Jhaelen
Member

if you game has advanced beyond the need for encounter tables, what does that look like? How do you go about determining what encounters should occur, and where or when?I'm not Jhaelen, but I can answer for my part: when I use systems that don't involve encounter tables (which is every system I run except Classic Traveller), I determine what encounters occur based either on adjudication of player action declarations for their PCs, and/or based on what I thik the demands of pacing, theme, etc require.

History shows us that a system which requires combat skills and non-combat skills to compete for character resources will almost invariably end with players investing in combat skills and ignoring the non-combat skills. Words don't work against zombies or otyughs, but swords are effective against everything. Games that use a unified system for everything tend to have worse balance issues than games which keep those activities segregated. I think that Jhaelen's idea there was to simply reduce combat encounters to be similar to some kind of skill challenge, not (necessarily) change the way skills are allocated. You could still pre-package the skills into Race/Background/Class, rather than let the player pick from each bag arbitrarily. IME with more than a few games that do something akin to that. It produces super-fast gameplay and (can) facilitate much better(IMO) storylines, just because speed. However, it doesn't usually produce the visceral tension that turn-based tactical combat like D&D can produce. (Capes, a quirky little superheroes rpg, is the one stellar exception that I am familiar with.)

Okay, with both Jhaelen and Mallus recommending it, I just picked this up. It's on my pile.

...: shouldn't 'having fun' be its own reward? Rewarding good role-playing makes slightly more sense, but I still dislike the practice because some players _are_ good role-players and don't need (and usually don't care about) the extra xp. They're roleplaying because they consider it fun (i.e. see above). It's the players who struggle with role-playing who'd benefit most from a rule granting them extra xp to encourage them to give their best. But if you want to treat all your players fairly, they'll still always fall behind the players who are already good role-players. In other words: granting xp isn't a good choice if you want to encourage good role-playing. What you really want to achieve is that your 'problem' players realize that role-playing is fun! So, what works better, imho, is to give them more opportunities to be in the spotlight and reward their efforts with mostly immaterial things, like better contacts or allies. I agree with Campbell and (at least in part) with Jhaelen here. The issue I have with DMMike 's position above is that it seems to assume that GM-agnostic systemization of XP gain is either not feasible or undesirable. The GM doesn't need to be in any position to hand out XP. In the Powered By the Apocalypse systems that Campbell is bringing up, XP isn't "awarded" via one person's (likely opaque and cognitive bias-laden) adjudication. Its simply gained via transparent, focused triggers; eg did you fail on a move, did you make Desperate Action Roll, did you overcome a tough obstacle/threat via coercion, did your Vice get you into trouble. The GM's role in these things isn't in the awarding. The GM's role is in following the game's premise and the player cues, in framing the action whereby decision-points related to vice temptation, desperate situations, and dangerous NPCs that can be coerced are the central focus of play (and whatever else might part of the game's PCs' portfolio and xp triggers such as themes of heritage, beliefs, as...

I think that Jhaelen is right. I assume I would need to limit the tapestries down to fewer results and if the generator rolls for one, then it would roll again for determining which of the 500 tapestries is the final result.That is the "intermediate table" that Jhaelen refers to. Deciding the numbers for that intermediate table isn't a maths problem, it's just deciding how often do you want tapestries vs paintings.

I've been reading your posts for a long time Jhaelen, and I never would have guessed that English wasn't your first language. You have a great command of English as well as use of idiom.

Sounds like you need to lead the charge, Jhaelen! Sent from my iPhone using EN World

Jhaelen: the description says "form or appearance," so yes it's illusory, and yes it's real. Depends on the caster. It's not permanent, by the way, since the caster needs to exert will (spend an action) each round to maintain it. You could also do it the way Lamentations of the Flame Princess handles the Summon spell. You're rolling the dice on a disaster happening every time you summon. This sounds like too much fun. At the least, this is a second level spell, in that it's strictly better than Disguise Self - which allows you to make much more limited cosmetic changes. Secondly, the spell you've described is not 'fluff only', because it does effect fictional positioning. 1) Suppose it lets you polymorph into a barstool, a fluffy bunny, or a goblin. Will NPC's now react to you as if you were a barstool, a fluffy bunny, or a goblin? Only if there was a 100% chance that it would not alter the behavior of NPCs would this be 'fluff only'. 2) Suppose I polymorph into a songbird? Do ...

