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Wik's Triumphant Return to 3e!

AdmundfortGeographer

Getting lost in fantasy maps
Go ahead and look it completely over DA. as you may still have a second opinion.
yup. I eventually came around to nearly all its changes and run it as is. It seems most though use it as a toolbox to pull ideas out of. Combat Reactions and encounter budgeting seem the most borrowed.

In any case, drop on over to the ENWorld-hosted Bad Axe forum where Trailblazer is discussed, ask questions about all sorts of theory behind it.
 

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Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
Nah, no need- I've played somewhere around 100 different rpg systems, and I know what I want and how I want it...and only a handful of game's have ever swayed me from my initial opininons of them.

And there are several things on that list I wouldn't want in a D&D style FRPG.
 
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Dice4Hire

First Post
I have been running and playing in 3.x and 4e since 4E came out.

Both systems lead to slightly different feels of game. I can find games to play in and players for my games in both systems. Both are fun.
 

Herobizkit

Adventurer
I had been meaning to look at Trailblazer. With that post, I've seen enough to know its not for me. Thanks for the (unintentional) heads-up! ;)
What was it about said post makes Trailblazer not for you?

Also, [MENTION=40177]Wik[/MENTION]: Grippli are awesome, and no reason why they couldn't be in Dark Sun. :)
 

Iron Sky

Procedurally Generated
I had an interesting discussion with a member of our group that stopped playing with us when we switched from 3.5 to 4e. Basically, I've come to recognize many of the complaints he had with the system right off the bat have sunk in for me - most predominantly the extreme "gaminess" of it all.

Even with the best intentions to stay "in-world" and not drift back to mechanics-land, 4e's rules are like a lens through which you view everything in your game in the game instead of a framework upon which you build and interact with the game world - and the lens keeps on bumping you in the face to remind you it's there.

That said, the issues I have with 3.x will keep me from running it again - namely the rapidly increasing power-disparity between PCs(op/non-op, spellcaster/non-spellcaster), the way high-level spells break my worlds without me realizing it because I don't feel like reading 500 rules spells just to figure out how they could break my campaign.

Also, 4e's (old) Character Builder spoiled our group heavily. I can make a couple paragon characters in the time it takes me to make a low-level 3.x character.

This is mostly, of course, is running games - I'll play anything once (and keep playing if the DM is good). For running games:

*Savage Worlds and the like are too rules-lite
*4e is too rules-first
*3.x is too "rules-wide"
*Dark Heresy, Star Wars, and Exalted are too rooted in their own settings to be easily extracted for other settings
*GURPs is too... GURPs. One of the few systems I've played where rolling the dice isn't fun for some reason.

I'm working on my own game system mostly out of lack of the system I seem to be looking for...
 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator
Staff member
Supporter
What was it about said post makes Trailblazer not for you?

Well:

- the smaller skill list, elimination of skill synergies, and ditching cross class skills.
- Nothing is inherently immune to crits or sneak attacks (except incorporeal)
- A unified spellcaster mechanic that makes multiclassing spellcasters not a moronic thing to do (though it is a bit of a learning curve to figure it out)
- Ditched Craft feats except for consumable magic items.
- Iterative attacks limited to 2 attacks at the same bonus.

None of which is a change I want in a 3.X game.

And I bet there's more that I'd dislike as well.
 

Herobizkit

Adventurer
It takes diff'rent strokes to rule the world.

For me, a small skill list makes sense. Pathfinder did a good job of paring down some of the skillpoint sinks (Move silently and Hide become Stealth, and Spot and Listen become Perception, for example). No one ever takes Profession or Craft unless it's required for a Prestige Class or magic items, or they really have no other interesting skills to spend it on.

Sneak attack/Crit immunity... meh, let the undead and constructs have their day.

Making multi-classing better is great for me, as I generally play multi-class characters.

Iterative attacks > 2... well, I don't play many high-level games. ;)
 

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