The Gaming Den

Anyway, as promised, here are some examples of One Unique Thing What made you folks decide this was even a desirable thing? Putting aside the entirely subjective view that those are all terrible things and 'goofy' is pretty much the best you are going to get out of such a thing, why have the 'speci...

I'm certainly in the camp that being able to choose personal enmity with an Icon at 1st level is stupid [explanation to follow]. If I were the the GM, I would choose not to allow it. The reason it is stupid is that it has logical narrative effects that would ruin the game unless they're ignored. Whi...

The Geneva Convention is all about reciprocity - but it assumes that all the parties have the same interests. I won't use torture if you won't use torture. Agreed. I won't use chemical weapons if you don't use chemical weapons. Agreed. I won't dress my soldiers in your uniforms if you don't dress yo...

Since we're talking about torture more than social engineering... Torture is a real thing that really happens to people, and that's bad. The point of torture is to be deliberately cruel to the person. Nations have agreed that they don't want their citizens tortured, so they agree not to torture the ...

Endovior wrote:Heroes are either better then that, making those hard choices regardless of what others think of them for it... or they fail to do so, and lament their weakness as people die, and the world burns around them.

Villain: I'd never kick a puppy. That's what I have minions for.
Minion [kicks puppy]

First off, people respect success. Even if they disagree with everything else about that person. If bad guys are not successful, they are bufoons. The best examples of this are 'opposing generals'. Rommel and Lee are well-respected even by their opponents because they were capable commanders, even i...

A big part of a role-playing game is an exploration of 'character agency'. In this world, I'll be lucky if I'm remembered three generations from now. But in a D&D world, I can build a fief and turn it into a kingdom. I can put a mark on the game map that can last. But if the game world is design...

Presuming that you believe something is wrong or bad, and further presuming that other people believe that thing is right or good (even though we know they're wrong) we have a situation where you can't change their belief without engaging them. Thus, speech should be free. A show like 24 that may se...

How in the name of fuck do you have anti-heroes or even out-and-out villain protagonists in your setting -- let alone as PC characters -- without the fans creepily whitewashing the bastards or having to beat people over the head with the fact that these aren't by any stretch of the imagination nice...

There are plenty of situations where if someone fucks with my character, I'll want to find a way to kill them. Or maybe at least escalate the conflict. Fundamentally, I just object to their powers being nebulous and undefined. It's an invitation for DM fuckery. It might not happen, but if it does, t...

K, Your point seems to be predicated on the idea that the players can eventually kill the Icons. My impression is the opposite. As a player, I would expect to be unable to meaningfully advance goals. Can I capture/destroy an artifact that makes the Icon so powerful? No - since their powers are not d...

The existence of high level characters isn't a problem. Assuming the setting supports them, they can be a good thing. Personally I don't care for Forgotten Realms in part because it seems that Elminster really is doing everything worth doing - but I don't object to it. Anyone could potentially becom...

Then why have it? In fact, if it's never going to matter, it's even worse than 'Superman in Space' every adventure. It means that no matter how awesome you become, you never rate . You're never more significant or interesting to these powers that be than you were when you started adventuring. You're...

The best 'road encounters' are actually side-treks. You can have a 'small adventure' - or even a well-developed encouter - that enlivens the journey. Rather, it 'interrupts' the journey. At least, assuming they deal with it. On 'skull island', as they're walking around, you could have a 'Predator-ty...

So the 'upkeep phase' is on each individual's turn (at the end of their turn) rather than at the end of the 'round'? It's not an objection (in fact, I think I agree with you) but compared to 3.5, the character may not be 'vulnerable' to other's attacks. As you propose: A stuns B. B misses his turn. ...

Specifically for a stun, how would you like to see it implemented so that a target is stunned for 1 round, but not more and not less. For example, character A takes his turn in round 1. Character B then stuns character A. Since Character A has already acted in Round 1 should he be stunned in Round 2...

In the fantasy heartbreaker I'm working on, everyone has a Caster Level, and everyone can access a small number of spells pretty easily. To learn a large number of spells, and to have the highest level spells, you'd do well to be a Wizard. Essentially, the Warrior has 'real abilities' besides 'hit t...

I like that idea - the idea that a character could gain powers in another form - but lose their other powers - probably works, especially with the dark pact. The demon could 'ride-along' and when needed, take over, using all of it's magic and magic-abilities and as long as the player is still restri...

You know that player two is going to ask which one has the books... So, present three possible hooks. When player 2 recognizes that the one of the three specifically involves a library, that's what they're going to do. This is akin to a 'force' in magic trick parlance. You're giving the illusion of ...

For the most part, if terrible things were required by the dark powers that gave the 'gift', I'd trust my players to play their character correctly. Taking the character away for these episodes wouldn't be necessary, and it certainly wouldn't be fun. Besides which, if they're predictable enough the ...

First off, one of the things I think 3.5 did right was to make it so the PCs are basically playing by the same rules as Team Monster. I get the impression that 4th went back to the 1st and 2nd edition style where new monsters got new mechanics that were seemingly random and incompatible with other, ...

The Den has a well-deserved reputation for thinking through the logical consequences of a gaming system and suggested changes to such systems. While working on my own Heartbreaker RPG, I've run into a problem that I'd like suggestions for. When a bully beats up a 'good kid', we expect him to go take...

I don't understand the narrative benefit of having Hitler survive, but still be dead in the 'present day'. If he's dead already, he's not going to contribute to the ongoing story anymore. If he needed to perform some interesting historical event within the last 10 years, it might make sense to keep ...

I love Rango, but even then, it feels a little strange not recognizing what role each character might play. That's good in a movie where some of the motivations are going to be revealed by the plot and narrative - the fact is, the same holds true for an RPG given enough time. A lot of players won't ...

I'm pretty dismissive of a stated action that fails to recognize a person with a -7 (or lower) versus a +26 (or higher). Clearly an 'I watch the door' statement is being resolved by MTP.