Recent content by Atomoctba

Main religion (at least in the slice of the world the PCs are in) believes in one absent god that created Reality (prime material and other planes) and then went away. In his absence, celestials argued about what to do. Centuries ago, eight of them came to the world, born as mortals, to teach...

Many regional pantheons/religions (not every religion in the campaign setting is polytheistic or believe in a "personified" god). Each one preaches they are right and they really believe that, but as a matter of faith. There are not any "real" proof of gods, even if most people say the fact we...

For an amazing dwarven fortress map, I would look to Moria for TOR. There is a good map also in the AD&D 2e adventure Axe of the Dwarvish Lords. These one is fun. A goblin tribe move to an abandoned dwarven fortress and find an artifact (the axe in the name of the adventure). The trouble...

I would say that lightning bolt is the "core line spell" even if for no other reason that the story of the game.

Mileage and taste vary. Lots. Using my own as example and my group as an extention, if a game presents something like "social combat resolution" is a big indicative of "we will not play or touch that".

In BG1, I played a paladin, with: Imoen ("Heya, it's me, Imoen"), Jahira ("Yes, oh omnipresent authority figure?"), Khalid ("I can but try"), Minsc ("Go for the eyes, Boo. GO FOR THE EYES! RrraaaAAGHGHH!"), Branwen ("Tempus! Give us victory!") I almost did not deviate from this formation...

Brandon Sanderson is overrated. While I can understand his appeal to most people, for me magic will never be predictable as he likes to write. I concede that in D&D and like RPGs, magic must be reliable because there are players playing casters and need to trust their own abilities, but I do not...

Jonathan Tweet and Robert Heinsoo can be considered "designers of old and bygone era", but they are still active with the new (if somewhat disappointing) version of 13th Age. Tweet in himself has as impressive curriculum, like you his games or not. Among other things, he developed Ars Magica...

Why a warlock would sell his soul when he could learn it as a wizard? Because is faster and easier. I can spend years of my life to study Calculus, Physics, and other topics to be an engineer, and even that knowledge would be crude without another years practicing and learn how to adjust on the...

Sure, and while I am not disagreeing with B (very probably it would be equally chaotic for my group and would not work for their tastes), I have for principle always to attempt to play or GM a new system first by the book before starting to house rule it. Even if I do not like a specific rule or...

More about the OP wants... Once I had compared the expected wealth by level with the prices on PHB and DMG just to downgrade lots of them, once one of my campaigns also suppose the players would not take lots of money. Several items, buildings, etc... are priced so high because they account the...

Paraphrasing Neil Gaiman, "Damned decimal system. It is difficult to remember that 10 milimetres are 1 centimetre, 10 centimetres are 1 decimetre, 10 decimetres are 1 metre, and 1000 metres are 1 kilometre. It is easier to remember thar 12 inches are 1 foot, 3 feet are 1 yard, and 1760 yards are...

I have a house rule that if you are proficient with the weapon you use to deal damage, you add your proficiency bonus to its damage roll too.

I ask to the player tell me how the character want to convince, intimidate, persuade, charm, bluff, etc... They do not need to tell me the exact words, but the general lines of how the attempt will be made ("I will appeal to the queen's sense of honor", "I will flatter him by recognizing his...

Vampire the Masquerade 2nd Edition. While I loved D&D that time, that showed me the game I played and GM'ed most of the 1990's. A second thought would be 7th Sea 1st Edition. I read that book and found it would be very fun to play. I was right. Sad 2nd Edition has no the same jibe for me.