The Gaming Den

That... isn't the worst counter argument I've seen until you realize that the entire dating system of Star Wars as a setting is dependent on the metaplot event of the Battle of Yavin. Like seriously even the RPGs use phrases like "20 years ABY" for After the Battle of Yavin. If someone as...

Would you rather play in the Star Wars universe or a generic science fantasy world with magic samurai and lasers? If you're 90% of nerds, the answer is the former. And that is because of metaplot. No, that's because of setting. Unless we're talking about the Jungian aspect, metaplot's not a term us...

There are too many games with passable-to-good mechanics for me to love a game with obviously shitty mechanics.

Metaplots are an excuse/motivation for publishers to pump out new material without putting in the effort to develop fully original material. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing depends on the implementation. Metaplots and living worlds inside committee-written TTRPGs - much like superhero comic...

You seem to be missing the overall point here, Orion. People would rather have more options than less, even though it's easy for said people to get overwhelmed with choice. If you don't offer that choice, especially if you did so previously, people are going to feel ripped off. That's a problem for...

Grek wrote:Running Drake
Smooth Fanged Sea Drake
Tyrant Drake
Armnecked Drake
Tricorn Drake
Fingerwinged Sky Drake

Just de-latinize the name and add "drake" to the end.

Drakes are pretty crafty. At best, dinosaurs would be their slow cousins.

GenCon is locked in until 2020 but they may move after, regardless of the bill, as they've outgrown the Indianapolis Convention Center space.

FASA conducted a survey among the Kickstarter backers and the digest format won. So the physical copy will also be in that format, just like 3E Revised and the Pathfinder port. I don't have strong feelings one way or the other, though I do appreciate that digest books are easier to carry, easier to ...

I was a 4E Kickstarter backer and got my Player's Guide PDF a couple of weeks ago. Several of the interior spot illustrations are good but the color art is so generic fantasy that it would be unrecognizable without the setting specific races. The layout is dull but serviceable if you want to use a t...

Done. GURPS, Traveller and I flipped a coin on Burning Wheel vs. FATE. BW won.

I don't think Anime is all that great. Also, not a Dr. Who fan. Me neither, but my wife is a fan of both. She will sometimes recycle anime plots when she GMs for me because she knows I won't have a clue. As opposed to chick flicks, she makes me watch the weeping angel episodes with her because they...

A copy of this book was on the shelf at one of my local Half Price Books. Thanks to this this thread, I promptly snatched it up.

Bull was notorious for pushing for reverting the game back to a 2050s/1st edition status quo. Seeing as deckers are a thing again, I guess he got his wish.

I would read the hell out of a Star Fleet Universe's Prime Directive or GURPS: Prime Directive OSSR.

In slightly more amusing (or depressing, depending on your perspective) news, the Harmontown podcast regulars are now playing Shadowrun 5E. Or, as GM Spencer calls it, "a near future where magic has returned and there are high tech gadgets, like hand-held computers and small flashlights." ...

It's nice to see Jason Hardy was able to fulfill his dreams of being a novelist. It's too bad those skills don't translate to good game development.

I've played and run story games. I'm playing in a Numenera campaign now. It's not a story game. It uses a very abstracted combat system, though the option for miniature combat is available in the rules and my group uses them, but its basic D&D pedigree would be apparent even if it wasn't written...

That contemporary humans exist on Earth and only have about 500-800 years of history is the central thematic mystery of Numenera's setting. This is literally stated in the core book. The book also states that English is not spoken in the setting but English words have been used by the authors for ea...

Assuming that DC knew what they were doing, what would they have had to have done with the acquisition of Wildstorm for it to have made the whole thing worthwhile? Like, if the Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern defected from the JLA to join The Authority and wholeheartedly adopted their MO, would...

You know, this is just water under the bridge at this point, but why didn't Marvel just fucking end the Spider-Man continuity? Read Ultimate Spider-Man . Peter Parker has a good 10 year run and dies a hero. Prior to Geoff Johns getting his Silver Age fetish accommodated, DC Comics were great. They ...

The Nations of Barsaive books and "Namegivers of Barsaive" from 3rd edition are pretty well done. I would also add "The Blood Wood from" 1st edition and, perhaps, "The Theran Empire" if you want a feel for how the rest of 4th World Earth functions.

There were a few interesting Wildstorm titles post-Ellis Authority that were a reaction to the book's no-compromise take. Stormwatch vol. 3 was Stormwatch in title only. The core conceit of the book was that superheroes had become so incredibly dangerous to human society that a secret UN council dec...

Is the Death Star (2008) novel worth buying? What about Shadow Games? Hell, if you were going to recommend three novels or comic series to someone unfamiliar with the Star Wars EU beyond video games, which ones would you recommend? Not all of Dark Horse's Star Wars comics knock it out of the park b...

Age of Rebellion? It's 99% the same as EotE. The Obligation mechanic has been replaced with a Duty mechanic that provides bonuses to characters rather than penalizing them. I haven't gone through the entire book yet but I believe there is also a mechanic that sets up NPC squads as damage soaks. I've...

This book is stupidly shaped . It's not a standard large sized RPG rulebook of the scale of prior WOTC star wars rulebooks. It's a funny little sorta square thing. As someone who hates the ridiculous children's book proportions of 'standard' RPGs, Saga's trade format was the one thing WotC got righ...