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Sandbore sums it up nicely. Consider it nicked as a term. I think it could apply equally to "nothing really there or prepped" and "nice stable little self-contained worlds" full of nothing but happy villagers who have come to trade arrangements with the orcs living in the mountains. The latter...

I've definitely experienced negative styles of "sandbox" play, where the game world was uninteresting so players start to instigate petty crimes, often escalating to full on conflict with the alleged "good guys". I'm not sure if DMs that touted this kind of laissez-faire "so boring, we...

I run 4E, and the group as a whole are fans of the game. For us, with 8th level PCs, an at-level encounter takes ~2 hours, and a bigger L+2 or L+3 can take 3-4 hours. We play evening sessions, and typically get one battle done in a session. If it's a big one, then that's the focus of the...

I thought these were the two most familiar derogatory terms for unwanted DM styles? The terms "railroad" and "sandbox" hadn't really been outed, but were definitely being explored IME.

First class not special would need to weaken low levels of all classes, making first level starting point less standard/expected. If necessary to match feature list of current 1st level characters, you may need to start with e.g. 3 or 4 levels to build a character with enough class features to...

The pubished playtest rule is actually clear on that: Non-damaging effects of an attack are not parried, even if damage is reduced to 0. I think this may be a balance issue. Monster attacks with special effects generally have reduced damage compared to similar level monsters with no such...

They do, but there is some underlying science. Probably most importantly, they don't try to link your personality to anything else but . . . your personality. A lot of it is just bleedingly obvious self-consistency: MB question: "Do you prefer to plan, or are you spontaneous?" Answer: "I...

Well, it would be an interesting survey, if possible! Whenever I have met large numbers of gamers (such as at a Con or LARP event), I am struck though by how varied a bunch we are. So I fully expect there to be XSFJ and XNFJ dungeon masters and players out there. I imagine them to be into (and...

I don't see a split between all the options, so much as wanting to see choice for players. The more of it that the designers can get to work, and work together, the more fun we can have building characters mechanically for whatever reason (match or create a concept, exploring possibilities...

I would say I have made a similar journey. I have definitely loosened control on the game, and handed it to players, over time. I found the results very satisfying as a whole. But I wonder if I'm just constructing a narrative to match yours, and others seen in the forums? How much of the...

I think there's a lot of emotional loading in the word "broken". A published game, not necessarily an RPG, could be "broken" in the sense that the published rules are incomplete or do not work *at all* - e.g. a card game where you need 20 victory points to win, but there are only 17 possible...

I'm not sure about "modeling a character". However, when I play 3E, I usually genuinely don't know what I will take a level in until I do it. I know ballpark, due to character background and stats, and sometimes I might look in advance at the upcoming options. It's one of the fun choices that...

I can share a book at the table, too. This just needs two angles: 1) Take into account with pricing/marketing I.e. no DRM $$$ signs in the eyes as they assume *all* players must use the service individually. 2) Monitor account use for sharing patterns. An account that gets logged into from 3...

"React" is not quite same as "led by" Although I tend to see the whole thing as a negotiation, which starts before you decide the system, and is ongoing into the game. My take on this is that pemerton is quite happy to see rules such as "Spend 3 points on social standing, equals you are a...

Agreed. However, in a future iteration of these rules, I'd like to see "Shield Block" as a separate fighter ability, and for it to be better than Parry, so my sword-and-board fighter has something to feel good about :)

That is I think a parallel related issue. I expect DM discretion to occur at some point, but not when a simple character ability is being used to do something it is intended to do. I think it is reasonable for each classes' main schtick to be well enough defined that it isn't subject to frequent...

A D20 check models exciting, random, combat-like things ok. Where speed is of the essence, and/or anyone could get lucky, or there is lots of distraction. I would advise not using it for many other situations. For instance, in an arm-wresting competition, an 18 strength should beat a 16...

I'm fine with that as a guiding principle to keep the rules light. Especially for events that crop up rarely. But a core ability that can be used at will, and interacts with "attacks". Well, I will want to know what an "attack" is, because this will crop up in play a lot. And I'm probably not...

That was one of the interesting things - due to the break between "magic attack" and "make a save" spells, parry as worded right now won't affect Fireball. Of course the wording may well get altered or tightened up. It could well make sense once that is done, that basic parry is a melee weapon...

When it comes to relative numbers having certain opinions of the games, we're in no-mans-land statistically. I doubt there are real-world numbers anywhere for 5 min work-days, CoDzilla, or disliking fighter dailies. This lack of clarity is one of the feeders for edition wars, and much forum...