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  1. MoogleEmpMog

    SAGA: Too few force points?

    As long as you use the XP progression provided in the book, the Force points seem to be just about right. You should be able to use an average of 1 FP per encounter without being too worried about running out, although obviously different players will spend them at different rates. Characters...
  2. MoogleEmpMog

    Dragon Appreciation: Which are your favorite Dragon comic series?

    Yamara, specifically FOR the strange soap opera.
  3. MoogleEmpMog

    Star Wars Saga: Two High-Level Characters

    I wouldn't worry about that. I've actually been clocking my NPC creation times. I've got it down to under a half hour for a 20th level character, which isn't bad at all after just a week of having the book. Core-only D&D would be fourty-five minutes to an hour, and Core-only d20 Modern would...
  4. MoogleEmpMog

    Star Wars Saga, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    Burning Wheel explicitly contradicts "GMs can't cheat." It makes a big deal out of spreading the power much further around the table, up to and including encouraging players to call the GM if he steps outside the rules. Burning Empires actually includes formal limits on the GM's resources...
  5. MoogleEmpMog

    Gangs, Thugs, Social Pariahs, and Charisma

    I suppose it depends on what you mean by "thugs." If you mean a group of bruisers who hang out at the local alehouse, bust heads every night (and twice on Fridays) for the heck of it, and sometimes get a few coin from a representative of organized crime to go break some legs, sure, that group...
  6. MoogleEmpMog

    Transhuman Space: Beyond Good and Evil

    Transhuman Space is Call of Cthulhu further along the process of mankind becoming like unto the Great Old Ones. I'd put a smiley, but I'm honestly not sure if that's a joke or not. At the very least, you could easily play it that way.
  7. MoogleEmpMog

    What do you consider "de facto" core?

    There is no core. Not for D&D, anyway. The 3.5 core books have no monopoly on balance or good game design - in fact, because they're much more shackled with rules artifacts than most supplements, they tend to be WORSE in this regard. If there is a core, it would be 20 Modern, from which I...
  8. MoogleEmpMog

    What is the most balanced class?

    Only if you think designers should design to the middle of the curve. If that's the standard you want to go by, however, Paladin and Rogue are both good choices.
  9. MoogleEmpMog

    What is the most balanced class?

    No class is "balanced" in isolation. Balance is completely relative to OTHER classes, so it's impossible to answer the question. I evaluate classes using non-PHB2 Fighter and Cleric as the benchmarks (Druid having been nerfed). A class that falls between non-PHB2 Fighter and Cleric is...
  10. MoogleEmpMog

    [SWSE] Fiddling

    Absolutely Scoundrel. Or maybe Scoundrel/Noble. Take a close look at the Kaminoan Ascetic. Yes, he's a non-Jedi martial artist. He's also a TERRIBLE piece. His fighting abilities frankly aren't very good. One imagines he probably has some esoteric skills, meditative techniques, etc. that...
  11. MoogleEmpMog

    Star Wars Saga, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    Offhand - previous versions of D&D (possibly excluding AD&D 2e, which drifted the furthest from this style IMX), HERO, Savage Worlds, Runequest, almost every major knockoff of AD&D during the late '70s and early-mid '80s. GURPS and WHFR probably fit, too, but I'll admit I'm not familiar enough...
  12. MoogleEmpMog

    Star Wars Saga, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    To make it clear, I don't think Star Wars Saga is a perfect system, or a perfect representation of the movies, or deserves a billion-star rating. I think it is by a WIDE margin the best game ever made under the d20 license, the best game ever made under d20-based OGL, almost certainly the best...
  13. MoogleEmpMog

    Monster Manuals no more

    When using D&D monsters, I've been pretty much using the stat cards from D&D minis anyway, and I print up my own for non-WotC monsters because the convenience is orders of magnitude greater. As with all collectibles, the secondary market exists, and people's Paypal paranoia is NOT a...
  14. MoogleEmpMog

    Now is the season of our discontent?

    The only time I've run a game of straight D&D 3e (insofar as Spelljammer qualifies as 'straight D&D') was so I didn't have to convert world material for Spelljammer purposes. With Saga looking easy to convert to, I would use that instead because it appears to be a much improved rulesset without...
  15. MoogleEmpMog

    Why you shouldn't use 5 ft corridors

    Yes, which is one of many reasons why realism and good gameplay are often at odds. I also remember Monte's solution: rather than settle for bad gameplay, he made a civilization of giants. :D :sigh: Yes, if you were annoyed by an adventure, you must not have been playing smart. :uhoh...
  16. MoogleEmpMog

    Help a Newbie

    If it's the system that's intimidating to you, you might want to start off with the new Star Wars Saga, rather than D&D. It's streamlined quite a bit and should be easier for a new player to get into - for one thing, from what I can see, it's fairly difficult to screw up a Player Character so...
  17. MoogleEmpMog

    Open Content and UA

    UA is (almost all) open content. It's not in the SRD - it has an actual OGL license in the book, like 3rd party books do.
  18. MoogleEmpMog

    Star Wars Saga, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    Chewbacca's "player's" actions in the WotC combat example sound like classic "player isn't paying attention" behavior. Anyway, here's two non-Jedi shown in the movies as steeped in combat feats: Jango Fett and General Grievous. The latter, at least, is statted up as being the same level as...
  19. MoogleEmpMog

    Embracing the standard fantasy tropes

    All of that is fine and well - if theme (in GNS terms, Narrativism) is a major goal for you and your group. (Aspects of it also apply to a limited subset of Simulationism, but your main point is 100% Narrativist) In my experience, Narrativists are *extremely* thin on the ground, at least among...
  20. MoogleEmpMog

    Embracing the standard fantasy tropes

    That's fine - provided what you want is High/Epic Fantasy. If you want Sword and Sorcery... the 'standard fantasy tropes' are going to look out of place. If you want Pulp Adventure with a fantastic element, same. Sword and Planet? Science Fantasy? Scientific Romance? Dark Fantasy? Horror...
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