DMMike I always forget about OGRE. Thanks for reminding me! And yes, "dungeon" is often D&D's quirky shorthand for "lair." Jhaelen Maybe that was part of my thinking in the past. I saw plenty of examples I felt were sub-par so I kind of avoided it. Only after years of DMing and writing do I finally feel like I have what it takes to design a big dungeon well. One of the first questions posed in 3e Dungeoncraft is What is the function of your dungeon in your campaign setting? Before you set pencil to paper, you need to decide how the dungeon fits into your campaign setting. Take a moment to consider why the dungeon exists, how it interacts with the rest of the world, and what purpose it (and other dungeons) serve in the grand scheme of things. You could just say that dungeons are the ruins of a forgotten civilization, but many other interesting possibilities exist. Death Trap... Near Frontier... Agent of Evil... Legendary Location... The Bizarre... My hunch is Krak al-Mazhar fits as a Legendary Location... Dungeoncraft also lists 10 possible traits of legendary locations. Here's how I see those applyin...

Thanks for the input everyone. Jhaelen, Reasons for conflict abound... once multiple species are sharing the same world or habitat. What I was looking for was reasons for conflict that could justify the risk of destroying expensive starships, under the assumption that starships cost a significant fraction of a civilization's economic output to rebuild. Naturally, if building starships is cheap, even massive ones like the Enterprise or the Galactica, then species will fight each other for more petty reasons.

My favourite d20 game is 4e D&D, for much the same reasons as Neil Bishop and Jhaelen have posted upthread.

Jhaelen , it's not you. You're not old...or rather, more likely, I am comparably "old" to you. hahaha. But, while I can't speak to app's or i-anything at all, I can tell you as far as the WotC site, it's not "modern web design"...it's a BAD poorly designed site. It IS confusing. It IS (for no discernible reason I can see) difficult to use/find anything. So, at least in that, chin up! It's not you. :cool:

I have encountered people who were shy or short on ideas. In general, I neither kicked them out nor forced them into spotlight. I run the game normally and they usually stay in the background. They don't do much (there is much more talking than fighting in my games typically), but having them in the game hurts nobody. I ask for feedback quite often and when I see that something caught such person's interest, I pursue this theme. I create opportunities for them to gain something by being proactive. I allude to facts in their backgrounds they never mentioned - either confirming or denying these gives me something to work with. Some of them decide that RPGs are not for them. And some gradually open up. There are a few players who, when I started playing with them, only rolled dice for combat or were afraid of any spotlight. After a year or so of playing they became main actors in the campaign. But I definitely agree with Jhaelen that if a player told me something in the general tone of "It's your job to entertain me; don't expect any effort on my part.", I'd show them the door without thinking twice.

@gameprinter - Oh I see. Sorry about that! Jhaelen - Hey! I asked Stardock and they don't mind!! Woot!!!

Jhaelen Ah, well truthfully I've only had a handful of PC deaths between my last 4e campaign and my current...one from a foreshadowed coup de grace, and two from falling / friendly fire. It would appear my players are their own worst enemies ;) Anyhow, back to the topic of Solo Monsters! I think I've got a list of rules for solo design / major topics that should be covered in a design document: Monster damage equivalence (e.g. solo should be worth 3-5 monsters' DPR) Multi-attacks (connected to above, what is impact of choosing one type of multiattack vs. another? For example area attack vs. opportunity attack vs. minor action attack vs. dual basic attacks) Schrodinger's stat block (i.e. needs to adapt to party size) Action recovery (including mitigating attack penalties) Auras (what makes a good solo aura? how to use effectively in encounter?) Replacing "save ends" powers with something more suspenseful & increasing player agency...you don't just make a saving thr...

