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  1. Edgar Ironpelt

    What makes Arthurian fantasy its own genre, different from more traditional D&D-ish medieval fantasy? What are some Arthurian-style plots?

    You might not want to use the system, but I'll suggest GURPS: Camelot, even if you just want background material, including notes on three different variants of "Arthurian fantasy." SJG still sells it as a PDF: GURPS Camelot
  2. Edgar Ironpelt

    What Lost, Abandoned or Short Lived TTRPG would you like to see get a re-issue and new support?

    I would have said "The Fantasy Trip," except 1. That's already happened, and 2. I find I don't like any of the changes made in the new 'Legacy' edition. So I suppose my wish would be for the older 'Classic' edition to be reprinted, at least as a PDF.
  3. Edgar Ironpelt

    Worlds of Design: Only Human

    That's a major point where I differ from you. I do want "being a PC" to be an exception in my game. I want PCs (along with certain select NPCs) to be "destined for greatness" with their success being baked in, rather than having them run the simulationist gauntlet to see whether or not they win...
  4. Edgar Ironpelt

    Worlds of Design: Only Human

    It's also possible to have a mix where some of the lands in the setting have that segregation while others are more cosmopolitan. Also, unless you have easy interfertility in the setting, there's going to be pressure for at least some clumping of the different racial communities. (And if there...
  5. Edgar Ironpelt

    D&D 3.x 3rd Edition Revisited - Better play with the power of hindsight?

    "Slow advancement" has been mentioned earlier. My preferred xp award system, not just for 3.5e but also for other games that use experience points, is for end-of-session awards rather than "so many xp for defeating the orcs, so many xp for getting past the trap, so many xp for boiling the...
  6. Edgar Ironpelt

    D&D 3.x 3rd Edition Revisited - Better play with the power of hindsight?

    My experience is that it's important to be up-front about what is and isn't allowed in a given game. I'll write a campaign prospectus for a game I plan to run. If the deal is "no prestige classes" or "these travel/movement spells don't exist" then players who sign on for the game can accept...
  7. Edgar Ironpelt

    D&D General Players Decide when to Level Up

    snip It might work for my group, but I've got an "not broke; don't fix it" situation. I'd add that the idea might not work out for DMs who have a strong "challenge the PCs; make them feel like underdogs" aspect to their style. My own, it-works-for-me style is to hand out flat XP awards at...
  8. Edgar Ironpelt

    Interested in checking out non-D&D fantasy "old school" ttrpgs

    I'm an old fan of The Fantasy Trip. I made (unsuccessful) attempts to incorporate Melee and Wizard in my games prior to ITL coming out, and when ITL did come out I immediately switched over to TFT for my main game (my Etan campaign). I'm also an old rebel against the Old School Style, going...
  9. Edgar Ironpelt

    Worlds of Design: Only Human

    As usual I have to ask "Which of my fantasy worlds?" In my Etan game, humans are the majority race/species, following common TTRPG standard, and with the differences with the other races downplayed. In my Brotherhood of Rangers game, the various non-human D&D races are well-represented. In...
  10. Edgar Ironpelt

    Worlds of Design: Only Human

    In Tolkien, the other reason for humans becoming dominant is that Fate Said So. In the third and fourth ages, the other races were Doomed to decline and disappear from Middle Earth. Eru Iluvatar Willed It.
  11. Edgar Ironpelt

    What is adventuring?

    Leveling up and progress is necessary only if you start at first/low level, where a primary concern is getting up to the Levels That Don't Suck[1]. If you start at high level, progression can be very-slow-to-non-existent. In my experience, combat is optional in theory but required for a good...
  12. Edgar Ironpelt

    D&D General How many healing potions do you give your party?

    Technically it's wands of cure light wounds (I run 3.5e) but in previous editions, and in my TFT based game that uses healing potions as pretty much the sole source of magic healing, I gave them out with a free hand. I don't fight the player desire/insistence on being at full hp at the start...
  13. Edgar Ironpelt

    dumb premise for a game - Medieval Aliens

    An alternative interpretation of the term "medieval aliens" is where the native extraterrestrials are medieval with starfaring humans visiting their planet. GURPS (of course) did at least one gaming supplement: GURPS Planet Krishna, based on stories by L Sprague de Camp.
  14. Edgar Ironpelt

    dumb premise for a game - Medieval Aliens

    I remember reading the short-story version in Analog and liking it - in part because it lacked a 1340s storyline. It was just the future timeline where "Aliens crash-landed in 1340s Germany, died and were buried there, and we're just now (re)discovering this." When the expanded novelized version...
  15. Edgar Ironpelt

    D&D General I finally like non-Tolkien species for PCs

    When running D&D, I prefer the Tolkien species only as PCs - including the furry-footed versions of halflings. In a non-D&D game, I'll willing to deviate from that. In my Etan game, run under a homebrew based heavily on The Fantasy Trip, the 'humankin' (PC) races are humans, elves, half-elves...
  16. Edgar Ironpelt

    So you're done with D&D but still want to play D&Dish fantasy...

    I probably ought to check it out, if only to see how the SJG crew did things and to add it to my long bookshelf of GURPS supplements. The reason I haven't already done so is that I became disenchanted with GURPS well before Dungeon Fantasy came out. I go back a long way with GURPS and with TFT...
  17. Edgar Ironpelt

    Worlds of Design: In the Shadow of Tolkien

    I'd have to put down a "definite maybe" as an answer for Tolkien, Conan, and other fantasy & science fiction influencing my style of gaming. It did give me a push toward the Simulationist corner of the old USENET threefold, but didn't push me toward the Narrativist corner the way it might have...
  18. Edgar Ironpelt

    So you're done with D&D but still want to play D&Dish fantasy...

    Whether I want to play/run "D&D-ish fantasy" depends on what counts as "D&D-ish." Fantasy, yes. D&D-ish, maybe. Some points of personal preference pushing me away from "standard" D&D: 1. Spellcasters with much-less-powerful spells that they can cast more frequently. One of my very early...
  19. Edgar Ironpelt

    Spells that hit two opponents and door/wall position

    My snap ruling would be that if the wizard could see both monsters, then the wizard could target both monsters. Was your take that the wall between the two doors - and (more importantly) partly between the wizard and monsters provided concealment/cover that prevented targeting? If there was...
  20. Edgar Ironpelt

    D&D General Wearing a lantern on your belt?

    A touch, I do confess. Although it would be a better touch if you could give examples of common, in practice, hands-free-on-the-belt use of these angle-headed flashlights, as opposed to you-can-use-this-on-your-belt Good Idea Fairy marketing claims.
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