The Gaming Den

With apologies to Wittgenstein: http://static.existentialcomics.com/comics/hotdogSandwich2.png in talking about religion in an RPG, you have to ask what it is for . First, there's a common and very bad reason to include a pantheon of Olympians, so that they can be Deus Machina and drive the plot. ht...

That's counter-intuitive. Before Usamimi and I join forces to continue this review - why specifically did you change the combat system in After Sundown in that way? Is it part of a reduced emphasis on combat, do you feel that it plays more smoothly this way at the table, or...? In general, I would s...

Our ancestors developed a technological workaround that allowed all the Western tropes without the genocide, slavery apologists, and other squick: post-apocalyptic scifi. Now, this setting also appeals to right-wingers who secretly crave to have their masculinity validated in a Hobbesian war of all-...

First off, drop the "Orientalist" descriptor... make Edward Said spit out his coffee. Dr. Said is dead, and patronizing representations of exotic foreigners are still alive. More seriously, it's a compromise vs. Frank's original term: "yellowface." There is a certain merit to de...

I think the best guides are the Tribes of Israel, the Millet system of the Ottoman Empire, and, actually, the Clans from Vampire the Masquerade. The Clans probably did have geographical territories at some point, but my Dad is a Benjaminite: do I live in Jerusalem? In fact, if the clans mostly go ba...

I use a 3d6 RNG, so personally anything that needs a 5 or more is a given, and a 15 or more is the sort of 'only option left' long-shot. DnD, I actually don't worry about it. Flat-curve D20 is so damn swingy that I don't consider anything a foregone conclusion any more :D. I'm a big fan of 3D6. 3D6...

Declare that there are 61 clans, name ~50 of them, allow sources to contradict on the other ~10; this can be a thing that people disagree on in game . You never have to give a definitive answer. You need Bat and Shark, those are non-negotiable. From the 100 acre wood, it is a problem you are missing...

Five card draw may be a better game in some abstract sense, but people have more fun with texas hold 'em for a reason . Frank has the math worked out for 7 card hands and the law of unintended consequences is very real. That said, I think (Frank), that you're failing to explore the design space in r...

Fair enough. However, while you're reforming MtG, you should probably set it up so that Aggro decks are more interesting? If there are early defenses that need to be answered in order for an early win to be practical, then aggro decks want to be 2 colors and don't want to be solely a stack of stabs ...

How should the different factions play? Hope wants to come from behind and win. This is very different from how white plays in the sets were white strong - coming from behind is not the same as having defense, it means you have big bombs that you drop if you survive the rush. Law should be the defen...

The Vandals didn't build stone fortresses with supplies to last years and space for people to live there for those years. The Therans and various other people of Barsaive did. Plus the Sea of Fire would leave marks physical and cultural for hundreds or thousands of miles around. Other little things...

The Young Kingdoms (Elric) are also a secret history of our world. I sort of expected that if I got promised an “earlier age of magic” that I would be given something that could at least maintain plausible deniability as to being the real history of the Earth. Because Shadowrun takes place in a worl...

The AM5 book straight up acknowledges that not all flaws are bad and not all virtues are good and they provide or cost points anyway and you should decide how much min/maxing you want to do around that fact. They specifically aren't balanced and the limits on having them or being required to take t...

3rd edition D&D is too old to actually be modern, but it's the last paradigm-shifting advancement, so it's pretty much the most modern thing out there. In most contexts, "modernizing" a game means "making it more like 3rd edition D&D." That could include such features as...

Earthdawn dice are a math failure - use D6+X with explosions instead. 1D6 + 1 + (1D6 on a 6 the first die) gets 12+ 1/18th of the time 1D8 + (1D8 on an 8 the first die) gets 12+ 5/64ths of the time It'll be a long time before you notice the difference. Out of morbid curiosity - in an Earthdawn campa...

The subset of Classes that are used to ensure sensible interaction with the playspace wants to be finite. It's okay if "Mobilization" is a Soldier Asset and "Chivalrous Conduct" is a Knight Asset. But, if "Crescendo" is Bardic and "Song of Sages" is an Aria or...

To me, a "class" is a broader category and a "type" is a smaller category, and using "sort" as a noun is painful. That said: Class: Aves Linnaeus, 1758 bird can definitely be a class . So I'll accept Franks position: Types are the big category and classes are the subcat...

That's true, but if anything replace might make walls too good; since, yes, your opponent can just dump removal onto the bottom of their deck if you play neither walls nor creatures, but then that also applies to your own walls, if they are a form of removal that is situationally-better. The Fortres...

Wall of Water: http://img1.ak.crunchyroll.com/i/spire2/f5d6c757948ec6dde5e84fc5fa6f75971516489814_full.png is a very difficult card to balance. It had better be better on defense than a minotaur; or, you'll never use it. On the other hand, if it's sufficiently better, then no-one will even try rush ...

◬? ⟁? ⨹⨺⨻?

ꙮ!

Usamimi, if you send me notes as a private message, I will do the back-and-forth thing (which is usually how Frank/whoever co-review something)...

I was fairly competitive at Duelyst a couple years ago when it came out (my little brother is very good and I think he was ranked at some point, but has gotten bored.) https://duelyst.gamepedia.com/Game_Rules During the late-stages of the Beta that I was playing, IIRC, they went from draw 2 - replac...

I am not going to have a conversation that begins “Would you like to tell a cooperative story that includes spider demons fornicating with an imprisoned child?” ... When we're talking about shit like pedo guro, even mentioning that shit is already way too far. Why do you hate the Japanese so much? ...

The drink today is red wine ( https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/matsu+el+picardo+toro+castilla+y+leon+spain - it's good ), because I had brunch at a wine bar. AH has responded to my criticism of linear -> quadratic costs here: http://tgdmb.com/viewtopic.php?t=57282 I don't find the argument persuas...

One of the core conceits of Infernal Charms is that they work differently depending on what Yozi is actually endorsing the Charm... The example of this is a defense charm that comes from Celecyne and prevents people from attacking you by filling them with an overwhelming feeling of social awkwardne...