Recent content by merelycompetent

Cautiously optimistic. I see some warnings signs, and some good stuff. The designers have set themselves very high goals, with equivalent potential for catastrophe. I really wish Real Life (tm) left me with time to participate in early playtesting. The real determining factors are in the...

You must have played in far more of these badly mislabeled "Safe-Style" games than anyone I know. I might be misreading what you're posting, but it looks to me like you have a great deal of contempt for an easy-going, PC's are plot-protected, style of play. If this is true, then I think your...

I do not consider myself a killer-DM. I think only a small percentage of DMs would consider themselves "killer-DMs". Now, depending on which players, including former-players, you ask, the answer might be very different. The basic problem with this sort of thread is this: What, exactly, is a...

I'm going to take a slightly different tack than most here: Whatever you decide to do, do it with respect FOR the other people at the game table. If you take the attitude that you're having to coddle them along, baby them, give them warm fuzzies, or hold their hands, they'll pick up on it. If...

Suggestion: Buy the illusionist's player some lotion. Present it, with a bonus XP award, to him/her at the next game session - after everyone is settled in. Make sure it has a brightly colored ribbon and bow. P.S. We want pictures. :)

Consider this idea yoinked for my high-level 3.5E game. I think I'll give them one that some of the bad guys/rivals also have "openings" for. I can't wait for my players to start wondering why their new super-sized backpack of holding keeps having stuff appear & disappear from it! "Uh... where...

Our group has low tolerance for "distractions." Having said that, we also understand that Real Life (tm) requires phones, texting, and the occasional mad dash to the parking lot because the server room is on fire, or a family member just had a meltdown. So the below assumes that there is not a...

Late to the thread, but I've read through it. As a DM, my response would be: I run a game that's fun for me as DM. That means that your character has a real chance of dying in the game. I'm not setting out to kill your character, but the bad guys I run probably are. No one, not even my most...

Healing surges, as a mechanic in 4E core, do not appeal to me at all. For me and most of my crowd, that would be a deal-breaker. Now, if it was modified (especially so that my ~magic~ potion of healing still works even if I'm out of healing surges) and used to reduce the Cleric-In-A-Sack(tm)...

What Zustiur said. I'm a big fan of the various old school subraces of elves - sylvan, grey, grugach - and dwarves (mountain, hill), and halflings (tallfellow, hairfoot). But I don't want them all in the core PHB for 5E. I don't want them excluded from the game, either. Same for tieflings...

Neutral. Too early to tell, not enough information. A lot is going to depend on the presentation, play, and compatibility (including with different playstyles). Right now, we just don't have that information. I'm hearing some good things about what the designers *want* to do. Whether they can...

Very true. PDFs (or equivalent) that I can add my own notes to and backup to my emergency site, priced at $5-7 a pop? I'd buy the 1E DMG to test it out. If it worked as expected and product quality was legible, I'd drop a couple hundred $ that weekend for legit ebooks. Even in this economy. IOW...

I have *some*, now outdated (7-8 years ago) semi-pro knowledge of this due to my day job. Typically, businesses will contract the scanning out to pro shops, rather than hand it off to an intern. (Handing a potential money-maker, or project that you want to at least break even, to an intern is a...

There is no excuse for being a rude jerk at the game table. Lots of good advice in this thread - I wish I knew how to recommend it for a Game Table Self-Help sticky or archive. Back on topic. IMO, the ideal setup with old school gamers and new school gamers is this (in very general terms): The...

I have not looked at the Essentials line beyond a few blurbs elsewhere, and a few posts here at Enworld. There's not enough there to make me want to try 4E again. I already sank too much money into it with the original core 3 books, and too much time trying it out, for something I didn't enjoy...