Olgar Shiverstone
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Here we are @BluSponge , @Olgar Shiverstone , @Quickleaf , and anyone else interested, of course. That took significantly more time and effort than I expected (or wanted) to expend...but I think it all worked out fairly well. Naturally, a single set of eyes other than mine will notice some obvious mistakes/problems/inconsistencies (and thank you for that). I think there are tings in the progession chart that I had wrong/renamed or forgot to include...but it's all in the descriptions. Look forward to hearing any thoughts or comments, of course, but probably best to leave them in my Ranger Rehash thread in the Homebrews sub-forum so as not to derail this thread with this business any further. Have at ye!

...whatever group they are leading at the time, be it their adventuring group, a company, or a whole army). Doing so either allows all members of the group to recover hit points equivalent to the Warlord’s Wisdom or Charisma modifier times ½ the allies level (minimum of 1), or free all members of the group from non-magical fear (the Frightened condition), or reduce any effects due to exhaustion by one level. The group must be within hearing range of the Warlord, and only affects members not at 0 hit points. Command Actions (in-work) Individual tactics or maneuvers - based on Battlemaster maneuvers, 4E Warlord powers, etc. @fuindordm @Tony Vargas @GMforPowergamers @Hussar @cbwjm @epithet @MoonSong(Kaiilurker) @bert1000 EzekielRaiden @Manbearcat @Uchawi @Ashkelon @Eric V @pemerton @Jester Canuck @Bluenose @Minigiant @I'm A Banana @aramis erak @Warbringer @Leatherhead @ehren37 @Winterthorn @TheHobgoblin @Neonchameleon @Obryn @Imaro @nomotog @Ashrym @The_Gneech @Remathilis @Olgar Shiverstone @Sacrosanct @Gimul @Twiggly the Gnome @CapnZapp @MechaPilot @kerbarian @Psikerlord# @jgsugden @DEFCON 1

I think ultimately I have to agree with @Olgar Shiverstone. If there's not an "active" Trek RPG system at the moment, it's because there's not a game company out there that sees it as being able to produce a decent ROI. The REASONS game companies view it that way may be some, all, or none of the reasons covered in this thread. If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say the two most likely reasons are highly intertwined---legal/licensing, and then determining which of the Trek series are relevant to be included in the system. Even if you have a license for the entire property, and not just for say, Next Generation, what kind of game to make out of it? Do you try and make it a "fully canonical," kitchen-sink system where every flavor of Trek is represented in some way? Or do you only focus on the Kirk/Spock era, or the Picard era, etc.? Either way, you're kind of setting yourself up for fan dissatisfaction. If it's kitchen sink, the die hards of one era or another may feel their favorite piece of the canon is underrepresented. If you focus on jus...

...oup definitely struggled with this when playing a Star Wars Saga campaign. Space combat was fun for the pilot and sort of for the gunners but boring for the rest of us. My character manned a couple of support positions (I think engineering and communications) and my turns boiled down to a single skill check. We discussed the situation with the GM and he tried spicing things up by having other stuff happen on the ship while the combat occurred. The trouble was that every space combat then had to be plagued with something else (e.g., intruders on board, damage in the ship to fix, etc.), which made for a cumbersome narrative. Maybe you could give the support roles a way to hinder the enemy. The enemies get a bonus while they are able to communicate with each other. The communications officer can jam their communications or hack into some remote functions of their ship. But it would need to have its own minigame so it would be more interesting than a series of skill checks. Maybe Olgar Shiverstone 's card game would well work for this. FASA gave that a good shot back in the 1980s with their Star Trek RPG, but I feel they fell short. How did the FASA Star Trek fall short to you? I bought a copy of it a while ago because I heard good things about the space combat but it's wall of text poor readability discouraged me from reading just a bit of it.

Flipping is the bane of modules. . . It was VERY difficult. a format that is CLEAR, CONCISE and CONSISTENT. Heard, understood, and acknowledged. This is going at the top my my design board. Olgar Shiverstone: yes, I'm pretty sure the Delve was it. And you're right, it was all about combat. But I'm not sure that it can't be used in other ways as well. . . What if every encounter has its own page or two-page spread, all immediately relevant information is guaranteed (reprinted) to be on one of those pages, and all secondary information is referenced with a page number? 2. I'd like to go a step further, actually, and give each bit of information an "element number," so you can not only find your page quickly, but you can find what you need on that page (this paragraph would be element #2). In addition, an element number could facilitate some cross referencing. For example: 3. Gilladian. This ENworld member contributed to the Adventure Module Format thread in December, after Olgar Shiverstone (p.2 e.6), and submitted the Clear, Concise, Consistent rule (p.2 e.9). Carries a quarterstaff and spell book (contains the Clear and Consistent spells).

