The Gaming Den

The Spelljammer Krynnspace supplement explicitly calls it out as such: The most beautiful planet in the sphere is Krynn, which also boasts the largest population and seems to be forever in the gods' plans. In fact, sages and clerics within the sphere believe tbat godly actions resulted in a recent-h...

So it seems like the question should be asked, "Do we want cyberpunk games to reflect the tropes of the genre as canonized in the 80s/90s, or do we want them to reflect modern technology "fast forwarded" into the tropes of future dystopia?"

As someone who has this book on the shelf at home (along with CyberPunk and CthulhuPunk) thanks for doing these reviews! I'm not familiar with the modern reboots of Shadowrun, but do they try to "keep pace" with current developments in technology and culture? A lot of cyberpunk seems impos...

Thoughts on the Chinese coronavirus?

Can I just chime in and say I think you're doing fantastic work with these OSSR reviews, Libertad?

I've actually been inspired to pull "Dragons of Summer Flame" off the shelf and re-read it, so thanks!

What’s a workable multi-classing system? DrPraetor brought it up in the OSSR: Frostburn thread but I think it deserves a thread of it’s own. Let me spitball ignorantly a bit to get started! I’d suggest a design goal should be “Allow trading raw power for flexibility.” The problem with this design go...

However, as the definitive example of how alignment doesn't mean shit I present "True Neutral" True neutral alignment has TWO definitions that are not at all similar presented in the rulebook from at least 3rd edition onward. It actually has a 3rd definition applied in the monster manual....

https://i.imgur.com/LAPKmxl.png I CAST... BEES! https://media1.giphy.com/media/8Jww0ZIXMZoXu/giphy.gif https://media1.giphy.com/media/107x6cUoiZfH9e/giphy.gif https://media3.giphy.com/media/YZaNlktdPMiTm/giphy.gif (Yes, as someone who's kept honeybees, I know that those are wasps. Just let me have ...

That's an interesting though, AFAP. Just shooting wildly from the hip (and playing rather fast & loose with the notion of 'philosophy'): Traditional: no bonus or penalties Epicurean: Bonus effects from potions Cynic: Advantage on Detect Lies and Survival Sophist: Advantage on Persuasion and Dece...

As a game mechanic making them fungible makes sense, though it steps away from how the Greeks would have thought about it. In fact, it was actually worse: you might make offerings at the temple of Poseidon Soter (Poseidon the Protector) to protect you during a sea voyage. A few miles away, there's a...

That's a insightful point, and I suspect it reveals the flaw in my thinking: I'm not sure myself what I want that mechanic to do! If I can't figure out a good purpose for it, it's probably best to leave it out. The best I've been able to come up with in a few minutes thinking is some sort of situati...

Some vices miss what is right because they are deficient, others because they are excessive, in feelings or in actions, while virtue finds and chooses the mean. I've been continuing to think about the campaign I first alluded to here and I've changed the focus considerably. I've shifted gears to ba...

The prepress version is available free here: http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Legal%20Systems/LegalSystemsContents.htm Possibly of interest to those looking to make the legal systems in your games more fleshed out - it has details about blood-feuds and weregilds, of course, but there's also chapters ab...

Well, I suppose there are many ways of responding to Frank’s most recent post, some of them involving lots of tedious internet posturing and exchanging insults, but let’s accept that posting in a maximally melodramatic fashion is just part of Frank’s charm and see what results if we instead take his...

Well, this has given me a lot to think about already, so hats off to everyone who’s spoken up! Some issues I’ve been thinking through: - Detect Evil isn’t that big a problem. In 3.5, it’s a cleric only spell (through paladins get it as an ability) and who grants that spell or ability? The forces of ...

@deaddmwalking I'm absolutely thinking about this in terms of "seasons" as you describe, simply due to how my local group games: 3-6 months at a stretch, then switch games and MCs. For the first "season" I'm shooting for a very "standard tropes" campaign, seasoned with ...

@Dean The gods thread is actually what inspired me to post about this campaign idea; I've been following it and it's given me a good deal to think about! I'm actually trying to avoid the "Good is dumb" trope as best I can. The good gods aren't out of contact, precisely - it's just that the...

So I’ve been tossing around some ideas for running a low-level to potentially epic-level D&D5 campaign. This conversation seems to derail around the first sentence. "But aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?" :biggrin: While I'd quibble around the edges, I think y...

So I’ve been tossing around some ideas for running a low-level to potentially epic-level D&D5 campaign. The initial framing is straightforward: a local count has fallen on hard times due to his land’s historical dependance on a neighboring barony and it’s iron mines. The baron’s castle is now fi...

Living in the area, there are sterotypes about the Amish - some positive and some negative - but using breast milk in their baking isn't one of them.

I apologize if I’m breaking any rules by bringing it up, but I figured there’s been some other Warhammmer/skirmish wargame threads in the IMHO subforum, so it’s not too out of line here. As I’m in the middle of winding down my 5e Spelljammer campaign, I’ve decided to pick up some new nerdery, and si...

Our third and final book in the boxed set is the biggest one, The Celestial Almanac . This chonker comes in at 96 pages. We get 8 pages about the sphere, it’s connection to the Outer planes, and some of the navigational hazards. Next there’s 4 pages about trade & piracy in the sphere, complete w...

Any game where your players can be arsed to understand what's on their character sheet, and look things up in the PHB on their own time occasionally. [/salt]

To the best of my knowledge, it is never precisely explained where the Arcane are from, only that they can be found almost anywhere Spelljamming civilization exists in the cluster. To they extent that they have a capital in Astromundi, it would be in a sealed-off section of the Highport trading base...

The relevant text: For cen­turies the tanar’ri fumed over their defeat, vowing to return to the Clus­ter and claim it as their own. But there was no simple way; the Clus­ter had been sealed from their pre­da­tions. During this time, the tanar’ri stum­bled across the Arcane. Quick think­ing on the pa...