all those ideas of the dnd thing could absolutely be applied within Ponyville, though I also have a different argument.
The show nowadays clearly is going for a similar approach (at least with the main plot episodes), just failing miserably at executing it particularly well. The S1/2 episodes were of a more "slice of life" structure, which I definitely prefer, but moreso due to the fact that the writers just did a better job making it wholesome and believable.
I went back and started watching some S1 and everything is just so… profoundly different in ways I completely forgot. Everyone acted different, the setting and conflicts were different, the writing was different, the music was different - a lot of this for pretty obvious reasons, but a big overarching presence in all of this is just… clarity. Even when the show was clearly still getting on its feet and the actors hadn't settled into their role yet, the show just had this very focused and down-to-earth presentation with it all. The scale was much smaller, and that worked to the show's benefit.
But frankly, I mostly just say this because they did it better. Had they pulled off the D&D-esque idea with the same level of focus and coherency, I may possibly even prefer that format. I would certainly love to see Equestria and its characters explored in different ways like this. As it stands, though, the current writers are just failing miserably at anything beyond simple character-based comedy betwixt a rehashed and/or confused episode plot.