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    L&L: Putting the Vance in Vancian

    Please ditch the nonexistent Combat/Non-combat divide. Just have all the stuff that is possible in combat possible outside of combat too without quick-time restrictions. Also, please ditch feats and another list of powers or even pseudo-powers. I don't even know what feats are supposed to be...
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    Narrativism can be old-school

    first, stories aren't worlds. If anything, a world is the opposite of a story. And all those over detailed campaign settings sold well because buyers wanted to play in games, but couldn't or wouldn't and so read passively along in travelogue format instead. It because next to useless to a DM as...
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    Narrativism can be old-school

    Just because you chose to play games against the rules as written does not rewrite those directions somehow into how you played the game. That's the close-mindedness I was referring to. EDIT: This all sounds like people who were either incapable or undesiring to learn the rules of a game and...
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    "I don't like my Christmas present" -- do you enjoy getting treasure?

    I like earning treasure. And it's not like I don't know some of what I'm getting when I see the bone-armored orc chieftain with that blackened bone axe cut through my steel armor without much effort. Or that pixie blowing pixie dust on my friends and making them sleep or turn against me. Or when...
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    Narrativism can be old-school

    imurphy943 storytelling games didn't even exist in the hobby until White Wolf in 1990. We can rewrite history to follow a narrow contemporary theory, but none of that is going to make any of the Forge's GNS "old school". That Narrativism could be made so is just another attempt to paint over...
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    Scripting NPC actions, is this gone? Do you do it? Share how

    I agree. An order could be given to the NPC to report back every day to a certain time and place and give over whatever info he learned that day. That's what I call scripting an NPC's behavior. Most of the time it's probably going to be useless information, but sooner or later the NPC is...
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    Scripting NPC actions, is this gone? Do you do it? Share how

    Thanks for your answer. I understand they made a game very much unlike games that came before. But how do the rules keep PCs from dominating other PCs? Can't you use your spells on other player characters any more?
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    J. Tweet's comments on Swords & Wizardry

    Given his comments about "improvements" that could be made for OD&D, I don't think Mr. Tweet knows very much about old school game design philosophy. His examples of poor game design are actually "better" designs than the new stuff when old school play purposes are understood. I put better in...
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    Scripting NPC actions, is this gone? Do you do it? Share how

    As I understood D&D back in the 90's, NPCs were not allowed to act just any way the DM wanted. They had to follow certain rules. Mainly acting according to their alignment and based off the attitude adjustment tables similar to the ones in 3.X. But unless I'm missing something 4E has dropped...
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    On Change, Old School, New School, Same School, and High School.

    This is it for me right here. This is why everything I play after second edition is a total let down.
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    FR - Map of Athkatla?

    Very Nice site. But that looks like a WotC 4E professional artist's site. If you check out the new FR Campaign book there may be a map in there. But Athkatla may also have been cut from the new version. I am not sure.
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    Tell me about these older edition D&D products [list updated: Nov 20/10]

    Pre-1993 BATTLESYSTEM Fantasy Combat Supplement [1e] [red box version] (*) (CAN $25) --This is pretty good, if you like mass combat systems. As with everything here, best to look through it first to make sure it is something you will really use. FORGOTTEN REALMS The Bloodstone Lands [FR9] --I...
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    What Makes One System Better Than Another?

    The degree to which it conforms to the Forge's one true Big Model for RPGs. If it does not make sense under the Forge philosophy, it's either unfun or objectively bad game design.
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    Judging character performance

    He's not talking about character performance. He's talking about playing your class. Which is the whole point of playing a roleplaying game.
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    Forked from "An Epiphany" thread: Is World Building "Necessary"?

    I do not want to claim the OP's quoted texter is railroading without warrant, but it sounds kind of like that is what he wants. How on earth does one "focus on your campaign and not building your world" work without forcing a plot on the players? Roleplaying is just living in that world...
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    What do you do without balance?

    We do a pretty good job of balancing out everyone in the group getting their say on what they do, both individually and as a whole. We don't bother balancing PC to PC or PC to NPC. We find that shortchanges both players who had to earn their level the enjoyment of succeeding in the game.
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    Guess what I've got!

    Very impressive. Congratulations to everyone involved. PS: you can really threaten some players with that thing. The weight alone is intimidating. :)
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    tabletop rpgs-are they really games? or rather a "fun" interactive experience

    I was saying social realities are not what roleplaying games are about. That just happens by playing inside a simulation like in any simulation game. It's about getting the most points by playing the role well. Historically RPGs aren't about these "social realities", that's why they are games...
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    tabletop rpgs-are they really games? or rather a "fun" interactive experience

    The social realities in game are just a consequence of the system. Rewarding a player for "living" them isn't a game. There's no skill involved and no way to objectively measure success in stuff like that. Videogames are fun and operate almost exactly like tabletop games, but they simply don't...
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    tabletop rpgs-are they really games? or rather a "fun" interactive experience

    Win the game. Best done through cooperative play and having a lot of fun along the way. Like a road trip. Getting there is the purpose for leaving, but how you go matters just as much. Reward points for skillful play, the playing of the role (Class) to the best of one's ability. EDIT: IOW...
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