Search results

Ah, wrong system. :) I agree that 10 points is larger than normally seen.

Definitely magic-user. Although I have had a great deal of fun with warriors as well, the mage has tended to be my favorite class over time.

IIRC, it required a fairly large Dex gap and the use of the combat expertise feat. I can't swear to 10 points but it must have been close. I am also sure that a magic spiked chain would have been hard to obtain without a newly generated character. There was definitely a strength gap as...

I do seem to recall seeing this, although it required a new character (who was able to select magic items precisely) with the chance involved in a 4d6 drop one random stat system. I also saw it with melee characters, which might make a difference. But it was certainly possible for it to...

Maybe I am just unlucky, but I see both issues in games that I participate in. In 3.5 D&D/Pathfinder, there is a clear threshold where the party calls it a day. Spells dictate part of it, but so does healing. Time pressures can't do anything if the party honestly thinks (and often with good...

I think that complexity has to be my number one issue. I definitely do not have the time and attention to really pull the mechanics apart like in my youth. Grind and/or boring combats aren't fun either. If too many battles spend a long period looking inevitable (in terms of outcome) then...

That is one of the wonders of the open gaming license; 3E compatible material can stay in print indefinitely.

Yes, that seems like a pretty reasonable possibility. 1E also has the advantage of being nearly camera ready (they have the original books) so there isn't a huge sunk cost in development time to putting out a 30th anniversary collectors edition. Given the recent success of anniversary...

I agree with this in terms of the more complex games (of which D&D and Pathfinder are good examples). There is a threshold where on person owning the book is not enough to make the game functional (imagine trying to develop a Pathfinder character, at the table with no previous 3/5/PF...

It is true that the "brand strength" of D&D make it a constant contender for a come-back after a period of stagnation. It is also the case that WotC is trying to find new channels for the game. While I have not been a fan of the specific decisions that they have tried, recently, that sort of...

I see it as being halfway to a compliment. It does imply some resistance to the new but usually through a rich experience of the hobby (wargaming, RPGs, or others). There can be some grumbling involved but also some pretty nice history and experience too. So I'd be happy with the label, myself.

Yes, an excessive focus on balance at the expense of fun leads to an inferior game. After all, the extreme version of this can exist in games like Monopoly where each player has the same piece (or chess with pieces). But RPGs were based around the idea of differences in pieces (characters)...

Yes, I play Rolemaster classic to this day and it is still essentially the same system it was in the 1980's.

I liked this list a lot. I presume that it refers to AD&D (1st/2nd edition) and not 3rd or 4th edition? In AD&D I noticed that the game seemed to work better below 500K/ 1 million experience points than above that threshold.

Ironically, in terms of digital support, Paizo has a different path and I find that it is starting to influence the game. In my in person game, two of the players have iPads and look at PDFs of the rulebooks during play. This seems to make transporting books a lot easier and speeds up rule...

While this is a complex system (DMs and systems interact in a lot of ways), a good game system makes them easier on the DM to tell an interesting story. I find the real issue with 4E (and I am well into double digits on sessions, own at least half the books and have really given the system a...

I think the contrast between AD&D and Savage Worlds is a bit more complex. AD&D went with the idea of random characters with the notion that bneing surprised about the nature of a character led one to play things outside the box. If one rolled an abysmal dexterity, then it was time to try and...

Agreed. 4E characters are almost unkillable. But in AD&D (1E) not dying at negative hit points was an optional rule. It was quite possible for the toughest of first level Magic Users (16+ constitution) to have d4+2 hit points and be subject to instant death from an arrow, a spear or a...

This perspective seems to argue that the weapon with the incorrect amount of damage is the spear (pike, lance) as it seems to be popular as a battlefield weapon in all times and places (even exists today as the bayonet mounted on a rifle).

I do think that the issue of system mastery matters more as the games get more complex and I get older. The ability to spend the time to get really into the details of the system is a luxury . . .