Recent content by Umbran

There are other possibilities. One is that alignment, overall, is about things bigger than mortals. Like, what if morality isn't about creating eternal paradise or eternal pain for mortals? What if that's not actually the result should Good or Evil win? Or, what if there's a catch to that...

Mod note: Hey. Did you ever stop and think that maybe, just maybe, reinterpreting other people's posts in the worst possible way was a really crappy way to have a conversation? Because, right now, it looks like you are looking to have a fight. And that would end with you ejected from the...

Yeah, I understand that. However, I don't think the word "evil" should be bandied about unless you can bring the receipts.

I don't think it is nearly the same thing. The toxic parts of the new OGL they were pushing applied no matter how you published. Instead, they went to CC, so in traditional channels you can do anything you want. It is only within D&DB that there is control. You figure that folks who run...

No, 1984 isn't cyberpunk, because it is talking about governmental control, not corporate power.

In a word, no. At least, I disagree with that sentiment. Once a thing is big enough to call a "genre", there are enough varying examples that you won't find a single "defining feature". Genres are based on collections of tropes and themes, not single definitional themes. IMHO, at least. One...

I was initially thinking mostly immediately at the time the infiltration is ocurring - the party starts a ruckus across the street to get the attention of guards inside, so they are less likely to notice the infiltrator, or the like. It can be broadened out into an overall "legwork" challange...

My thought is that it doesn't happen to me, personally, frequently enough to need a special subsystem. However, having played far too much Shadowrun in my day, I recognize that running it as normal adventuring would be a drag for most of hte players, unless there is other action happening...

This is not 3e, where we are expected to read as explicitly accurately as possible. 5e uses more natural language and common-sense than prior editions. Command does not move the target, it makes the target move as best it can. If it does not have the ability to fly, flying is beyond its...

Not explicitly. Do you want to argue the implication isn't present? Because, the question about alternate platforms could have been validly asked without any reference to Rowling. The reference, and how the entire thread became much more about Rowling and doing business with her, than...

Villains by Necessity, by Eve Forward, is a solid referent for this. In the novel, Good won the apparently-not-quite-eternal conflict between Good and Evil, and that meant that the world was going to sublimate under the unchecked growing amount of positive energy. So, a Druid (taking the True...

In the reality (and game edition) in which Mordenkainen's alignment was established, morality was a literal cosmic force that interacted with magic, and magic was his raison d'etre - so there was always a supernatural reasoning to his position. Only in as much as the alignment system itself...

Because while actually being an ethical consumer is darned near impossible, individuals are still subjected to personal negative social pressure when they don't back whatever issue has captured the current news cycle. When one is constantly bombarded with messages that one is a bad person, some...

So, I guess cynicism is cool again, is that it? Embrace the power of "and", people. A thing can be art AND a commercial success. A work can have a message AND sell well. Indeed, if the intent is to have a message, or be a part of culture, commercial success is, at this time, a necessary...

So, having a name, domain, and sphere of interest has NOTHING to do with being "person like". You can be a force that nobody has ever personally physically seen, that has a name and a domain. A god can meddle in the affairs of mortals without being much like a mortal at all...