Search results

A DM has to go beyond the text of the module. If he is incapable of that, he will proverbially bleed to death on his first session. A module may provide helpful advice to run the game. Keep has a lot of it - including, IIRC, a recommendation that the DM should go beyond the text if necessary. I...

By the way, has anyone examined how new gamers react to "inappropriate" monsters like rust monsters or ogre mages? Do they dislike encounters which don't conform to the new design philosophy WotC employees and various posters on messageboards seem to advocate lately*? I really wouldn't know...

Hussar: this has been discussed in the Keep thread, but all right, once more. Every time the PCs visit the tavern, there is a 10% probability for any of the listed seven NPC types to be present. That's 70% with a possibility of overlap - multiple NPCs being there on the occasion. Moreover, on...

But is ensuring that no "game balance accidents" happen such an overwhelmingly important design goal? Isn't this direction the gaming equivalent of "warning, knife may be sharp" labels? I question the implication that game balance is all that important - or at least important enough to trump...

I don't get it. Why do all monsters have to have general appeal? It has always seemed to me that it is more healthy to have an array of staple monsters (orcs, zombies, dragons and big snakes, for example), supplemented by a range of monsters with niche appeal (ogre mages, various oozes and...

Exactly my thoughts. Although it is, indeed, probably the most (in)famous d20 dungeon, the laurels belong to Tomb of Abysthor. Which is not to say RA is "bad". It is Tomb which is great!

They don't (give me two minutes, and they do); on the other hand, most of them have interesting hooks or serve a useful purpose in the adventure, while Joe Bumpkin in Hommlet doesn't.

No. Village of Hommlet wastes too much space on describing mundane inhabitants of little interest (as opposed to Keep on the Borderlands, whose inhabitants are all interesting and more-or-less relevant to actual play), whereas the Temple itself suffers from too many rooms with "six gnolls, 120...

A common fallacy oft repeated doesn't cease to be one. System does matter, and it has a substantial influence on the play experience, or "feel". It is possible to mold a system to do something else than it was intended to do (I've done it with 3.0), but only to a certain limit, and never without...

That's very sad news. Tetsujin wasn't just a very prolific poster, he was also a treasure trove of knowledge and seemed to be a genuinely nice guy. He will be missed. :(

I use fireballs the way T.Foster does - I usually omit the third dimension, unless it is cast in very cramped quarters. It is also fun to roll item saving throws for dungeon doors and whatnot to see where spillover happens... It is interesting to note how fireballs have decreased in power - and...

Harmon: it is because Monster Mash is a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal. Who wears rose coloured glasses. That' why. :]

I disagree. It is my considered opinion that an "adventurer" is a totally fictious construct driven by the ego of the player, sometimes with an ideology ("backstory") to explain his actions. But the motivator is still the player and no one else. It is the player's will to engage in adventures...

From d20srd.org (bolding mine): What, exactly, are you protecting your treasure from with your greenblood oil? Angry mice? Slightly agressive gnats? And for 1,300 gp? Game balance. Serious business.

I am curious about this, becuase I've never had any experiences. Do they just print it out like I could at home, or are these things supplied with cardstock covers, done on good paper and delivered cheaply to overseas (in my case, Hungarian) destinations?

-------

Precisely. For this reason, I don't care for high stats, I don't care for elaborate backstories and I don't care for "living, breathing" worlds. What goes into the adventure matters, and what you do with your PC matters. To me, the rest is insignificant.

I don't usually min-max (although I am not a foe of effectivenes), and I wouldn't do it if I had low ability scores. I would try to compensate for my failings with player ingenuity and being more careful than the other party members. In one of my 3.0 campaigns, there was a very weak gnome...

Per definitionem, anithing that results in a negative ability modifier. In 3.*, that's 9-. With a few examples (character with low Charisma, barbarian with low Intelligence), 3-5 may be too low - at least low enough to be crippling. 6-9 is the comfortable range. In OD&D, who cares. :)

I like a mixture of low stats and high stats - average characters don't do much for me, but a PC with some significant strengths and a few significant weaknesses offers great potential for fun, including the challenge of surviving despite the low ones. I am also a fanatical adherent of random...