Search results

The assumption which you seem to be working under is that a resource-management system must, in order to be effective and fun, include attrition over the course of a day. I disagree. From my experience with other games, this is simply not the case. I've had enormous fun playing and running...

Ah, but what you describe requires a pretty in-depth knowledge of your group that only really experienced DMs have (and my hat's off to you for managing it! Kudos!). You know their abilities and resources inside-and-out. Not every group has a DM like this. But what your'e doing is assuming...

Indeed, but there's a fine line between the weirdness and wonder of "Wow! Those are really neat/scary/awesome!" and "Dude, make up your mind!"

Or perhaps the healer can bring everyone up to a "decent" level of health at any given time (maybe 50~75% or somesuch), but only up to full using "per day" spells. We don't know how this works, but in every single incarnation of D&D ever, and in nearly every hitpoint-based game, the big limit on...

Mechanically, probably hit points. In-game? - the story has progressed - ground is gained or lost - the situation gets better or worse for the characters - they managed or failed to rescue the innkeeper's daughter - the enemy forces have been depleted of a unit - the heroes proved their mettle...

I'll have to tell the guys I know at UMBC that they're required to use minis. They've gone a year without them, and I imagine they'll be shocked. The most bizarre character I ever said "no" to was a dragonrider class a friend found online. Someone homebrewed a broken class where you start with...

In M&M, hero points let you reroll and add 10 to any roll you get which is below 11, so your effective range of results is 11-20, garunteed after spending a hero point. In my own version, you get a pool of hero dice instead, and when you want to spend one, you get to roll all the dice at once...

Couldn't disagree more. I ran a game of M&M just last night. One of the players is brand new, having joined only a week ago. Another is a good player, if a bit of a limited roleplayer (every single one of his characters is just his personality in a different costume). And the last one really is...

Just make it a Strength check. Seriously. It's not that hard. If something is potentially too heavy for a PC to lift and carry, roll a strength check! No tracking of weights, no trying to shave of 3 lbs. to get down to a light load. Just make a strength check any time the PC tries to add...

First and foremost, you didn't come across as if you were preaching, so no worries there. I think the difference in points of view here is that for your style of gameplay, a character is merely a vehicle with which the player can explore a fantastic (and dangerous) area. You don't get...

Here's my problem with all of this: how is coming up with your "door litany" roleplaying? Of course, if every character's role is that of an expert dungeoneer, then it's absolutely perfect. It fits wonderfully that expert dungeoneers should know all these tricks of the trade, and it works even...

I was very skeptical about it at first (gasping at the mere thought of not being allowed a saving throw). Very, very skeptical. I downright hated the idea. What sort of game was it when you had to just sit there and take what the enemy was dishing out and there was nothing you could do about it...

I like that you're using drawbacks as a method of regaining action points remniscent of Mutants & Masterminds complications. It's something I've seen great success with... players who would otherwise not be interested in coming up with a backstory will at least want to have some defined...

I game almost exclusively online (via AOL Instant Messenger chat rooms) these days. I simply don't have the time during the week to find a group, and actually finding a f2f group has been difficult for me. I don't actually play D&D online so much... lately it's been all Mutants & Masterminds...

That's actually not correct. Standing up draws an attack of opportunity, but it doesn't "interrupt" the act of getting up, even if you trip them successfully again. You're essentially tripping them "again" while they're still prone. Think of it in terms of states: 1. Trip changes your state to...

My guess: Strength is the current worst stat (especially if the new per-encounter "powers" enable you to gain bonuses to hit and damage in such a way that replicate or surplant Strength) and Wisdom is the current best (if those new powers are "derived" from wisdom, and especially if Will doesn't...

How would I simplify it so that players could sit down and play and learn the game before making any real decisions? First, you have to understand that sometimes, a newbie's "gut feeling" is actually a pretty good one. I introduced new players to my game and roleplaying in general by showing...

True20 for a more rules-lite game, Mutants & Masterminds for 90% of my gaming. Flexible character creation, archetypes which are literally just suggestions, combat simplified in most of the right places, hit points sent the way of the dodo, increased player input during gameplay on...

Vigilance, something I've had some degree of success with thus far in my own little ruleset design was to simply fold the concept of knowledge checks into most of the other skills. For example, something like Knowledge (Nature) was subsumed into Survival, and Knowledge (Technology) became part...

When encumbrance actually matters, I've always had more success just using a strength check with levels of success to see how the load affected the character (and when it's someone loading a backpack, it works fine for them to just "take 10" or "take 20").