Search results

I have never liked the prepared spell method, simply because I think it limits game options too much. Players tend to min-max it and have lots of combat spells prepared, never really using their neat or interesting spells. This tends to make spellcasters kind of repetitive. I also don't like the...

When I look at the original ad, there is a visual problem that bothers me. The large heading above and below the full-width color image at the top divides the eye too much. It doesn't flow well and detracts from the ad overall. TheRedRobedWizard has solved this in the supplied revision. You...

Which is something that DMs need to do more of if they want to get characters out of the "two combats and then we go sleep" sort of mentality. My players know that if they retreat and leave to go rest, the bad guys are going to react somehow. Sometimes, this will involved hunting down the PCs...

Really, which of the two games you want to buy depends on what sort of game you're looking for. Runebound and Descent really are very different games. Runebound is basically an everybody for themselves run around the board trying to kill some monsters, steal their stuff, and be the first one...

The book, "Magical Medieval Society: Silk Road" has extensive information on various trade goods and has a lot of information on how those goods get to market, which might help you if what you're looking for is trying to design your own market system for a campaign world. It has a huge list of...

Before reading this thread, I would not have thought of hit points as an encounter-based resources. Now, though, I can see the point that the really could be considered such. At low levels, I find hit points to be a resources that determines when the day is over. Once the party can't heal...

I am afraid that in this case, where you are a visiting player in someone else's game, you either have to suck it up and play on or you have to get up and leave. It all depends on how much it bothers you. (Obviously, you chose to keep playing in order to see your friends.) It's their group...

That may be a little harder than last time. It seems like in at least the PDF market, the consumer is a little more savvy. People pay attention to reviews, sites talk about the products, and the names of really bad products seem to get around. (At least in my experience.) Based partially on my...

Using 400 level 1 fighters is easy. Round 1 for the Party: Of the 400 fighters, 20 hit on the natural 20, so do 20d6 damage from the arrows they fire. Of course, if the monster has DR, you can just ignore that. Round 1 for the Monsters: Roll 1d6 per monster. That many fighters die. (Or roll...

My interpretation of this is that Robin Laws is talking about the number of d20 publishers present in the "Commons". Sound less like he's talking about publishers and more talking about publishers not showing up to GenCon. I know of several publishers have said they weren't going to be at GenCon...

I Require Character Histories In my games, I require character histories. Anyone who doesn't provide one doesn't get to use their backstory to effect the game world and they don't get to just make up something on the spur of the moment to suit some adventure. Most of the histories I get are...

While an excellent series of books, I think that there is quite a bit of subject material in the "Warriors of the Flame" series of books that is too mature for younger viewers ... at least to mature for what I'd want them watching. In general, I believe that the story would need to stay as far...

My bane is the uber-tweaked character in a party of less optimally designed PCs. One of the hardest things I ever had to balance was a particular PC monk. The player was strong on the rules, has an analytical mind, and tweaked the heck out of the character to make him as optimal as possible...

I believe this site is the link you are looking for.

You don't know the handshake? You must have missed that meeting. ;)

I use the one at Serendipity sometimes. Unfortunately, I haven't found any really good generators that will generate random art objects. Sure, there are dozens that replicate the basic sort of tables from the DMG, but there is little variety in most of their results. I am hoping someone will...

I have to vote for "other" as well. I would like the hundred of maps. I love maps. I don't care about number crunch for NPCs. Give me a few paragraphs of fluff, including a few hooks and memorable bits about the character. I don't really care about crunch because I'm rarely going to use it...

When I was in college, we played in a classroom because we were an official club. (Chess and Gaming Club. We even played chess once.) We tended to run much later than most clubs and we were generally louder. One evening, a group of security officers walk into the room. Everyone goes dead quiet...

The Scariest Player I Ever Had I am putting this in a separate post because it really deserves its own. Maybe someone else can learn something from the problem our group had. About a decade ago, we had a player in a game who was ... well, crazy. None of us realized just how crazy until at...

I too agree that talking to the person and giving them some honesty is a really good idea. "Restart in secret" is just cheesy. It's a horrible cop-out. If you don't like gaming with the person, let them know. If no one ever tells they WHY they don't want to game with them, they have no real hope...