Well, as mentioned, I don't particularly like traps, but these 'living' traps are even worse. They are too obviously specifically designed by the DM to screw the players, without regard for making any actual sense. I hate that kind of meta-gaming arms-race. Cloakers and lurkers we love. We consider them a natural evolution of magical creatures. Ears seekers and rot grubs, we tend to agree with Jhaelen.

@Morrus I didn't originally put in genre because so many games are multi-genre, and I'm looking for defined options in each category. But after putting some thought into it, I think including genre is probably a good idea to make the list as useful as possible. @Jhaelen I don't suppose you have an .exe or java version of that application available? @amerigoV How would you choose to classify Savage Worlds? @Steenen Good call. "Realism" is a bit messy. I'd be willing to split it up if I could come up with a couple of clear categories (and I'm not too keen on the name actually--I wrote the OP up on the fly without spending time on refinement). The main thing I'm trying to get at is a combination of how gritty the game is for "normal" inhabitants, and how well the physics model reality versus a more forgiving high action movie. Character power falls more into genre. For instance, Exalted is based around playing fantastically powerful beings, but the Storyteller system that it uses is probably the lower end of adventurous. I'd therefore categorize Exalted as adventurous. I could definitely use a better term than "realism," though. I tend to refer to the vulnerability to influences concept you are talking about as character identity, or player cont...

...ideas is just what you're looking for. @delericho : I think that's a fine idea. I guess, dealing with fantasy, I tend to come up with names first and purpose afterwards, but that's not really how it is in the real world. I guess it's just a liberty I take 'because I can'. I'm sure your way would make more sense. @Hand of Evil : Excellent idea. I think it would be a good idea for anyone to add this step when designing a village. It would definitely add a ton of realism to what you're creating and give you even more ideas to go with. I'd also point out that this could be something really crazy or imaginative from fantasy like: "Because all single women over 22 were cursed to live here in the 12th age" etc. Thanks for the link, too. @Morrus : Yes, thanks. I really enjoy creating name generators myself (for various things) but I guess I was always too greedy/lazy to share them. I still have a dozen or so sitting around my hard drives and papers somewhere. Thanks for sharing! @Jhaelen : Yes. What can I say, when I'm wrong, I'm wrong. :) @Dwimmerlied : Thanks. You're most welcome. @haakon1 : Very cool. Thanks. Kind of makes me wish I lived in England. @Derren : Yep. :) *** Regrettably, this will be my last column here on En World. I would like to thank Mr. Morrus for giving me the opportunity to write for his fine website, and I'd like to thank all the great people who are my fellow columnists for being so supportive and writing their own great material. I've had a some chuckles reading a few of your pieces. Thank you to everyone who read one or more of my columns. I really appreciate your time, and thank you for spending it with some of my writing. There are few things in life I enjoy more. Also, special thanks to anyone who commented. Good or bad, the feedback has been great. I've learned a few things and laughed pretty hard as well. While I'd like to continue writing these articles (they're great fun) reasons of time and business have interfered. At...

I like your suggestions tomBitonti. Though I do have to say I think Squad Leader leaves the realm of board games and heads squarely into war gaming. Nothing wrong with that, just an important distinction to make. Jhaelen, glad Origins piqued your interest. It is out of print, but with some judicious hunting around (and a willingness to part with no small amount of cash) you can find ways to purchase it, or even rent it. Big Megafauna, which I believe used to be called American Megafauna, is, according to the designers, the prequel to Origins. They can, it is suggested, be played back to back for an VERY lengthy gaming experience.

Wow this looks awesome. 8D There is only one thing so far that I dont like ... it has no bookmarks, which is really bad for tablet). Strangely enough, the Index and Contents are fully linked. Jhaelen: You can put 5 Points into a Background. There is a list of examples and also some advice on making a good backgrounds. It also warns about miss-using it and that the GM can just rule one out.

