Search results

The easiest solution is for the GM to just be forthcoming with the DC before the player decides the character attempts the action. Many people are opposed to this, but I think that is a mistake. If I want to leap across a 20-foot chasm and the GM is describing the wind slick ice that has formed...

pemerton There are a lot of ways to do siloing in the game with a lot of different emphases. Siloing does not have to lead to the disparity you suggest nor does siloing necessarily have to be oppositional in nature. There are lots of ways to silo and if you silo well, it doesn't necessarily...

I find some of the advice in this thread to be passive aggressive approaches to solving the problem. They might work, but they might also reinforce the paranoid player's fears since it was probably passive aggressive hints in the past that made them so cautious. I'd go a very different route...

Thanks. I think most of the newer posts are simple ideas that people could tailor their own way for many editions of D&D. Lots of good comments on how different folks would tailor in different directions. I never realized the connection (despite there not being one) between Crazy Jerome and CJ...

A new post about a simple change to resting and healing and the attendant benefits it brings to the game. It is a variant that could be brought into any system (the sample used is 4e) with basically no conversion work.

Can't give XP, but this comment channels H.L. Mencken very well.

(1) Larger sets like you mentioned in post 3. The downside is that a larger set costs more money. A set of 20 undead, even with duplicates of certain minis, is going to be hard pressed to be under $50 ($2.5 per mini) and that is a high price point. (2) Only make the awesome minis. A set of only...

Whenever the WotC vs. Paizo debate comes up people seem to take for granted that WotC tarnished its goodwill while Paizo continues to dedicate resources to develop and maintain theirs. Yet, in the next breath, they wonder why reactions to the two companies differ. As someone not in either camp...

Yeah. Using the $275 case price up thread and putting a large mini at 1.5x a medium mini (i.e. the ratio of $4 to $6) you get a unit price of $3.35 per medium mini even if you buy a case ($275 / 82 (64 standard; 12 large = 18 standard)).

I actually prefer random overall because it ensures a higher quality average product. Companies aren't randomizing to try and trick you into collecting them all, it is something they are forced into due to realities of inventory management. If they produced 20 miniatures (one mini being a red...

I responded 'no' because my goal while gaming is to have fun with friends, not create something of artistic value. However, D&D is the way in which I artistically express myself.

I did some mini-research on this in designing my game and had a few key findings. An extra die doesn't feel like much, but it is actually two additional numbers. Let's say you roll 4 on d8 for an expression of d8+2. There are actually three steps: (1) recognizing the result of 4, (2) recalling...

In general I'd say not that epic and for two reasons. First, I derive a lot of RP potential out of immersion. It is hard enough being an elf that tosses fireballs, if we also lose the idea of being bothered by things like the space time continuum I find it even harder to relate. I also enjoy...

I see your point but if we are looking at the probability of hitting a target DC over, say, infinite rolls, a bonus of 2d6 or +7 really are indistinguishable because all we are doing is measuring the number of times the total result surpassed some benchmark. Thanks for the props. With regards...

I get lazy and so often just tell Excel to run 50,000 trials of something and report the results. The "take the higher of 2d10 and subtract d10" averages to +1.6. The "subtract the lower of 2d10 from 1d10" averages to +1.6. They are identical and equivalent to an ability score boost of +1.6.

There was a spell that allowed you to duplicate any liquid you had a sample of. In some published module was a 200 year old cask of dwarven ale worth 50 gp and my low level wizard immediately realized the value. I took a sample to a brewing guild and threatened to flood the market unless I got a...

I turned a corner on my game design and my intentions for the blog. More interesting, though, is this idea for shifting some powers off the character sheet and unlocking them during combat.

If I were to interpret this into a general principle I might say something like, "Proficiency in an area of the game results in more tools to overcome the challenge instead of making the challenge easier." Even more succinct could be, "Proficiency breeds breadth, not depth, of ability." In my...

I agree that he is wrong, but I think you are wronger.

My friend group had one guy through which all our new fads were introduced. He had a set of "really cool" cousins that he visited each year and so upon his return he came with new ideas. He came back one year with D&D and presented it so awfully that we wondered how it would ever compare to the...