Chris, Jay, and Sandra give their top 10 lists of the most overrated and underrated features in RPG for 2025.

00:00 Intro

Overrated:

8:00 - #10: leveling up (Jay), perception checks (Chris), Overly Complicated fantasy names (Sandra)

16:04 - #9: nine alignment system (Chris), Rulebook rigidity (Sandra), established D20 systems (Jay)

20:53 - #8: Over-use of digital battle maps (Sandra), generic monsters (Jay), fun house dungeons (Chris)

26:38 - #7: Random encounter tables (Jay), advantage and disadvantage in 5e (Chris), home brew vs premade trash talk

33:05 - #6: Completely original campaign (Sandra), power fantasy players (Jay), bags of holding (Chris)

37:08 - #5: leveling up (Sandra), money (Jay), potato chips (Chris)

44:22 - #4: Orphan PCs (Chris), over-drinking (Sandra), murder hobos (Jay)

48:50 - #3: Hit points (Chris), needing everyone present to run (Sandra), dark vision (Jay)

52:51 - #2: In-person play (Sandra), GMs (Jay), rolling for damage (Chris)

56:14 - #1: RAW (Jay), complete character backstories (Chris), building for min/max meta vs. the character you want to play (Sandra)

1:02:28 - Dishonorable mentions: D4 die, dark vision, riddles (Chris), minis (Jay)

Underrated:

1:04:35 - #10: Character flaws (Chris) & (Jay), attention to small details and senses (Sandra)

1:06:19 - #9: Accents and acting (Sandra), good notes (Chris), Min/Maxing (Jay)

1:10:58 - #8: Between session player hub (Sandra), low-level play (Chris), props (Jay)

1:16:26 - #7: DIRE - description, intent, roll, explanation (Chris), player narrative control (Jay), character death (Sandra)

1:21:10 - #6: Romance & politics (Jay), tropes & genres (Chris), props, cosplay & ambiance (Sandra)

1:26:19 - #5: Massive boon to wellbeing (Sandra), single-player adventures (Chris), magic (Jay)

1:30:40 - #4: Staying in character (Jay), Body language and performance (Chris), drinking to support your session/decrease social anxiety (Sandra)

1:34:31 - #3: Humor (Chris), character death (Jay), music themes for characters, places, villains (Sandra)

1:37:37 - #2: Bolstering others (Chris), Bolstering with 'yes/and, no/but' (Jay), providing character images (Sandra)

1:41:00 - #1: Even crappy art attempts increase immersion (Sandra), preparedness roll (Jay), breaking the TTRPG system you're using (Chris)

1:48:01 - Honorable mentions: language (Jay), musical themes, profession stat, in medias res, average NPCs encounters, cheat attacks (Chris)

To see more from Sandra Rosner:

https://www.twitch.tv/ladyvonfrost

https://www.instagram.com/sandra.a.rosner/

https://bsky.app/profile/sandrarosner.bsky.social

World of Warcraft: The Dragonflight Codex - A Definitive Guide to the Dragons of Azeroth: https://insighteditions.com/products/world-of-warcraft-the-dragonflight-codex

RuneScape: The Official Cookbook: https://insighteditions.com/products/runescape-the-official-cookbook

Contact Info: [email protected]