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    Sorry - I think the point was missed...

    I think that experience is coloring your opinion. Because I haven't read a single post that sounded to me like "GM declares any difficulty at random, his word is law." Yes, we were talking about assigning difficulties on the fly, but not in a way that someone has to make a near-impossible climb...
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    Help, my players are scared!

    Quick thought: Have you said to the players, "Guys, I have to admit that the fact that we don't have many challenging combats lessens my enjoyment of the game. One of the reasons I like GMing is getting to do that. Any ideas how we can work it so we all are satisfied?" I think it's worth a try...
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    Player Ostracism: Advice Needed

    I totally agree with your decision. Besides, their passive-aggressive behavior in this situation paves the way for a dysfunctional game. Asking you to withhold information from a friend in that way just isn't cool.
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    Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs

    Are you seriously saying that using any of those systems would provide the same tone and style of play? If someone can make d20 feel like Burning Wheel or GURPS in play, then I guess I can see why they'd use d20 for everything. :)
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    What do do about lots of deaths/no shows?

    The types of dungeons he's talking about are huge! They're designed to be "camped out" in. It'd be like saying "You can go explore Manhattan, but you have to walk back to the Jersey Tunnel at the end of the session." :) I see what you're going for (and I personally like dungeons that you can...
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    Help, my players are scared!

    Pardon the snipping, I'm going for something here. versus Okay, so you want the game to have risk and conflict expressed through combat. That's important to you. Your players are telling you in giant neon letters that that isn't what they want. The players are not interested in tactical...
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    DM-player conflict; input appreciated

    Sorry to post so many times, but I'm trying to separate out different points. Here's an analogy that attempts to take the whole powergamer angle out of it, and just hit the creative disconnect. Let's say you had a player, Betty, who really wants purple butterfly wings. REALLY wants them, and...
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    DM-player conflict; input appreciated

    Okay, enough of the social issues, here's a possible in-game justification. I like the idea of a god deciding to grant his full spread of holy powers to a guy who doesn't do anything for the church at all. Wow, that would really make the church higher-ups nervous, wouldn't it? They can't just...
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    DM-player conflict; input appreciated

    The worst thing you could do is what you're doing now: Vent to strangers, calm down, then relent and let him do "whatever". You're risking falling into classic geek passive-aggressive behavior that way. Please don't take offense, this is just what the pattern of behavior looks like from where...
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    Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs

    I completely agree with this. I'm "outside the forest", and I think some of the arguing way back in this thread was because people inside and outside the forest were having disconnects in communication. (For instance, the person who asked the question that led to your response about rules-light...
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    Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs

    Look, I think this whole Socratic method thing you're doing is neat, and it generates discussion, but just state your point already. :) If the argument is that almost any kind of simulation-based party-play "group of adventurers" game can be run with D20, if you tweak it enough, then yes! It's...
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    Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs

    I can't agree with that. Isn't it possible to believe your game should have a given level of rules complexity for its own sake, rather than because "Gee, I wanted it to be as thick as D20, but we didn't have time to test all that?" I think the latter qualifies as a "dig". :)
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    Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs

    Honestly? I don't even see it that way anymore. I think I see where they're coming from. That comment, and the one by Ryan on the last page, makes me think they're talking about "the roleplaying industry" as "stuff that's like D20". And I'll even grant that if you want to produce your own...
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    Best Resolution System?

    I'm a big fan of the system Sorcerer uses. The grainyness would turn most of you guys off (one stat for physical tasks, one for mental, one for magic), but the resolution system is really rockin'. You roll X dice (where X is your trait) against Y dice (your opponent's trait or the difficulty)...
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    DM-player conflict; input appreciated

    Dude, let him be Smashdor already. If you're keeping him in the group, give him what he wants. So he's a "cleric" on his character sheet, and maybe in-game he's some kind of one-man Spanish Inquisition witch hunter, or some kind of barbarian witchdoctor, or whatever. You've made it clear he's...
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    A theory of sets (or why you will only really know 12-15 gaming books at a time)

    Holy cow. I don't think I've ever used more than three books for a campaign. This is a very interesting read for me. :)
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    Interesting Ryan Dancey comment on "lite" RPGs

    I thought that was what you meant. Now if we'd only had someone state that before all these discussions started, they would have been a few dozen pages shorter. :) (For example, the whole "rules light" thing sort of falls by the wayside -- it took me pages of posts and replies before I...
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    Sorry - I think the point was missed...

    That's a really good question, Joshua. I think part of the problem is that when somebody asks "Is D&D about tactical challenge, or exploration?" the answer is "Both". Different people (designers, GMs, players) have different priorities. There's monsters designed to present specific challenges...
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    What do do about lots of deaths/no shows?

    That sounds like it could fit in pretty well, then. My personal favorite idea for a situation like that: Health insurance for the PCs. If your last guy died, drag him out of the dungeon to get him raised. Sure he's a level lower than your new PC, but he can retire in comfort. (Do they give...
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    Sorry - I think the point was missed...

    I wouldn't get too worked up about what Majoru's saying there, fred. He's explained in this thread that to him DMing is solely about being a fair arbiter and presenter of prepackaged modules. Coming from that perspective, I can see why specific rules for all occasions would be needed. It'd be...
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