The Gaming Den

The Returners Final Fantasy RPG is miserable tripe. I would recommend BESM before it, and BESM is a bad system that my entire gaming group quit ever attempting to play again.

I think you should generate multiple stat-sets for both piloting and interpersonal interactions, unless every time you are given a stat-choice in the "personnel" game that includes mecha-pertinent stats, like reaction time or whatever (for piloting), all the stats you can choose between in...

First Age Solars basically looked exactly like a more high tech version of the "before the world went to (more) shit" era of Girl Genius, plus more Roman Senate (staffed entirely by Sparks of course). So people were totally being turned into experiments left and right, and every Solar made...

I'm done with completely unplayable monsters. Even in a game where 90% of the monsters are pure evil, the remaining 10% are often unplayable for no good reason, when honestly they often have statlines that read awfully similar to some kind of high level adventurer, due to themselves being designed t...

Illness does not necessarily precipitate all health costs. For instance, the fact that the Wicked Witch of the East did not receive adequate health care was chiefly due to the current insurance system's failings. If she had been treated in time without fiscal issues then she could continue her reign...

Now, here's where I, after thoroughly slamming him, agree with Kaelik. But not for the reasons he cited. The reasons he cited are dumb. No, here's the thing. Health insurance works best when, get this, everyone is on it. Preferably on the exact same plan, but if you can get a somewhat even distribut...

Oh boy, Kaelik called me an idiot, I guess I must be doing something right. Probably breathing. So just to be clear, your roll models include Roy, Elennsar, Shadzar, Tzor, and JE. But do not include Frank, K, Lago, Josh, and Count. Yeah, I think you've made my argument for me. Thanks. You've called...

Needs to gain access to Knowledge (Giant Frog).

That does not resolve the discrepancy. It merely eliminates the need to address the discrepancy. It would still be hypothetically possible to have a non-magical character, they just would suck forever. Kind of like being the Rock Lee of Naruto, except you don't even get the Gates, since those are Ro...

There is literally no way to make a system that involves modifiers be as easy to remember for both newbies who have only glanced at the book and for people who've read the book three times and carefully memorized it. That is the definition of memorization. You forget that once a +3 bonus is present,...

As for RPG mechanics I'm done with: The Bajillion Stacking Bonuses. Not only do I dislike having to remember stacking rules and fishing through a ton of books to find another bonus that will work, but I hate it when math gets in the way of my game. Even if I'm totally prepared and write up my chara...

A good place to be is to have a list of magic stuff long enough that you get a sample of one at each level. Obviously you cannot have an exhaustive list, but giving a variety of magical items such that people can look at their item and eyeball the existing list and say "this looks like a (bette...

Now, I realize that places such as this, and the Internet in general, are rife with disagreements. These disagreements can get quite vociferous. However, it is polite to exhibit some courtesy when you are busy pointing out that someone is a sub-sapient blowhard. We are a people of etiquette and dece...

Oh, I see. The description was somewhat nonspecific. Yes, a "Mortal Strike" Warrior to borrow a WoW name for but a brief moment. That makes more sense. For some reason that did not occur to me. The only other interpretation, aside from "good white numbers", that particularly came...

I am very used to reading something indented or spaced, it being something of a standard for all writing in English for some time now.

Re: Striker He assumed you were talking about the 4e Striker, who is just the "big damage" guy. The Striker in that list is someone specifically more effective against targets already engaged by someone from a different class, and maybe also during an ambush. Which might still be a little...

As a minor question, Frank, long ago you proposed a "Striker" role/class/concept along with a list of other, similar classes that had a role conception along these lines... one class having buffs, another having curses, et cetera. Yet, since white numbers (damage numbers, as opposed to gr...

As a minor question, Frank, long ago you proposed a "Striker" role/class/concept along with a list of other, similar classes that had a role conception along these lines... one class having buffs, another having curses, et cetera. Yet, since white numbers (damage numbers, as opposed to gre...

Not only can you, but you often do in Magic: the Gathering nowadays. Obviously overly verbose abilities are left off of cards most of the time. However, 4e did not commit to this design, probably because it also did not want to have every single fear power work identically. Monster stats were design...

There are other models of acquiring powers in games, such as massive amounts of looting, for instance (Mega Man style). Kain and the other vampires of Nosgoth, however, almost explicitly gets more experienced, with some experience accrual over time even if he doesn't do shit. He also engages in ramp...

Pretty much that. Earlier systems tended to be made out of function calls. They referred to other rules in the game extensively. In order to "simplify" itself, 4e decided that everything would be stated up front. There are still some function calls, but they are intended to be minimal. In ...

Kobajagrande wrote:What a bunch of pussies.

More or less. I was trying to contain my longwinded rambling a bit, but might have prohibited myself from getting to a point! Well, anyways. It also is of note how some of those secondary lists were explicitly supposed to measure up against main line powers, and some were not (in the case of skills/...

Eh, Monte Cook wasn't the sole designer of 3e D&D and he gets to write "made D&D" on his resume, but OK!

Ditto with Gary Gygax. >_>

So, I am not going to pretend to be capable of doing those big "Anatomy of a Failed Design" posts. I am, besides, more interested in figuring out why someone would think something is a good idea, rather than merely withering away on the bad parts. So here I am going to look at the powers a...