Search results

One additional comment: if that castle really existed as described, the owner, staff, and guards would almost certainly have such a plan already in place. Maybe not down to the minute, but barring overriding factors like corruption or incompetence, a competent ruler and their advisors would have...

Please join me for the launch of the Into Majestic Fantasy: The Northern Marches Kickstarter, the livestream starting at 7pm EDT and the Kickstarter launch at 10pm.

No, the encounter is not resolved. The guards remain there guarding, just as the peddler's dead body remains on the trail until discovered by a PC or another NPC travelling to Kensla on the same road.

Thanks for that. I don't know which statement of @Faolyn you are referring to. A map and key are not a requirement of bypassing encounters; it just requires a sense of space and where the characters are located within that space. So, if the referee can verbally paint a picture of a castle...

I'm reviewing the various posts, and what often gets overlooked is that there is a geographical component to all this. Using @Lanefan's example. There is a castle, there is a map of the castle, and on that map, there is a drawbridge with guards. There are also the other sides of the castle. Any...

Since this thread has gone through a few cycles, let me start with the basics so we're all on the same page about what I mean by encounters, something I’m sure @Micah Sweet will agree with. Encounters are situations that are narrow in scope. They can be created in various ways, including...

First off, thank you for taking the time to write such a comprehensive and thoughtful reply to my posts. I want to be upfront that I’ll be pressed for time this week, I'm about to launch a Kickstarter and have two tabletop sessions taking up most of my hobby bandwidth. So I’ll likely post my...

Thanks for the detailed reply. I see how Prince Valiant lays things out, and I appreciate you taking the time to walk through them. That said, I was asking less about what the rulebook says and more about why you chose to run it that way. Plenty of RPGs encourage referees to structure things a...

Of all the ways a tabletop RPG campaign can be managed, why did you choose the following approach for running Arthurian adventures in Prince Valiant? For comparison, in my Living World sandbox campaigns, my goal is to leave players feeling like they’ve visited the setting as their characters...

I understand where you’re coming from better now, thanks for clarifying. I also realize I didn’t explain the core of my point well. I think the real devil’s in the lists, not the core mechanics. That’s what often gets overlooked when people assume systems like GURPS or Savage Worlds are...

I have quite a bit of experience with this, especially when it comes to adapting D&D’s magic system. I’d be happy to offer a detailed response if you're interested. I just don’t want to assume.

As someone who’s spent years with GURPS, Hero System, Fate, and other genre-flexible RPGs, I think the comparison to D&D deserves a more nuanced take. D&D isn’t generic out of the box like GURPS is. But if you understand its design history, how hit points, armor class, and ability scores...

Certainly Kevin Crawford is getting some mileage out of it with his X without Number series of RPGs.

So I have a rule that, given time and resources, the player will succeed at the task. I may have them roll if some resource could be wasted, but I am only looking for a crit failure. It was partially inspired by gumshoe, but also by reflecting on how people learn skills. As for the scroll...

Reread what Micah Sweet actually wrote, he’s not talking about personal attacks. Your reply reframes his comment into a separate conversation about personal attacks, one that he wasn’t having. That kind of rhetorical pivot derails the discussion and sidesteps the underlying point: the...

Ever try discussing design issues in an OSR or classic edition context? Or explaining how you run a campaign using a lesser-known playstyle? You’ll often find the same kind of pushback, or worse, total confusion and dismissal. We’re all in the same boat, unless we’re talking about the current...

My view is that rolls are needed to resolve uncertain outcomes, situations where, in response to a character saying “I do X,” the result could reasonably be success, failure, or something is uncertain. When things are uncertain, that where a roll makes sense. From my experience running and...