The Gaming Den

1191107757[/unixtime]]Sad, how Gimli thought he could keep up with Legolas. Many D&D sessions with level disparity are like that, where the higher characters pwn everything and the lower ones just get knocked in the mud. [br][br]There is no objective evidence in LotR that Legolas was anything b...

1191059766[/unixtime]]The idea behind Level Limits was that Elves and Dwarves and soforth get all sorts of cool abilities just for waking up in the morning, and humans get bubkis. So, instead of trying to either make elves less awesome, or humans moreso, they just decided that a good solution was t...

The key to balance is to match opposing forces, and well divergent exp gains verses non linear levels are such opposing forces. [br][br]Well folks, we tried, but I think it's clear at this point that tzor is off in his own little reality when it comes to this discussion. In fact, based on the above...

1190755777[/unixtime]]I'd like to see a Seraph and Cherub, literally, with those names, in D&D. But that won't happen, since the Christian complain groups will come down like harpies and no amount of high priced lawyering can save a company from that kind of zealotry. [br][br]If Ars Magica can ...

You're the one who is introducing straw men, and you've introduced at least 2 already (including linear vs. non-linear advancement and the quality of D&D). [br][br] I can hardly see how the subject of the thread is in fact a strawman. [br][br]No-one claimed that your review of or references to ...

The basic argument is that it is a generally known problem that in a uniform linear advancement if one suffers a level loss then one is forever stuck with a level loss, short of magic. In the non linear model a disparity in level causes one at a lower level to advance (on a level basis) faster than...

That was the selling point: 'Monte Cook does the WoD.'

There you go again. Now I have to go and calm some really panicked Goodyear Blimp pilots. There are high in the air and they don't have wings! :tongue: [br][br]For the purposes of this metaphor, there are quite a few games that function like blimps. They are not class/level tactical wargames. They ...

1190642348[/unixtime]]Advancement, even at the exp level is never even. There are in every game individual awards, from roleplaying to individual accomplishments. [br][br]No, there are not. I have played in many games where advancement was completely even. There are games which mandate that advance...

1190639155[/unixtime]]Which is eaiser to do, balance every level and every ability within a level so that they will contain exactly 1.0000000000000 units of advancement or tweak an experiece table so that everything balances out? I would maintain that it's the later. [br][br]It might be easier, but...

1190324604[/unixtime]]potahto, potatoe [br][br]I really find there to be a distinction between 'Wizards can't cast Invisibility, so now Hats of Invisibility also don't exist' and 'If you're good enough at hiding, you can vanish from plain sight, like a ninja or Batman. Plus, there are Hats of Invis...

1190323627[/unixtime]] Rewrite all spells that trump the skills system. Spells should enhance skills, not replace them. Examples include invisibility (sneak), levitate (clim), tongues (speak language), and illusion (bluff). [br][br]I agree with this. [br][br]There was a time I did too. Now I believ...

That's still treating them as equals, though. I'm really looking for a situation where one is 'the star' and the other is 'the sidekick.'[br][br]In a cohort-style relationship, if the intended character level is X, then the star is effective level X-1, and the cohort is effective level X-3 (providin...

So, we know the Druid's Animal Companion doesn't work. To be more accurate, it works too well. Is there a way to get it to work properly? [br][br]Frank proposed, at some point, a two character combat/non-combat split, where one character is a Texas Execution Rat, and one is the kid who somehow turns...

1190159983[/unixtime]]Seriously, you can get into a bar fight with a gang of gunslingers at the saloon, buy incredibly awesome weapons from blue skinned aliens on store credit, fight a guerrilla war against Neo Nazis, and be enslaved and forced to fight in an Atlantean coliseum, all in the same day...

okay, well, I posited this idea to my girlfriend, who is really discouraging the idea of human alchemy, basically saying an attempt would always be autofail, but she's thinking about this. [br][br]The real problem is Dante, who uses human alchemy quite a bit, both on and off-screen, with only a rat...

1190037135[/unixtime]]As to Frank's notion that a wand and a staff are basically the same thing I would disagree in as much as I would never use a wand as a walking stick. "Why there's Little John standing on a fallen tree over the river with his wand." On the other hand I would say we ne...

Okay, human alchemy...[br][br]Unlike normal (or 'superpower') alchemy, human alchemy is more like a skill. It gives access to a short list of effects that anyone can try (create homunculus, attach soul, etc). It is risky, and most people have fundamental misunderstandings about it, even the people w...

Mage is actually really bad for FM Alchemy, which is really two entirely separate systems. Keep in mind I'm working from the anime and not the manga.[br][br]First you have 'normal' alchemy, which is what characters use all the time. These are effectively superpowers. Most alchemists, like Mustang, A...

I have to disagree about making sure your players optimize sufficiently. All the printed example opposition is supremely unoptimized, and the setting really has opposition on all scales. If they can't take on optimized exalted opposition, fine. They can kick the crap out of mortals/lesser gods and f...

From my experiences, there are some imbalances, and optimization issues, but nothing truly absurd like Balor mining. What bugs me the most is the character generation/experience interaction, which is typical White Wolf and heavily favors min-maxing early and rounding out later.[br][br]A particular t...

1189587434[/unixtime]][br]"Oh, this is a classy game, for ROLEplayers, not ROLLplayers. Yes, very political, absolutely non-combat. So I used Dominate 5 on the bunch of them, right, and they all made me Prince, then I Dominated this other guy..." [br][br]Politics is about managing power. ...

CaptainBleach, here's a [counturl=102]review[/counturl]. I'm not that familiar with it, personally.[br][br]Calibron, there is quite a lot of murder and pillage in ASOIAF, but that's not what it's about . Some people are out for dominion and swag, but some people are looking for justice, or a worthy ...

Know any fantasy settings that don't base the game around killing things and looting their corpses?[br]I know that their are non-fantasy settings like that, but what about fantasy settings? [br][br]It's important do divorce setting from system. D&D is about killing things and taking their stuff...

I think the easiest way to have the characters at least feel 'Good' is to change the context. In the raiding culture that Frank posits, where the next-door tribe of Goblins kills some of your peasants and takes their stuff, so you go and kill some of the Goblins and take their stuff... it's hard to ...