Olgar Shiverstone (and others feeling this adventure is a railroad), I'm curious what you thought of Neuroglyph's recent review of Hoard of the Dragon Queen? Overall, the adventure arc is designed to be quite sandbox-y, or more aptly, a series of mini-sandboxes right from the first episode. Wolfgang made mention of the fact that as designers who have played D&D through multiple editions, they “were drawn toward an older style of play” for Hoard of the Dragon Queen, where not every encounter is fought, but some are resolved through trickery, negotiation, or simply avoided altogether. Read more here: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?358765-4-out-of-5-rating-for-Hoard-of-the-Dragon-Queen Because it looks like we are getting vastly different reviews on the same dang product. Some folks say its a railroad, others that it's a sandbox!

That's about the extent of the information you get for PCs in Prince Valiant. http://www.creativemountaingames.com/2011/07/prince-valiant-storytelling-game-1989.html Thank you for the link, great summary and story. Our group would have definitely enjoyed that. While that is unquestionably roleplaying I would argue that it is not D&D or at least it doesn not reflect the essence of D&D. I do not need a bunch of rule books to run that sort of game, I just need a bit of a story & player buy in. From this I gather that for you a bunch of rule books reflect the essence of D&D, or at least you seem to imply this from the quote above. I think I'd rather prefer @Olgar Shiverstone's sig, being a quote from WizarDru "The Soul of D&D? It's rolling a natural 20 when you're down to 3 hit points and the cleric's on the floor and you're staring that sunnavabitch bugbear right in his bloodshot eye and holding the line just long enough to let the wizard unleash a fireball at the guards who are on their way, because they're all that stands between you, the Foozle and Glory." - WizarDru The reason I am able to run a game like the one I have described is because of my experience as a DM and reading the bunch of rule books you reflect as the essence of D&D. A DM determines the level of difficulty for many tasks in every edition - which is exactly what I was doing for each one of the pillars. Determining if the task was easy, medium, hard..etc based on the situation in the narrative. So I'd argue what we played was and is D&D. We will have to just agree to continue arguing :p I do not find these have the longevity of games that engage on multiple levels though. P...

...ism. <snip breakdown> I think the only way the perception of those things come together is if the GM suspends 1 (secretly) when required to attain 3, and suspends some or all of (a) or (c) in 2 as required to maintain the overall illusion of the three agendas working in harmony (rather than the total discord that inevitably emerges as they push against each other).Looks right to me! Also, LostSoul, I've probably been guilty of being that GM on occasions in the past - especially in my early RM days - as I haven't known properly how to keep all my balls in the air! Illusionism is somewat derogatory; I prefer protagonism. Basically it is the same thing, but openly declared; <snip> The Paizo adventure paths, and specifically the players guides that come with them, are very much in this vein, so I think it can be said to be pretty mainstream.I think you are correct that it is pretty mainstream. I think that mainstream-ness may be what informs your post upthread (and also Olgar Shiverstone) saying that a good RPG should do all 4 playstyles at once. I guess my question is, in what sense is this sort of play really giving you wargaming or realism-sim? If the GM manipulates action resolution to produce the plot-appropriate outcomes, where is the wargaming? And how is the game being run as a sim? Those aren't rhetorical questions, they're genuine. But they're also sceptical to this limited extent: that when I've seen, or played under, GMs running this sort of game, it plays out pretty much as Pulsipher describes in his article: player skill and choice is subordinated to the GM's priorities. But I'm sure I haven't seen everything there is to see under the sun!

Oh yeah? In my campaign everyone starts the game with a death save, laying in a ditch covered with a tarp. I do it Traveller style. They might not even live through character creation! Edit: Olgar Shiverstone beat me to this on page 8... :-)

This is something I've realized in 10+ years of gaming (damn I've gotten old!) If the dice had gone the other way, the player might have died, the party might have died...the campaign might have ended as an unremarkable exercise. But the fact that it didn't....makes it a tale that your group will probably tell from years to come. Over time, I've had both experiences. I have had characters just go down due to the bad rolls, forever forgotten. And at the time it sucks. But ultimately, it is worth it! It is worth having those risky moments, it is worth having characters die in obscurity, so that there are times when scenes and characters become immortal in a gaming groups mind. This comes back to WizarDru's "Soul of D&D" quote, which I love, and apparently so does Olgar Shiverstone: "The Soul of D&D? It's rolling a natural 20 when you're down to 3 hit points and the cleric's on the floor and you're staring that sunnavabitch bugbear right in his bloodshot eye and holding the line just long enough to let the wizard unleash a fireball at the guards who are on their way, because they're all that stands between you, the Foozle and Glory." - WizarDru

