The Gaming Den

These are very cool, and I will be using them in my next 3.x games.

(1) I played 3.5 and didn't run games, so I never memorized Flyby Attack, which is pretty central to how this monster functions. There's a barrier to entry in reading this design that could be covered just by spelling out the relevant stuff in the design entry. Sure, an online SRD helps, but you co...

ColorBlindNinja61 wrote: I'm going to be honest, I don't think it's worth the effort to try to fix 5e. I'd rather just play 3.5.

Every time I work to homebrew anything for 5e, I realize I've just re-written 3e. Half of 5es mechanics rely on at least one player half-remembering 3e, and doing that instead.

You went briefly over the The Emerald Magistrate, but I think its worth noting that its core ability, Strength of Purpose (which powers up every other level) doesn't actually do anything half the time. It gives the magistrate a "+2 morale bonus to resist any attempt to turn him away from his du...

I don't disagree with odin about flight and warlocks in 5e, but I also remember the flying warlock he played in a 5e game with me that got pin-cushioned often while my shitty monk sort of just didn't. The real path to ultimate 5e power is to hire like 10 archers to pal around with you. Also heads up...

If you want status conditions I guess. Maybe for magical states of dishonor compared to just being dishonored. I really think having NPCs tell you you can't come into this party because you are an uncouth barbarian who uses scary shadow magic is plenty. Or being told directly, I won't hire you for t...

"honor scores" seem like a consistent and constant problem with RPGs that try to be fantasy feudal japan. Actually trying to follow Bushido, and have tea ceremonies, and doing your duty makes for a relatively dry story. Whats an interesting story is being in a society that follows those ru...

deaddmwalking wrote:The value of the spellcasting feature comes from being able to use spell-trigger items, like a wand of cure light wounds or entangle at level 1.

Didn't realize you could use wands and such before level 4. a 3rd level paladin is specifically the phb example though. learn something new every day.

A badly played ranger or one who just doesn't know about spells beyond the PHB doesn't get a lot of mileage out of spellcasting. For a lot of players extra feats would be a better bargain, it's not a total nerf tho' it depends a bit on how many they'd get. the value to me always came in if my range...

I also broke my heartbreaker down by powersource, and gave each powersource one class of each role in the 4e vein. I've even got my own copy of your Image, although mine's a spreadsheet.

I look forward to seeing more of this.

It seems fun, and playable at face value. I'm not clear what you do though. Like, I get that we are weird trolls who run around giving gifts or rotten potatoes, but why? whats our goal? Spreading happiness/punishment is all well and good, but to be a game there should be a point. Do we compete to se...

Since about 2019, I'm almost back to college level gaming. consistently at least 2 4 hour games a week. (and i know other posters here who are at the same or higher levels) IMO the diaspora is not because folks aren't playing. Its just not a super friendly forum for new ideas and there are better me...

in my heartbreaker, gemstones have some sort of magical essence you can suck from them and infuse items with magical energy. Anyone (with class levels) can do it. Once done, the gem goes dull, and gray. You can find broad strokes and early drafts of how it works on my old gemstones currency thread. ...

Fantasy RPG means a lot of things. Some people really want to play halflings wandering the woods. Others really want to play a planeswalker hit squad. Both are fine premises, but many Fantasy RPGs claim to offer both in the same game. This is a problem when Frodo and Urza roll up at the same table. ...

I'll stick to the stuff where Orcs are evil, fuck this edition. And remember, this is the edition where there are rangers that can teleport. I expect the 6th edition to have gnomes that harvest laser beams in their eyes and use it to destroy no one because that would be offensive to, well, certainl...

i get you. I've got bears near me too. And the military marching around cities and a lunatic with nukes in a pandemic hotspot.

So just bears sounds real nice right now

I feel much safer up here // pictures of wild bears.

That's got to say something

I backed the original adventure path, because it sounded too good to be true. I knew it would be, but had some extra cash and figured I'd support a small time RPG guy. Original module was decent enough, but obvious that it was a single guy production. Rough edges, really could use an editor, that so...

Dogbert wrote:I request whatever looks more asinine first. The dumber the better.

That would be the dark obelisk. Especially if you get into the actual company/guy who made it and his process, with his 5billion other kickstarters.

https://boyproblems.ca/boyproblems

Why play any other heist rpg?

Now I'd like to know if and how you have approached dividing magic up in your game and setting. I'm interested in the in-world fiction, the effects you've relegated to each kind of magic, and any resource mechanics these magics might use. Do characters get access to more than one type of magic? Did...

OSSRs are a big "why do i read" draw. Old design analysis threads are good to reread when working on something new. Its also a good place to post something you can link people to, that I can be reasonably sure it won't get lost/purged/deleted. Added bonus, someone will tear me a new asshol...

Arkham horror can slip in as a kind of rpg. Wife and i spent a few months playing on saturdays and churned through most of the big bads back to back with the same gameboard + most expansions. We got some good roleplay elements out of the different characters and approaches. (When someone died we gra...

I think I'm like the only person on earth that likes Monopoly as-is. Do I just have poor taste or something? Is there something wrong with wanting to waste 10 hours playing a board game? Are you playing by the actual rules? The game should take about two hours. There's a commonly missed rule that, ...

if you like the "bind a pact to get special powers" aspect of it, why not just take spheres and use those. https://dnd-wiki.org/wiki/Tome_of_Fiends_(3.5e_Sourcebook)/Spheres_and_Feats#Fiendish_Spheres Rename them to be "satan pact" or "lucifer pact" or "odins old P...