[Seroster]

Originally Posted by walkerp

That's probably true, Mr Jack, but I caution against the notion that you must play a game to review it. Certainly, a playtest review is almost always going to be superior than just a textual review, but it is often not possible. My own review of Slasher Flick was done without playing it (too my regret, which will be rectified this Sunday) and yet I found that my conclusions end up being pretty close to others who actually did have a chance to play it.

I wouldn't quite insist that one has to play a game to review it, but if you misunderstand the rules, whether through just reading, or doing playtesting, you end up with a flawed review.

It's complicated because D&D has so much baggage coming with it and is thus open to so many different playstyles, even if the system doesn't always accept those playstyles well.

That's true.