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The general idea is great. The only part I don't like is the time period you fast-forward through. 20000 years is extremely long. It's hard to even imagine what could happen in such a long time - the world would bear no discernible traces of what players did in the beginning. I suggest...

I'm looking for a few different things, a few different games. I don't believe it's possible to make a game that would be useful for varied genres and settings; it's much better to focus and do one thing really good. I am currently looking for three types of fantasy games, or good ideas about...

I don't like the wishlist approach. It's halfway between two styles of gaming I'd accept and fits neither. One approach I like is the full-simulationist route. No wishlist. No "what I think may be useful for PCs in next adventure". No random loot. Use whatever loot fits the place where it is...

I have several preferences concerning magic in fantastic worlds I play in. I'll list them in order of importance. 1. I respect Sanderson's First Law. For this reason, I need my magic to have clear boundaries. What can be done with it and what cannot? What is the reason of these limitations? If...

I suffered a burnout once and changing systems definitely helped. But it was a drastic change. I burned out running a D&D campaign and after that switched to indie-style games: Polaris, Dogs in the Vineyard, 3:16. Totally different playstyle, different goals, different structure, much less...

There are RPGs that have no combat mechanics at all. See: Nicotine Girls. There are RPGs that treat combat as any other kind of conflict. See: In a Wicked Age, Dogs in the Vineyard. There are RPGs that have combat mechanics, but it is there to actively discourage resorting to violence. See: Call...

There are several things done really well in 4E, IMO. I see them as definite improvements in game design over previous editions. - Consistent, effect-based mechanics. The system represents what is done and how successful; methods left to description. - Consistent agenda. 4E is about tactical...

I like character building. And by character building I mean both fluff (background, personality, relations, goals) and mechanics. It is especially fun if they tie strongly together (traits in DitV, aspects in Fate, motivation and intimacies in Exalted), instead of being separate layers. What I...

Any system that classifies characters into a few categories and presents it as a moral dimension is likely to create problems. If you want a tool that will help roleplaying, not something to just divide between allies and enemies, it's much better to use a more personalized approach, one that...

I voted other. It doesn't matter if I'm the GM, the dying character's player or another player. A PC death is most unpleasant if the character is taken from a middle of an arc, with many plots unresolved, when it disrupts the flow of the story being created. I had many characters that died and...

I answered "maybe". It depends on what kind of "evil" and "mature" topics the author wants to address and how well is the book written. What I'd like to read about: - A consistent description of what "evil" means in the context of given setting and what it does not. Modern ethics are completely...

I don't accept everything what is possible in the game mechanics as believable and possible in the game world. The rules are not the laws that rule the setting - they are simplified to be usable at a game table. Like every simplification or abstraction, it creates some edge cases that are...

Flexibility, the greates strength of the point-buy systems, is also their greatest weakness. Character creation does not direct the player anywhere. With no clear concept, a player either picks things at random or tries a lot of different combinations - both take awfuly lot of time and create...

It is totally dependent on the game. In some, the characters are completely ordinary in terms of abilities, and maybe a little strange in terms of interests, placed in a very extraordinary situation (Call of Cthulhu). In others, they are, from the beginning, more powerful than a mortal can...

I'd add one think to the topic of believability. There are two kinds of believability, two ways in which it can be achieved. They come from two different ways in which we may perceive and analyze a fictional world: as a world, ruled by its internal laws, and as a work of fiction, ruled by laws...

Isn't the few rounds' time that the party gives you by running somewhere a perfect time for the BBEG to talk with the paladin? Even better, this conversation may be played one on one with the player, without the rest knowing what was said. I'd use some kind of a "black knight" as an enemy...

Complexity, for me, is a measure of structure. Complex systems have correlations (and, thus, predictability) on higher level then the laws that rule them. Simple systems are either random or trivially (locally) predictable. This approach may be used in both the mathematical aspect of the game...

Definitely no. If one game is too dominant, it becomes hard to find players for more niche ones. It also biases how people (both players and non-players) see and judge RPGs, and what play styles are preferred. I love diversity. I'd like the RPG market to have around 4-5 big games (games that a...

I voted "cut them both", but I wouldn't cut both at the same time. I play D&D as either high fantasy or a theater of strangeness. In high fantasy, elves are completely fine. They are a part of tolkienesque classics. Psionisc is completely out of genre (I even perceive the divide between divine...

Cor Malek hit the nail on the head. If the only stake of a combat is if PCs die or not, it's impossible to make the fight challenging without risking knocking them out or killing them. The range of difficulty where the fights are meaningful (may be lost) but characters don't die every other...