For what it’s worth, I was in a similar boat. I wanted to try WMs/compositors, but the configuration seemed daunting. Then I gave Dank Material Shell a try and it just configured the vast majority of the system very nicely. I still had to change some window rules in the config file, but even that has a GUI now. I also heard great things about Noctalia, and I’m sure there are others as well.

I still think KDE is a top-tier option, to be clear. :P And adding tiling to KDE is also a great way to get the best of both worlds, just from the other direction.

But consider,

gronk

Seeing Copilot in Notepad of all places is what finally made me quit Windows for good.

I’m on EndeavourOS, which like CachyOS, is a derivative based on Arch. They smooth over a couple of the things that make Arch difficult: the installation, and initial packages.

Part of what makes Arch difficult is that it updates its repositories very quickly. That’s good in many ways, because you get new features and new drivers more quickly, but sometimes things are buggy or break. From what I’ve heard, it’s honesty fairly rare nowadays, but it’s still a best practice to check archlinux.org before proceeding with a major update.

Anyway, I’m in a very similar boat. I’ve bounced off of Linux for various reasons in the past, but between Linux getting better and Windows getting worse, Linux is the “just works” option for me. It’s not perfect, but any snags I’ve had have been smaller, less frequent, and more often fixable.

Windows had trouble with it too and in more irritating ways.

Honestly, I’m embarrassed how long it took me as a human being to realize that things don’t have to be perfect to be better. I would be way harder on any change than I was with the status quo.

Anyway, yes, especially after having more and more issues with Windows 11 in particular, for me and my use case, Linux is genuinely easier to use day-to-day. Is it perfect? No. Is it better? Yes, no contest.

I do enjoy the tactical side of inventory management, but that’s only for a specific kind of game, and even then, slot-based inventory works so much smoother.

There’s an artist who did that, and created a series of Trees of 40 Fruit!

I think the trick is that it works better the more closely related the trees are. These use only stone fruits.

I imagine that’s intentional. :P “Mausritter” means “Mouse Knight.” IIRC, it was also inspired by Mouse Guard and Redwall, but is mechanically closer to old-school renaissance games.

I’ve only been using it for a few weeks now, but I’m having a great time with EndeavourOS. I’ve tried Linux every now and then for over 20 years now, but always bounced off for one reason or another. This time, I’ve never felt any desire to go back.

For me, my use case, and my hardware, EOS has been significantly less of a headache than Windows 11 was.

In addition to what others have mentioned, Mausritter might fit the bill!

“The only moral plagiarism is my plagiarism.”

Oh yeah, the thing I appreciate most about 2e were the campaign settings. 3e was also pretty great in that regard, but without quite the variety.

To take the rose-tinted glasses off for a bit… yeah, I would rather play mechanically better games. I might dip into 2e or 3e for a short adventure, but if I want to do a campaign, I’d look elsewhere. There are systems that do old-school D&D better, modern D&D better, and other things entirely. Speaking of Planescape, I was thinking of running something like Blades in the Dark, set in Sigil.

Oh yeah, I remember hitting that snag in an earlier attempt. I managed to do it, but it was definitely a point where Windows worked more easily than Linux. Glad to hear it’s gotten easier!

I just made the switch and probably for good this time, and Steam just working was a HUGE moment for me. I opened up a guide thinking I’d need it, but I just downloaded Steam, didn’t change any settings, and could start playing.

At this point, Linux is more of a “just works” experience than Windows 11 was.

That sucks, I’m sorry. I’ve been frustrated by OneDrive, but thankfully not to nearly the same extent.

Firstly, I did discover that it’s not a setting you can just turn off, because that will suddenly remove all the personal files and folders that were backed up, until you turn it back on. I knew I could work around it, but dragged my feet. Still, it was the first big push that eventually convinced me to use Linux.

Secondly… it’ll also do the inverse. I play Tabletop Simulator with my friends, and it backs up files to a OneDrive-covered folder. It quickly took up too much space, and to avoid all the warning signs designed to irritate me into subscribing for more storage, I tried to delete it. Turns out, that doesn’t work, because OneDrive will assume it was an error and put those files back, and maintaining all those super helpful warnings about storage space.

So, whether you want to keep a file or get rid of it, don’t worry, OneDrive can and will find a way to fuck it up.

If you’re interested in the history of the hobby, it’s important, and there are good bits in there, but… yeah. It’s extremely messy, sometimes outright broken, and sexist even by the standards of its time and context.

I love 3e, but it was the first edition I played. If you look at it and think, “No, absolutely not,” I can’t argue with you. :P It’s a mess, but it’s in my trash pile.

I mean, they did rush to clear out Jonathan Ross’s home before anyone else could get to it…

“A love letter to 2e” actually sounds a lot better than anything else I’ve heard about the revision. :P

Also, I have a soft spot for 3.x, but my potentially controversial opinion is that 1e is the worse edition by far.

And what’s going on with the speech bubbles in the fourth panel?

I’m one of them. I’ve dabbled before, but never stuck with it. Then I had a ton of issues with Windows 11, but the straw that broke the camel’s back was seeing a Copilot button in fucking Notepad.

Now I’m on EndeavourOS, and it genuinely feels like a more user-friendly experience. So congrats, Microsoft. You’re not even the “just works” option anymore.