Search results

  1. G

    Was AD&D1 designed for game balance?

    "eighth level" is just a number picked out of a hat. The point is (simplified), if one class is designed to start weak and become rapidly stronger and another class is designed to start relatively strong and advance slower, then the basic balance is that the first class does well at high...
  2. G

    Was AD&D1 designed for game balance?

    Indeed. Because starting characters above first level is something that never comes up ever and is a wild, crazy idea. New players never join experienced parties, after all. Characters never die and are replaced. Players never get bored of characters and want new ones. No, thats all crazy...
  3. G

    Was AD&D1 designed for game balance?

    I'd argue the opposite, really. Take 1e Wizards, as a simple example. The balance in them is that they are weak at low levels and strong at high levels, so the balance emerges as its rare for a Wizard to reach high levels. If you are starting your game with characters at 8th level, then...
  4. G

    The importance of non combat rules in a RPG.

    I'm not sure there does beyond "Is this meant to be played as an RPG?" Consider the original Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader - its clearly a tabletop wargame, right? The default described mode of play is one. But there are a suprising number of typical roleplaying game trappings attached to it...
  5. G

    Was AD&D1 designed for game balance?

    Ludicrious hyperbole isn't really making your point. The above is as reasonable as saying that a situation thats addressed by a skill challenge in 4e was covered by playing Mother-May-I in 1e. Lets take the example of avoiding bandits on the way back from Castle Greyhawk. In both cases the...
  6. G

    Siloing: Good or Bad?

    I'd say that siloing (defined as picking elements in limited numbers from different menu's with no overlap) is certainly a good thing. The thing with combat in this context is that it is a contagious trump. Once you start swinging everything else comes to a halt until thats resolved. You...
  7. G

    Describe your campaign in 10 words or less

    Currently Lunatic misfits kill things, take stuff, save the world Though I imagine that kind of describes a lot of campaigns.
  8. G

    Why was morale removed from the game?

    Theres another factor here if you are going for a realism arguement - the change in length of the combat rounds. With a 1 minute round, you have a chance to assess the situation, see the flow of the combat and how it's turning for/against you. With a 6 second combat round, a large number of...
  9. G

    Love it or hate it, 3e style

    Its a quote of an old and famous RPG.net post.
  10. G

    Why I'm done with 4e

    Yeah, something like that would make a fine Unearthed Arcana or Iron Heros style book. Comparing my Exalted 2e core and 4e PHB here, the "how to roleplay" and "how to design and characterise your character" advice in 4e is remarkably more substantial than that in the Exalted book, which is...
  11. G

    WFRP3e: Dice mechanics

    I agree, symbols on dice could be really good, depending on how clear they turn out. I'm thinking the old Blood Bowl block dice, its a randomiser and chart lookup in one!
  12. G

    Why I'm done with 4e

    I agree, its a difficult ground to find. One balancing area could be that powers generally do damage *and* effect while you could rule that stunts just to damage *or* effect. Or that they require limited terrain resources to pull off (tapestrys and so forth). Theres problems with these...
  13. G

    Why I'm done with 4e

    I don't think that theres anyone that will deny that there aren't any similarities between 4e and WoW, but I think people are often suprised/confused by the examples chosen. For example, you mention suprise/perception and treasure. The rules for suprise/perception are almost identical...
  14. G

    On the marketing of 4E

    I have to say, its morbidly facinating. Most bizzare place I found it was on the WoW forums where almost the exact same arguement can be found on threads demanding "Vanilla" servers.
  15. G

    On the marketing of 4E

    Its entirely possible that theres another, worse, article thats somewhere else, a blog perhaps. You may be more justified than you think :) The issue is that the developers have come out and said that its still largely about the common man and that ratcatchers (and their small, but vicious...
  16. G

    On the marketing of 4E

    I don't think he's saying that peoples playstyles and preferences are bad there - he's saying that 3e's multiclassing system heavily informed the process of class design. Specifically, the frontloading of features into the first level of a class. You can see the results of this in the move...
  17. G

    On the marketing of 4E

    I think that's Hussar/Fifth Element's point. Perhaps, at the time, you did find that article offensive - that it mentions the one detail of content (slimes not dropping treasure) that you remember suggests that it may well be the article you were thinking of. Reading again in retrospect can...
  18. G

    On the marketing of 4E

    This is probably the article you are thinking of Imban: 4th Edition Excerpts: Economy & Reward Note he doesn't say anything about fun, or that the 3e version was un-fun, just that randomly generated treasure makes it difficult to match the expected wealth-by-level and attempting to do so...
  19. G

    4e characters vs 3e characters. In Combat!

    4e ones more powerful? Given that the 3e ones have access to save-or-dies, superior divination and mobility, miss chances and vastly stronger buffs if you were to match a mid level party of 3e characters against an equivilent 4e party they would probably annihilate them in one or two rounds...
Top