Recent content by Hodgie

Lord of the Rings but I'd like to see Game of Thrones last as many seasons as the books.

I enjoy when a game has a robust justification for two or more discrete battle systems. For instance, Star Wars d20 had ship combat and character combat. It made sense that they played and felt different, but it also forced you to spread character resources so that you could be effective in both...

I was running a modified 3.5e version of Age of Worms battle in the arena. I had introduced Alric the gladiator a dozen or so session earlier and he was a well respected NPC. Things had been going rough for the party for a few sessions and so they were getting angry/bitter. We had some house...

I whipped up this name generator a while back and was looking for input on how to improve it. It typically does a nice job and is flexible enough to tailor to most campaigns. Just download and hit F9 until you're happy.

Man bound over for trial in hammer attacks - Salt Lake Tribune So terrible joke aside, what is the current state of the D&D reputation? I recall that when 3e came out there was a sort of D&D renaissance with positive press and reception. Has 4e created a similar renaissance or has D&D...

I'll echo this. I'll defend Wizards in a lot of venues, but it wasn't too long ago that people were asking how 3e had three years of playtesting and 4e was to have three months. The answer was that it had "extensive" internal playtesting. It was clear then, and hindsight proves it now, that...

I made my favorite DM screen a few years back. Black picture matting board and a thick canvas (an unused messenger bag strap) connecting the panels with thread. It made for a really durable hinge that also looks pretty nice. Then those little black clips to attach tables on my side and...

I shall begin by noting that I am a harsh critic of everything I encounter. I am what most people would call “grumpy.” So when I stand in defense of something it is only because it absolutely deserves it. That said, I shall delve… In 1997 Wizards of the Coast bought D&D and began a...

I should also point out that the mook undead are intended to be killed easily and cause the square they are in to become poisonous. Later in the combat the lesser-liches arrive whose main power is to resurrect units. My hope is that with the encouragement of movement the players will have...

As my 3e camp winds to a close I am slowly introducing elements of 4e. The campaign has built to a massive war in which the players will lead small armies and a legion of knights they founded. I created a set of rules premised on the 4e rules to try and make a fun mass combat system. Any...

My intention is to transform the 20d6 breathweapon into [a few d6 + a number] while still being fair. I realize that I could just turn that 20d6 into 4d6 + 56 (which is the remaining 16 dice averaged to 3.5 and summed), but what I want to know is if those 4d6 can sufficiently represent the bulk...

So I did some quick math on my own and found out that in many cases 2d6 seems to capture most of the variance. For 4d6, 2d6+7 captures ~89% of all possible rolls (the middle 1156 of 1296 possibilities). It perfectly mirrors the average of 14. For 5d6, 2d6+10 captures ~85% of all possible...

The 4e threads talk a lot about reducing the number of dice rolled by having a few dice and then a flat plus. Even in mid level play I saw a lot of situations of players rolling 10-15 d6 multiple times per round. My question is how many dice do you need to maintain a fair randomization? I am...

I find the incremental falling damage (10' = 1d6, 20' = 3d6, etc) to be too severe to low level characters even though it does make it more realistic for higher level characters. Here is something I toyed with: (1) Falling damage is 1d6 per 10' fallen. (2) Make a Reflex or Fortitude save...

I know that you only get one swift action per round, but is it possible to demote a standard action into a swift action? What about a move? Essentially, is there any way to cast two swift spells in a single round? Thanks in advance.