Yup, it's just like the saying: "If all you've got is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." Except he doesn't actually have the hammer - he has to go thorugh a whole oot of effort to assemble the hammer. And then, withe the stones in question, really the only solution he can think of is to kill half the universe? He can't.. impost growth limits? Create resources? ENlighten every sentient in the universe so that they can choose good local ways to deal with the problem? With those stones, the only thing he can manage is to *KILL*? Thanos is not terribly imaginative.

Even if true, WoD managed to eliminate all of the problems with Shadowrun's system. I'm not sure Shadowrun deserves any credit here.I wouldn't go that far. At best, it traded out some of the weirdness from Shadowrun for all new weirdness of its own. If I had to choose between the rulesets, agnostic to setting, I would definitely go with Shadowrun for several reasons. (Primarily, because the stats are much less ambiguous.)

I don't mind the space hippos; very likely because of the Wizardry computer game, given that I never cared for Spelljammer. That image always reminded me of the killer clown https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/headhuntershorrorhouse/images/0/0f/Clown_-_Spawn_movie.jpg in the Spawn movie... But it's really all great art! I particularly like the new and enhanced Rutterkin. It almost looks like it's growing a beholder from it's hand... Also a fair comparison but the thing that always stood out to me with the Paeliryon was its liberal use of lipstick, rouge and eyeshadow.

And which spell would allow you to do that? Chances are, the spell level would be so high that you could simply 'wish' the castle away (or its defenders, depending on your goal). Ritual magic. It's a fantasy world, embellish from there.

It's also a better system for the mathematically challenged. Although, a dice pool system would probably be best.Diceless.

Likewise the new Mythras rules (Runequest 6 as it was) would have been a good fit, but Modiphius bought the rights, and made a good job of it.

Actually GURPS is another well-known roll-under rpg. It would also have been a great fit for Conan if they had produced a new magic system...

Hmm, I have to admit, all of this sounds rather cool! I kickstarted it, had to listen to my friends who went to the Beta Playtest backer level talk abut how much fun it is, and since it was just released it's been my game of choice. It does have some rough edges - load screens take too long, and before the 1.0.02 patch I had a few crashes. But the play is sweet.

Well, allow me to remind you of this: It _is_ the smart thing to question the numbers that get thrown at you. It is indeed wise to cultivate a healthy skepticism but much of the questioning in this thread hasn't been a healthy skepticism, it's well past that. Of course, this is the Internet.

Well, allow me to remind you of this: It _is_ the smart thing to question the numbers that get thrown at you. You actually just compared WotC to Big Brother. I think you need to step back a bit here.

... considering the gist of this thread, none of this will mean anything to you. I don't have anything to contribute to your quest for 'advanced' role playing content. Part of this is due to the impression I've given, that I'm looking for something very specific and that that specificity is best embodied by the examples I've provided. That's my failure. Far as I'm concerned, you have the chance to go, "This is what I think progress looks like, this is how I apply knowledge and skill to my game, and therefore this is the kind of material we should count as advanced." See, roleplaying games are first and foremost games that feature a healthy amount of roleplaying, hence the name. They're not, nor are they intended to be, simulations. I agree that RPGs feature acting, getting into character, playing pretend and so on. Are you saying this the destination? That the purpose of RPGs is to immerse ourselves in our characters and act the part, as though performing on a stage?

If that's a representative example of what you consider 'advanced', then I'm probably not the target audience. I think the whole concept of encounter tables is a relic from a bygone era of game design. My games have advanced far beyond the need for this kind of thing ;) I suspect you're confusing advanced game design with a difference in gaming paradigms. One paradigm holds that the GM's world is massive and filled with randomness. Encounter tables represent this by introducing something to the adventure in a (relatively) unpredictable manner. The other paradigm holds that encounter tables get in the way of the adventure. They bog the action down with disconnected, meaningless distractions. Which core belief do you subscribe to? (Mind you, I might be totally misreading your comment, so please correct me if I'm off base here.) Or, to put it another way: if you game has advanced beyond the need for encounter tables, what does that look like? How do you go about determining what...

