The Gaming Den

5e literally just has "+1d4 damage" from the Enlarge spell, which is fine except for the requirement of more rolls per attack every round, but it's a good direction. Higher level monsters such as ancient dragons and various giants have high STR and CON built into the statblock, and aside ...

Roleplaying out casual racism can be cumbersome and lead to awkward blurting, depends on the players. Religious affiliation also mattered https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/24-3_Going_West/24-3_Szasz.pdf Missionaries murdering native children will be a hot topic if you want to get reall...

a game should feature exactly as many classes as it has resource management systems. If you have several resource management systems, which often comes up for spellcasters, then you need one class per system... What do you think of games where attributes affect resource systems? Like "More of ...

Anyway, in my experience, whichever stat system is optimal, I've found the ones that split "dodge" from "ranged attack" are ideal, but as far as The Mage Stat vs. Social Bonus goes, simplicity is best. Yes I see benefit in not having a single core attribute govern both offense a...

We use Intelligence and Will. Intelligence impacts ranged attack rolls, DCs to resist spells and some special abilities, and resist checks against illusions. Many skills also rely on Intelligence. Will covers far more saves, and includes how many spells/ki abilities you can use. Interpersonal skill...

Physical Attributes n' Stats are pretty straightforward to measure, but mental ones are more vague. We already know WIS and CHA in D&D do a lot of unrelated stuff so this is for looking at other ways to do those attributes What do y'alls Heartbreakers go with and why? It's not difficult to divid...

1) Core gameplay mechanic Attacks for things you can do in Mario and the NFL
2) Feats to augment the core mechanic effect Attacks in a class agonistic way
3) Class ability Attacks for things that use class resources

Thinking of different genres of tabletop RPG's and how to catalogue them. So there's 'genres', but what are genres describing? A dictionary definition of genre is... Form: What form it takes (novel, movie), material used (film camera, paper and pen, etc.) Style: Technique involved, like different pa...

There is some thrill to having the GM also have not totally predictable gambling elements... but then they decide what happens when the 1d4 turns are up anyways

I guess it's like an oracle spilling some intestines gives a prophecy more texture than them just stating a thing behind a counter

A lot of D&Disms aren't Good Design, they're just what was thought up in the 70's and kept for brand recognition. You can develop a clear idea of how your ideal plays, then get the mechanics to support it

I don't think hitpoints should be used for an action resource until there's a very clear design philosophy of what hit points are vs fatigue vs luck vs wounds vs elephants vs lvl10 wizards vs having a bleeding wound and so on

Oh yeah something I'm not looking for is RIFTS "You are massively tough wit hlots of big numbers to grind through when covered in megadamage armor, but will be vaporized by a holdout pistol one can hide in the bum if any part of your puny mortal body is exposed"

I ask because a reoccurring theme about Hit Points is that 1st Level PCs fall down fast. In a campaign where a character funnel isn't ideal, many MC's grant some combination of maximum HP at first level, CON as HP at first level, or CON as HP at first level plus a HitDie as soak, eg: Star Wars/D20 ...

My preference for D&D.PF Heartbreakers is... - Action Economy's used by everyone to some degree, swift / minor actions are neat ---Using up actions as reactions ("It's not my turn yet but I react with a full defense, thus I am locked to turtling for this turn") is a soft way to do what...

In some tabletop RPG's you got Armor Class stuff, armor makes you harder to hit In some games you got Armor as soaking and reduction, taking less damage when hit Some games do both, so what games do y'all find do both well? Where armor coverage and armor quality are both taken into account in a way ...

What makes a Runelord's identity distinct from a demonlord or other somethinglord?

Came across a 1800's document where a european describes samurai armor as having the visage of a hobgoblin, perhaps that influenced D&D Japanese Lawful Evil hobgoblins

What do Historic European lore Wose do anyways?

I figure if the DM is fudging everything behind the scenes to get their desired result, the PC's themselves are the DMPC

What if in a setting, there were honorable goblins who grew beards and they fight against the regular kind of goblin. Would people who want to be a short miner viking honor grumbling brewer be OK with them even if they were green

All kinds of history I only just found out about

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestantism_and_Islam

Thanks, totally forgot they had a recommended reading list

Touhou is filled with characters defined by the hat they wear and do, with long hair instead of beards. https://touhou.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Characters

Depicted as monogender, community where each has a hat-based role.

Condolences for your losses, a lot of my friends have lost family in the US due to COVID-19.

The newer examples that jump out at me are Bloodborne's hunters and the Highwayman from Darkest Dungeon. Also, when I was in junior high I had a science teacher who was a Coast Guard reservist, who was regarded as a kook because he insisted the boarding loadout should be a cutlass and shotgun inste...