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I’m on the fence about this. A gamemaster is not there to guide or direct the players’ acting, so in that sense GM and (movie) directors are very different. But otherwise, framing the action, choosing how NPCs are introduced, choosing how locations and people are described to set an ambiance...

Indeed that seems young... IIRC, as a comparison, a real-life medieval boy could become a page (learning the basics of combat and knighthood) at the age of 7-8 and a squire around 14-15. But even then, a squire was still a few years short of being considered a fully-trained warrior. DL is 1)...

For me, a tactical RPG is one that offers multiple approaches to the same problem, and that depending on the circumstances around that problem, some approaches are more likely to succeed than others. So for a RPG to be tactical... 1) it needs to offer multiple approaches to a single situation...

In the end, I plan not to buy the new edition because: I don't need it. Funny; when I was younger, I was hungry for lots of crunch and bored with lack of options. Now having lots of options bore me out to sleep and find myself hungry for tighter designs. From what I've seen, D&D 2024's...

My experience is that most GM ask for too many rolls, mostly because we’re used to the « roll if the outcome is uncertain and there’s a significant consequence for failure », which is too much for Alien RPG.

Free League has been using KS for most of their products in the last few years. I think it helps them gauge enthusiasm and the scope that they should aim for (with stretch goals and whatnot). And it is a way for them to make their dedicated fans feel privileged with early access and launch...

« Not fair! The BBEG didn’t even count to 10! »

my first RPG character was a Rolemaster high-warior-monk. While I knew of D&D before I played Rolemaster, D&D was my second RPG (but my first real campaign). Besides a few forays with Rolemaster, my second real campaign was a WEG Star Wars game. Later in college we played all kinds of games...

Nothing wrong, but they’ve seem to have changed their rules for their Blade Runner game. Perhaps they intend on changing their series to those rules? As for the current rules, my only gripe is that panic tend to get out of hand too fast. Or perhaps we don’t play it properly… but there’s a point...

yes, hence the "striking a balance between 'diplo-mancy' and 'just award a bonus to good role-play" comment after. It may have been in a following post though... Not all of us can talk themselves out of a wet paper bag. Heck, most DMs cannot outwit their glibbest player. Nevertheless, most R-P...

I agree with you there. Nor would a social system need to be used as soon as someone opens their mouth! Though to be frank, I’ve seen many compelling combat system but very few social system that I liked. It’s hard to strike a balance between « diplomancy » and « just award bonus for good role...

Yeah, I agree with you here. People can make their own fun in all kinds of aspects of a role-playing game but in D&D, there’s no fun interacting with the system outside combat. Coming back to my sport analogy, combat is the only sport D&D has to offer…

Good point However, i for one know that there’s a point where a game reaches my CPU limit and starts getting glitchy. For me D&D combat is borderline too heavy already and I don’t think I could stomach equally heavy social encounter systems, overland travel system, infiltration system etc. But...

Intrusion situations could get a similar treatment but they lack an opposition. You could set traps and security systems as enemies but frankly, monsters are way more versatile. As for social encounters, ‘social combat’ starts with the big disadvantage that D&D, as a role playing game, is...

Moral implications aside, combat is fun because it’s a dynamic challenge that (particularly in D&D but in many other RPGs as well) is broken down to a very fine level of details. No other situation in life requires such a fine level of micro-observations, where scenes need to be decomposed and...

I don't use a screen. I could say that I don't like how it puts a barrier between me and my players, or else that I like the thrill of rolling in the open, or that my players could see all the important information from my notes but who would i be kidding? I prepare my games on my off days and...

After a few intense months at work, I'm back at polishing my Star Wars hack of TOR. Things are progressing nicely; a few chapters still need to be written (mainly everything about space combat) but the base game is pretty solid now. A few things got adjusted after a few months of playtesting...

True. Still, I preferred when D&D put up its own parties rather than catching up with others’. It’s a though position to be in; move on with the times or preserve your own identity. Ditching half-elves is coherent with their (apparent) orientation and modern RPG trends, but I still don’t like it.

I think that’s the intent. I kinda like it. You can play your turn before the (fast) enemies, but it will ‘cost’ you one action to do so. With three actions you might be able to move further before attacking (since move can be taken more than once) but all the fast enemies will be playing their...

Well, they’re not called Fighters of the Coast…