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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 ...
mxyzplk's user avatar
  • 176k
32 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 ...
KRyan's user avatar
  • 357k
29 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 ...
mxyzplk's user avatar
  • 176k
27 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 ...
KRyan's user avatar
  • 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 ...
Miniman's user avatar
  • 145k
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 ...
SevenSidedDie's user avatar
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 ...
Thomas Markov's user avatar
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 ...
Someone_Evil's user avatar
  • 48.8k
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 ...
Xirema's user avatar
  • 52.9k
23 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 ...
doppelgreener's user avatar
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 ...
Someone_Evil's user avatar
  • 48.8k
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 ...
SevenSidedDie's user avatar
20 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 ...
A_S00's user avatar
  • 12.8k
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 ...
SevenSidedDie's user avatar
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 ...
SirTechSpec's user avatar
  • 16.3k
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 ...
KRyan's user avatar
  • 357k
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. ...
Praxiteles's user avatar
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:) )
NotArch's user avatar
  • 126k
19 votes

How should we deal with questions about 5e rules from people playing Baldur's Gate 3?

Is the question about BG3 or inspired by BG3? Questions about BG3's mechanics or (game-specific) lore belong on Arqade: they're not about a paper & pencil RPG, they're about a video game. ...
Oblivious Sage's user avatar
  • 55.3k
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 ...
Oblivious Sage's user avatar
  • 55.3k
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 ...
Bloodcinder's user avatar
  • 30.3k
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 ...
doppelgreener's user avatar
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-...
mxyzplk's user avatar
  • 176k
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 ...
KRyan's user avatar
  • 357k
17 votes

Are questions about bugs in virtual tabletops (VTTs) on topic?

Since March 2020, virtual tools and tabletops are the primary media many people use to engage with our hobby. No points for guessing why. The fact of the matter is that since COVID began, many people ...
Thomas Markov's user avatar
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 ...
SevenSidedDie's user avatar
16 votes

Is "How long does published adventure X take?" an appropriate question on RPG.SE?

"How long did X take you" is clearly not a good Stack-question. Because every answer is equally valid, so there's no way that voting helps, there's no "good" or "bad" answer, &c. (I'm aware that's ...
nitsua60's user avatar
  • 102k
16 votes
Accepted

"Designer intent" vs asking specifically about the existence of statements from the designers

It's kind of the same thing really. Think about it, if you ask this... Q: Did the designers make a statement about why they did X? ... then is this really an answer you'd be satisfied with? A: ...
doppelgreener's user avatar
16 votes

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

What Is Needed Is Both A Clarification Of Guidelines.... I think any of the three paths laid out in the Question above are reasonable and I don't really have a preference between them. They all seem ...
Novak's user avatar
  • 45.4k
16 votes
Accepted

Are potatoes on-topic here?

The author clearly intended Potato to be played as an RPG. 1,000 potatoes is a heap. A premise I hope we can all agree on. I've had a successful harvest, locked myself underground, and the orcs are ...
Thomas Markov's user avatar

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