Search results

I'd like the moon to be survivable by the characters, so it should have some atmosphere. How could they get there in an appropriately magical way? Not moonstone, but the crystal from the temple! Why is it necessary for the characters to go to the moon? I'm sure the various factions will want...

Try requiring each PC to already know at least one of the others. Ask them how they know each other and how they feel about their prior interactions. Or heck, sometimes it's fun to have them all come from the same small village! "You've known each other your whole lives. What made you decide...

Hide in Shadows and Move Silently.

What is the crystal for? I like number 1. If the crystal could once again power a magical civilization, what are some new adventures that could arise? It really isn't necessary to keep reminding me that I can modify your suggestions, I know that already. What are some factions that might...

In the "Why oh why" thread, I commented that while ChatGPT doesn't currently seem able to run a game, it could really shine as a GM aid. I decided to give it a try by asking it to give me an adventure seed, and ended up creating the premise of an entire bizarre campaign world! I'll grant that...

To expand a bit on my previous post... I think the real potential for ChatGPT in gaming, right now at least, is not as a GM but as a GM aid. Things like, "Come up with a D&D 5e statblock for a CR 10 scorpion-like monster that guards treasure in the desert." "Give me an idea for a fantasy...

GURPS and Hero are actually the systems that helped convince me that giving build points back for disadvantages is a design flaw. The thing is, disadvantages don't actually have symmetry with advantages. A good disadvantage drives play! It puts the spotlight on your character! You almost ought...

Having played with it extensively, it's undeniably impressive... But no, I don't think it could run a game yet. Its responses come across as rather canned, and it has huge trouble staying consistent. I'll admit to being floored that it can write fairly competent poetry. Not great, by any means...

My recollection of those days is that the vast majority of players didn't play humans unless necessary as a class prerequisite. Multiclassing was just too good, and most campaigns didn't last long enough for level limits to matter. If you wanted something human-ish, you played a half-elf.

I'll give you the high-level monks and druids, I'd forgotten about them. In those cases, it does seem that IC levelling is an actual thing. A lot of groups back in the day straight-up ignored the level-training rules. I don't recall ever using them, though perhaps I'm misremembering. In any...

Things can be as evil as evil can be without needing a "Chaotic Evil" label on them? If alignment really means nothing more than "okay to kill without question", then why do PCs have alignments? Why do shopkeepers, who generally aren't okay to kill, even if they're evil? And if alignment is...

Running a campaign of a character and setting my group created long ago but never got around to playing. Because the character had been created in Mutants & Masterminds, I have a very clear idea of his capabilities, which helps guide me when asking questions and setting probabilities using...

At times the Internet does feel like being possessed by an alien infection!

In my interpretation, because that doesn't actually happen. Even on an extremely simulationist view of the game world, the rules are only a simplified model of what the world actually is. It has to be! I don't think D&D characters have any idea of their level. All they know is that they're...

So dramatic! Alas, Joe wasn't due on that corner until 2:15 PM, and the PC was running through at 2:05. Now little Joey will grow up to be an apple-seller like his dad and probably marry young Marta across the street. Their torrid romance will be the stuff of legends, but the PCs will...

I wouldn't be surprised if he knows their names, ages, and dreams for the future!

It just occurred to me that the NPC having a sheet with defined stunts on it is itself an example of a map and key. A group more thoroughly narrative than ours might not even bother with actual stats for NPCs.

Sure, I can see, "If the GM didn't say there was an apple cart, there isn't an apple cart." It's not how my group rolls, but I can see it. It's claiming to know each individual vendor that staggered me! Mainly I was using it as an example of a genuine extreme of map-and-key.

I think it's worth mentioning that maps can come in at various levels. For example, my Fate group generally likes to create a map of the local continent or at least the nearby nations. Part of that is that we love worldbuilding, part is that it gives us concrete things from the start to hang...

Wisdom is not the stat that leaps to mind when I consider the human race.