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  1. Composer99

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Tiamat has two rounds left.
  2. Composer99

    RPGing and imagination: a fundamental point

    I don't really perceive @pemerton's original post privileging any particular style of playing a roleplaying game. Indeed, it mostly seems (to me at any rate) to assert the rather non-controversial point that what distinguishes tabletop RPGs from other kinds of game (most notably board games or...
  3. Composer99

    D&D 4E 4e-like game (title TBD)

    The work progresses. While I'm working on the equipment rules, I've been poring over 4e books and the new PF2e remaster books for inspiration. By happenstance, I noticed PF2e has equipment entries for assistive devices (wheelchairs, crutches, etc.). That's inspiration! I've added some such...
  4. Composer99

    A thought about Social Mechanics

    It seems to me that part of the premise in the OP involves imputing the generation of fiction to the die roll where it does not exist. E.g. in D&D, an attack roll actually generates only so much fiction: (1) natural 1 or total < AC means the attack misses (2) total >= AC means the attack hits...
  5. Composer99

    OSR publishers converting their own content

    I could see it for retro-clone games versus 5e-likes such as Shadowdark - the mechanics are not broadly compatible. But I don't think converting adventures is especially difficult, and I suspect that there's not enough money on the table to make it worth it converting anything else, unlike...
  6. Composer99

    D&D 4E Let's Talk About 4E On Its Own Terms [+]

    Apropos of long combats, we just had one that went on for ten hours and two-and-a-half game sessions. I wouldn't say anyone's turns took especially long, since we're in lower paragon (and I suspect that we're not especially optimised for interrupts outside of our battlemind) but there were a lot...
  7. Composer99

    D&D 4E Let's Talk About 4E On Its Own Terms [+]

    I've been playing it weekly for quite a while now. Been enjoying myself. I do find the power blocks visually tiring to read when you're looking at dozens of them in a two-page spread, although I do like how they emphasize ease of use. Same thing with the streamlined areas of effect.
  8. Composer99

    D&D 4E 4e-like game (title TBD)

    The work progresses. I'm currently systemically revising the rules of gameplay. The Tome of Rules is basically going to be divided into four parts: Rules of Play - The actual rules for playing the game. If I get the layout correct, these will run from most basic/foundational to most...
  9. Composer99

    D&D General Jaquaying the dungeon - a term to avoid

    Upon reflection, I'm wondering if a specific term is really needed. If, say, a list of some or all "Jacquays" items appeared in the DMG, would there be a specific term of art? I wouldn't think so. In fact, the DMG has a list of ways to complexify a dungeon on page 102 that includes at least...
  10. Composer99

    D&D General "Effect as per the spell"

    @Reynard Unquestionably yes you do, if you want the spell to preserve the broader scope of effects of the 5e spell. It's all well and good if "Reynard's teleport" doesn't affect objects, doesn't require the destination be known to the caster, or has a binary pass/fail "you get where you...
  11. Composer99

    D&D General "Effect as per the spell"

    Apropos of overlong spell descriptions, teleport starts at the bottom quarter of the left-side column on page 281, takes up the entire right-side column on the next page, and then leaves two orphan lines of text atop page 282! Surely there could have been an editing pass to get the spell's...
  12. Composer99

    How much math should RPGs require?

    I suspect the closest you can get to an "objective" answer is an amount of math that neither falls short of whatever amount you believe to be the minimum required for your system nor exceeds of the maximum your intended player base is prepared to tolerate during their leisure time activities.
  13. Composer99

    D&D General Jaquaying the dungeon - a term to avoid

    Yeah, I can't blame the person who coined the term and codified its meaning for feeling like he has enough "ownership" of it (as it were) to use a derivative of his own name when renaming the term. That stated, I'm inclined to agree that a verb that isn't based on someone's name at all is a...
  14. Composer99

    D&D General D&D is a Team Sport. What are the positions?

    Granting that language is always an evolving thing, there is pretty obviously a difference between "war" and "battle" as the terms are usually used today, such that the two are fundamentally not alike. It's not clear to me what you expect to gain from using words in a manner that does not...
  15. Composer99

    Level Up (A5E) Doubleshot is erroneously labeled as an action on A5E Tools

    Is there an errata I'm not aware of? My Adventurer's Guide shows doubleshot is a bonus action.
  16. Composer99

    D&D General The Evolution of the Monster Stat Block

    I'd just been thinking that the Dolmenwood blocks were a good compromise between old-style and modern stat blocks.
  17. Composer99

    D&D General The Evolution of the Monster Stat Block

    I myself prefer the 4e/5e self-contained stat blocks; with 5e getting the edge for readability. I do like the copious 2e lore, although not as much as I used to. I can see why folks prefer the older versions, though. The bigger self-contained blocks take up a lot of space on the page!
  18. Composer99

    D&D 5E (2014) You Cant Fix The Class Imbalances IMHO

    I'm not really speaking to effectiveness in and of itself - rather, inter-class balance. (And, to be sure, I do think a better-balanced D&D would be a better-designed D&D, as per my remarks on another thread discussing a related topic.) Contrary to your paraphrase ("players really don't care at...
  19. Composer99

    D&D 5E (2014) Tier Benchmarks in a Level-less 5E

    You might look at ICON playtest rules for how they organise "these are the kinds of things your characters are capable of" by "Chapter" (that game's rough equivalent to the D&D 5e "tier"). Might have some inspiration there for benchmarking.
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