... mean? That you end up tipping your hand as DM too early? But on the other hand the pre-generated content is often too "long", or too "strictly", or does not fit my group good enough. Join the club? ;) Pretty much every DM I know tweaks other people's modules for the reasons you give. As I'm not the best storywriter I was thinking about if some of you out there has some concepts, ideas, methods on how to build good adventures. Before we go much further, could you really clarify what you mean by "not the best story writer"? Folks have all kinds of ideas about what 'Story' means in regards to RPGs, so it would be good to get a better sense of where you're coming from first. And one last thing: I'm quite good at improvising and using instant ideas at the table. My weak spot are the planning before the sessions. You sound like the kind of DM who'd do really well with a one-page adventure flowchart in front of you, and not much else needed. But that's just a hunch. Also, Olgar Shiverstone has good advice, heed it.

howandwhy99 It's been a while since I've played, and I am re-reading the Rules Cyclopedia, but I don't recall the rule you're referring to that sounds a lot like an opportunity attack. Could you clarify that? What I do recall is that spellcasting is ruined if the caster is hit in combat. So maybe the missile/magic/melee phases are to allow spellcasters to get off their spells in the event of an initiative tie? Olgar Shiverstone Well, the way BD&D works is that if one side wins initiative (a straight opposed d6 roll), then that side takes all of their phases at the same time. Side #1 gets their missile, magic, and melee phase BEFORE side #2. So your theory about it being to let mages get off their spells is, at least from what I'm reading on Rules Cyclopedia page 102, appears to be mostly incorrect. The *only* time that it seems that mages are favored this way (spells first) is when initiative is tied and both sides go simultaneously. My understanding, in that case, is side #1 and side #2's archers go first, then both sides casters go, and lastly both sides melee combatants go. Do I have that wrong?

I think that was very interesting, informative, and a must watch. I especially love pointing out that they told you to buy hex maps. I also loved that bit, partly because I very recently bought a copy of Outdoor Survival just to see what these notorious hex maps were all about. (I was quite disappointed.) I really enjoyed the video as a whole and I'd like to echo Olgar Shiverstone's suggestion to mattcolville to include a BECMI or B/X character as part of the series. That rules system is different enough to be worth covering.

Reproduction should be defined in the game. I mean, the monsters got here somehow, right? I'm okay with creatures being magically transformed and then reproducing with those now newly compatible. But the rules should have a definite design. Gold Dragons transform into humans, sleep around, and 9 months later (maybe years?) out pops a 1/2 human 1/2 dragon baby. That makes me think of the miniseries "V" more than anything else, but that dragon thing has been around awhile in D&D. I also tend to agree with Olgar Shiverstone that Alter Self is far too low level a spell for these potential results. But perhaps Alter Self could be limited to Humanoids only? That actually makes a good bit of sense given all the inbreeding between races in D&D.

I suggest checking this article out (in addition to the reference from Olgar Shiverstone above). As far as I understand it, the relative distances of the space stations and the Hubble were unrealistically close. A jet pack would not be able to navigate those distances effectively. The fire extinguisher trick probably wouldn't work. Also, Kowalski would not have been pulling her because there is (ironically) no gravity to pull him, so once his initial movement was stopped, he would have come back easily. No reason to dump him; you can't be a dead weight if you have no weight. There's also a lot of dramatic conceit. It's awfully convenient that everything goes wrong at just the time it does, that the fuel runs out just as they reach the ISS, that the fire starts just when it does, that the pod lands in water, but right next to a shore with a nice calm sandy beach. Like all dramatic conceits, these things could happen, and real people have had similarly absurd coincidences, but after a few of these strung in a row there is a bit of eye-rolling from my seat. And then there ...

I have to agree with Olgar Shiverstone. Soldiers are people first, equipment only after the fact. A good soldier can succeed even barehanded when facing an untrained and scared opponent with superior equipment. Don't get me wrong. On any stereotypical gaming board it would be rare to have anyone deny the importance of good training in strategy and tactics. But I would be more willing to agree to the difference being about the combat wear worn - At least if you posted the other side as in, say, a Mobile Suit Gundam.

