Recent content by Kurotowa

On the topic of "How to make playing a healer fun and attractive", my first through is the other main RPG I play. Which the MMORPG Final Fantasy 14. The way that FF14 builds its healers is that, in D&D terms, the majority of your spell slot heals are Bonus Actions. And then your Magic Action...

Yeah, I've experienced about the same. Most campaigns I'd consider "long running" still conclude somewhere in the 12th-14th level range. The one exception was a single 3e campaign that got all the way to 18th level, but everyone was quite burned out by the end and only soldiering on to finish...

As a mere babe who started with the dawn of 2e, I can't say how much of this was true in the 1e days. But when I started, one of the important advantages for Fighters was Saves. As a reminder, for those who have forgotten or were never there, before 3e save DCs were set by the target, not the...

I was just thinking the same thing. Dark Sun really needs a fixed Year Zero starting point. One where things are generally pretty bad, but on the cusp on change here there and the other place. Situations only waiting for a band of plucky heroes to come along and tip things into action. And then...

And the tension between the novel metaplot and the game supplements has caused dissention to this day. Though making game supplements reliant on novel metaplot is another super 90's thing...

Yes and no. Dark Sun was a very 90's thing. Lots of pointing out social ills, but with a nihilistic despair that the corrupt system is too entrenched to fix anything. Some attempts at being diverse, but all very second hand and still likely to fall back into harmful stereotypes. So if we're...

There are always haters, and haters gotta hate. Especially when they're jilted ex-fans. No one hates harder than an ex-fan. But the thing with haters is they're just a lonely voice in the wilderness ...until enough of them gather together to form a chorus. That chorus can hit a critical mass...

I wouldn't be surprised. Some artists hit their groove and stick with it, but a lot of them have a drive to try new things and get really creative. I was just reading an interview with the director of Devil May Cry 5, who left Capcom because all they wanted him to do was make Devil May Cry 6. He...

It strikes me, when looking at the Gladiator, is that it shouldn't be evaluated solely on the combat axis. It's a Fighter that can really shine in social encounters too. The design of the subclass rewards you for making Cha your second highest stat, after Str or Dex. Intimidate and Persuasion...

More or less true. I would just add a more middle ground: d) They came to the table with a character concept already in mind and are failing to engage with the setting and campaign premise. In which case they need to be gently told to save it for the right time and to maybe look a little more...

That's the safe bet. These LLMs are highly advanced Mad Libs that have zero ability to reason or understand the material. So maybe it pulled together snippets that accurately reflect the source material, and maybe it threw together a bunch of made up bullcrap that it thinks will make the...

Well, it will be here on ENworld. Most other D&D forums and reddits don't care nearly as much about art styles having changed over the last 30-40 years. That hang up is particularly strong here, thanks to a small number of loud voices. I'll admit that in the case of Dark Sun, the art is going...

Man, they were pretty hard weren't they? I don't have very clear memories of back then, but I do recall making a cheesy Thri-kreen Fighter with a ton of natural weapon attacks just to get through some of the early parts.

If they ever knew. I'll admit, back in the day I read one of the novels and played the video games and never had any of the actual TTRPG books. And the sense I get is that a lot of the setting details and mechanics were different in each of the three. Not to mention that it sounds like Dark Sun...

Here's the thing about Preserving and Defiling. If there's going to be mechanics for them, and not just a couple of subclasses, I bet my bottom dollar it's going to be generally applicable rules and not rules specific to Wizards and only Wizards. Because 5e is not 2e, and as people have often...