The Gaming Den

His original reason for refusing was that he didn't want anyone to know about his power, but once that was adressed it was explicitly and spesifically "Fuck you, I'm refusing because fuck you."

Well, inflammatory headline aside, that article seems pretty on-point to me. Two caveats though: 1. I, at least, have the distinct impression that this is more precisely the fault of the Putin administration embracing propaganda and holding international law and custom in contempt, rather than Russi...

"Leery" is the understatement of the year, Onyx Path is an affinity fraud scheme. If they were ever anything else (I must confess that I did like the 20th anniversary Vampire edition they put out, but it was pure nostalgia fodder and more of a "build your own vampire game" kit th...

This line of logic sounds like it precludes any setting neutral action resolution system from existing at all, not just spesifically science fiction genre ones. Which... is arguably true but I think you are then operating with an overly demanding and not entirely good-faith standard of "setting...

I have an account there. Never had any moderation directed at me. But then, I hardly ever post. I mostly log in to be able to read the forums that non-members can't see.

Kind of thinking about doing a one shot game for Halloween with zombies. Leaning towards just doing AS, but maybe taking an opportunity to run a playtest of Dead Man's Hand. What systems do you guys like for 1) zombie games and 2) one shots? My best zombie gaming has actually been in Deadlands: Hel...

Depends on your level of optimization and access to sourcebooks, as with everything else relating to Wizards - with enough metamagic abuse and the right spells to use it on they quite literally blow everyone else away, even when limiting themselves to direct damage. Then again if we're only concerni...

I wouldn't give spellcasting bonuses by house, it's both a lot of up-front work for little reward and it encourages people to decide their house based on mechanical concerns rather than conceptual ones. Instead I'd make them into Races of War-style Backgrounds.

Yes it is. He's quite a character.

I had an interesting discussion with a friend last night that made me realize: I really don't know anything about what sort of economic stances and policies we can expect from Hillary.

Can anyone help me educate myself, either by explaining or by pointing me to some resources?

Supporting monster player characters is actually not something you do with big, bold ambitious ideas - it's actually an emergent benefit of solving a bunch of boring mathy design problems including but not limited to multiclassing, monster roles and magic item paradigms. If you want bold ideas thoug...

I don't play Shadowrun so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but it sounds as if this should be a really simple thing to house rule away and make those characters playable - since it's effectively just an extra stat that NPCs have because they're NPCs and PCs can just... not have. Is that w...

So I've started playing Bloodborne and I like it a lot, there's nothing in gaming like the feeling you get from finally figuring out a difficult enemy or set-piece. I'm not very far in though, just got the emblem to open the gate in the Cathedral Ward (and poked my nose into Old Yarnham just far eno...

That would probably have made a cool novel -but in an RPG it's just masturbatory metaplot.

Make a setting, fill it with hooks. Include some information for people who want to project forward from the present day. But learn the lesson of the 90s. Don't write metaplot.

So... the prize is giving them free work?

Or is it a paid freelancing gig?

Monsters whose purpose is to try to escape with treasure or alert other enemies before they are killed is actually a venerable part of fantasy RPGs. From the Metal Slime to the Shrieker. However, in general that's not a good monster role. That's an encounter provision. Shriekers don't work without ...

That works, although I think the condition-negating power is a bit dull.

Also, what Sorcerer spells does she know?

And what happens when a player convinces a lizardfolk (or a mind flayer, or a succubus) to join Team PC? Does the monster balanced to be a threat gets immediately substituted by the monster balanced to be a henchman ? How would you deal with this? That's easy as long as monsters use the same rules ...

Runners are distinguished from Harriers not by what they have, but by what they don't have. A runner performs a single specialized function. As such, he sacrifices offense and defense in exchange for overland speed. He is, essentially, a non-com whose job is to deliver messages, which requires fast...

If you use fractional base attack and saves (as in, add up all your levels that have the same progression in each of bab, fort, ref, will before calculating the bonus) and give Fighters 6 skill points per level and a real skill list, the 3.5 core classes work pretty well for that as is.

I think this discussion is more worthwhile and more interesting on every level if you just don't have a line on your character sheet that says "alignment".

That's how my group has done it for the past few years and it works great for us. Moral issues become more relevant, not less.

I'm in two gaming groups, both of which mostly play heavily-houseruled 3.5, both of which have played one short campaign each of 5e (From 1st to... I think 6th level and 10th to 14th level, respectively). The GM of one of these groups is also running 5e for another group, and one of his players is G...

I hear what you're saying, Frank. But then you need a ridiculous number of feats for people to be able to make meaningful choices for 20 levels worth of (at least) 12 different classes. Like, one per class per level at the absolute minimum -yes, Rangers, Barbarians and Paladins want many of the same...

This is hysterically, impossibly complicated for the core mechanic of an RPG. And unless I've missed something (which is possible, see above) it absolutely requires every roll to be against a known DC, which means you have to be told every DC before you make the roll, and it completely fails to hand...

Sadly, Strong Female Protagonist (which I love) has taken a serious turn for the ham-handed lately, with the reveal that Max (who seemed so promising) is a cartoon jackass after all. I was hoping for a somewhat nuanced portrayal of the blind spots that come with wealth and privilege - instead we get...