Totally parroting what pemerton said. Back when I ran Planescape the PCs had to revive the god Osiris who'd been cut up into bits by the god Set. Their task was to recover the various organs/body parts for Isis so a spell could be cast to revive Osiris. Just what each organ/body part was I played around with. I think the heart of Osiris was the high priestess of Isis, so there was the question "what happens to her when we revive him?" And then the skull of Osiris was a mimir (an actual talking skull). I also incorporated a lot of Egyptian mythology about death into the whole thing. Olgar Shiverstone Awesome :) scott2978 With your scenario, the biggest stumbling block I see is "why the hell would we do this Corellon?!?" I don't think you've yet given a convincing enough reason. I mean, drow are gathering to assault the surface; most players are going to go "Oh yeah? Let's get all our good allies together and kick their asses back to the darkness!" Why is Lolth needed? What can she do that another deity could not to stop the mounting invasion? Also, I'd imagine other Seldarine (and good deities in general) wouldn't be too keen on Lolth's resurrection...of course, neither would Kiaransalee or Selvetarm. So in addition to the great advice above, I'd expect part of the PCs' quest would be getting support (or at least non-interference agreements) from the Seldarine / good temples.

To add on to what Olgar Shiverstone said, the Arms and Equipment Guide does provide some guidance for restricting weapons by Age (Stone, Bronze, etc).

That is basically the Essentials Fighter. That's pretty much exactly what they did in this packet. Are you two sure about this? The way I understood Olgar Shiverstone idea, is that it is rounde-based i.e. very similar to the previous MDD of 5e, and quite different from EF and 5e current packets which both work encounter-based. Then they opened them up so every class could take them, but the Fighter still gets more of them than anyone else. They're now called "Martial Feats." IMHO this is a controversial design decision. It's very similar to the 3e Fighter, everybody gets a little bit of fighter's stuff, but the fighter gets more. We all know how that idea led the fighter class to become poorly attractive on its own. Now it remains to be seen if the other stuff the 5e gets will be enough to avoid that problem, but IMHO the original round-based and fighter-only MDD + Maneuvers were surely able to guarantee to avoid that problem.

Does it have robots? The best kind, Ninja Robots.

If Gandalf was a 5th level wizard, Merlin is horribly overpowered.Gandalf is some sort of primordial angel and much more than a wizard. ;) Also I'm in the boat with the Deities & Demigods assessment of him being very high level. http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2010/2/21/84455_sm-Copyright%20Tsr%2C%20Deities%20And%20Demigods%2C%20Dungeons%20And%20Dragons%2C%20Retro%20Review.jpg

I need some help selecting an adventure. System doesn't matter -- looking for cool ideas for the best setting. Fill in the blanks in the following opening: You and your companions are a group of (1) ______ who have undertaken a long sea voyage. Many days from land, a great storm comes up, and your ship is blown against a reef and capsizes. You are lucky enough to be washed up on a beach, and when the sun rises, you find yourself in a mythical land where you must face the (2) _____ (3) ______ of (4) _______ Island! Where (1), (2), (3), and (4) are each one of the following: robot, ninja, pirate, dinosaur. What combo is the best adventure seed, and what would you include? Ninjas discover robots (surprise) and dinosaurs (surprise) while tracking down pirates (original goal) based on Hidden Island (no good maps, only rumors and folklore as to location).

A lot of the original D&D work pales on second reading.That matches my experience. I had started to re-read the original Dragonlance series at some point but quickly decided I prefer my rose-tinted memories to what's actually written. Reading the 'Prism Pentad' a second time wasn't as painful, but that was probably because I focused on making notes about what they tell of the setting for use in our RPG sessions. So, it's a good thing I generally consider it a waste of time to read any novel a second time. I only make an exception for 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' by Philip K. Dick.

Not quite following why Vamp-Durkon seized up there. Me neither. Furthermore, the part where VampDurk says "This doesn't make any logical sense" doesn't make any logical sense. He knows about the deal between Hel and Thor for the souls of dwarves, and he knows about Good and Evil alignments. None of this should be remotely surprising, especially considering some of the other heroic sacrifices he's witnessed first hand. This was a fun bit of expositional history for us readers, but I have no idea why the vampire cares at all.

Wait, wait -- Advanced Dungeons & Dragons for Intellivision?Ha, ha!!! I played that for days and days, until I got a PC and started playing Pool of Radiance

Wait -- who wrote this? Because Torn Asunder was a 3E d20 expansion originally writtten by Steve Creech and published by Bastion Press in about the 2002-2003 timeframe (I know; I was a playtester). Is this a reskin with credit to the original authors, or a plagiarized version? Neither of the above. The original was written by Steve Creech and Kevin Ruesch. This version is also written by Steve Creech and Kevin Ruesch, under their company DragonWing Games (which also has the license to sell Bastion Press titles).

