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Schools of thought--Where we all stand on the big questions
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<blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 4598042" data-attributes="member: 13966"><p><span style="color: RoyalBlue">Schools of Thought:</span></p><p></p><p> High magic (FR) V. <span style="color: Blue">Medium Magic (GH, 1e)</span> V. Low magic (Conan) settings</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Home made settings</span> V. Give me a base setting I’ll do the rest (1e Greyhawk) V. Give me a detailed setting and keep detailing it (2e FR).</p><p></p><p> Settings growing alongside novels (FR novels being the prime example here of togetherness) V. <span style="color: Blue">Settings and novels being separate.</span> </p><p></p><p> Low level games (1-10) V. <span style="color: blue">Mid level games (10-20)</span> V. High level games (20-30+) are my favorite</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">Detailed combat rules for combat moves, attacks and actions (anything other than swinging a weapon giving specific mathematical bonuses or penalties, for ex. -2 terrain, +4 blinded +2 full attack, -2 concealed, etc.)</span> V. Let the DM wing combat moves, attacks and actions (giving it his own bonus or detriment based on a quick gut check)</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">Multiple worlds and settings to adventure in</span> V. I only really need and use one.</p><p></p><p> Narrative critical (it bashed the side of your head, blood is your left eye making it difficult to see and you’re a bit dizzy) V. <span style="color: blue">Criticals which give some mathematical detriment (it hit your arm, you’re now -2 to attack with your primary weapon)</span></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Wizards at high levels ARE AND OUGHT TO BE feared </span>V. Wizards at high level are completely unbalanced. Nerf, Nerf, Nerf them to death.</p><p><em>I'd still like them to have a sort of balance at high levels, but they ought to be really dang <u>magical</u> by then</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Tabletop grid and dry erase </span>V. No grid</p><p></p><p> Miniatures V. No miniatures V. <span style="color: Blue">Miniatures only for the complicated stuff.</span></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Tiles</span> V. No tiles</p><p></p><p><span style="color: Blue">3d structures on the gaming table (things like mountains, hills, trees, etc. )</span> V. No structures</p><p>[/COLOR]</p><p> Modules V. <span style="color: Blue">I’ll make up my own stinkin’ adventures</span></p><p></p><p> Adventure paths V. standalone modules V. <span style="color: Blue">Didn't you see what I said above? I’ll make up my own stinkin’ adventures</span></p><p><em>I wouldn't mind a modified module or adventure path once in a while</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Lots of Houserules</span> V. Moderate houserules V. We may tinker here and there, but we play it mostly by the book.</p><p></p><p> Magic item stores V. <span style="color: Blue">No magic item stores.</span></p><p><em>I don't mind minor magic shops and magic-users trading, but no MagicMarts</em></p><p></p><p> Roll play V. <span style="color: Blue">Role play</span></p><p><em>I'd rather have a happy medium, but do put roleplay first</em></p><p></p><p> PDF magazines V. <span style="color: Blue">Paper</span></p><p></p><p> PDF core rules V. <span style="color: Blue">Paper</span></p><p></p><p> PDF modules V <span style="color: Blue">Paper</span></p><p></p><p> PDF supplements v. <span style="color: blue">Paper</span></p><p></p><p> Laptop for the DM at the gaming table v. <span style="color: blue">Pen and paper</span></p><p></p><p> Laptop for players at the gaming table v. <span style="color: Blue">Pen and paper</span></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Mood music while playing</span> v. None</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Sound effects while playing</span> v. None</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Boxed sets </span>V. Hardcover books</p><p></p><p> Gygaxian V. <span style="color: blue">Non-Gygaxian</span></p><p><em>I'm not quite sure what you mean, so I base this on what I know of early D&D</em></p><p></p><p> Non-weapon proficiencies V. <span style="color: blue">Skills</span> V. Just wing it, do a Dex check or something</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">Kits</span> V. Prestige classes V. Neither</p><p></p><p> Core classes V. <span style="color: blue">Kits and/or prestige classes</span></p><p><em>This is a rather redundant question, but yes, I like characters that <u>actually fit my concept of them</u>, as opposed to cookie-cutter clones</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">Feats</span> V. No feats</p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Class based system</span> V. No classes, just a character with various skills, abilities, and attributes.