Recent content by aramis erak

The Temp/Potential is realistic to a point, and kind of assumes a younger start than we think of today... but it's cumbersome. I found averageing three stats realistic but cumbersome - hence the spreadsheet. Automatic calculations makes RM so much more playable. Especially with modern, "Blank...

Front-loaded complexity. I made it playable in the 90's by using spreadsheets on my Apple II. (And no, I don't still have them.)

In FKR, it depends upon the agreed conventions. And the GM's honesty. In most RPGs, largely, tho' I've had players using lore I didn't know a whit about to shape their decisions in D&DAL...

Rolemaster plays pretty damned well - two tables for 90% or more of non-combat actions (Moving Maneuver and Static Maneuver tables)... and if the GM is well organized, even combat snaps along.

On board a target ship, trying to recover the logs. "I blow the airlock to suck the Xenomorph out" Xenomorph easily passes the roll to not be blown out. tries again a few minutes later... after a chestburster joins the scene... "I blow the airlock and let go" - the Xenomoph Drone stays pat, the...

Being the first to drop a nuke renders it no longer meaningful. But, generally, the solution is a joint blitzkrieg against the homeland by all the other players. If you win, you get to argue over the supply center and its nuke; if you lose, they're going to drop it.

It's a large difference in degree. Adding touchpoints seriously trims the outcome tree.

Wizards are straightforward in DH. Druids and Rangers are the most complex. And neither is very complex.

Wed night at the store. I'm playing, not running. Game is Shadowdark. I am playing a goblin priest of Gede We go into the dungeon. We meet fishthings. I annoy them, but they don't like their upstairs neighbors, so we agree to look into it. The fighter, the other PC, pokes his weapon into some...

Being one who doesn't usually enjoy APs... I have no heartburn at all saying most of those engaging with the game only through passive means (Reading, Watching, Listening) without input into the outcome are largely not playing. Different part of the audience of the game, with different goals...

More than you might expect. Quite a few groups in the early 80s lived by the phrase, "Sometimes we even roll the dice"... There were a lot of groups doing mostly improv with occasional dips into mechanics every 3-4 sessions. I didn't play with those groups.

It is greatly ironic that, amongst the magical abilities associated with the Druidic faith in Dark Ages Brittain is the ability to shapeshift. Sufficiently so that in certain versions of the myth, Merlin teaches Arthur's to fly by shapeshifting into a bird. Morgan Le Fey and Merlin are...

If you're going to borrow, borrow the best...

To me, the point of rules in an RPG is that they provide a scaffold for understanding the setting and characters, and a means of fair resolution of reasonable attempts at actions by the characters.

that's one of the rules of Frei Kriegspiel... as is that the referee is supposed to be a fair arbiter.