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I'm not sure what other systems use a similar mechanic, but I really like Twilight:2013's dice pool mechanic. 1. Your target number is your controlling attribute,with additional skill ranks raising the target number and other modifiers raising/lowering as applicable. If the modifiers lower the...

A couple of suggestions: change the scale of the map. I don't have it handy, but I think that Raurin is huge. And "empty," so it is easy to make it any scale you need. Second suggestion is that a failed survival check is the DM's best friend. Lost desert tribesmen, hidden oases, cranky brown...

How so? The DM's map for this super-module has more empty hexes full of sand, blasted hills, mountains, and shifting sands than it does "occupied" hexes with specific encounter locations. Of course, it would suck to be "lost" in Raurin, but there is plenty of "white space" for a DM to fill in...

But more advanced does not inherently equal "better," aesthetics aside. You could also argue that a car built in the 1950s or 1960s is "better" than a 2013 car because when the 1950s/1960s car gets in a fender-bender with the 2013 car, it requires $20 worth of body work to knock out a dent (if...

You can do one of three things: 1. Hand-wave the town itself. 2. Do a lot of work weaving in a plot for all of the residents and the town. 3. Cheat (assuming your players haven't played the CRPG version) and steal the CRPG's plot for the town itself lock-stock-and-barrel. Any decent site...

The issue, though, is that many D&D players who have a negative view of FR because of the novels have likely never been in a position of playing in a FR campaign that didn't view the novels as canon - all we ever hear from such detractors is they hate FR because of all the high-level NPCs...

FR novels? In my campaigns using FR, none of the novels is canon. Problem solved.

This. The 1st ed. City System boxed set is far superior to the 2nd ed. City of Splendors boxed set, which, while pretty and having the bonus of 3d cardboard cutout buildings, isn't anywhere near the same scale. It lets you visualize wards and neighborhoods, but the 1st ed. maps let you...

I'm saddened but not surprised to see Kara-Tur losing to Dark Sun... Kara-Tur has always been really awesome because it didn't shy away from trying to kitchen-sink a multitude of asian cultures and periods into a single setting. Kozakura vs. Wa, Shou Lung vs. T'u Lung, Tabot, Malatra, the...

There is an easy solution to this - that everyone on any side of this insipidness eat a bullet... Mod Edit: Suggestions of violence, even in jest, are not appropriate. ~Umbran

Next session, make sure you kill their characters off or have their lack of progress in a quest result in something "bad" happening in the campaign world. Teach them that they aren't the most important part of your campaign world; that there are things out there that are bigger and badder than...

I say go all the way. Dump level-based attack bonuses completely and make combat a skill instead.

I approach my campaigns as follows: 1. Core only. 2. If there are specific campaign-setting books, I allow those only for that campaign setting. 3. Everything else has to go on a white-list on a one-by-one basis and we test it in play at least three times before a final decision.

I've tried to spend some time regarding weather. Most of the time, the players either won't notice, or won't care unless you are trying to use weather as a challenge - in which case they'll likely complain instead of viewing it like they would a lock or a trap or a dungeon hazard. In the past...

Has nothing to do with sense of entitlement and everything to do with business strategy. Making it a "Gencon Exclusive" really means they were testing the waters on potential customer-base sales once they release the next version of D&D. They could have made it more widely available and risked...

Doctrine of first sale... Completely legal to sell something you own whether WotC likesit or not. That people are willing to pay double or triple the retail price for what is essentially the equivalent of a beta test is another story altogether...

Couple of suggestions. 1. Consider going the route of a wound system rather than hp. The Grim-n-Gritty system, adapting the system in Twilight:2013 (my personal favorite since it implements going into shock and bleeding to death), the system in M&M - all are potential sources. Add in the use...

Couple of thoughts. 1. Really amazing maps with some "realistic" information - lat/long lines, timezones, accurate distances, etc - both a high-level map included in the campaign book and an electronic mapset that will allow a drill-down - basically the Forgotten Realms Atlas using current...

No worries - I didn't take it as thread-crapping. I've played Spycraft, which also used VP/WP. I didn't really see any particular value to using VP/WP vs. hp since it was essentially a "lose all your hp - I mean - VP and then go down to 0 in your Con-disguised-as-WP." The only benefit I saw...

No worries - I didn't take it as thread-crapping. I've played Spycraft, which also used VP/WP. I didn't really see any particular value to using VP/WP vs. hp since it was essentially a "lose all your hp - I mean - VP and then go down to 0 in your Con-disguised-as-WP." The only benefit I saw...