The Gaming Den

I'm more in favor with the Champions/Hero System approach where the vast majority of stuff automatically regenerates (Stun, END) unless you take a disadvantage saying that it doesn't (charges). Depending on the game and builds, Body can fall into either category. It's effectively 5 minutes days that...

The whole concept of an MMOG tank doesn't work as soon as your enemies are not mechanically forced to attack the taunter, i.e. as soon as they can use their brains. I've seen a few characters come close to a MMOG tank in a game. None in D&D 3rd or 4th to be fair, but I've seen it happen in HERO...

This is all fluff. No it is not. A laser turret is unplayable. It cannot perform the actions required of a player character to advance the story. It is mechanically incapable of rescuing the princess, climbing stairs, or stealing the admiral's locket. This isn't fluff, it's mechanical. It cannot pa...

Actually, Frank, there are key words in Contra, you just don't see them. -Crissa No there are not. Contra happens to be written in a non-object oriented programming language. There literally aren't even invisible key words. -Username17 Even low-level assembly uses all sorts of junk like pointers, s...

The Ultimate Tensile Strength of Cast Iron is 276 MPa, and the Ultimate Tensile Strength of Bronze is 255 MPa. At least, according to MatWeb (the Materials Property Database). Really, those numbers seem pretty similar to me. If you had to make your bronze links twice as thick (which as far as I can...

I suspect it's because cubes are typically considered to be plain while pyramids have "mythical" power. I personally like Las Bolas for floatstone shape. That or go all Zardoz with it. Floatstone style and shapes would vary wildly over time period and maker really so people should just use...

Thanks Hicks and IGTN. I wanted to make sure what they were before I commented on them. I think you could also put conditionals "X must the case" or side effects "X happens to you and X is generally bad" in addition to those above. Conditional- There is some sort of prerequisite ...

FrankTrollman wrote: Right now I have to say that I'm leaning towards Activation Roll for Blue powers and non-interchangeable charges that recharge with new adventures for Red powers.

I might be missing a thread elsewhere but what are Red and Blue powers?

What I think (I could be horribly wrong) is that having PCs planned to win all time falls under Boring Invincible Hero to Elennsar. If the PCs can't "lose" a fight unless the DM goes "You wake up in the dungeon after being drugged," it can make fights boring since the outcome is ...

You think the players who aren't super engaged are the ones who trend towards the "helper guy" role? It's been my experience that the exact opposite is true: People who play helper roles tend to know exactly what everyone else is capable of, and usually remind them of it (if for no other ...

Another thing you can do to solve the chicken problem is to give counters to starting combat with highly charged super bars. Something like: Super Bar Reverse : If this is your first attack in this combat, you can use Super Bar Reverse. Super Bar Reverse does damage based off how charged up the targ...

Death traps suck for the most part in RPGs. It's because they're arbitrary. Players don't actually get to do anything meaningful in a "Roll a reflex save or die" or "you picked Door #1, you die, you should have picked identical Door #2." Tomb of Horrors is particularly bad. There...

One way you could do it is that charging the bar isn't caused by dealing damage but taking it. Healing (be it special or natural) would reduce the bar by an equal amount the damage gave. Thus PCs can stab each other silly for their super bar for an ambush, but they are at least paying for it. It mig...

Ah a fellow lurker exposed in the Modest Resource thread. :tongue: I do like the idea as it allows for grand moves and player choice. In addition to giving some bonuses, it could also give various options until used. For example, if you have Fire Magic, you can cast weak fireballs and burn it all fo...

I wouldn't bother with the rubber band theory and all that. That's probably more complex than you care about. Why not just say that the islands are immovable. Like a giant immovable rod. Then you have magic spells which can move them. If you want them to move on their own in some kind of drift patt...

I absolutely disagree. The reason that Dragons are encouraged to fuck off until their fire breath recharges is because they are at a better relative advantage on the turns they can breathe flames than on the turns that they are biting or scratching. It therefore becomes advantageous for them to avo...

The way I see it there are several different "resources" you can use in a game. Every game has a mix of these systems. Charges- You have a pool of awesome that has limited uses. It can be unique to each power or you have a pool that multiple powers uses. Examples are D&D's spell slot s...

Honestly you could make an awesome Winds of Fate system just as you could make a good whatever system. Really if you're charging your laser or waiting for a 6 doesn't matter. If your moves set is bad, Winds of Fate does nothing for it. D&D 4th edition won't magically get better if you get 5 abil...

All I'm saying, all I've been saying for this entire thread - is that a resource management scheme which is essentially random is superior to one that utilizes a time counter. Not just because there's less turn to turn accounting, but because it breaks up cyclical tactics. I disagree. Take the base...

Does/should floatstone require an external input of energy (even something as generic as magical energy) to stay afloat? If I anchor my skyship while flying and leave, will it still be floating if I come back to it an arbitrary time later? There's logistical implications for either case such as can ...

But if there are times were Fire Wall is better to use than Ignite, why do we need a random roll to enforce it? The only case Winds of Fate adds is "Fire Wall would be more useful than Fireburst but I rolled a 3, so I'll cast Fireburst I guess." If Fireburst and Fire Wall have different ni...

Even though the best choice is still deterministic, it becomes sufficiently complicated that it is no longer obvious - at which point player skill actually matters. It doesn't really. You can't predict your party's or your own actions, not even in a "they'll attempt to do X" way. It's lik...

So you stating that you may as well not take an action that would combo with Bob landing a Psychic Thresher afterwards because Bob might be mechanically forced to use a different ability is functionally equivalent to you stating that you may as well not that the same action because Bob is mechanica...

I think part of the problem, maybe most of the problem, is that the other guy can't really put you in a position where "Oh fuck what do I do" that means you have to look at the wreckage of your plans and come up with something . A counters and anti-counters system might be a good way to m...