Here in Germany, all the (dedicated) Games Workshop stores I knew about have been closed for a long time. However, I think, these numbers include game stores that have a contract deal with Games Workshop to sell their stuff. My local store has recently been approached by a GW sales guy to become such an 'official' GW store, just like it's already an 'official' FFG store. I.e. it just means they get special deals and can order things like tournament kits and promo materials. Nah, in that shareholders report they talk about third party stores separately. Those 462 stores are just their own stores.

Here in Germany, all the (dedicated) Games Workshop stores I knew about have been closed for a long time. However, I think, these numbers include game stores that have a contract deal with Games Workshop to sell their stuff. My local store has recently been approached by a GW sales guy to become such an 'official' GW store, just like it's already an 'official' FFG store. I.e. it just means they get special deals and can order things like tournament kits and promo materials. Could be. Their store finder does distinguish between real GW stores and independent stores, though. And it seems accurate for my area. Although I see at least one independent store on their list that has stopped selling GW. (Due to GW opening their own store within easy walking distance. Not a very nice thing of them to do, considering the other store had been selling heaps of GW stuff for decades.)

After what felt like an eternity, I've finally finished 'The Republic of Thieves' by Scott Lynch. Although a bit tedious at times, I mostly enjoyed it, actually. I'm pretty sure I'm through with Locke Lamora and the Gentlemen Bastards, though. Republic of Thieves is a much better read if you just ignore the flashback sequences.

To be fair, it feels like Scott Lynch is as well. Going on five years since the last book came out. After what felt like an eternity, I've finally finished 'The Republic of Thieves' by Scott Lynch. Although a bit tedious at times, I mostly enjoyed it, actually. I'm pretty sure I'm through with Locke Lamora and the Gentlemen Bastards, though.

Reminds me of that party I once went to where someone was told I was into roleplaying and dungeons. Then that someone approached me and apparently had a completely different idea what that meant... really awkward! When I was in graduate school I went to a University-wide poster session and met a fellow grad student. I told her I was doing stuff in AI (Artificial Intelligence), she said she did AI research too! After a few minutes discussing our research studies, both of us realized my "AI" was not her "AI". She was a veterinary science student and her "AI" was Artificial Insemination lol.

I think it was "ok" that the movie omitted the... seedier parts of OASIS, because if users are allowed to create content for other users (which they clearly were) then it's a certainty that adult content would be allowed. Those "all over" VR suits... yeah. Reminds me of that party I once went to where someone was told I was into roleplaying and dungeons. Then that someone approached me and apparently had a completely different idea what that meant... really awkward! HA! once at work someone asked me to explained them what D&D was. About halfway through my explanation she interrupted and said "wait, this isn't in an actual dungeon?!" I said "No!... what did you think it was?!?" but I never got a clear answer :D

Then why are there alignment restrictions for classes, spells, and magic items? Apparently, the game designers cannot decide what alignments should be: Just a loose guideline or a hard restriction? I'm getting ambiguous signals here! Imagine for a second how you would create a PC if there was no alignment system. You'd come up with a personality and background, describe motivations and goals. Think about what your character likes and dislikes, what he hates, loves, and fears. Then look at the resulting character. Is there anything missing? What purpose does it serve trying to match an alignment to this well-developed character? What do you gain by trying to shoehorn the character into alignment categories? Chances are, if you didn't start out picking an alignment for your character, you won't find one that neatly fits. But then how would I apply alignment-based spells, classes and items; all of which I want in the game? Lanefan

I think that just means you haven't yet found a setting that completely sucked you in. Alas, it's true that most campaigns fizzle after a year or two. But my D&D 3e campaign lasted for over 12 years and our group agreed it was a awesome experience. It isn't the length of the campaign that's important. It's if you feel you've fully explored the setting. I kind of agree that a setting is at its most exciting when it's still fresh. It's why I prefer standalone novels over long series. Not really. I've played in lots of them over the past thirty years or so. I've obviously had fun. Thing is, the "feel you've fully explored the setting" is not something I've ever been interested in. Don't care. Nor, IME, do players care in the slightest either.