Recent content by JohnSnow

I find it interesting that Pathfinder 2e, Nimble and a few other games have figured out the sweet spot for actions in a single round is 3, with a scaling discouragement for trying to just attack or spell cast repeatedly. I think DC20's 4 is too many, and I think it's important that you have...

I think that there's already a ton of games vying for this general space, among which I would include both Vagabond and Nimble, but I've been working on a rules hack of my own that lives in exactly this spot. The devil is in the details, of course, and I know I won't be the first person to try it.

Based on the scale given, I voted 5. If D&D 5e and SWADE are a 6, and Shadowdark/OSR D&D is somewhere around 4, I want something between them. But to me, the devil is in the details of how you simplify.

As someone who still owns Mutants & Masterminds 2e, is there anything in 3e that people feel is dramatically improved? One of the things I always liked about M&M is that once bonuses passed +10, you replaced it with another d20. I always felt it kept things interesting and die rolls relevant.

I have always felt Half-Elves work best when you think of them as D&D's "Dunedain." They are descended from Elves, live longer than other Humans, and have certain "Elven" traits. In Tolkien's legendarium, Half-elves who have an Elven parent are given a choice, and that choice was granted to all...

DC20 by the Dungeon Coach certainly counts. There's a ton of rules hacks and other games out there that nominally share 5e's DNA, but it's debatable to call them "5e variants." Many of them adhere far more closely to the numerical values (bonuses and hit point wise) of either B/X, AD&D, or 3e...

Because "better" is subjective. I find streamlining to be what I think of as "modern." I don't (personally) like looking up tables. I don't like there being multiple resolution subsystems.Some people prefer dice mechanics to be tailored to particular situations. Some people would interpret...

I'd also say that you could freely pilfer things from most other OSR subsystems to work with Knave. For instance, I think Shadowdark's roll to cast magic system, and Luck/Deathbringer Dice and a subsystem like "Mighty Deeds of Arms" from Dungeon Crawl Classics would be natural add-ons to Knave...

For me, "Modern" game design means "streamlined" and not having different fiddly subsystems for everything. Do I have to look something up on a chart or table every time? That's not "modern." Do I use a different subsystem for resolving a particular category of task for a reason other than...

The TV show “Grimm” called its boar/pig-Wesen “Bauerschwein.” Do with that what you will.

I love what I've seen of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, but can't seem to get my gaming group to bite, so I'm working on some house-rules to make a skill-based, pulpy d20 game. If it comes together, it should feel like the strange lovechild of SWADE, Shadowdark, & Knave. I'd be happy to...

That it does. And armor as DR. It all feels unnecessarily complicated, but I’d already written Daggerheart off as not my jam aesthetically, so I’m really only interested in it for swiping mechanics and ideas.

On a d4, you hit on anything but a 1 - that’s a 75% success rate. Every other die has more sides. If they also only miss on a “1,” they have a higher than 75% chance of success. You say it’s “not all the time,” and I concede it’s not 100%, but always having a 75+% chance of success...

I get it. People like hitting. But to me, the hit is only satisfying because it doesn't happen all the damn time. In standard D&D, it's somewhere between a 40 and 75 percent chance to hit, and it varies from combat to combat and opponent to opponent. That's a range of success that feels good to...

DC20 does that too. So does, Daggerheart, I think. And a few others. A lot of them still use damage rolls because...I guess people like slowing their game down? I dunno.