The Gaming Den

Furthermore, if "obliviously passing each other like ships in the night" is ever a consideration as a viable output, then that GM has failed Encounter Design on a conceptual level; I'd like to disagree with this. If players are to have agency, there has to be other things that they could ...

If the rogue is 80% likely to succeed on each check, he feels 'sneaky' - he usually succeeds, after all. But with three checks, he's only 50% likely to succeed. For a meaningful scene, this isn't a bad thing. Each stage ups the stakes (aka, "mounting tension"). Rolling a miss in combat wo...

@range modifiers: Aren't "distance modifiers" and "range increments" the same thing? Simply changing the scale and/or granularity doesn't change the concept. It's changing it from a 1:1 scale which gets out of control almost immediately and is useful about never, to one that is ...

I agree that the rules as printed are sparse. If you have people that can't agree on what "reality" would look like, I think that's a people problem, not a rule problem. But fair enough, if the rules are sufficiently detailed, the people problem can be subverted. I'm just not sure how much...

That's a fair point. I would say that that is certainly a type of situation in which the distance modifiers a completely relevant. Also, think about the scenario from the perspective of the respective parties: PCs: they're trying to negotiate the immediate terrain. A dense forest with but a game tra...

@The Thief in the Museum: Seems to me that the adjudication of this scenario via a "sneak-v-perception" stealth system boils down framing; i.e., how granular is the GM's framing of the scene? Is it just a wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am hand-wave of a scenario (because "well, you passed that...

The elevated Liver Function Tests are indicative that some kind of liver irritation or previous damage has happened. Someone stabbed you in the gallbladder a few years back, so it's likely that those levels are permanently slightly elevated. I am extremely unconcerned about that. Good to know. Also...

Last time, Frank. I promise. (as long as you don't mind, of course). Please. (if there happens to be anybody in the peanut gallery who knows what they're reading, feel free as well) goddammit - I sent away for my lab/rad reports, because I was seriously second-guessing what I was told by my dr .... ...

Thank you very much. That was infinitely more informative than was the urologist, who wouldn't speculate out loud on any of the physical characteristics (hell, I couldn't pry much of any kind of answers/explanations out of her with a crowbar and dynamite). Also, it's more "in", and at the ...

This one is probably best aimed at Frank ..... I need to know if this is normal protocol, or if I should take strong action: Bottom line is this -- an xray found a 18mm "suspicious mass" on my left kidney. I was referred to the urologist (took a whole month) who said "come back in 6mo...

Why is it a bad example? because there is nothing that stops someone from bashing against the door over and over. And if a single bash isn't enough to knock down the door, then at least the PC can continue to deal damage to the door until it runs out of HP. Sure, you could then say something like &...

Okay, so what you need for a social system could be boiled down to what you need to be a good salesman/marketer? That's legit. If that's the case, maybe said system should operate on the 10-80-10 rule , and focus on what to do with that middle 80%? But then that prompts the question of what kind of ...

It's almost certainly better than the 3e inane "if you failed to bash this door once, you are magically forbidden from trying it again until you level up!" bullshit. I'm not sure if this example was simply random, or if it was purposely selected. Either way, I think it's a bad example. Bu...

People will be justifiably upset that their character cannot attempt to do something that any person 'with thumbs' could attempt in real life. A character is more than a pawn in the game. One major criticism of feats was that each new one limited the play space - actions that originally could have ...

okay, I've let this percolate a bit; and I think I may have had a case of the dumb. I agree on 2-stat-dependancy. (for some reason, CON seems right for regen) as far as related gear: increasing regen is right out, and storage becomes more powerful (at least on a point-for-point basis if nothing else...

@ Chamomile & deaddmwalking: yeah, I see your point(s). to be fair, I may have overreached. I mean, I'm completely on board with certain types of contested rolls like bluff/sense motive and in-combat intimidate. as far as "can talk good to people", I actually support rolling a charisma...

Here's what I'm working on. Pool=Level + charisma casting stat modifier . Spell cost = 1 for cantrips, +2 per additional higher level. Control = cost of spell is reduced by con modifier Pp regen at 1 + cha casting stat mod per round. edits mine (obviously) What that boils down to in a given encount...

I may be being a bit obtuse here (and I'm sure y'all will let me know if I am); but I'm not sure that a comprehensive social interaction system is even needed (or even wanted) in a TTRPG. I mean, it seems to me that the whole point of a TTRPG is to serve as the happenstance activity around which to ...

Just going to inquisitively throw this out there for consideration (RE: gated content): Premise: different players have different preferred modes of engagement (so, I guess YMMV). Say the GM has some stuff really wants the players to have (and has already decided he's giving it out no matter what). ...

What bothers me the most about that is that it looks like it was obviously typed out on someone's MSWord Mac. The fonts aren't even cohesive. OMG - that's seriously some low-rent indie quality production. It's like they seriously just don't even care anymore; like they're just checking some boxes t...

In gaming, a "Cheesy" tactic has the same meaning as a "Cheap" tactic - meaning that it is one whose "costs" (whether they are in-game costs or the out-of-game difficulty in learning the player skill to use them) are incommensurate with the power. This can be considere...

@OP: It's called Propaganda Village. It's a real, literal thing; and it is actually what it says on the tin. The money that doesn't go to the military/monarchy goes here. For fucks sake, NK "doctors" still have to go in to the woods and harvest their own herbs for making "medicines&qu...

The etymology of cheesy that LM linked to explains one of its other meanings. That is, trite, corny, maudlin; when we say that someone's daikatana-wielding Sepihroth-clone is cheesy, we could mean one or the other. I'm pretty sure that darkmaster was looking for the history of the first meaning. We...

We've ban all use of electronic devices at the table, specifically because of the irresistible distraction they pose. Forcing the use of an electronic dice roller forces people to interact with that distracting device. While some people have the discipline to just use the dice roller, most don't. In...

When using LMGTFY, you should probably check to make sure that at least one of the choices on the first page actually answers the question. This is a fucking RPG forum, and he is asking about cheesy, so obviously he is not asking about why you would call a bad pick up line cheesy. He is obviously t...