The Gaming Den

Didn't like GotG2 at all. Felt like...nothing. Nothing but jokes and special effects. What did any of the characters (besides Starlord) even do? It won me over as soon as Baby Groot started dancing to Mr. Blue Sky. Anyway, not everything needs to be Citizen Kane; sometimes jokes and special effects...

OgreBattle wrote:I thought roomster was a scam, you need to pay to read messages right?

Oops. Yeah - stay away from roomster.

Portland's not as affordable as you think. My wife and I pay 1300 for a modest 2 bedroom in the suburbs. If you don't want to live in Beaverton, Hillsboro, Gresham, etc. your best bet on a retail salary would be above 82nd ave. or you could search for a share. I would suggest roomster or roommates.c...

Unlike Dawkins or Hitchens, Carrier is an actual historian and his book is specifically about considering evidence for and against historicity of Jesus rather than engaging morality of religion or anything like that. TL;DR: would be that Paul and other early christians show no knowledge of earthly ...

Richard Carrier's On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt" is an excellent non-fiction book and I highly recommend it to everyone. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61RI2XH2qiL._SL300_.jpg One of the books I read was "The Case For Christ" by Lee...

Haha. I forgot about writing this. Some guy on the SA:TG forums read it and called me an asshole. Worth it for that alone.

I've been on a non-fiction kick over the last few months. I'm ready to escape reality again.

I've never really delved into space operas. What's a good space opera to read?

The presence or absence of boob-plate, in and of itself, isn't enough to determine whether a film (or other media) is sexist, though there is a significant correlation. The fact her choices and actions drove the narrative; not every choice involved 'trying to get a man'; and ar no point did she nee...

Some games like 13th Age and Marvel Heroic Roleplaying use range "bands" like melee, short and long ranges. Fate uses "Zones", which basically divide the tactical space into landmarks. So in an old-time-y saloon fight, the zones might be the swinging doors, the piano, the bar, an...

Fail forward design. Proponents claim that it allows each roll of the dice to tell a unique story, but unfortunately that story is often quantum bears. Detractors point out that in a world where 70% of time anyone tried to do anything they experience some sort of negative consequences, the planet wo...

"I like 4e monsters better, because they don't have any monsters with more than 3 abilities, and I'm too stupid to remember what dispel magic does when reading the MM." I think monsters with 3 abilities is fine for the squad-based skirmish game that 4E tried to be (TRIED to be) if the mon...

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned races yet. I have liked the drow since I discovered the Drowtales comic... I looked at that. I think I was a few dozen pages in when the story was still in it's expository preamble before I realized: Oh - this is garbage writing. But god forbid you dared to s...

Shatner wrote:There's a lot to see in this image. Give it time to unfold.

Where did you find that painting? I've been looking all over for the source but I can't find it.

Shatner wrote:There's a lot to see in this image. Give it time to unfold.

I think this just edged out Edward Hopper's Nighthawks as my favorite painting. I must have this on my wall.

Absolutely not. I would like to be able to play a Supercharger Warrior or a Shieldmaster Warrior. Those are the same class, but nominally one is a Striker and one is a Defender. And fuck that. Fuck that super hard. -Username17 I like the concept of defined combat roles, at least better than burying...

Default Fate is skills only, using Aspects like "Herculean Might" or "Swift As The Wind" to gain temporary bonuses to rolls at the cost of a Fate point. Skill advancement is shaped like a pyramid, so you have to increase your lower tier skills before you can increase your best on...

So in a class-based system, shouldn't it make more sense to have Batman be stealthy because he picked a class with the class ability "be stealthy" instead of cashing in a bunch of "I can sing good" points that everyone has? Well you're still constrained by the fact that shit cov...

Nonsense. The bard absolutely should be rolling to see if beasts can be turned on their masters, or crowds can be calmed or whatever. If combat music is playing, you're damned tooting a check is necessary. Where it isn't necessary is singing for a meal or busking for handful of coins. I say that th...

@Frank Agreed 100%. I would separate skills into 2 categories: adventuring skills for mission critical tasks, and background skills for character flavor. You could use something like 5e's backgrounds to pass out non-adventuring skills like performance or profession. Players can assign skill points t...

The solution I like best is to standardize DC's and make skill ranks worth more. So each skill has maybe 4 ranks worth +5 per: call them Novice, Expert, Master, Grandmaster 2E style to keep the grognards from declaring jihad. Easy - DC5 your bog standard average human mudfarmer can accomplish this t...

Stealth rules are supposed to model: 1) Someone waiting in ambush, and possibly being detected. 2) Someone sneaking into a castle at night to scout, and maybe assassinate someone. 3) A character who tries to duck behind a wall and get lost in the fighting. 4) Two people both suspect and enemy is ab...

Also, assuming that not everyone in the hobby is an medieval weapons fetishist, how much can the traditional D&D weapons list be simplified and generalized? I'm thinking like Missile weapons, Polearms, Swift weapons and Brute weapons; all with small, medium, large examples. Well the D&Dism ...

So a few people on this forum have had the idea of making Perception a defense much in the same way that Fortitude, Reflex and Will are which I think would ultimately be a mitzvah. However, I wonder how this reconciles with stealth rules, since sneaking is usually treated like a skill, which is on ...

So a few people on this forum have had the idea of making Perception a defense much in the same way that Fortitude, Reflex and Will are which I think would ultimately be a mitzvah. However, I wonder how this reconciles with stealth rules, since sneaking is usually treated like a skill, which is on a...

*shrugs* maybe he wants to see an internet fight, and thinks he'll get it by lobbing that grenade into the ring.

Ok. I'll bite. The best system for all games is motherfucking RISUS motherfuckers - come at me bro!