The Gaming Den

In addition to gaining mana and actions (spells?) each level I think there should also be a feats list so that Wizards have metamagic that doesn't cost actions and warriors have extra hit points or whatever you want. You could make feats have mana pre-reqs so that red mana-ed dudes have a tendency t...

Yes, but China actually still exists in aWoD as a place you might go. Common and ambiguous words like gui should probably be reserved as a general word for "supernatural creature" or "unknown supernatural creature" or even with no specific meaning. Asura would work for me. This ...

Other real possibilities would be Tianwang (Chinese) or Shitenno (Nipponese), who are the Buddhist heavenly kings of Earth Guardianship and also the evil generals from Sailor Moon. Tianwang is unfortunate because it contains the word "wang" and Shitenno is unfortunate because it implies t...

Isn't the purpose of pre-reqs to limit when in your level progression you can join a prestige class? Max one level dip means that you can join any prestige class at 2nd level making it impossible for prestige classes to grant high level abilities and remain balanced. This, of course, could easily be...

I don't mean to derail the thread so if this feel like a derail I'll start another thread but how do people here feel about Nobilis's magic system (which I think is also essentially DM fiat magic tea party hand wave fun time)?

didn't the ancestor reverence get started with Confuscius? also, a mafia-style family structure, with "father" being at the top would also be confucian. No. The oracle bones make a lot of mentions of ancestors and ancestor spirits and predate Confucius by a full six hundred years. Usable ...

1. Their really weird form of ancestor acknowledgment is essentially Conucianist. 2. They are a Tong. 3. Their cover is that they are pursuing investment and the arts, which is what a proper Confucian bureaucrat should be doing with his retirement. I don't want to push the issue so this will be my ...

In what sense are the White Lotus Confucian? I'm looking for anything at all to justify that and I can't find it.

The contrasting situation would be a world in which magic is completely random and uncontrollable. The same exact incantations and gestures would produce different and unpredictable results every time, even if all other conditions were as identical as possible (ambient mana, presence or absence of ...

I don't know if this is what you're looking for but here is some of the more obscure music that I enjoy. Dan Deacon* http://www.myspace.com/dandeacon Edward Sharpe and the magnetic zeroes http://www.cbs.com/late_night/late_show/video/?vs=Live%20on%20Letterman Alias featuring Yoni Wolf of WHY? http:/...

This thread can't be saved. No one wants to work twords my design goal because they think it makes the game less fun. That's ok, the shit storm was fun to watch. I don´t think your design goals are even possible to implement outside a boardgame environment. In a roleplaying game with open ended act...

Well in posting that here I am not introducing my design goals cause this isn't my thread. Just stating that the original purpose of this thread being started was balancing 3.x. Whatever goals Anguirus outlined should be the design goals used for this thread. This thread can't be saved. No one want...

Something tells me that Roy is the sort of asshole that takes miniature golf really really seriously.

And that leads to those new and improved abilities being spammed, which you don't want. You say you want your martial characters to have new / better powers in the second encounter of the day. Fine. I think that is bad design but I'm willing to discuss it. But then you say you don't want them to on...

Winds of Change is one method, setting up super moves is another. Your charge-meter idea doesn't, unless you manage to find the sweet spot where the tradeoff is balanced - in which case there is no smart play left. In other words: don't do it. There are better ways to get to where you want to go. W...

That turns it into a calculated gamble. In a DnD that doesn't work because everything drops fast. In 4th it might work, seeing as you could be reasonably certain to actually get your good ability. Of course you are now stuck with fighters never using their lesser powers. I'm trying to strike a bala...

Use it or lose it. Unless you are certain to deal with the current encounter (or even turn) just fine without your points you would be nuts not to use it right away. Why would you need to encourage novaing? If you can nova it is generally a smart plan. Overkill is of course bad, but killing the ene...

NJ and RC adjust their games based on who is at the table/in the game. PL and Roy don't like it. No. There was an argument on this thread about whether you should create mechanics to enforce characters sucking for large portions of adventures. Then someone got all preachy and up their own asshole a...

You don't interact with people that are different from you very often do you?

To the people that gave advice, thank you.

Heck, Anguirus could have said, "In my opinion, forcing the wizard characters to run a cheese grater along their legs every time they cast a spell would make the game more fun," and he wouldn't be wrong. So. IF we say "OK you can have that" In what way can we now ever EVER have ...

1.) I have no idea why anyone here believes that I intend on DMing this system and not playing it myself. I would much rather play in it than DM it and I never said or implied anything to the contrary. 2.) The reason that fun being subjective is important here is that it means that this project is o...

Roy, were you to develop a system from the ground up that encouraged casters to nova how would you go about doing that?

So... upon having it pointed out that your plan involves inflicting many hours worth of bellow the par characters on players, in large hour sized lumps... You accept that and move ahead without reconsidering? Well, I guess as long as you the designer don't have that inflicted upon you then you don'...

I didn't change my mind about anything but the advisability of asking strangers to help me design games that they themselves wouldn't play.

I'm sorry. I didn't intend for this thread to turn into a shit storm. I just wanted advice on how to achieve a particular (unpopular) design goal. Lesson learned.