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my first RPG character was a Rolemaster high-warior-monk. While I knew of D&D before I played Rolemaster, D&D was my second RPG (but my first real campaign). Besides a few forays with Rolemaster, my second real campaign was a WEG Star Wars game. Later in college we played all kinds of games...

Nothing wrong, but they’ve seem to have changed their rules for their Blade Runner game. Perhaps they intend on changing their series to those rules? As for the current rules, my only gripe is that panic tend to get out of hand too fast. Or perhaps we don’t play it properly… but there’s a point...

yes, hence the "striking a balance between 'diplo-mancy' and 'just award a bonus to good role-play" comment after. It may have been in a following post though... Not all of us can talk themselves out of a wet paper bag. Heck, most DMs cannot outwit their glibbest player. Nevertheless, most R-P...

I agree with you there. Nor would a social system need to be used as soon as someone opens their mouth! Though to be frank, I’ve seen many compelling combat system but very few social system that I liked. It’s hard to strike a balance between « diplomancy » and « just award bonus for good role...

Yeah, I agree with you here. People can make their own fun in all kinds of aspects of a role-playing game but in D&D, there’s no fun interacting with the system outside combat. Coming back to my sport analogy, combat is the only sport D&D has to offer…

Good point However, i for one know that there’s a point where a game reaches my CPU limit and starts getting glitchy. For me D&D combat is borderline too heavy already and I don’t think I could stomach equally heavy social encounter systems, overland travel system, infiltration system etc. But...

Intrusion situations could get a similar treatment but they lack an opposition. You could set traps and security systems as enemies but frankly, monsters are way more versatile. As for social encounters, ‘social combat’ starts with the big disadvantage that D&D, as a role playing game, is...

Moral implications aside, combat is fun because it’s a dynamic challenge that (particularly in D&D but in many other RPGs as well) is broken down to a very fine level of details. No other situation in life requires such a fine level of micro-observations, where scenes need to be decomposed and...

I don't use a screen. I could say that I don't like how it puts a barrier between me and my players, or else that I like the thrill of rolling in the open, or that my players could see all the important information from my notes but who would i be kidding? I prepare my games on my off days and...

After a few intense months at work, I'm back at polishing my Star Wars hack of TOR. Things are progressing nicely; a few chapters still need to be written (mainly everything about space combat) but the base game is pretty solid now. A few things got adjusted after a few months of playtesting...

True. Still, I preferred when D&D put up its own parties rather than catching up with others’. It’s a though position to be in; move on with the times or preserve your own identity. Ditching half-elves is coherent with their (apparent) orientation and modern RPG trends, but I still don’t like it.

I think that’s the intent. I kinda like it. You can play your turn before the (fast) enemies, but it will ‘cost’ you one action to do so. With three actions you might be able to move further before attacking (since move can be taken more than once) but all the fast enemies will be playing their...

Well, they’re not called Fighters of the Coast…

Of course, you and me well know that it’s a +3 Badge of Honor now, but the grognards won’t have it…

I’ve been thinking about this for a couple days and honestly, I can’t think of any genre that cannot be done in RPG. I can think of a couple genres where I don’t really see the interest of making a RPG about it, but imagining somebody who would, I don’t see why it couldn’t be recreated in RPG...

Religions in my games are played fast and loose as faith can be a subjective and delicate subject. Otherwise, I tend to take a polytheistic approach; characters and even clerics are encourage to do what most inhabitants of the world do; pray to the god that has power over the issue at hand...

Still undecided. It looks like the change are significant but made of many small blink-and-you’ll-miss-them changes, which is something I dislike. Let’s see if those changes are worth the hassle….

I think the OP’s post is a bit on the theorical side but even then, there is a certain beauty to the simplicity of using a single book or document as source. And to be fair, the SRD alone is still more comprehensive than many RPGs. I don’t think it’s lazy to consider it « complete enough » for...

When I choose to keep a narrow or restricted number of available options, it’s because I seek more focus, usually about themes. But bloat is a real thing: there is a point when adding more becomes too much. We all reach this point at one point, some earlier than others, and then you need to put...

Since 3e, my take is that Bard magic comes from the same place that sorcerer’s magic comes from (they just have better control over it, and are able to tap in places that doesn’t manifest often in sorcerers). So if Sorcerers are arcane, so are bards. (But for what it’s worth, I also consider...