</p><p>I prefer this for D&D, but some sort of hybrid with a class-based framework and some customizable options like kits/feats/skills would be best</p><p></p><p> Feats V. <span style="color: blue">Book of Nine Swords-style progression trees</span> V. I already said no feats</p><p><em>I like the logical progression of abilities into superior ones, though I'd go for something more like the 2e Complete Psionics Handbook, prerequisite minor abilities learned before greater/advanced abilities that don't quite make the minor ones obsolete, but offer other advantages</em></p><p></p><p> Classed monsters with skills, feats, etc. V. Non-classed monsters, they just have special abilities.</p><p><em>As long as its monsters and not NPCs, sure, but NPCs ought to have character traits and sometimes be possible allies/replacement PCs/rivals</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Detailed world politics and economies</span> V. Who gives a crap, lemme go kill something and take its stuff.</p><p><em>But some dungeon crawls and big brawls are good fun too</em></p><p></p><p> Rolling for social interaction results V. <span style="color: Blue">Roleplaying all of them out, the results are what you personally glean from it.</span></p><p><em>I'd prefer to reward creative thinking and such, but would use a mix of RP with rolled results for a bonus or penalty as appropriate, because the players are not their characters, and the choice to play a charismatic character should have some benefits even if the player is not so socially gifted themselves</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Describing exactly how you are searching</span> V. Rolling a d20 for search results</p><p><em>I'd like to have some leeway or adjustment for particularly perceptive, wise, oblivious, or unwise characters though, based on their stats</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">DM Rulings </span>V. Rules</p><p><em>Sometimes the rules just won't cover it, and sometimes they just don't make much sense for a given situation</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Player skill </span>V. Character abilities</p><p><em>Though I don't see player skill as having so much to do with roleplay, so I'd adjust things based on the kind of character they made, and I don't want to punish newbies too much just for being new</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Heroic</span> V. Superhero</p><p>But superheroic is good too, when the game/setting fits</p><p></p><p> Game balanced encounters V. <span style="color: Blue">The world’s a dangerous place, your 3rd level wizard might open that door and out pops Orcus.</span></p><p><em>With the caveat that logic is king, insofar as it is possible in a fantasy game, and the DM better not just be trying to spite the players that actually bothered to show up for his or her <u>game</u> to have fun, because it really is a <u>game</u> above all else</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: Blue">Save or die, life’s a bittch</span> V. Hey, not fair, I invested a lot of time in that 15th level guy and he shouldn’t die because of one bad roll.</p><p><em>See above, it better not be random death just for the sake of random death or for the sake of laughing at the players' misery and all their wasted effort, and since it's D&D there should be some way of bringing the character back or at least a decent replacement PC; but sure, let the liches and whatnot have their death spells, bring it on</em></p><p></p><p> Classes balanced against each other per level V. <span style="color: Blue">Every class has its place, and some are more powerful than others at certain things, or at a lot of things.