The Gaming Den

The biggest issue I've had with size categories has to do with the square-cube law.
Jumping, climbing, etc., should be harder for larger creatures.

Just tossing that out there.

Well, I completely forgot about the fear. Oops. :ohwell: In about half the encounters that I run, when I look back on them, it seems that I've forgotten some ability or another. Sometimes I tell my players, sometimes I don't bother. Otherwise, it went ok. It was just a wall of flesh to get them war...

Let us know how it turns out. My players quiver in pant-shitting fear whenever I decide to whip out the mob rules. Mostly because I don't put it on bullshit like goblins and wolves. I put it on stuff that has special attacks that require a save (poisonous/diseased creatures, various incorporeal unde...

The farmer does not level up because they story is not about them. I have NPCs level-up all the time - even commoners, shop keepers, farmers, etc. That's not to say that all NPCs level-up; but reoccurring one's definitely should. I've been told by my players that this is one of the big things that ...

One of these days I'll get around to writing mechanics that require differential calculus. About 10 years ago, I decided to try using some multi-variable power functions for my shiny new "death from massive damage" rule. I was told in no uncertain terms that I can have either my gaming gr...

There are no perfect rules heavy games, because any complicated system can be improved. But minimalist games can and do achieve perfection for what they are. This is something I hadn't considered; and it strikes right to the heart of my query. I haven't played much in the way of "rules lite&qu...

So, more divergence at the start, with a slower rate of divergence as the game progresses?
Well, I fail to hate it, at least.

Roog wrote:

		Levels in Good Save
		0 1 2 3 4 ...
Levels in Poor Save	0 1 2 3 4 ...	0 2 3 3 4 ... 0 2 3 3 4 ... 0 3 3 4 4 ... 1 3 4 4 5 ... 1 3 4 4 5 ... ...

Ah, okay.
And now it seems so obvious. I'm gonna steal that, thank you very much.

@DSM: I'll first admit that my perspective may bit a bit skewed do to not having started a game below level 3 in ... I don't even know how long. Our adopted philosophy on the matter is that the first couple of levels are like unto the game's "tutorial" (for a couple of reasons). How many t...

@ Roog
I've actually never encountered problems with what I've suggested. IME, the learning curve = "1 level-up after explaining concept".
After you've further described what you do, I fail to see a difference. What kind of "preprinted table" are you talking about?

I went the scaling numbers route with my thing. There are 4 rates at which the numbers scale. Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master. Starting numbers are 0, 1, 2, and 3. From there they scale at different rates. I monkeyed around with something similar in an attempt to hack something in/on to 3.x. I t...

@ PhoneLobster I think you mistake my tone. I wasn't saying "YOU may something PERFECT". The observation that I was making was more along the lines of people's tendency to make the perfect the enemy of the good. And if this is too childish or low-brow for you, there are plenty of other thr...

@Grek Well yeah, but that's just Normative Discontent. What I'm talking about (what I've sometimes observed) seems to go further than simple ND, I think. I've seen a lot of: "game 'x' sucks because of a, b, and c. game 'y' did those things much better." "okay, so why not just play gam...

I went the scaling numbers route with my thing. There are 4 rates at which the numbers scale. Untrained, Trained, Expert, Master. Starting numbers are 0, 1, 2, and 3. From there they scale at different rates. I monkeyed around with something similar in an attempt to hack something in/on to 3.x. I t...

BAB is terrible. Fighters only having a +1 over wizards in their shtick is just stupid, and having that widen to half the RNG over the course of the game is even stupider. Please explain. @ "only a +1 over wizards": (1) that's only at level 1, and it level-friggin'-1 - whatever. (2) this ...

After reading the encyclopedia-sized volume of various discussions about what makes for good RPGs/gaming systems, it has occurred to me that the "perfect system" is quite the elusive little bugger. So much so that I've come to the determination that such a thing is indistinguishable from B...

The moment the fractions or decimal points come out, people flap their arms in dismay. It shouldn't be true, but it demonstrably is. Better to just pare down the bonus types to skills. Magic bonus and circumstance bonus. That should suffice. OP = Basically this right here. Also consider the followi...

But actually I still prefer an example from the old WOTC boards. The standing advice there for every problem a GM ever faced was "Hit trouble player in the head with a brick/hammer!". This advice had several flaws. That is precisely the opposite of the meme. The "advice" was &qu...

Grek wrote: The name of the game isn't "cut through this wall of meat", it's "find and assassinate the invisible, flying Quasit commander before you are overrun by the horde."

I approve this message.

I only said "CR 8" because that's what the book says ... so that's what I shot for.
As for your goals ... yeah, my suggestion is both "wall of flesh" and "oh god, we have to heal again".

Hmmm ... define "interesting".

Anyone know of a good mob/swarm template type thing that can be applied to a mixed group of creatures? I'd probably shoehorn it in to the existing 3.5 DMG2 mob template and adapt from there. ( warning: heavy modification follows ) In your example, just off the top of my head, I might make the follo...

How about the fact that RPGs in general have a 40-year history of trying to tell people that all personality/game style conflicts can be mitigated, and that any group of people can be molded in to a coherent play group. This aspect is single-handedly responsible for more headaches and heartaches tha...

What kind of people become mercenaries in real life? Like Landscknects and such. How much info do we have about the environment that lead to booms in mercenary bands? Any time that an active military goes on the march, PMCs (private military company) will pop up. How they implement themselves will ...

But isn't what you're describing just...to some extent...roleplaying? Sometimes your character IS a bigger asshole than you, because roleplaying. But the player chose to play that character - which makes that player a disruptive asshole, and the character is merely an extension of that. And hiding ...

Longes is being ironic, right ? Because that merit is awesome. It evokes more color than 150 pages of generic D&D spell lists. Says the guy who also likes PedoWorld. :ohwell: I'm hung up on the phrasing "Drawback: The character must identify as female." I know what they meant , but......