The Gaming Den

M:tG, by its very nature, inherently has much lower barriers to entry, on multiple levels. So, it's not that hard to rope in new players. A starter deck is only a few dollars (money) the rules are much simpler and easier to learn (effort) you play a hand and can move on to something else (time) you...

It really surprises me that their marketing is that incompetent when Magic rakes in new players all the time. You'd think there'd be at least some cues picked up.

Wait didn't 2e fighters go off the RNG as they leveled that same way their 3e counterparts did? I thought that 2e fighters had what was essentially 1/1 bab. My memory is spotty on this, bear World with me if my facts are wrong. Your THAC0 never really got below a 4, I think. So at worst, you're hit...

rapa-nui wrote:...they are too precious to ever use tactically before engaging the final boss.

I can't tell you how many times I completed a JRPG as a child and had like 27 elixirs still in my inventory.

If you've ever heard of/played Sonny, I've been waiting for a sequel, or at least a similar game to come out for forever. Just something with a set number of skill points to be spent on a tree, so that there are some meaningful choices rather than just "grind until you max everything".

I am not a manager, but I've done some interviews before. Your mileage may vary because I was interviewing candidates for tech jobs. If the job you're doing interviews for doesn't require a lot of technical skill (I'm assuming not since you're in retail), you have three things to check for: 1.) Make...

Regardless of motives, the vitriol of posters here tends to be what gets me through the week.

If we're talking about board game mechanics, one of my favorite things ever is engine building. The idea is you start off with little, if anything, and eventually work up to something that runs smoothly and efficiently, with individual pieces synergizing off of one another. A system where the indivi...

I've found that there are two good ways to get people invested. 1.) Simply make an interesting game. If the plotline is boring, cliched, and uninspired people will take notice and check out mentally at the door, then spend the next 3 hours playing a wargame. If you actually give people a reason to g...

So has anyone outside of this thread found a review of 5e that has anything broadly critical to say about it? Because even people I generally trust to review other products are getting starry-eyed about it, and I'd like some faith in humanity again. I haven't seen anything strictly critical, but I'...

If you end up with an MMO, Guild Wars 2 has a super friendly experience for low-level characters. Leveling is much less of a chore, and if someone wants to play solo and gain a few levels, they automatically get scaled down when they join the party in a lower-level area. The main problem I have is t...

"Success" in most cases is "didn't lose money", but there are some people willing to take a financial hit in order to gain traction. People give out free samples and/or release works for free. If an author releases a series of books, it's not uncommon for them to distribute a shi...

Could do with less levels and a better defined tier of levels so people don't feel obligated to start as peons. The problem I have with that is that a lot of DMs will just look at the level progression for the lowest part and say "Well, that's the lowest, so new characters should obviously sta...

Could do with less levels and a better defined tier of levels so people don't feel obligated to start as peons. The problem I have with that is that a lot of DMs will just look at the level progression for the lowest part and say "Well, that's the lowest, so new characters should obviously sta...

Your simulation or abstraction is fucking pointless compared to player psychology which mandates that the only "good enough" is "best" Bull. Shit. If people are that immature I don't want to play RPGs with them. If your character concept is "good at lying", then you ju...

There needs to be more shit to do at low levels How bad would it be to instead just cut XP requirements to get to 2nd (or 3rd) level? Level 1 is basically the tutorial, so it probably should have super limited options, but once the light bulb goes off in a new player's head, they want to cut out th...

What I've done in order to cut down on time wasted shopping is implementing "Stuff" rules. Player's may buy "Stuff," specifying the type, value, and weight of the "Stuff," without having to make an exact list of what is bought. For example: Scrolls and Potions from the...

Since I bit the bullet and picked up the Necromancer's bundle a while back, I'll have to check this out.

So, the more I read this thread and my copy of the PHB ($30 on Amazon, otherwise I wouldn't have it) Incidentally, Amazon putting stuff on 40% off a couple of weeks into the product's lifecycle is a fairly good indicator that it's moving at the speed of tar in the arctic. I preordered it not long a...

So, the more I read this thread and my copy of the PHB ($30 on Amazon, otherwise I wouldn't have it), the more I honestly wonder what the hell the design team was even doing for the multiple years 5E was in development. Did Mearls just not have anyone checking up on progress to make sure he was actu...

This is presuming low-level and low-magic, so there's no wishes or mass stone wall production. For a nation of elves that aren't xenophobic, nominally capable of feeding themselves off the land without struggling but otherwise relatively resource poor, what would be the most likely economic model? ...

because Mark Rosewater has a raging erection for top-down design (which is fine, but not in such excess). That sounds interesting. Could you elaborate how(/why) he is taking it too far? I can't point you to a specific example, since it's been kind of a buildup over time, but basically their design ...

I have moved from the Dungeons & Dragons team to work on Magic: The Gathering as part of the creative/story team. [...] I think you'll start to see the fruits of those labors as soon as this summer—I'll keep you posted. It's over, Magic is finished. Nah, he's not doing mechanics, just story. To...

The weirdest I've had is scorpion a while back. It tasted strikingly like lobster.

Well, if we're just talking position, that's kind of a minor thing, at least when you compare it to some of the horrible, horrible poses WotC artists have churned out: https://img.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1378/92/1378926857336.jpg Jeska, Warrior Adept from mtg. That's actually her right leg you'r...