</span></p><p><em>As long as it's not all out of whack, so every class is useful at every level and not just barely so; I don't want thieves that only serve as trap-dispatchers and spend the rest of their time bored, for example</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">Rogues being able to sneak attack/backstab in combat because of flanking</span> V. He’s a thief, he doesn’t belong in combat, shoot an arrow from far away if you want to be in combat.</p><p><em>Maybe you've never experienced the boredom of being dead weight in combat, because D&D has a lot of combat, but personally I like to actually have fun while I'm playing a game, and so does everyone else I know, so even if the thief can only get in position for an occasional backstab in each fight, or can only run interference in some manner, that's fine as long as it's got some fun element to it</em></p><p></p><p> Every character being able to do something every round of combat V. <span style="color: Blue">Sometimes you just gotta hang back and let the meat shields or fireball howitzers do their thing.</span></p><p><em>At least you can work on moving into a better position or waiting for the right opportunity to spring at the enemy leader/mage, but there better be something for you to do in each battle; sure, you might have to wait a while for the army of mooks or the big obstacles to get pinned down or beaten down, but then you should get to have your fun too</em></p><p></p><p> Combat-centric/focused/driven V. <span style="color: Blue">Roleplay/intrigue/politics/economics –centered/focused/driven</span></p><p><em>As long as there's enough action mixed in to entertain, because plenty of folks don't like to <u>just talk all the time</u>, and I'm one of the many who wants to RP action scenes at least once every three sessions, if not every two sessions</em></p><p></p><p> Every combat encounter should be somewhat of a challenge V. <span style="color: Blue">Sometimes, your epic level characters kick down a door and it’s just a mouse in there, eating some cheese, and that’s ok, because the world is made up mostly of those kinds of encounters. That's not to say we still won't fireball it and take its now melted cheese...</span></p><p><span style="color: Blue"></span></p><p> <span style="color: blue">We use CR</span> V. We don’t use CR.</p><p><em>Stupid, inexperienced, or short-on-time DMs need CR, otherwise they TPK too often and make the game an annoying meat grinder that can't get anywhere, storywise or otherwise, and for the rest of us it's just a good reference tool for better eyeballing the right amount of challenge we want to present</em></p><p></p><p> XP should be gained for the GP value of treasure looted V. <span style="color: blue">Nope, just for the kill.</span></p><p><em>That's a really stupid extreme set of choices. So the only options are both rollplay focused and narrow? Blarg. Still, XP based on the challenge of the enemy defeated makes far more sense, though I'd still go for a broader choice of XP-awarding behavior, namely overcoming challenges, not necessarily just killing stuff or taking stuff, and regardless I <u>always</u> award some XP for merely participating and roleplaying, based on the amount/quality of participation and roleplay, and in some campaigns this comprises the main source of XP</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">We use an XP system</span> V. The DM just gives it out once in a while as he decides he wants us to progress in levels.</p><p><em>Too much DM fiat in character progression just leads to stagnation and boredom by some of the players, or conversely an excessively fast progression that denies players the time to get used to their new PC abilities and enjoy them/experiment with them; on the other hand, I don't mind overly much when DMs just use a simple '1 level per X number of sessions' rule, as long as it's within reason</em></p><p></p><p> <span style="color: blue">10d6 caps to 3rd level damage spells</span> V. My 30th level wizard’s fireball can, like that meteor from 600 million years ago, cause the next ice age.</p><p><em>The cap should vary for individual spells and abilities, but really, a super-high-level magic-user should be using a suitably powerful type of magic to destroy continents/induce ice ages/whatever, not the same measly type of simple magic that a mildly experienced magic-user wields</em></p><p></p><p> Characters take their place on the battlefield leading troops in battle V. <span style="color: Blue">The battle happens while we do things only a PC group can do which helps determine the overall battle’s outcome.