The Gaming Den

Do you see wealth as an individual stat, or as a group stat? If wealth is individual, then you need to write rules for PCs helping each other buy stuff. Also, what happens when the group finds a big pile of cash? A small pile of cash? I am interested in abstracting wealth away from coins. I like to ...

It probably has a lot to do with the Netherlands historical connection to Japan. Doesn't the Japanese word for western science literally translate as "Dutch learning?"

I have to say, that table of contents definitely piques my interest. If I DMed a 5e game I would probably try and pick it up. God, I really want a good domain level D&D game that’s not written by a far right asshole.

Tony Isabella used to post on comics forums pretty often. Hearing him talk about DC's ideas for black superheroes before he got involved were pretty wild. Apparently, the Black Bomber wasn't just racist, he was a Klan member. I mean, Tyroc from the Legion of Superheroes had an incredibly racist back...

Downtime to me implies several days of not adventuring. so, I don’t think downtime should happen during an adventuring day. Downtime implies long periods of time without adventuring. Characters in camp are resting and recovering though there might be things they can do before bed that can affect rec...

Japanese creators spread a myth of wealthy samurai vs peasants when most samurai were peasant farmers that just inherited a title obligating war service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jizamurai The land for military service deal of feudalism can often lead to "middle class" landholding wa...

I played in a cyberpunk game shortly after I started going to a combat sambo gym. The GM was happy to tell me that sambo let you use your martial arts skills with weapon attacks, which was OP. Since I was into a]MMA at the time, I thought it would be fun to make a nomad bare knuckle boxer (like a ro...

What magical land do you hail from?

Also, as an early-childhood educator I wonder, are the daycare workers where you live getting screwed by the reduced demand?

Does this fail-negating currency change the need for exhaustive skill DCs, or is the fail train such a likely feature that this change solely mitigates it? Well, you still need an action resolution system if that's what you mean. I guess I was thinking about the awesomeness scale from After Sundown...

In D&D clones, skills have taken the place of ability checks. That is, things you roll to see if you succeed or fail at tasks you don't have explicit class abilities for. They are also often the framework that you build class abilities off of. A simple ability can give you a bonus on a skill che...

First off, it appears that you're rolling a group check. As a result, we'd expect the group to be spotted, or not. There isn't an output where Kevln is seen but nobody else is... Absolutely. I think that individual checks just ratchet up the chance that someone will be spotted and the stealth attem...

I'm curious both how you've attacked potential minigames like stealth and diplomacy, and how you've dealt with the problem of skills. Skills are something I've been grappling with in particular. I feel like the 3e system of taking 10 +20 and the exhaustive list of DCs worked, but only if people are ...

The idea is that the game has generic classes that give a PC their hit dice, attack bonus, spell slots and such. You then take a kit that gives you abilities and determines your spell choices. Gish kits include Templar, Duskblade, Warden, Dragon Knight, Warmind and maybe Bard. Armiger might be a goo...

What are some good, generic terms for Gish? I mean, there’s obviously Warrior-Mage, but there’s gotta be something better. The idea is that it’d be an in-game term that could be used to describe a cleric, duskblade or any other fighting+spell casting character.

Well, eventually you’re going to want to rewrite the Monster Manual. But that’s a daunting task and putting out options for an extant system (really just it’s MM and other perils) can plug you into their community and help you build interest and goodwill for your project. Till then, you’d want a mon...

I was wondering if it would be possible to patch an RPG sufficiently to make it a new game. I mean, Tome D&D is almost a different game, even though they were not made with an overarching plan. If it is possible (or even if it’s not, since otherwise there’s not much to talk about,) how would you...

They’re mussels. It’s confusing because they’re still wearing their scuba backpacks, so they look like robo-sushi.

I have been also accused here of being Anti-Semitic. The answer to this is more complex because it addresses both Race and Religion. As for Race, I have and keep friends who are Jewish; as I stated, we are All Children of God, but I am not a Zionist, nor do I believe they are any better than anyone...

I feel there are a lot of dog whistles in the section on anti-semitism that I’m missing. Though I suppose I should be thankful I don’t have enough of a grounding in (I’m assuming) Christian identity extremism to understand them.

Yeah, one of the few things I liked about An Echo Resounding was that it was assumed that the party could always solve a problem or automatically succeed on a domain action by going on an adventure. Do they produce Levies (Manpower)? This may be my own personal hobbyhorse, but I’ve lately been inter...

It’s also worth noting that Netanyahu’s conception of Israel is pretty compatible with the worldview of antsemites and white nationalists. Netanyahu has good relations with politicians like Viktor Orban and even helped Orban’s party craft antisemetic propaganda to use against George Soros. Fundament...

Alternately, it's the Spark, it derives from mortal ingenuity, and it's the one magic that doesn't come from a single other realm. It's artificial and dead--not "vitally-challenged" like Underworld magic, just not spiritually-based like the others--and is a purely mortal concern that reli...

Does Primal give you control of animals? Yes. It can even affect people, Enchantment has exclusive access to illusions, but not mind control. (Though they have more mind control options.) What's the 'reason' for the magic to be divided so? Is each a domain of sentient beings that people can talk to...

I suppose I should answer my own questions. I knew I wanted to divide up magic thanks to numerous discussions on this board. I also knew I wanted to support necromancers, illusionists and druids, along with benders. Those particular classes were chosen based on my interest and the preferred characte...

I think a big part of the episode’s impact was its timing. I listened to it a few days after Iowa, so it didn’t have the same impact, and I found it a bit dull. I also started to get a little put off by drunk Matt. And I like Matt! We used to do bar trivia together.