Search results

I'm not a 4e player, but this does sound interesting. However, it really only addresses a tactical combat situation. I think using "falling action' in relation to the larger story arc is quite problematic at best. In other words, on a larger plot level, "Falling action" would dictate that the...

Excellent stuff!!!!!

With all the discussion of railroading lately, I thought I'd start a thread specifically on "plot" in RPGs. It is something I have thinking a lot about lately, and I am a strong advocate of plot, even to the point of DM fiat over certain elements of the game. To that end, I've created my first...

I think you are asking the question backwards. The "good" society is just simply "society". There are good, bad, and borderline within it. The real question is, what makes evil, evil? What makes something like kobolds, goblins, orcs, etc... evil? Im my campaign it is simple. They feast on the...

Seeing how Roark blows up a building in The Fountainhead in a hissy fit of selfish indulgence, and he is a paragon of Randian objectivist behavior, I'd say chaotic neutral at best.

I think there are too few abilities, rather than too many. Dexterity and Agility, for instance, should be two different things. One to me refers to fine motor skills (lock picking, forging, and such), the other to athleticism.

I'm digging your style, both as DM and player. I think all DMs run games the way they would like a game to be run if they were playing. I started a 7 page post over at Dragon's foot defending what people call "railroading". Here's part of one of my posts: I don't believe such fudging is...

Added an index with links to posts. There is also a "search this blog" gadget about halfway down on the right, but it only works for older posts. It takes a while for data to enter the search stream. Shatterworld: Index

I see the elf landing in the classic Spiderman stance

A tumbling check would have been cool. He hits! The elf flies through the air... but...ooh....wait.... he tumbles... and lands on his feet!

This is what happens when RPGs get reduced to meta-data. A fighter finds a +1 magical sword. How does he know it is magical? How does he know it is +1? While an identify or some other :):):):):):):):) spell might indicate it is magical, it certainly should not reveal any meta-data about it. I...

Whale Killer! LOL... that's awesome!

IMO "Fluff" always trumps "crunch". The rules are there to quantify abstract ideas. If they don't apply to a specific situation, ditch them. As for the most absurd instance, I was playing in Tomb of Horrors. We had activated as I recall, a giant stone elephant that was hurdling down a ramp...

That's one reason I don't have an issue fudging die rolls during a game. I chose the monsters, how many, etc... If it spells doom for an entire party... I messed something up and don't have an problem correcting it during play.

How would you possibly know that if you hadn't played earlier versions of D&D, or at least had some of the source books? A bulette? WTF is that? The fun of reading a monster manual is finding out about the monster. Stats about the monster are secondary information, imo. I can always make up...

If it happen, it happens. I don't ever recall DMing one myself. I didn't even know what TPK was until a couple of days ago. I don't have monsters that take captives unless it was decided by me beforehand that that is what there goal was. Sometimes a TPK could result from players refusing to...

I can't take credit for this idea, but I forget who posted it. It was in reference to a mystery style game. For any clue, create three versions of it, in three different places. One might be the cryptic dying words of an opponent "Beware the Chamberlain!" Another might be a letter from the...

Yep. Use broad strokes and sketch as much as possible. Fill in detail only as required. Any campaign world played by different players should be virtually unrecognizable. Same goes for the players playing the same world twice from scratch.

This is a great example! I think the DM has two roles, one as director, and one as showrunner. DM as director doesn't care about long story arcs. The players have total control over events during a session, and can muck up any storyline. The DM as showrunner has to re-evaluate the campaign...

Mort, I think your instincts are great. A city map is not a city. A city has street vendors, sewers, shops, houses, etc... I think a question from a player like this is not only creative, it is totally reasonable. Often players pose questions to issues we have not even considered as DMs. If...