The Gaming Den

It's not just the memory commitment, but yes. Saying that someone has a climb skill of 6 when the scale maxes out at 9 just, in my highly subjective opinion, feels different than saying someone has a climb skill of 24 when the scale maxes out at 36. Having people mentally discard or overlook unused...

NERPS = Non-Essential Role Playing...Stuff? I've always taken it to mean little things in game that aren't at all necessary but that can add flavor to the character / story. So you don't have to have rules for pinball machines at the local bar, you don't have to specify your character bought a pack ...

Matrix rules that are way too convoluted (so convoluted even the authors themselves try to write out an example and fail to get it right) and that require crazy more dice rolling than any other section of the game.

Dang good points about the gradient.

If everyone in the setting has some supernatural abilities, then defining "mundane" as nonmagical is not useful. I think it depends on the setting. In a MAT world, magic is just a kind of technology, like any other technology. "My character knows magic" is equivalent to "my...

In a MAT world, even extras get technology, they're just low-level, so their technology shit isn't that powerful (blacksmithing). Who can't use technology? Barring outside influences like anti-magic fields or EMP pulses and all that...

I saw this question asked in that thread, and it never really got the attention it deserved, and it got me thinking at lunch, so... I think magic in most popular culture can be placed into two distinct categories: 1. Magic As Technology (MAT) MAT is where using magic can be viewed as using a technol...

I've been waiting this whole thread to post exactly that. I love this explanation: http://northisup.com/blog/a-new-sith-or-revenge-of-the-hope-mirror/ And in another view, if we can assume that Lucas is a horrible writer, it's safe to assume the line "Ben reacts to Solo's stupid attempt to impr...

Earthdawn for a good level/class-based system? Ignoring the weird die-step level thing...

Lord Mistborn wrote: I have never in my life experienced a moment where throwing the rules out the window has been anything but tiresome and resentment causing.

Well there it is. Everyone stop your conversations, this discussion is over. LM hasn't experienced it, so it must not be possible.

On the shock hands front, a much cheaper way is to get the magnetic system that can also be overloaded to do taser damage on a touch attack.

every retired marine with an imperial guard army wore really really short shorts. Uncomfortably short. In other news, about 20% of 40k players in China are girls. Warhammer appeals to the late 20's/30's folks who have their own apartment and job with income to spare. The 40k aesthetic has strong ap...

This fits with my personal, anectodal experience. "Back in the day" of gaming in the 80's and 90's, most of the adults in my gaming circle were either military, ex-military, or quasi-military (police, etc). Although the more serious military-history buffs eschewed "fantasy" for m...

This might be relevant:

Lamentations of the Flame Princess review

If a character will hit 5% of the time, giving them an additional 5% doubles their chance to hit.

If a character will hit 80% of the time, giving them an additional 5%....is some amount smaller than double their chance to hit.

It doesn't scale to higher levels.

Sounds like the old D&D red/blue/green/black/white boxed sets. I would think people would get impatient, having to wait for the next power tier book to be released.

The best part is JH's reply to the gear comment: "It’s a different environment, and it calls for different balancing of your skills, attributes, and gear. Remember that the NPCs you face will be functioning with the same limits." Yeah, you didn't screw up JH, it's just the other person is ...