I meant games that don't randomize or change on repeat runs. Games that always offer a somewhat similar, scripted experience.

Overall, static games with carefully crafted experiences are better than any roguelike.

It's a reference to Moby Dick. It's something you really want, but seems unattainable.

I'm facing similar problems. What helped me settle here, though, were the right tools. The most helpful being:

The Lemmy Explorer, which helps you find forums across all Lemmy instances: https://lemmyverse.net/

Lemmy Link, which make it easier to show forums on the lemmy instance you are using: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lemmy-link/

And, as a bit of a wild card, I made an RSS feed. If you don't know what it is, it basically let's you subscribe to websites so that any articles or threads show up in one big personal newspaper. That way, I can get both the few Lemmy topics that are here and supplant the rest with "loose" websites like blogs or news sites.

Lemmy is fully compatible with RSS as are many other sites. If a site isn't, it's fairly easy to make it compatible with a generator. After that, it's just a matter of gathering the links you want.

I'd recommend checking out Feedly and just tinkering to see if it's something you'd enjoy. It's not a full replacement, but it does allow you to make things more personal.

Would the no-random mode be a better way to play first time compared to the other mods that are out there? I always get a bit overwhelmed with all the options and the installation process.

Honestly I disagree with some comments here. I wouldn't make a separate community. Just do it here. The community is small as-is, no need to splinter it down any further.

Also, I don't think games would just have to be cheap, they'd also have to be short. That makes the barrier of entry a bit lower.