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Worth noting that AGE sort of hacks 3d6 to have a system for more common "crits" by creative use of both doubles and degrees of success based on the Stunt Die. The problem I've noticed with dice pool systems is that the value of bonuses is non-intuitive and figuring it out is non-trivial math...

For most gamers, and I include most GMs here (those who don’t post in online forums and/or watch YouTube videos about game design), a core mechanic is much easier to wrap your head around. Want to attempt something that has a chance of failure? Roll this. It boggles me it took until 3e for...

The premise in that particular sci-fi/space opera setting is that operating most vehicles is explicitly similar. That being said, we have fiddled around with fly-by-wire controls for aircraft even now. And if we can't figure out reasonably simple drive by wire tech by the time we have FTL, I'd...

I think "reality" is a fools errand, but I think that whatever degree of verisimilitude that the players want in their thematic play is a worthy design goal. It should feel just enough like "real life" that it doesn't break you out of your suspension of disbelief. Unfortunately, the location of...

It’s interesting that this is one of my conceptual problems with Nimble, although I deeply appreciate the attempt at simplification. But combat now works differently than other skills. That feels like a step backwards.

Let's say my target number is 11. If I'm understanding your "Price is Right" analogy correctly, you're saying that an 11 is better than a 10, which is fine, but it's a finicky choice for me to think that an 11 is "better" than a 12+. You are free to think it's not rational: I know it's not. But...

As someone who played with THAC0, gets the math, and still hates "roll under" systems, I can try to give you some perspective on this one. Firstly, descending armor class is simply less intuitive than ascending armor class. If I'm rolling a number, why do I need to compare it to a value and...

What I like: Big number GOOD. While I appreciate the elegance of "roll under" systems, I just can't get on board. Quick results. If you are using target numbers, they should be known. Degrees of success. Skills that can be improved. Not having to wait for people to do lengthy math calculations...

Interesting. I share your perspective, but of the two rolls, the one I’d opt to lose (or reduce hit points enough to make it actually matter) is the damage one. On an average, level-appropriate opponent, a single hit should inflict a significant fraction of their hit points. A critical hit...

I disagree with the MMO “Tank, DPS, Healing, Magic” role thing because it literally comes from D&D’s “Core 4.” Fundamentally, other than healing, there’s three things you can do in combat (I’ll tackle healing in a minute). 1. You can be a frontline melee combatant. 2. You can be a skirmisher...

I'm starting to feel like the "Fighters fight" is part of why they don't seem to know what to do with Rangers, beyond making them a sort of default "Fighter/Rogue/Druid." Which is (weirdly) what a Bard was in 1e, but I digress. We're trying to keep fighters as the supreme combat class, and so...

How long does it take PCs to heal without magic? Does a “cure minor wounds” spell heal more damage on a high level PC? Does the PC sport lingering injuries that affect their ability to do things until fully healed? That’s always been my basic problem with treating hit points as “meat points” -...

This brings up the idea of figuring out a way to differentiate the Ranger by making it the epitome of a mid-weight "skirmisher" class. I still think that a ranger on their own should be the highly alert class (rarely surprised, hard to get the drop on), and mostly focused on ambushes and...

All of which, I would argue, has effectively rendered bounded accuracy meaningless. A task that can’t be accomplished by a person without a hefty attribute bonus or by expending character resources isn’t “Hard,” it’s “nearly impossible.” Adjusting DCs upwards because PC’s have significant...

In Shadowdark, “Moderate” is DC 12, “Difficult” is DC 15, and “Extreme” is DC 18. 5e’s DCs are nonsensically high, because they were ported in from 3e, which grabbed them (unchanged) from WEG Star Wars and kludged the skill point system to make the numbers line up.

Nothing else mentioned, I’d say DC 15 is a good number for “Difficult.” Given those parameters, it’s still 15. This is the problem with not tracking skill at all, or worse, tying it entirely to level. A skilled climber should be better at climbing than someone who’s unskilled, even if that...

The bit I quoted about “taking the creature into account was in the GM section under “Setting DCs,” and specifically compares a task that might be “Hard for a sun-dazzled cave troll but Easy for a forest elf with tracking skills.” You can think I’m overthinking it, but I’m just reading what’s...

I confess to a personal bias that I don't generally think of "Ranger" as spellcasting class. I think the game uses spellcasting far too liberally to plug thematic holes in class features, turning nearly every character class into "wizard-lite." So I'm perfectly fine with chucking spellcasting...

I really like static DCs, so that terms like "Easy," "Normal," "Hard" and "Extreme" are fixed DCs. Shadowdark does this and sets them at 9, 12, 15 and 18, respectively. However, Kelsey does do a very interesting thing and notes in one place that one should "take the creature into account" when...

I feel like one of the problems is that the Ranger doesn't have anything that is both distinctive and thematic at the same time. A lot of their abilities are highly situational and DM-dependent, and they excel in a pillar of the game (Exploration) that is rarely the focal point. If you don't...