John Dallman's latest activity

Plausibly connected with the draft in the USA?

Depends on the system. For the D&D I still play, which is oD&D and AD&D1e, yes, there is a lot of house-ruling, because it's necessary...

I think a paragraph is great, maybe two. That gives the DM some hooks and the player something to work with. The biggest benefit, to my...

I'm generally happy for players to develop their backstory during play. Requiring a complete one before the start tends to lead to...

Well, it probably could work, but refining it into a working system would take a fair bit of playtesting. I don't see the appeal...

I still play D&D with some of the same people as in the eighties, but much less often. I've played fair amounts of Champions and...

I learned of the existence of RPGs at my first SF convention in summer 1979, aged 18. The idea seemed immediately interesting, although...

The second issue of The Path of Cunning, apparently still the world's only GURPS fanzine, is now available for download. It was...

Well, this sure went a long way in the last 18-ish hours. :) Without quoting a bunch of posts or going on at ridiculous length, I'll...

I try to not have cut scenes at all. If any cinematic event needs to occur, it will do so naturally. My campaigns aren't a movie, nor...

In my experience, unless all the players work together to craft them at 1500 words each, there will be incompatibilities. Some players...

But surely, even if it's "mechanically unmediated" (because the impulse is entirely player driven[1]), the mechanics play a role in both...

I'd advise against the random table. Allowing the players to chose what happens to their characters between eras gives them much more...

Well, I experience what you seem to be seeking, but it does not come easily. The two things that seem to be necessary for it, in my...

With my previous group (who really liked GURPS), they didn't do it that way. First, at character creation, they felt incentivized to...