The Gaming Den

I'm still not sure I follow. It seems some of you are trying to equate several character actions to the same player intent. And I believe this is inherently flawed thinking. The PC tries to ingratiates an NPC with a gift that ... they knows is poisoned. - Deceit vs. Notice/Empathy/Knowledge. they th...

I can't begin to figure out what the precise scenario merxa is proposing, but if I was an MC proposing a scenario where there was a secret "fuck you" to the players, I'd write it on a card and place it face down in front of the players, unveiling it when they've deduced the secret or when ...

Suppose the players are visiting a city where they know hostile agents are active, so they're trying not to let anyone find out where the party sleeps at night. You have some system that determines how much security they can have given the types of activities they're doing, so you figure out that t...

I don’t understand why the DC fluctuated, nor why you would roll in the first place. It is wrong to inflate the DC unless the homeless guy saw you being chased by goons. It is wrong to have a DC in the first place, because you could just throw the suitcase into the trash next to the homeless guy and...

Also, I want to apologize for posting my original question here. I was responding from my phone and meant to continue posting on the yet-another thread.

Kaiser Soze is a trope, regardless of anecdotal evidence. People get convinced to do things contrary to their beliefs all the time. And usually, their actions aren't because they've changed their mind, but that they have been lead to believe that doing this action advances or confirms their beliefs.

In regards to the premise, “PCs can not be socially manipulated” Just for fun, can someone provide an ingame justification for why PCs can be affected by mind-altering magic but not succumb to the guile’s of a master manipulator. And then, justify why PCs can rely on numbers and dice rules to outwit...

If you look at Blades in the Dark for example, every Faction has a certain amount of Status. When you successfully run a score against a Faction, it may lose some Status while your Faction gains some. If social combat covers politics, then this should be the meta-currency. Players can spend Status f...

I think once you establish a shared culture, you can add as many relevant inputs as you want to inhibit the sort of hyperbole PL is talking about. This person’s point of view is suspended in a vacuum and less than helpful.

A lot of thoughts, some ramblings ... 1) Meeting a stranger, deciding if you fight, team up, or pass each other. This also applies to stumbling in on the dragon in his horde. 2) Negotiating your rewards for quests and/or buying shit at the store. 3) Uh Oh, we doing politics now, convincing the king ...

@libertad - is this really worth 20$? The mechanics are pretty awful, but fixable with default starting attribute arrays and guaranteed level improvements. Some of the rules are really questionable. Fighters can probably one-or--shot most everything, regardless of level. A fully defensive fighter mi...

I watched the video. It implied that bionicles have some kind of slow regeneration process. Possibly, the ability to reconstruct itself from available materials. But this could just be 'natural healing mechanics' ramped up in the setting to accommodate the self-reconstruction algorithms in whatever ...

... are there non-construct people? If so, then make them have the Meatbag template or something. This. Constructs in D&D are a type of creature that needs to be handled differently in the game. But if constructs are the default creature, then meat bag is the special that needs to be templates....

The Champion is a good combat-heavy class, although it’s a bit mixed in practical play. Have you played this game? I assumed your opinions were only based on reading through the rulebook (not that there's anything wrong with that). I haven't played but they are the 2nd or 3rd best combatants in the...

Serious question, did we formally decide that "OSR conceits" should be labeled "OSR deceits" or is that a Freudian slip? Either way, it's awesome and I want on the train. I used deceit totally on purpose here. Because, usually, I'll see one or two OSR conceits by an author who g...

While another OSR deceit, Random Starting Attributes (rolled in order) + Random/No Improvement Rolls each level is a deal breaker for me. You get limited choice in choosing your profession, since you roll abilities in order and will likely pick the class best matched to your attributes. There's a ch...

I'm reading the free PDF and it is devoid of bookmarks.

Is the paid-for edition bookmarked?

It is interesting to note that Elder Scrolls: Oblivion wasn't found among the list of inspirations. That might be an OSR deceit.

There’s a free edition of the 2nd edition rules on dtrpg if you want to follow along.

Orion wrote:I'm hoping to post a review of Blades in the Dark soon. It's a solid hack candidate and the market isn't saturated yet.

It is a good system. Looking forward to a review.

I think Hit Points are already the resource that is used to weigh fatigue and effort. I vaguely remember that 1e had non-lethal damage rules, where a character could beat a monster into submission. In fact, I think those rules, as I remember them, were designed to defeat and tame dragons. If you’re ...

There’s something about this idea that Troubles me. Side quests are by definition, not-embedded, but they have an impact on a campaign arc in that they often provide characters an opportunity to gain experience and power. When I think of embedded vs not-embedded in absolute terms, it reminds me sitc...

In every home brew, including the one I’m working on now, I always fold con into strength, as Brawn or Might. Constitution has always been, for me, a problematic stat. In my youth, I was more accepting of it, because I read Elric and fought Glass Joe in Mike Tyson’s Punchout and thought the glass ca...

I remember when the grossest thing to talk about was rancid condiments. If you're here to get some shit out of your rancid brain, then instead of turning off MPSIM, there should be another forum calling SATE. Short for, Screaming At the Echo. The posts are symbolically linked to > /dev/null and the ...

Foxwarrior wrote:Oh, is this like that "you can't have a good discussion with someone unless you're allowed and able to punch them in the face" thing?

More like, you're not having an honest discussion if your point of view is nothing to lose.

There's no honest discourse behind masks. To think otherwise is to be comfortable in a hood.