ...
  • 174k
28 votes

Are questions about Warhammer 40k Lore on-topic?

I’m gonna go ahead and just say “yes” Warhammer 40k is a campaign setting for an RPG. It’s also the setting for a bunch of other things, which means you could reasonably ask about it on SF&F or ...
  • 335k
26 votes

We are not lawyers. Why do we allow law topics?

Because, despite what some lawyers might like most of us believe, it's not actually illegal, counter to good sense, or constituting practising law without a license for creators and users of ...
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 ...
  • 143k
26 votes

Why doesn't this site allow opinion-based side questions?

Not just rules Just to get that misconception out of the way first: this isn’t a rules site. We handle many types of questions, so long as they can, in theory, have a “best” answer. We allow answers ...
26 votes

Are questions related to building LARP safe weapons on-topic here?

We have handled such DIY questions for live action roleplaying, and should continue to do so. We have several questions dealing with this topic, see the props tag. Here are a few examples: How do I ...
26 votes
Accepted

So, let’s talk about rule intent and question closing

On this one, I think it actually should be up to ♦ mods Obviously, having a ♦ doesn’t allow the elected moderators to dictate site policy; it never has, and it never should. I, for one, am still very ...
  • 335k
25 votes
Accepted

Is this question about the preservation of books on topic?

On Topic I'd like to open with an oft useful distinction. A question being askable on another stack or useful to other fields is irrelevant to its topicality here. Our criterion is fairly simple (some ...
  • 47.4k
23 votes
Accepted

Are 'Homebrew a class for me' questions allowed on this site?

There are three hurdles that must be passed in my mind: Is there a way for there to be a best answer to this question? I.e. are sufficient criteria given for assessing whether an answer is good or ...
23 votes

Are self-answer questions still allowed?

Self Answers to questions are good Across Stack Exchange, there's always been a stigma against self-answered questions due to the perception that this is intended to function as a kind of Reputation ...
  • 51.7k
23 votes

Are questions about rule intent on-topic? [2022]

Designer Reasons questions are on-topic Four years on from the initial ban, we’re somewhat tentatively opening the gates again. That means asking designer-reasons questions is allowed. The community ...
  • 47.4k
22 votes

Are questions learning about loaded dice and creating and detecting them on topic?

It depends on whether it's about RPGs or not Questions here must be about RPGs. That's the site topic, and it's a hard requirement for questions. That goes especially — not less — for questions ...
22 votes
Accepted

Should we close questions where the asker is looking to double check their understanding of basic rules?

This category of question is on topic. Stack Exchange's Q&A doesn't just take the form of question and answer. It also takes the form of problem and solution. This principle is why our topicality ...
20 votes

Can I ask about the Witcher table top RPG beta?

It's fine, you can ask. We do handle tabletop RPG betas, including questions that are only valid or relevant during the beta process. We fielded a lot of stuff like this during D&D 5e's beta ...
20 votes

Are questions about roleplaying within a video game context on topic?

The platform someone is using to roleplay will obviously have a practical impact on their situation and the relevance of solutions the answers might present, but that's par for the course here. ...
19 votes

Are questions probing a designer's personal life and its influence on his games on topic?

Game design influences are on topic, but personal ones most often hard/impossible to answer I don't think it's necessarily off topic, just usually a poor question. That sort of thing is often going ...
19 votes

Are questions about specific people's campaigns on topic?

This question should 100% definitely be on topic, but that doesn't mean every story-identification that has anything to do with RPGs should. One heuristic I've seen referenced on a few meta posts for ...
  • 11.7k
19 votes

Can a question about what makes a good session 0 be made on-topic?

I'm going to disagree very slightly and say that it's not so much that "what's a good session 0?" is too opinion-based, it's that it's too broad. The point of session 0 is to establish expectations ...
  • 16.2k
19 votes

Are optimization questions about maximizing a specific attribute on-topic?

I think ultimately they are on-topic—I certainly don’t think they cause any kind of problem that should lead to our deciding otherwise—but I would comment that Stack Exchange tends to not be a great ...
  • 335k
19 votes

Are questions about rule intent on topic? [2018]

Yes, they are on topic and should be left open. Designer intent can be found on blogs, interviews, lectures, conference presentations, and more. This logic of restricting designer questions is flawed. ...
  • 11.8k
19 votes
Accepted

Are self-answer questions still allowed?

Absolutely! There hasn't been a change in policy and we still do it (some of us more than others:) )
  • 125k
18 votes
Accepted

Are questions about a fantasy video game setting on topic here?

No We can answer questions on offically published RPG settings because they are RPG materials but questions about settings completely beholden to other media are off-topic simply because the experts ...
18 votes
Accepted

Are requests for specific users' house rules on- or off-topic?

The question is off-topic because it's a very bad fit for the Stack Exchange's resources (crowds of experts) and mechanics (voting-based evaluation and sorting). The Stack Exchange is founded on the ...
  • 52.9k
17 votes

Is the question about the origin of "Waterdhavian" on-topic?

It is on topic. The question is not one of designer intent. It's a question about the existence of lore. We don't generally close questions about the existence of lore or a rule even if it's ...
  • 29.8k
17 votes
Accepted

Should we add 'designers intent' questions to the "don't ask" questions list on the tour?

I don't think we should. There's a few reasons. We're still in a mess with designer reasons: lots of people are over-sensitive to determining a question is designer reasons, but really the only thing ...
17 votes

Should questions with the dungeons-and-dragons tag include the worlds of Magic the Gathering?

No, Ravnica Is Not Part Of The Default D&D World Lore I don't think everyone else is getting what your question is. You're saying that some people ask lore questions they just tag with dungeons-...
  • 174k
17 votes

Is a question that ends up only having 'designer reason' answers off-topic even if designer reasons aren't specifically what the asker is seeking out?

Users are not required to know the answer to their question in order to ask it. This is a fundamental, doesn’t-even-need-to-be-stated, tenet of a Q&A site—any Q&A site. Questions cannot be ...
  • 335k
16 votes

Are questions about specific details found in RPG-based novels on topic?

One thing to note in this particular case: WH40k is predominantly not an RPG setting, it's a model wargaming setting. The setting itself has since taken on a life of its own, where it has become an ...

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