The Gaming Den

Some concessions to game design are necessary, and I don't think it's necessary to slavishly follow each bit of source material that might inspire players to try a vampire game. Edward Cullen doesn't need flight to seduce teenage girls, but if we expect him to team up with Dracula and Count Chocula...

This also goes for the opposition. If you have enemies like "vampire hunters" there has to be a reason they haven't already gone public. It doesn't have to be a good reason, but it has to be something that they say in-character. So if you're going to have vampire hunters, it's best for th...

I'd just break down Disciplines into a grab-bag of point buy individual powers that scale off of a universal power stat instead of set of 5-tier tracks. Then I'd give each Clan a set of powers that they get for free, which is thematically appropriate, and let players pick more powers on top of that...

I'd just break down Disciplines into a grab-bag of point buy individual powers that scale off of a universal power stat instead of set of 5-tier tracks. Then I'd give each Clan a set of powers that they get for free, which is thematically appropriate, and let players pick more powers on top of that....

Any PC vs PC or NPC on PC social manipulation system will devolve into combat. Simply because the use of a social manipulation system is an attack. And unless you're drastically socially superior while being physically inferior, you'll generally have better odds just pulling out your weapon and kill...

Pre-history is literally before any history, that's what it fucking means . Which means your "very ancient origins" model doesn't interact positively or negatively with any historical events. It might as well happen on another world. That works. The first vampires are space aliens who lan...

My fucking god, what is this bullshit? I like the idea! I like the Hunger mechanics at least in concept! I would submit that in fact the Hunger mechanics aren't merely bad in implementation, but in fact impossible to not be bad . I take it as given that whatever system of blood drinking, hunger, an...

Ok, admittedly this is a big broad question, and I don't expect a definitive answer, but still... A common complaint for many games is that the fluff doesn't match the rules. Is it generally wiser to try to come up with an evocative setting, and try to make rules that work for it, or to come up wit...

Isn't rat higher on the list than uh.... surely wolf, although possibly Lamprey and Spider, depending on where you are in the world. Dracula's two animal forms are Bat and Wolf. The Vampires in Lost Boys have hell hounds to guard their suburban house during the day. It's a really common connection ...

Today, I broke down because of pens. PENS! I'm learning that sometimes it's the things you didn't like the most that get you because they're all his. Ess liked to write with ball point pens that were really dull - 1.0 mm points. I'm the opposite; I like super precision points. My pens are at least ...

This is hilariously wrong. Jewish Bankers in Harry Potter would be British just as Goblin Bankers would be. It's British Bankers either way, because the story takes place in Britain. The only question is whether the British Bankers are further distinguished by being Goblins or by being Jews . And t...

Nonhumans as ethnic standins is more racist, not less. Because by doing that you are saying, intentionally or not, that those ethnicities aren't human.

But British Banker goblins are a damn sight less offensive than Jewish banker goblins, that's for sure.

Here's the thing: words are used to transmit concepts and meaning. If you make your own fantasy setting and make a species of innate geniuses who are born knowing calculus and grow up to be Athenian philosophers and mathematicians it's actually really stupid for you to call those things "Orcs&...

Ancient History wrote:

This is where Tea comes from in fantasy settings that don't have an Orient.

Cham, this logic is bordering on trolling. If there is a set of n classes in a setting, a given nation can have between 2 and n of those classes. Thus multiple nations can represent the full set of n classes without any one nation being wholly representative of those n classes. And since having mor...

What makes something 'feel European (or specific part like vikings)' is a part of my wondering on this. Things are European because they use clichés that are pointers to European cultures. They could be Germanic sounding names, or French sounding foods, or descriptions of European houses or fucking...

Ravenholm is so named because it is the homeland of a tribe of Germanic raven-men who make their homes in high places, treetops, cliff faces, and such. The Ravenmen in general are isolationist, and it is difficult for ground-bound people to reach their homesteads. Ravenholm's most well known export ...

So why is Dark Phoenix so bad? I'm probably going to eventually watch it because it's x-men and I really enjoyed the other reboots. I know the series did a horrible job with the last Dark Phoenix, just curious how they failed this time. There are things. These things happen. Why do they happen? I d...

This GiTP thread , particularly post #20, does some analysis of how a sizable army with bows would stand up to Zariel. The army would fare poorly in a knock down drag out because Zariel can keep them at long range to impose disadvantage, take a pittance of damage and regenerate it, then kill ~50/ro...

I imagine that this is a setting where the police intentionally turn a blind eye to underworld violence so long as it doesn't spill over to normal people. John Wick tearing though all of these criminal orginizations ultimately does law enforcement a favor.

In any case, part of what makes our world interesting is that deities are not provable. If you worship the god of fire and you have one set of mythology and I worship a DIFFERENT god of fire with a completely different set of mythology, that's fine (even if it means we kill each other). If your fir...

Ancient History wrote:

Should someone tell this person that anti-vaccine propaganda really is a Russian plot?

Eh, I agree with Danny's decision. Her attempt to be a fair and merciful ruler to people who predominantly loved her just resulted in an intractable insurgency that dogged her regime in Mereen at every turn. And that's when everyone loved her, except for a tiny minority. In King's Landing, most of t...

If using the Infinity Stones at all results in a near death experience, he really shouldn't have been able to use them twice (or should have died the second time). If using the Infinity Stones doesn't nearly kill you, then Tony should still be alive. Most of the damage was caused by gamma radiation...