Coolest 3pp or "rare" mechanic

[MoutonRustique]

If you non-4'ers have stumbled in here, feel free to contribute! I put it in 4e because it's the system I prefer.

As to the topic at hand:

I've recently had a bit of time available to read stuff I really should have been reading years ago : blogs, Dungeon and Dragon articles, etc... those kinds of things. This means that I've stumbled upon some awesome things all over the place. My campaigns are presently on a hiatus (life happens) and so I've found myself itching to use these cool things! (But I can't - but then, I wouldn't have found them, had I had the time to use them - see how the universe is a bastard... :grrr

Sooo... I'm asking what are people's coolest 3rd party or "rare" mechanic/"thingy".

My current favorite is the Legendary Locations of Midgard: Dynamic Environments. Such a "simple" idea, such an excellent one!

Of course, they're not implemented in the exact way I'd prefer (I don't like reduced damage effects, the way they are written when referency the "stage 3 ou of 7" , and those kinds of minor things) but the concepts behind them is just so good! And it's so easy to create others.

I'm considering buying that book just for that section!

Another is the use of Fortune Cards. I have the set from Gloomwrought, but I never actually used them... I found them, "okay, but I'm not creating a new campaign for this". With the addition of the house rule cards from neuroglyph on the feywild I can really see them as a defining characteristic of a campaing/world-space.

The implications for a Plane Scape campaign are immediate and awesome : planar locals with cool effects get a very perceptible quality when players get to actually see all the decks and, if they're moderately well designed, it can really bring home the differences between the different planes and places of power.

I can just see the dread of players return to the abyss when you bring out the deck they drew such nasty effects from last time - AND the relief when they finally find their way back to Elysium for some "deck-enhanced" R&R.

I know all these things can be done with other tools - but this particular one is striking my fancy currently (note, I am very much like this so... my perspective could change. )

What are your cool things - note that there's no need to limit yourself to 4e.

END NOTE: I've also "discovered" Robert J. Schwalb - that dude made so many cool things! I don't find everything he's done to my taste - but still! So many excellent things! And so much exploration of the possibilities of the system!

 

[Pobman]

My current favorite is the Legendary Locations of Midgard: Dynamic Environments. Such a "simple" idea, such an excellent one!

Of course, they're not implemented in the exact way I'd prefer (I don't like reduced damage effects, the way they are written when referency the "stage 3 ou of 7" , and those kinds of minor things) but the concepts behind them is just so good! And it's so easy to create others.

I'm considering buying that book just for that section!

Hi,

I was the author of the Legendary Locations blog posts. Thanks for the kind words, after the morning I had had, it was just the thing I needed to cheer me up.

A word of warning though, the Midgard Campaign settting isn't for 4E and the articles I wrote referenced the page numbers in the book for further information about the places I talked about. I just liked the Midgard Setting and when I read the location descriptions the idea of using the 4E disease track for them made sense so I wrote them for 4E even though the setting isn't specifically for 4E. Sorry for the confusion, I should have made that clearer in the posts.

As for favourite 3pp or rare mechanic, the legendary locations was part of a series of articles of 4E stuff, I think the most interesting one was by Brian Liberge called Transition Scenes. Part 1, Part 2.

Other than that I only use the boring common stuff that eevryone else does. Escalation Dice etc.

Oh and if you are a fan of Robert J. Schwalb (and everyone should be!) you might want to check out Shadow of the Demon Lord which is an RPG he released fairly recently.

 

[Nibelung]

Sooo... I'm asking what are people's coolest 3rd party or "rare" mechanic/"thingy".

I throw away all Solo monsters, and instead, use the 3-stage boss fight from The Angry DM GM.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

They are complimentary of each other, so read them in order. Make some serious exciting boss fights.

 

[MoutonRustique]

Hi,

I was the author of the Legendary Locations blog posts. Thanks for the kind words, after the morning I had had, it was just the thing I needed to cheer me up.

Well that's half-great to hear! (only half because you're presupposing that the day you had was fairly bad - not great to hear; but then you were cheered up - great to hear! )

Also, it's always strange (to me) to interact with people who produce these things : it's kind of like actors - it's strange to think that they are real people... (Although in my case, I get the same kind of thing from students : when they see me outside school many are a bit baffled - like they thought I slept there or something. )

A word of warning though, the Midgard Campaign settting isn't for 4E and the articles I wrote referenced the page numbers in the book for further information about the places I talked about. I just liked the Midgard Setting and when I read the location descriptions the idea of using the 4E disease track for them made sense so I wrote them for 4E even though the setting isn't specifically for 4E. Sorry for the confusion, I should have made that clearer in the posts.

As for favourite 3pp or rare mechanic, the legendary locations was part of a series of articles of 4E stuff, I think the most interesting one was by Brian Liberge called Transition Scenes. Part 1, Part 2.

Other than that I only use the boring common stuff that eevryone else does. Escalation Dice etc.

Oh and if you are a fan of Robert J. Schwalb (and everyone should be!) you might want to check out Shadow of the Demon Lord which is an RPG he released fairly recently.

Thanks for the heads up about the book! That's very decent of you.

And thanks for that link to Shadow of the Demon Lord : I'm out 35$ because of you now... (current exchange isn't currently in my favour at all)

 

[MoutonRustique]

I throw away all Solo monsters, and instead, use the 3-stage boss fight from The Angry DM GM.

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

They are complimentary of each other, so read them in order. Make some serious exciting boss fights.

Those are indeed some very cool rules - especially when used in a more "low-key" style to pace interesting encounters.