You totally need to check out the gnarly Valley Elves, dude! North of Geoff, South of Ket By the River Javan, wet Living with the stubby gnomes The Valley Elves do make their homes. http://www.tyrinth.com/gateway/writersguild/ELFSONG.TXT

I don't know Anthem from Pac-Man, but Fail Hard sounds like a great name for a comedic first-person shooter. Can we design one of the "targets" to look an awful lot like the guy who wrote the first-person-shooter set in a school?

...Fail Hard sounds like a great name for a comedic first-person shooter. I can almost see a John McClane-type action hero trying to take down a skyscraper full of terrorists...Wyle E. Coyote style. Each failure getting depicted in full cartoonish glory. For instance, the classic crashing through the window scene? Miss the right window, get splatted, then slide to the ground, and become a human accordion.

We've surely got trouble! With a capital T and that rhymes with G and that stands for Games!Hehe, this is what jumps to my mind whenever I see an article or clickbait about any of our games. A song from 1957 (from a musical set in 1912) is still a marvelous lesson in alarmist propaganda: Friend, either you're closing your eyes To a situation you do not wish to acknowledge Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated By the presence of a pool table in your community Well, ya got trouble, my friend, right here I say, trouble right here in River City Why sure I'm a billiard player Certainly mighty proud I say I'm always mighty proud to say it I consider that the hours I spend With a cue in my hand are golden Help you cultivate horse sense And a cool head and a keen eye J'ever take and try to find An iron-clad leave for yourself From a three-rail billiard shot? But just as I say It takes judgment, brains, and maturity to score In a balkline game I say that any boob can ta...

I don't recall the stats, but I do remember that the "Dancing Hut of Baba Yaga" adventure from Dragon magazine many eons ago was pretty good. Hmmm... I have a feeling that Baba Yaga has been statted in a previous edition of D&D. Can't remember where though. And here's her theme by Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO5p-gNyVlo

Don't forget Curse of Strahd, which has Baba Lysaga, or as my players quickly called her... Baba Lasagna! I think my party in Ravenloft encountered her as well. If we thought of that nickname we'd have had an easier time remembering her proper monicker. :p Wont. I don't think that word means what you think it means. Oof! Typo fixed. Some of your stat blocks for legendary persona have been a little off in my opinion. But this one really is spot on. My wife is Russian, and loves mythology and I have spoken to her many times on the really Russian Baba Yaga, and this captures it well. One thing though - I would say she is Lawful Evil, as whilst she is capricious in the original tales in terms of who she helps (being respectful to her really helps here...) once she decides to help she doesn't break her word, even when it's to her disadvantage. Sure she's tricky, but in the kind of way a Devil would be in D&D... Awesome!! :D This character from popular folklore is a classic who shouldn...

Need more crossover Euro-RPGs. "You all meet at a tavern to trade wood for sheep..." Dang, beat me to it.

Next we'll have "PowerGrid: The RPG" where everyone plays a power generation tycoon out to make deals, build infrastructure, and deliver electricity. The highlight of each game is usually roleplaying the board meeting when you decide how to set prices and where to invest next.That actually doesn't sound all that different from an Ars Magica RPG session of a Tribunal of the Order of Hermes meeting... The fun lies in trying to further your political (or financial) agenda by making deals. There's lots of roleplaying opportunities in trying to get others to vote in your favor.

Next we'll have "PowerGrid: The RPG" where everyone plays a power generation tycoon out to make deals, build infrastructure, and deliver electricity. The highlight of each game is usually roleplaying the board meeting when you decide how to set prices and where to invest next. Please tell me you have a link to the Kickstarter.

Crows are evil. It is known. Nah. They're just approaching human levels of intelligence, but without a need to submit to human desires.

All else equal, is there something about Star Wars that lends itself more readily to gaming than Star Trek?Imho, because 'Star Wars' is basically just 'Fantasy in Space'. Star Trek also feels a lot more restrictive, since all PCs have to belong to the Star Fleet.

As to the Firefly references ... well, Firefly is a space Western; Star Wars got its start as "Wagon Train to the stars" so it all fits, and you can do a lot worse for a Star Wars movie than use Western genre tropes. Heck, I personally hope that both the future Kenobi film and the Boba Fett films borrow heavily from Westerns. I could be wrong but I think that’s how Star Trek was originally sold not Star Wars ...

Star Wars got its start as "Wagon Train to the stars" Nah, that was Roddenberry’s pitch for Star Trek.