Humor, jokes, memes about TTRPGs
How does a DM deal with players who look for these wild ideas?
I think it's fine to think outside of the box and metagame. But does it end up in a slippery slope where it feels like the players just want to outthink every encounter where it's just a rube Goldberg set of plays?
If you're not a fan of this type of behaviour, I recommend playing a TTRPG that isn't D&D.
D&D has gotten a bit of an "LULLZRANDOM!!11!!" reputation, possibly because of the content creators needing something whacky to get views, or just because of how mainstream it is. If you need to stand out in a crowd of thousands being extreme, novel, or whacky has the lowest effort for the highest reward.
If everyone at the table finds the game fun, then you are playing correctly. I find this behaviour exhausting and would tell the players that it needs to stop unless someone else wants to GM.
What would examples of alternative TTRPGs be? And what characteristics would they have that would prevent the "LULZRANDOM We're breaking the system" type of gameplay?
I'm thinking maybe crunchier and more in-depth rules ala Pathfinder or GURPS, since the barrier-to-break is much higher due to having to read more, but I'm just guessing as a relative ttrpg novice here haha
I would instead lean more into the FATE direction. They are more open for interpretation and thus allow the DM more control.
Spells there don't necessarily specify transforming your weapons. The DM would maybe allow it but doesn't have to. Some of those games don't even have a spell list, so no definitive way to know, your spell idea works or even exists (unless you did it before).