Recent content by bert1001 fka bert1000

100% It's hard to model but the DM can make sure that money spent on larger institutions (e.g., governments, churches, guilds, strongholds and armies, etc.) leads to political power and in game ramifications. Of course, the players /characters have to be interested in these goals instead of...

It's been long enough that the frames that make it work well/coherent have been discovered and can be easily found. And I'm fine if people say they don't like the framing needed to make 4e work. That's a preference which is all good. But if a group of people are discussing 4e under a...

Yep. The biggest gripe I have on the 4e bashing is the insistence on using the worst paradigms to evaluate 4e when better ones are available. To be fair, I'm not even sure all the 4e authors knew how to frame 4e correctly from the start, but we can do that now. Stuff like Come and Get it...

Although what's interesting to me is that I recently went back and looked at the 4e Fighter exploits levels 1-30 and they really aren't crazy over the top. Sure, it's not mundane or "realistic" maybe, and there are a few (but not many) narrative/player authorial powers, but a lot of the...

I like 4e, but for me it was not only the grind within an encounter but the fact that most published modules just stacked the encounters up back to back to back to back. If the 1st encounter wasn't a grind by the 4th that still hasn't advanced the plot any, I've lost all interest. I like the...

The whole Keep was horrible 4e design with perhaps the exception of the final fight room. Area after area of full on encounters just doesn't work well with 4e for pacing reasons unless you deliberately use lots of minions and/or "group" the rooms expecting intelligent opponents to converge...

Lots of good stuff to check out! Thanks!

I was a backer and have the original books, but looked through them a few times then unfortunately they have been sitting on the shelf. Might have an opportunity to play soon though. I know there have been a number of new supplements, books, errata. Has the system evolved since it first came...

Really like this idea. It wouldn't satisfy everyone, but I think it would satisfy a chunk of people that want to deliver a impactful blow with magic in the forms they are used to (e.g., paralyze, banish, etc.) without diluting the core idea that you can't trivialize encounters on round 1 anymore.

What a great idea on the legacy front! Imagine you had to go to all the different worlds and you discovered a major secret around Vecna's historic influence in those worlds. Ebberon -- perhaps Vecna introduced some scientist in the past to the world that set off the industrial side of things...

Fond memories! Haven't played these since they first came out, but remember stinking cloud, hold person, hold monster etc being go to spells throughout. If I remember it was basically an auto kill after being paralyzed. I seem to remember doing this to multiple dragons and such in later...

Yeah, I like both styles of play (more sandbox explore and more curated/follow the AP). But in either one I think it is beneficial to have a working encounter CR / budget system.

I think it's all about being transparent up front on what is the domain of "player skill" and what is the domain of "character skill". And trying to remove overlap. It's a game so there is some player skill involved. In D&D combat this is where to move, what ability to use, etc. The problem...

Almost finished with Solasta Crown after finished BG3 and really enjoying it. Enjoying it as much as BG3 but in different ways. It's better than BG3 in : 1) 5e rules implementation -- attunement, no busted haste, real flying, etc. 2) keeping things decently challenging in combat until...

Seems a waste. You have the game and rules engine (and a lot of assets) there already, and "only" need to create new stories and some new assets. I know it's not trivial but surely easier than doing story AND rules engine at the same time? License it back to WotC so they can hire someone to...