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This is not adlibbing. Adlibbing is saying, "The fighter attacks you with a mighty whirlwind strike!" and saying, "To hell with whether he should have 7 or 5 or 40,000 feats." If your players like adventure, they'll love it. If they're wargaming, meta-gaming, rules-lawyers, they'll hate...

But you're missing the point. The entire scenario you just detailed *isn't* adlibbed.

My wife just finished her first ever session of D&D. It was version 3.0, set in Greyhawk, and her character, which I pregened for her, was a 2nd level human fighter. It was a short session, about 1 1/2 hours, and in the session she rescued a halfling rogue/sorcerer from a cage some orcs had...

I'm sure this applies to at least *some* of the other stories in this thread... ;)

And not only that, but the 50-point MDT threshold for D&D characters ensures that even if a Modern character unloads with an AK-47, the D&D characters will just soak the damage and laugh, before burning the Modern putz to a crisp with a fireball.

GURPS is horrifically rules-heavy, and the new 4th edition doesn't make that any better. GURPS is the only game system I've ever seen where you calculate the amount of weight your character can lift over his head in one second using his left hand. Brrrrr.... I'd use either D20 Modern or the...

And now the "Should DMs make certain skill checks in secret or not?" threadjack begins. [POP] That was the sound of another can o'worms opening up... :D :D :D :D

I've started another thread dealing with this issue. Feel free to check it out! My short answer to your question is that social skills and physical skills are not analogous. Social skills are what RPGs involve doing, sitting around a table, talking, planning, figuring things out. Physical...

Excellent. This is probably the best way to handle it, but I agree with Merak (I think it was Merak who said this) that puzzles as a whole only work if the players want them in the game. Hmmm...to use a video game analogy, it's kind of like the difference between the Resident Evil/Silent Hill...

Here's an interesting question that came up in our thread on Take 10/Take 20. Rather than threadjack, I thought I'd start a new thread here. The example we were discussing was Gandalf standing outside the door/gate/whaddever to Moria and not knowing how to open the door. Frodo figures out...

Li, I agree with you completely. But just for the record, I must state that in my own campaigns, I wouldn't allow players to solve a riddle just because their *characters* make an intelligence check. ;)

But can't some linnorms fly? I don't have my MM2 in front of me but I seem to recall some blurb about how "flying linnorms can use breath weapon in same round blah blah..."

Not really. The 1st example is closer to an Intuit Direction/Wilderness Lore check (or what you 3.5 types call "Survival"). The second is closer to a straight Intelligence check. Knowledge, in D&D terms, is something you either know or don't know. "Figuring something out"--which is what both...

One point of grappling in D&D is the same point of doing it in real life: you make it more difficult for your opponent to hit you. He's too busy struggling with your grapple to get a clean shot at you (in D&D terms, he has to make opposed grapple checks rather than just attack you). I would...

That's the point, though...a person who is capable of multiple attacks *should* be capable of bitch-slapping you before you can get a shot in return. The mechanic from 1e/2e in which characters with multiple attacks had to wait to make their subsequent attacks in the round was gentler, yet made...

This seems wrong to me somehow...it seems like you're suggesting that a *less thorough* search (take 10) would find something that a *more thorough* search (take 20) would fail to detect.

I'm a big fan of the Linnorm (sp?) from Monster Manual 2, those ancient, sinister, slithery dragon-cousins that that have two front legs and a long, serpentine body. Two questions: 1. Have any of you used a linnorm (as a DM) or encountered one (as a player)? Tell us about it. 2. Were linnorms...

I agree with your premise, that PCs should *not* be allowed to influence other PCs through Bluff, etc. checks. But your example shows a misunderstanding of the Diplomacy skill...it isn't a "mind control" skill. I've had plenty of players who thought otherwise, of course. "I'll use Diplomacy...

How about vampire dragons?

Gentlemen: Thank-you for your input thus far. Awesome answers! I especially appreciated the Sean Reynolds link. Interesting, though, that Reynolds thinks one can take 20 on a Heal check: "Heal: First aid: Yes, because there is no penalty for failure (the character is already losing hit...