So that's why you like it

[timbannock]

I'm not a fan of limb severing silliness but I do enjoy using an exceptionally bad miss table in games where there are critical hits. It kind of balances the scale when there is as much dread of rolling a 1 as there is excitement in rolling a 20. I do believe the scale of payoff/ penalty to crtical hits and misses should be in proportion to one another. If the best result of a critical hit is maximum regular damage then a fumble result should never produce anything nastier than that.

Whats the appeal of critical hits in an abstract combat system where "damage" from a hit might represent energy expended by the defender rather than an actual hit?

I think that critical hits in any system are really just an excuse for a little "gamism" that comes in when you roll one and people say, "Sweet!" Roleplaying games without critical hits or some other exponentially better result when X happens (in this case, a natural 20) may suffer for it, because you don't have that moment in the game where the tides turn solely based on the roll of the dice.

I suspect it's similar to playing Texas Hold 'Em and getting bullets in your hand, and an Ace on the flop. I don't know about anyone else, but I find it REAL HARD to keep the poker face on at that moment. You just know you're the shizzle then and there, even if it does play out exactly like you want it to. For that instant, you're finally "cool."

;-P

I hope this didn't come up and I missed it, but what's the appeal of adding firearms in D&D?

 

[Jack7]

I like historical and mythological elements in a game or setting. It fits my nature, and the nature of my players.

What I don't get the attraction of is a thousand or more hit point characters or monsters. Well, to be honest, once you run over a hundred, hundred and fifty, that's pretty much slide rule territory to me too.

 

[Stoat]

I hope this didn't come up and I missed it, but what's the appeal of adding firearms in D&D?

I can think of a number of reasons:

Rules that contain dangerous misfire chances add an element of randomness and danger similar to wicked critical hit tables.

Rules that emphasize the Myth of the Gun by giving firearms big damage dice make firearms an option for powergaming/buttkicking.

Variety and tone. Adding firearms can help pull the game away from quasi-feudal dark age pseudo-european toward quasi-renaissance or steampunk.

 

[roguerouge]

Why do you like Monster minis? I just don't understand why it's worth the cost, storage, and effort when a piece of paper or a little bead will do the same task of indicating where the monster is.

 

[Nightchilde-2]

Gnomes.

This. I never understood the love for pre-4e gnomes. With one exception; gnomes in Eberron were nasty little buggers.

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Heavy metal. I like songs from every other musical genre, but I just don't get the appeal of all that...noise.

It's an expression of raw, primal rage. Screaming at the world for all the unjustices you have had to suffer. Probably why I enjoyed the genre more as a teen. No other musical genre has taken on that anger in a way that makes you feel it. Sure, country music has women keying cars of the guys who cheat on them and classical music has its thunderous times, but only heavy metal screams its angry message at those who **** with you.


The thing I don't understand is the appeal of evil campaigns in D&D. Other games seem to fit the evil vibe better. And every time I've personally seen an evil D&D campaign it's just an exercise in anti-teamwork that quickly implodes. Why would someone want to play in an ongoing campaign that seems doomed to collapse?

 

[Mallus]

I don't the get the importance of character death. Or rather, I don't get the importance of being required to create another (roughly equal) character after suffering certain in-game failure conditions. I mean, D&D is the original game with infinite continues.

 

[dbm]

So, what's up with Rolemaster? I understand reading all the funny charts. But having to roll versus six or seven different charts to resolve one action really, really loses me. Where's the attraction, considering the amount of time it takes?

There's a bit of hyperbole goin' on there. A combat action in RM involves two charts at most (Weapon Chart and Crit Chart) whilst non-combat actions only involve rolling on a single chart.

What's the draw: simply more

If you like character classes, there's about 60. If you like skills, there's about 200. If you like spells, there's about 3000 in the full set of books.

What ever niche you want your character to fill, there is a class, skill and spell list to support it. It's as close to a class-less RPG as you can get whilst still having distinct classes.

Here's what I don't get: the Sabbat. It is highly implausible that the Masquerade could be sustained in the face of a group of supernatural beings who want to overturn it and the modern media. That just makes the Sabbat a paper tiger who the Story Teller has to deliberately under-play or they just auto-win.

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

Why do you like Monster minis? I just don't understand why it's worth the cost, storage, and effort when a piece of paper or a little bead will do the same task of indicating where the monster is.

It's the visual representation. I also prefer TV/movies over books. Not that I don't like to read, but I find myself creating that visual as I read. TV and movies add a shared visual experience that a book can't. In game that shared visual experience comes through miniatures, scenery, terrain or detailed maps. If I could afford the time and cost of creating 3D models of every encounter with the proper mini for each creature I would thouroughly enjoy that chance to share my vision with others. Probably for the same reasons people enjoy making movies.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Why do you like Monster minis? I just don't understand why it's worth the cost, storage, and effort when a piece of paper or a little bead will do the same task of indicating where the monster is.

For me, I like monster and PC minis for the same reason: They are fun to collect and paint. Doing custom conversions and paint jobs on minis/terrain is an enjoyable part of game prep time and is a satisfying hobby on it's own.
I can also enjoy games with simple combat rules that don't use any markers at all.