</span></p><p><em>Although leading troups and handling strategies is fun sometimes too</em></p><p></p><p>My favorite setting of all time is: (fill in the blank) <span style="color: Blue">Planescape, pre-Faction Wars.</span></p><p></p><p> Chanmail V OD&D V. Holmes D&D V. AD&D V. Moldvay B/E/C/M D&D V. Rules Cyclopedia D&D V. Second Edition V. <span style="color: blue">Thrd Edition 3.0</span> V. Revised Third Edition 3.5 V. Fourth Edition V. Castles and Crusades V. Savage Worlds V. OSRIC V. True20 V. Mutants and Masterminds V. Pathfinder V. Basic RPG V. Gurps V. Hackmaster V. Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Evolved V. Rolemaster</p><p><em>Glad you included 3.0 as a separate option, though I liked 2e's narrativist approach/allowances too, and some of its rules material</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Arkhandus, post: 4598042, member: 13966"] [COLOR=RoyalBlue]Schools of Thought:[/COLOR] High magic (FR) V. [COLOR="Blue"]Medium Magic (GH, 1e)[/COLOR] V. Low magic (Conan) settings [COLOR="Blue"]Home made settings[/COLOR] V. Give me a base setting I’ll do the rest (1e Greyhawk) V. Give me a detailed setting and keep detailing it (2e FR). Settings growing alongside novels (FR novels being the prime example here of togetherness) V. [COLOR="Blue"]Settings and novels being separate.[/COLOR] Low level games (1-10) V. [COLOR="blue"]Mid level games (10-20)[/COLOR] V. High level games (20-30+) are my favorite [COLOR="blue"]Detailed combat rules for combat moves, attacks and actions (anything other than swinging a weapon giving specific mathematical bonuses or penalties, for ex. -2 terrain, +4 blinded +2 full attack, -2 concealed, etc.)[/COLOR] V. Let the DM wing combat moves, attacks and actions (giving it his own bonus or detriment based on a quick gut check) [COLOR="blue"]Multiple worlds and settings to adventure in[/COLOR] V. I only really need and use one. Narrative critical (it bashed the side of your head, blood is your left eye making it difficult to see and you’re a bit dizzy) V. [COLOR="blue"]Criticals which give some mathematical detriment (it hit your arm, you’re now -2 to attack with your primary weapon)[/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"]Wizards at high levels ARE AND OUGHT TO BE feared [/COLOR]V. Wizards at high level are completely unbalanced. Nerf, Nerf, Nerf them to death. [I]I'd still like them to have a sort of balance at high levels, but they ought to be really dang [U]magical[/U] by then[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Tabletop grid and dry erase [/COLOR]V. No grid Miniatures V. No miniatures V. [COLOR="Blue"]Miniatures only for the complicated stuff.[/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"]Tiles[/COLOR] V. No tiles [COLOR="Blue"]3d structures on the gaming table (things like mountains, hills, trees, etc. )[/COLOR] V. No structures [/COLOR] Modules V. [COLOR="Blue"]I’ll make up my own stinkin’ adventures[/COLOR] Adventure paths V. standalone modules V. [COLOR="Blue"]Didn't you see what I said above? I’ll make up my own stinkin’ adventures[/COLOR] [I]I wouldn't mind a modified module or adventure path once in a while[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Lots of Houserules[/COLOR] V. Moderate houserules V. We may tinker here and there, but we play it mostly by the book. Magic item stores V. [COLOR="Blue"]No magic item stores.[/COLOR] [I]I don't mind minor magic shops and magic-users trading, but no MagicMarts[/I] Roll play V. [COLOR="Blue"]Role play[/COLOR] [I]I'd rather have a happy medium, but do put roleplay first[/I] PDF magazines V. [COLOR="Blue"]Paper[/COLOR] PDF core rules V. [COLOR="Blue"]Paper[/COLOR] PDF modules V [COLOR="Blue"]Paper[/COLOR] PDF supplements v. [COLOR="blue"]Paper[/COLOR] Laptop for the DM at the gaming table v. [COLOR="blue"]Pen and paper[/COLOR] Laptop for players at the gaming table v. [COLOR="Blue"]Pen and paper[/COLOR] [COLOR="Blue"]Mood music while playing[/COLOR] v. None [COLOR="Blue"]Sound effects while playing[/COLOR] v. None [COLOR="Blue"]Boxed sets [/COLOR]V. Hardcover books Gygaxian V. [COLOR="blue"]Non-Gygaxian[/COLOR] [I]I'm not quite sure what you mean, so I base this on what I know of early D&D[/I] Non-weapon proficiencies V. [COLOR="blue"]Skills[/COLOR] V. Just wing it, do a Dex check or something [COLOR="blue"]Kits[/COLOR] V. Prestige classes V. Neither Core classes V. [COLOR="blue"]Kits