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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gothmog" data-source="post: 956361" data-attributes="member: 317">Originally posted by Shadowlord: Well, I have to agree to some degree there.  Many D20 publishers (most notably WotC) seem to focus on "crunch" rather than "fluff".  IMO, the fluff is the important stuff that makes the world unique and interesting.  There are some great fluff companies out there though that also have solid rules- notably anything Paradigm Concepts makes (Arcanis world), Mystic Eye Games, and Green Ronin.  Alternately, GW's Warhammer world is a great setting as well- and easy to mine or convert to D&D.Originally posted by Shadowlord: I feel your pain man.  Many of the race/PrC combos in D20 are wonky in terms of power and believability, which is why I don't allow half-Xs (other than half-orcs) in my games.  There is a much greater focus on this than there used to be- and undoubtedly some of it is muchkin.  I think the temptation NOT to be a munchkin is harder in D&D now than it used to be with all the race/class/PrC combos to tempt them out of hiding.  Of course, that makes it easier to identify them and get rid of them in your game. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Originally posted by Shadowlord: Ok, here is where I am going to break with you a little bit.  While D20 has its balance issues and degree of munchkinism, Palladium is notorious for its munchkinism and it has run rampant in every Palladium RPG I have ever run or played.  I have run and played Palladium Fantasy before, and while I think the world is ok (the best thing about it being the Wolfen Empire and the Old Ones), in every game the rules became a sticking point and are unbelievably clunky and munchkinish.  There simply are BEST classes and races, and no way to ensure that some characters are not completely overwhelmed by others.  This lead to hard feelings on the parts of the players in each game (RIFTS was especially bad about this) because some of them felt there was no need for them to be there since they couldn't contribute.  Hell, we even switched from Palladium TO 2E because we simply couldn't stand it anymore.  While a good world is important to having fun, the rules do play a part as well.  If the rules don't SOMEWHAT level the playing field between all the players, you end up with uber-characters who can do everything well, and have no need for an adventuring group.  And let me tell you from experience, that is no fun for anybody.One other thing.  If you want to encourage more role-playing in D&D, adopt a system of giving out XP like Palladium uses (the single best aspect of that system IMO).  Before an adventure, I set up a series of minor, lesser, and major goals the PCs could attempt, and give each an XP value, equal to a % of the XP they need for that level (usually between 3%-15% of the XP needed).  In this case, DON'T give XP for killing things out of the DMG.  I have found this takes the focus off hack-n-slash, since PCs aren't rewarded for ganking opponents anymore.</blockquote>

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