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There are at least nine GURPS bestiaries currently available…

GURPS can be as granular as the group wants, it’s just that understanding this and how to modulate it is tricky. Hopefully some of the extra 25 pages will address things like this to make it easier for people to start with the system. The How to be a GURPS GM series are also excellent if...

The writing in GURPS Discworld in particular was a much more conversational tone. If the new core set goes that way while keeping all the content I could see it making adoption easier for new players.

The changes seem to be very, very minor in terms of the rules. And a promise not to break any page references seems to be a Herculean undertaking. But some charges to wording, quotes, layout and art. Plus 25 pages of aggregated content from the wider library of material to bring it into the...

Looks at shelves of Savage Worlds books; looks at list of six active Pinnacle crowd funding campaigns I’d like to think there is a point of ‘enough’ but I haven’t found it yet… I like buying new content, it’s a fun part of the hobby for me. Endless possibilities.

Yes, I am well aware of that. You seem to have forgotten early when you were defining an encounter as: Which was as unworkable as self-charging smart phones. Answer me this: what law of nature means that a fighter can attempt ‘Spinning Sweep’ exactly once between 5 minute rests? Don’t worry...

Does its battery recharge when you move from room to room? Because that’s what ‘encounter based powers’ do.

First, no game is 100% any style of game, that was the main error of the Forge IMO - that they wanted games to be pretty much one thing only. Abstraction is an interesting concept in game systems, and it starts to move away from simulation in my mind. Consider super powers as a genre. When...

You are missing my point. Your position was that encounter based duration was simulationist. My point is that there is nothing which a character can observe which defines an ‘encounter’ and so that only exists in either the context of the game (‘roll initiative’) or a scene. So such a rule is...

And when does that happen? Could it be:

So how long does it last then? What are the parameters? Where is that described in the rule book? If it’s a simulation you can explain it to me.

When does a fight end? What if one combatant runs away and hides? Is it over? What if they sneak around and attack the party unexpectedly? Is that the same fight or a new one? There is no empirical measure that can define that. It would be a GM call. And so there is no game-world law which would...

Ars Magica spell durations such as ‘sun’ (spell expires at sunrise or sunset) would be a simulationist mechanism from my perspective as it corresponds to a real thing in the game world. A spell duration based on time (even if that time is expressed in rounds which are in turn expressed in...

A ‘game day’ is by nature a game construct, not a world construct. That makes it a ‘gamist mechanism’ rather than a ‘simulationist mechanism’ in my mind.

I hear what people are saying about any hobby being potentially beneficial. I think TTRPGs have a more unusual benefit of being a cooperative game where you support your fellow players and all work together towards a common goal. I feel that would give it an edge over purely competitive hobbies...

In my gaming group I have one friend of about 43 years, and two of 39 years. So I would definitely say TTRPGs help support friendships. I think this is particularly relevant for men as we seem to focus our friendships around doing things together.

It hasn’t finished cooking yet but The Broken Empires will be a new ’sim-lite’ RPG when it arrives. This is a new system which aims to be simulations but without going to extremes of detail that would slow down play. It’s uses a d100 ‘Blackjack’ mechanic for its core resolution, with most...

Class and level versus point-buy is a fairly well established spectrum of character system. There are definitely different degrees, though. GURPS is completely free of mechanical constraints, only what the GM decides. HERO has the concept of restrictions on points in different categories to...

I’ve just started trying out solo role-playing as I currently have some spare hobby time available. I have quite a few solo board games and have been enjoying those but they are more limited than TTRPGs. Having watched some solo RPG gaming on YT I was already familiar with the concept and...

I’ve just started solo role-playing. It’s a really interesting experience, like being both the GM and player at the same time, though using oracles means you aren’t totally in control of what happens as a GM might be.