and/or prestige classes[/COLOR] [I]This is a rather redundant question, but yes, I like characters that [U]actually fit my concept of them[/U], as opposed to cookie-cutter clones[/I] [COLOR="blue"]Feats[/COLOR] V. No feats [COLOR="Blue"]Class based system[/COLOR] V. No classes, just a character with various skills, abilities, and attributes. I prefer this for D&D, but some sort of hybrid with a class-based framework and some customizable options like kits/feats/skills would be best Feats V. [COLOR="blue"]Book of Nine Swords-style progression trees[/COLOR] V. I already said no feats [I]I like the logical progression of abilities into superior ones, though I'd go for something more like the 2e Complete Psionics Handbook, prerequisite minor abilities learned before greater/advanced abilities that don't quite make the minor ones obsolete, but offer other advantages[/I] Classed monsters with skills, feats, etc. V. Non-classed monsters, they just have special abilities. [I]As long as its monsters and not NPCs, sure, but NPCs ought to have character traits and sometimes be possible allies/replacement PCs/rivals[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Detailed world politics and economies[/COLOR] V. Who gives a crap, lemme go kill something and take its stuff. [I]But some dungeon crawls and big brawls are good fun too[/I] Rolling for social interaction results V. [COLOR="Blue"]Roleplaying all of them out, the results are what you personally glean from it.[/COLOR] [I]I'd prefer to reward creative thinking and such, but would use a mix of RP with rolled results for a bonus or penalty as appropriate, because the players are not their characters, and the choice to play a charismatic character should have some benefits even if the player is not so socially gifted themselves[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Describing exactly how you are searching[/COLOR] V. Rolling a d20 for search results [I]I'd like to have some leeway or adjustment for particularly perceptive, wise, oblivious, or unwise characters though, based on their stats[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]DM Rulings [/COLOR]V. Rules [I]Sometimes the rules just won't cover it, and sometimes they just don't make much sense for a given situation[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Player skill [/COLOR]V. Character abilities [I]Though I don't see player skill as having so much to do with roleplay, so I'd adjust things based on the kind of character they made, and I don't want to punish newbies too much just for being new[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Heroic[/COLOR] V. Superhero But superheroic is good too, when the game/setting fits Game balanced encounters V. [COLOR="Blue"]The world’s a dangerous place, your 3rd level wizard might open that door and out pops Orcus.[/COLOR] [I]With the caveat that logic is king, insofar as it is possible in a fantasy game, and the DM better not just be trying to spite the players that actually bothered to show up for his or her [U]game[/U] to have fun, because it really is a [U]game[/U] above all else[/I] [COLOR="Blue"]Save or die, life’s a bittch[/COLOR] V. Hey, not fair, I invested a lot of time in that 15th level guy and he shouldn’t die because of one bad roll. [I]See above, it better not be random death just for the sake of random death or for the sake of laughing at the players' misery and all their wasted effort, and since it's D&D there should be some way of bringing the character back or at least a decent replacement PC; but sure, let the liches and whatnot have their death spells, bring it on[/I] Classes balanced against each other per level V. [COLOR="Blue"]Every class has its place, and some are more powerful than others at certain things, or at a lot of things.[/COLOR] [I]As long as it's not all out of whack, so every class is useful at every level and not just barely so; I don't want thieves that only serve as trap-dispatchers and spend the rest of their time bored, for example[/I] [COLOR="blue"]Rogues being able to sneak attack/backstab in combat because of flanking[/COLOR] V. He’s a thief, he doesn’t belong in combat, shoot an arrow from far away if you want to be in combat. [I]Maybe you've never experienced the boredom of being dead weight in combat, because D&D has a lot of combat, but personally I like to actually have fun while I'm playing a game, and so does everyone else I know, so even if the thief can only get in position for an occasional backstab in each fight, or can only run interference in some manner, that's fine as long as it's got some fun element to it[/I] Every character being able to do something every round of combat V. [COLOR="Blue"]Sometimes you just gotta hang back and let the meat shields or fireball howitzers do their thing.