Recent content by Basic Expert

Yes, as a big fan of both The Man With No Name and Lone Wolf and Cub, I absolutely get what they were trying to do. I just don't think they did it successfully. That source material has far more style than the utter blandness that is the Mandalorian.

Am I the only one who thinks the Mandalorian is an incredibly dull character? In a galaxy full of possibility, I honestly don't know why we are bothering to follow this boring guy's boring adventures. Though, this might be intentional, since they did name him Dingy Aaron.

Ahh, yes, nicely spotted! I would agree with you that moving one millimeter away from the caster satisfies all requirements.

Because, in the rules, moving at least 5ft is needed to satisfy the condition to "spend their turn" moving. D&D 5E uses 5ft increments, thus 5ft is the minimum that needs to be moved to count as movement. Nothing in the Command spell text overrides the movement rules. It imposes very specific...

I would say that a targeted creature that uses its turn to move any distance away from the caster satisfies the text of the spell. Nothing in the spell specifies that the target needs to use all of their movement fleeing so they are not obligated to do so. If they spend their turn moving 5 feet...

True, but then the alternative is usually that the disparity between skill levels become so great at high levels that the less skilled have no hope to hit the DCs while the highly-skilled almost can't fail. Thus, gameplay contracts as everyone is increasingly siloed into their specialties. That...

In your terms, always static. Otherwise, you're looking at a skill/DC increase treadmill. What's the point of increasing your skill if it doesn't give you any actual improvement? However, I will say that even in systems or editions with a DC-by-level chart, like 4E's advice for what is a "Hard...

Fighters have absolutely been short-changed by the "big dumb meatshield" stereotype. I have had extreme reservations about the class in 3E, 4E, 5E and most of their competitors. It remains one of my favorite classes mainly because of it doesn't come loaded down with unwanted gimmicks. Make a...

Modern D&D is about the characters. OSR is about the adventure.

Moving from 4E's minor actions to 5E's bonus actions was an attempt to simplify and quicken the combat turn. There is a decision point for players for each action they get in a turn. That means analysis of various options, which takes time. If the designers could trim standard/move/minor down to...

I voted 4, though it probably ranges from 3 to 5. Lighter rules play faster, which is a huge factor for me. The D&D 3.5 games where our druid spent 20 minutes to resolve his TURN broke me and I'm never going back. There was one battle where I was stunned in the first round and sat out the next 3...

It's a great system...from a certain point of view. Honestly, I think it's a pretty good system that is poorly explained, and I completely understand people not liking it. The modern permutations have gotten progressively cleaner and better, but there are still mechanics of it that aren't as...

For me, Star Wars is the most cinematic of franchises. Story and style trump realism. It requires a cinematic/narrative-focused game system to properly complement it. Personally, I think FATE is the best fit. Especially when you consider the built-in mechanics to level out characters of...

I take "Story" as the overall fiction that the "Gameplay" creates. In other words: Story is what the game is about. Gameplay is how it goes about it. In that sense, they are both vitally important and which one you start with is less important than them being in sync with one another. Take a...

I believe this is true even in more narrative or "story"-based games, like Fate, Quest, PbtA, Sorcerer or what have you. These games often have an element of collaborative story-telling, but are usually guided or constrained by mechanics and there isn't a pre-determined ending (such as "By the...