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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    ...what? What does that even mean? I have never started off a campaign by saying, "let's go around the table and have everyone share what it means to them to 'live the adventure'! And then we'll write a design document!" Is that what you're suggesting? That before people play a game they all...
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    ...but that means, to decide what information to present, you have to consider the cognitive process. I mean, unless you're not expecting anybody to actually think about the information, or unless you're not worried about how easy or hard it is to understand, or unless you don't care that you...
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    Profession/Crafting skills: Why?

    No. It's not, and it never will be. Gameplay is the dice you roll and the things you say, story is what your DM says in response. Your DM may assign some story responsibility to you, but he always has right of first refusal. It's practically impossible for a game to survive where the dice the...
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    "Pick" is an operation. In fact, "pick" is FOUR operations: Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. That's the baseline for mental consistency, the OODA loop as it's called. Sure, I guess you might just pick at random, but if you can remember any dreams you had that didn't make any damn sense, that's...
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    Profession/Crafting skills: Why?

    Aw god. That thing is going to turn into Mudwimping 2.0, so let me try to bite it in the ass again. This is the canonical example given of the wrought iron fence made of tigers: Yahtzee, having received in-game a clue consisting of a simple arithmetic problem, solves the problem, revealing the...
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    More options mean more complexity. And you've said that a more realistic game would involve having different options for your attack based on what kind of enemy you were fighting, instead of the two options for everything that we have now. There's really no way around it. It might be possible...
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    Stunting And You: A Guide

    Sure. Some of my "at maximum" examples when I was calculating numbers worked like this. --- Scenario: Visiting the Fray A warlord is on the poop deck of a pirate ship. Next to him is a rope. Down below him is a raging melee. He locks his feet around the rope, swings through the fray...
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    Stunting And You: A Guide

    This is a preliminary work. I'd love some comments. Stunting And You These are rules for slightly more structured combat stunts, offering a little guideline beyond what's in the DMG. I use the DCs from the revised table on page 42, but add +2 for weapon DCs and +5 for skill DCs. Overview...
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    I said "No" when I should have said "Yes".

    "Sure! But I kinda want to keep treasure parity, so any poison you 'harvest' is going to be accounted for when I'm populating the loot pile, and I'll make sure and let the other players know what your poison is worth. In the interest of fairness, of course."
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    Well, you're welcome to that opinion, but I don't think it'll serve you very well. The rules of a game are intended to help humans resolve conflicts. This means they have to: - address common conflicts, which is why 4E worries more about combat rules than about skill challenges. The specifics...
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    Profession/Crafting skills: Why?

    And how many people don't max perform? How many people don't create +perform and +cha enchanted gear? In short, are you actually having a competition or does everyone simply max out their skills to the point that it's just a coin flip? I actually really like the idea of having a performing...
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    And how many table lookups does that take? How much time? Per attack? Per encounter? And is it really likely to produce better results than "here are four options for a little flair on basic attacks, pick two, you can swap later"? My initial bets: "Too many", and "no".
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    Profession/Crafting skills: Why?

    Great system. One question: do these have a governing attribute or are they just whatever seems applicable?
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    Some might view two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun, as a necessary element of an rpg. And they'd be wrong, because that's a freakin' Big Mac. You can't just say "oh, everyone's entitled to their own definition" because yardley zorp...
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    So What is a Roleplaying Game? Forked Thread: Clark Peterson on 4E

    "Okay, so now take off the armor absorption modifier... modifier... modifier... rrr, table table table ah! There it is. Divide this into... number's smudged. Ah well, go through the damage calculation again... "There we are! Now for the - wait, these two numbers don't even look alike. One more...
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    Cadfan's Comments on Everything 4e

    Yes it does! And that interpretation is that the difference between, say, a swordmage who only wields a bastard sword and a swordmage who only wields a fullblade is that the bastard swordmage can swap between a one-handed grip and a two-handed grip as a free action, so that at any point he can...
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    Mundane vs. Fantastical

    I just wrote a message on a slate in my hands and as I wrote it it appeared across the room on a panel in inch-high letters that didn't resemble my handwriting. Then I tapped the slate with my stylus and the message vanished, but now anyone can see it from anywhere in the world. This is a real...
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    History, Mythology, Art and RPGs

    I'll believe it when I see it. Also it has to accommodate a running battle with a demon-possessed crossbowman and a magma-spitting rock scorpion over a field of broken basalt and lava geysers, because I just did that last night at fourth freaking level and my players got a real kick out of it.
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    Flavour First vs Game First - a comparison

    Haha, wow. So sweet, so green, so naive. All games have rules. That's why they're games - there's a way to resolve disputes that doesn't involve arguing or beating the other party unconscious. Sure, I guess all rules could reside in the central rules depository, but then at the first sign of...
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    Is the Illusionist Dead?

    Aw. But a true magician should never reveal his secrets! Now you've ruined it! ...if anybody is honestly curious though, head to YouTube and search for "jumping gemini". You could probably go through a whole deck with that, a few cards at a time. Just remember, practice.
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