- game mechanics are actually the reason why I don't think I'll ever try DnD. I WANT the freedom to just write my characters however I want and let them be whoever they're gonna be even if that means being unique or OP in one aspect, or any number of things. And the other types of game mechanics, like faction points etc just go beyond why I like to RP. I found RP bc I like to write, and that's really all I want in it.
- Not entirely sure what you mean when you say cross-genre, but I definitely love to write and RP in genres that vary widely from romance to adventure to family drama. Mostly I don't like sci-fi or grimdark horror, or slice of life. I typically don't GM, so I won't speak to that, but as a player, I actually find groups can be really freeing, allowing you to do almost anything without having to worry you're going to derail the narrative. Uh... that is, unless the GM has a strongly defined narrative in mind and really wants full control over their RP, then it's really hard to enjoy the whole thing. I don't know that I consider magic and tech to be huge challenges in most? Of my worldbuilding, bc I like to really play it by ear and see what sticks, and that means my magic systems are almost exclusively soft, and tech is whatever historical timeline vibes I got from that world. What I find really challenging is making the world feel unique and real by fleshing out that deep mix of culture, politics, international relations, and SOMETIMES (not often) religion. (As in I don't like putting religion into my worlds precisely bc it would require too much intermingling of something that doesn't necessarily NEED to be in there, not that I don't mix my religion in all the time.) In groups, forget it. I leave the worldbuilding to the GM or to the whim of some character who decided they NEEDED to have a backstory involving breeding skeletal horses, yknow?
- this is probably gonna shock and horrify some of the GMs in the room, but fundamentally, if I see a lot of lore and a well defined plot, this is a sign to me that I should not attempt to be too creative. Not bc I don't appreciate having a lot of detail and care shown by the GM, but I guess bc I've met a lot of GMs who want very tight control over what they consider to be their worlds and their narratives, and all of them have been the ones who write 5 pages of lore. This isn't to say that I assume all thorough GMs are like that, but I think it's a knee jerk reaction for me that I get real nervous about adding my own thoughts and flare when the response might be "didn't you see on page 3 that I said vampires SPECIFICALLY CAN'T have children with werewolves?" On top of which, I know myself, and kind or not, the more work I've put into a world, the more upsetting I find it when someone stomps in all over that carefully thought out lore and goes "WELL I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR RULES, I ABSOLUTELY NEED TO HAVE A FAEBLOOD WHOSE MOTHER WAS WALKING AROUND THE EARTH EVEN THOUGH FAE WENT EXTINCT 5000 YEARS AGO." Whereas if I just typed up a sloppy "here's a generic apocalyptic fantasy setting," it's a lot more delightful if someone grabs that by the buns and comes up with something weird with it. Speaking as a player, the most fun RPs I've been in have been the ones where I can randomly decide to poison my character or literally have my demigod curse a god and the whole cast rolls with it, bc this is a generic academy mystery or pjo rip off with 50 characters and 20 players one linering at top speed and no one gives a fig.