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So for the people who are advocating systemless roleplaying of social skills, why can't I do the same with other skills? I've been through scouting- why can't I just describe my survival , and tracking instead of getting a social skill? I've learned how to pick locks, so why can't I just...

Man, I knew I was forgetting something. I also left out the Endurance Battery from Champions, which was also used to simulate mana-pool style magic. Of course that also leaves out all the private attempts to do different magic systems in D&D. It seems like 2 out 3 DMs I gamed with were coming...

Makes sense to me that that sort of thing would go with the term "magic user". Shades of that old D&D picture with the mage using spells to clean up as a neighbor lady comes up the path bearing a pie.

WOTC releasing a 3.75 edition would be like Ford Motor Company releasing a "new" Ford Pinto, where the only changes are added spoilers and chrome. Of course in this scenario there would be a large number of people already driving a Pinto knockoff, insisting either that the changes to the air...

I think I found a typo in the sentence above. Try this: "If though, you want weapons to behave like weapons, then D&D's hit point system models that poorly. " Hit point systems inherently model damage poorly. That's why consider hit points to really be luck points. It doesn't work well with...

To add a social context, bear in mind that bandits can't exist in isolation; they need someplace to trade their loot in and get supplies. They will have friends, lovers and families. So the odds are, the bandits probably come from a nearby town, perhaps the one they're "terrorizing". It may be a...

The important thing is that any geek literature list must be made up of authors who are all straight (or at least in the closet) white males. No women or people of color need apply. In fact, I'm surprised they didn't put Lovecraft in there, to get the required dose of racism and xenophobia...

A better But they can. A pistol doing 1D8 damage has a better than 60% chance of putting down your average soldier, goblin or orc. It's not the gun's fault do many opponents require an anti-tank missile to put down.

Guns are actually pretty easy to model in 3.X. Simple weapons, 1D8 for pistols (range of hand crossbow), 1D10 for rifles (range of medium crossbow), 10k turn reloading time that provokes opportunity attacks. I would give firearms a pretty high misfire chance (1-3 on the to-hit roll), which can...

That's OK, as long as you acknowledge that characters have radically non-human, in fact non-vertebrate physiology. Animals don't take damage by being whittled away like a piece of wood; either the wound is minor, or something vital is hit, and the animal shuts down or is dying. The thing is, it...

Call of Cthulhu is actually a hideously botched revision of Runequest. But the thing is, if you get a core group of producers and fans who argue that it is the best version, and if you churn out enough product for a decade or so, then it gets to the point where not only do you not have to...

Also, obref: The Flying Sorcerers, by David Gerrold and Latter Niven. Aside from bicycles, mainly notable for a really awful pun involving a writer's name.

Although the Caprotti bicycle of 1493 is most likely a fraud, it still seems to be within the realm of Renaissance technology. In fact, if you look at the designs made by Leonardo de Vinci's peers, you can see designs more complex than that of a boneshaker. Pre-industrial engineers were quite...

It really depends on the edition. In Third Edition, which is the true optimizer's playground, dwarves were the second best choice as wizards; bonus to one of the most important stats? Minus to a dump stat? Darkvision? Yes please! Elves on t the other hand, for all that they had a reputation for...

Random thoughts: The discussion of the demo game reminds me of all the demo games I've been in over the years that have had good roleplaying... ...... ...... ...... ...OK, you've got me. Over the last 30 years I've never seen a demo or in-store game that's had much, if any roleplaying. In store...

At this point, I think the most likely and charitable explanation is that everybody involved was very drunk, and the "reliable source" had big ears, a trunk, and was pink. :D

Isn't that the question that's been repeatedly asked about every edition of D&D for the last 30 years? For what it's worth, over the last two years of the 4E game I've been in, we've done a lot of non-combat activity, from exploration, to negotiating a truce between elves and hobgoblins. We've...

Because he's not supposed to be in the country. If word got out that he's here, he would be arrested, the CIA would haul him off to be tortured, and wikileaks would be doomed. DOOMED I tell you!

I actually think in the theoretical game described, the role of skills would mainly be taken up by attributes, and skills would be more akin to feats in current D&D, giving bonuses and special abilities. In this respect it resembles a version of FATE which has only six broad skills, and a bunch...

That's the start of it. Then add the notion that another person liking a game one dislikes is itself an insult to the game one likes. After all, if they're enjoying "that other game", it must be because they think it's superior, thus disrespecting one's beloved game. There's a lot of zero-sum...