[/COLOR] [I]At least you can work on moving into a better position or waiting for the right opportunity to spring at the enemy leader/mage, but there better be something for you to do in each battle; sure, you might have to wait a while for the army of mooks or the big obstacles to get pinned down or beaten down, but then you should get to have your fun too[/I] Combat-centric/focused/driven V. [COLOR="Blue"]Roleplay/intrigue/politics/economics –centered/focused/driven[/COLOR] [I]As long as there's enough action mixed in to entertain, because plenty of folks don't like to [U]just talk all the time[/U], and I'm one of the many who wants to RP action scenes at least once every three sessions, if not every two sessions[/I] Every combat encounter should be somewhat of a challenge V. [COLOR="Blue"]Sometimes, your epic level characters kick down a door and it’s just a mouse in there, eating some cheese, and that’s ok, because the world is made up mostly of those kinds of encounters. That's not to say we still won't fireball it and take its now melted cheese... [/COLOR] [COLOR="blue"]We use CR[/COLOR] V. We don’t use CR. [I]Stupid, inexperienced, or short-on-time DMs need CR, otherwise they TPK too often and make the game an annoying meat grinder that can't get anywhere, storywise or otherwise, and for the rest of us it's just a good reference tool for better eyeballing the right amount of challenge we want to present[/I] XP should be gained for the GP value of treasure looted V. [COLOR="blue"]Nope, just for the kill.[/COLOR] [I]That's a really stupid extreme set of choices. So the only options are both rollplay focused and narrow? Blarg. Still, XP based on the challenge of the enemy defeated makes far more sense, though I'd still go for a broader choice of XP-awarding behavior, namely overcoming challenges, not necessarily just killing stuff or taking stuff, and regardless I [U]always[/U] award some XP for merely participating and roleplaying, based on the amount/quality of participation and roleplay, and in some campaigns this comprises the main source of XP[/I] [COLOR="blue"]We use an XP system[/COLOR] V. The DM just gives it out once in a while as he decides he wants us to progress in levels. [I]Too much DM fiat in character progression just leads to stagnation and boredom by some of the players, or conversely an excessively fast progression that denies players the time to get used to their new PC abilities and enjoy them/experiment with them; on the other hand, I don't mind overly much when DMs just use a simple '1 level per X number of sessions' rule, as long as it's within reason[/I] [COLOR="blue"]10d6 caps to 3rd level damage spells[/COLOR] V. My 30th level wizard’s fireball can, like that meteor from 600 million years ago, cause the next ice age. [I]The cap should vary for individual spells and abilities, but really, a super-high-level magic-user should be using a suitably powerful type of magic to destroy continents/induce ice ages/whatever, not the same measly type of simple magic that a mildly experienced magic-user wields[/I] Characters take their place on the battlefield leading troops in battle V. [COLOR="Blue"]The battle happens while we do things only a PC group can do which helps determine the overall battle’s outcome.[/COLOR] [I]Although leading troups and handling strategies is fun sometimes too[/I] My favorite setting of all time is: (fill in the blank) [COLOR="Blue"]Planescape, pre-Faction Wars.[/COLOR] Chanmail V OD&D V. Holmes D&D V. AD&D V. Moldvay B/E/C/M D&D V. Rules Cyclopedia D&D V. Second Edition V. [COLOR="blue"]Thrd Edition 3.0[/COLOR] V. Revised Third Edition 3.5 V. Fourth Edition V. Castles and Crusades V. Savage Worlds V. OSRIC V. True20 V. Mutants and Masterminds V. Pathfinder V. Basic RPG V. Gurps V. Hackmaster V. Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed/Evolved V. Rolemaster [I]Glad you included 3.0 as a separate option, though I liked 2e's narrativist approach/allowances too, and some of its rules material[/I] [/QUOTE]
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