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Thanks for the suggestions, folks. Good stuff. I really like both the idea of a phased skill challenge and lancelots structure/skills list. I think I'll combine them, structuring it like AeroDM suggests with some of the frame and conditions from lancelots. I also like lancelots short...

Savage Worlds has a decent method to simulate a half-hour of gambling, using the gambling skill. Those involved in the game agree on the stakes and make a gambling roll. The lowest roll pays the highest roll the difference x the stake. The next lowest pays the next highest, and so on, with an...

The problem is knowing what is and isn't really healthy. Reading labels doesn't do you any good, companies can get away with anything. Reese's cereal is "part of a healthy breakfast" after all. And, most of what is "common knowledge" on healthy eating is wrong advice from the debunked low-fat...

The reason I asked for more information about the rules at the table from Kzach is because it's hard to pin down exactly what the situation is. Kzach is asking where the wiggle room is, and I say it depends on the reason for the rule. Do you have to personally own any and all books from which...

I disagree with Danny, I don't think an honest inquiry and a politely presented argument would cause conflict. The new group wants you to like them as much as you want them to like you. The piece of information needed here is - why? Why do they have a rule that you must own a book to use...

Jerome beat me to it, I was going to respond with much the same. The key to bringing out more RP in combat is not just for the DM to initiate but to get the players RPing their characters to one another during combat. Incentives are a great way to do this. There are other ways to encourage it...

I do this, as well. When I make a character a spend a few minutes thinking about the characters goals, motivation, and personality and specifically how traits he or she has differs from or are the same as mine, so I know where the character's boundaries are in relation to myself. I look at...

This is money, IMO (and couldn't xp you for it). To the question first, that's what I've been arguing. The GMs ability to adjudicate comes into play when the rules don't expressly cover something or a corner case comes up where different rules conflict or are unclear. Adjudicating does not...

Since this tangent arose from my post, I feel like you continue to paint my statement with the wrong brush, though I've elaborated on what I meant. At no point have I, nor Hussar or anyone else who has picked up on that, said that a GM must sacrifice and GM a game that they don't enjoy...

Why? It's flavor text. And since when can't a punch knock something prone, ever watched a fight? We aren't talking about tiny garden snakes here, but large, fantastical, deadly snakes. Certainly punchable. Not every bit of sword damage is a cut, it couldn't be or the HP system would fall...

Of course this is bat crap, you made it up to be bat crap. This is a straw man scenario. No one, but you, has envisioned a scenario where they claim a punch attack will prone a snake. This entire discussion has been about the use of 4e powers, not the punch mechanic.

Whose scenario? The original scenario that spawned this was a slam attack on a hydra. If it was just some scenario you made up, clearly the punch has not been the focus of the discussion. This is a completely invalid example. I also wouldn't let a player initiate a grapple and then...

I would give xp. Instead, I'll QFT.

First, why are you so hung up on a punch? There are many powers that apply the prone condition, why does it have to be a punch? I'm confused on this issue since you are the only one in all these discussions talking about punches. Secondly, at no point in D&D has a to-hit roll represented a...

We were? I musta missed that memo. Unless, you have coalesced everyone arguing on the "other" side into one metamind acting in accord through several different posters. In other worlds, I didn't say anything about ignoring real snake behavior. The defined terms are what they were thought to...

Well, of course, but when that evidence is real world snake behavior, it would be foolish not to. While that is not what I am saying, most of the time, at the table that is exactly what would happen. I don't spend playtime worrying about how much "sense" it makes to apply this condition to...

Yes, I can see it clearly - New thread Fifth Element - Thasmodious would like it known by all that the EnWorld moderators are "poopyheads", especially Rel, and he dares them to respond! :eek:

Who has the final say has not been in question. No one has said the DM cannot overrule a power. What has been argued is that the DM should not overrule a power unless absolutely necessary. And when is the prone or not prone condition of a snake ever central to the game as a whole? The...

If the players ability to do these things isn't veto power because its a part of the system, then neither is the DMs. The DMs authority isn't handed down by divine writ, but is a part of the rules system. Various systems modify that role and authority in any number of ways. The point comes...

You really want to go "nu-uh, you are" back and forth? In these three threads on this same thing, several people have argued just that. I agree with the first statement and only partly with the second. DMing has a big job description and, imo, a part of that is a certain level of sacrifice...