Search results

I'd focus on style compatibility, the GM's ability to adapt to unexpected events, and the social skills of the participants. There are two schools of thought on this subject. The first is to create games that cater to a particular style at the expense of the others and filter the group so...

My group meets all of those criteria(*), yet we still have problems with rule-light games and gravitate toward at least rule-moderate games. They key element that's missing (and I'm talking about a group that's role-played with each other for years and, in some cases, well over a decade) is...

It also removes a huge portion of the game from reliance on a GM's judgement. The degree of subjectivity matters. It's not a matter of escaping subjectivity entirely but reducing or limiting. I'm not talking about quibbling about an extra +2 circumstance bonus. I'm talking about whether a...

Well, that's not really more rule-light than D&D 3e, is it?

I think that helps a great deal. Let me simply say this. If you don't think a player can't bog a game down asking questions as much as they can bog the game down looking up rules, you've never had someone like me as a player. :)

There are plenty of different reasons to role-play, which is why I've called this a collection of similar hobbies with a lot of overlap. For the record, the second if very important to me because of my style of play. The first reason is quite a bit less important to me, but still matters to...

I don't think that's so much a function of how heavy the system is. The one D&D 3.5 game that I'm playing in right now, we're still 4th level (starting at 2nd) after about 15 sessions because it's been largely mysteries, sneaking around, exploring, outsmarting, convincing, etc. I think it's a...

And you keep missing the point that the option to use codified ones is not present in many rule-light games. Please bear in mind that I am not simply talking about D&D vs. C&C here but also Hero vs. Fudge, etc. and I personally have my doubts about whether C&C is rule-light from what I've seen...

I learned D&D and Traveller from the books. Noboby taught me how to use a role-play system. I taught myself. In many ways, I think it was a good thing because I never picked up a lot of the trauma or biases that others seem to have picked up from the people who taught them how to play a...

OK. I'm the player. I'm deciding what my character might do. I'm a fairly creative person and the chandelier swing is only one of about 20 things I can think of, thus I must repeat this excercise maybe 20 times before I can decide what my character does, and I have to wait for the GM to...

Have you ever seen an entire group of inexperienced gamers pick up and successfully use a rule-light system without an experienced gamer to tell them what to do or to GM?

It's not simply an issue of crappy GMs but GMs who have a different assessment of reality than the players. A GM using a rule-heavy game that substitutes their own assessment of the situation rather than what the rules say is basically using a rule-heavy game like a rule-light game and it...

I would argue that at least some of those complex situations will play very differently if the players have a good grasp, going in, of how things will be mechanically resolved instead of having to rely more on a GM's subjective assessment. Having played both rule-heavy and rule-light games, it...

What about: The GM comes up with a situation. Players come up with a plan. The rules and dice decide how well it works. ...or... Players come up with a plan. The GM decides what sorts of situations their characters will face. The rules and dice decide how well it works. ??? (EDIT: I...

You could use product numbers (e.g., the Item Code for the Revised PHB is 175240000). Some obscure old RPG references are: 1889 - Space 1889 2448 - FTL:2448 2300 - Traveller 2300/2300 AD 2020 - Cyberpunk 2020 Another interesting one is: 2368 - The last four digits of the Ghostbusters' 555...

The "mother may I" problem that my group has (and we've played plenty of rules-light games using homebrew rules and Fudge) isn't so much a matter of permission but achieving a common understanding about what's likely to happen. If the GM thinks that jumping from the balcony, swinging from the...

"Good characters make personal sacrifices to help others." If you are Good, the well being of innocents is your business. "Neutral people are committed to others by personal relationships." D&D has an alignment for pragmatism -- Neutral. "People who are neutral with respect to good and evil...

Do Google searches but a lot of going to depend on which part of the world you are looking for. The weapons of the Shang Bronze Age are a bit different from those of the Egyptian Bronze Age, the Aegean Bronze Age, the British Bronze Age, etc. This might be a good place to start, though...

Basically, it's a heck of a lot warmer than it would be if it weren't carrying heat from Southeast Asia up past Japan into the Arctic in the first place and a heck of a lot warmer than the air in the arctic. That heat gets lost to the air passing over the water, which warms and moderates the...

You might find this page useful: http://earth.usc.edu/~stott/Catalina/Oceans.html