The Gaming Den

So Africa is the Dark Continent still? Calling the Early Middle Ages the Dark Ages is about as clued in as "Chinaman". There is a preferred nomenclature, dude. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Ages_%28historiography%29 EDIT - What a clusterfuck that thread is. I don't give a fuck if someo...

Why would a magical sword ever be the pinnacle of technology in D&D land, where linear fighters and quadratic wizards are integral to the rules and the setting? Because the default D&D setting is 'Dark Ages/Medieval Europe, but shittier'. Seriously, why don't you come up with a list of wide...

Task the players to develop a collective motivation for their characters prior to the characters actually existing in the game. It breaks the 4th wall but it's better than nothing.

A pushed-back release schedule is unfortunate, but not end-of-the-world. I'm a bit confused as to why these products - PHB, MM, DMG - weren't finished and released at the same time (even if that's later than what they wanted), since their designs inform each other, which points to some unfortunate b...

Yeah, it's not well-defined. Or defined. Personally I'd just rule that the ward is only against direct actions and first-order indirect actions and be done with it. Like, you couldn't summon a beast to attack, but you could call to someone who could summon a beast to attack. Even that's obviously an...

That's fucking sad.

Gauging comparative power level is downright painful. I don't really think that's a useful undertaking in Ars Magica. It's not like most games where all PCs are present at the same time, all the time, and expected to take part in the same story simultaneously. The fact is that magi will be busy mos...

Lago PARANOIA wrote:5.) If you're a cleric, pick up the plant domain or the Strength (fist) domain. If you don't give a flying fuck about domains (you should, because they're awesome) then you can also pick up the Crusader archetype and enjoy an extra +7 bonus to damage for no real reason.

I don't get this part.

If I can guess... Sacred Fist Warpriest 1 allows Flurry in armor and with monk weapons. Use that to transition to Cleric X and Flurry with Gauntlets. Just because I like melee I'm in a PF game where the build is Warpriest 1/Fighter (unarmed) 1/Monk (MoMS + Kata Master) to have Swashbuckling Panache,...

That's very close to how I houseruled magic items - you have Wealth-by-Level in magic items which were spirits attuned to and drawn in by your emerging apotheosis (ie., level). I can't remember which d20 Rokugan supplement I copped and modded that from, but that system of magic item management we're...

+1 for pointing out the necessity of the victory theme.

Wait, no hiding rules? There are no rules on stealth in 5e?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takanakuy

I love this.

My personal preference was always just upping the power on non-casters with prestige classes. Campaigns were structured to go with base classes (and base class options/alternates) for levels 1-5, a custom prestige class from 6-15, and a capstone custom prestige class from 16-20... though my campaign...

I don't know; it isn't like there's a starting setup expected in ArM as much as there is in, say, DnD. Besides, the initial covenant status is going to determine a large arc of the game. A starting covenant with a shitload of summae is a different game than one with none but a shitload of items. Mor...

Reading that reminded me that Pathfinder did some pretty cool stuff. 5e is some stolen shit, some old shit, and nothing new. I get the impression their design aesthetic was "we better not fuck this up" rather than "let's do something novel and awesome". That's wiser, since they p...

One annoying thing is that the equivalent of a beginner's covenant is unavailable and explicitly not going to be made by Atlas Games, apparently deciding that attracting new players is just not a priority for them. An equivalent to PACKs for grogs would've been highly appreciated; while I am aware ...

I hate that article and its author every time I read it. I mean, no one took DNPC again? That's a sign of good GMing? Putting someone in prison for 20yrs for aggravated assault to make a point? Using Lucky to inflict Unluck in an effects-based system? A disease that bypasses immunity to disease (whi...

Hope that works. Just seemed an interesting aside.

You can have good spotlights with unbalanced characters as long as the story is adapted. That's almost true - ideally the story and spotlighting is supported by the game as well. Relying on a GM to equally spotlight characters of unequal capability is not a trivial task, and the game should help th...

The "arbitrary benchmarks" you're looking for are exactly the things that a DMG ought to provide, hopefully derived through playtesting. It's interesting here that you're taking that Zack guy's position with respect to magic item availability, in that (my understanding of his position is) ...

I'm with you there, but the fact is that 1000gp+ is something that an adventurer would be willing to spend for that slight adjustment. Adventurers are the purchasers of that kind of stuff. You really think there's a solid in-game reason why low-end magic items would exist yet not be bought or sold, ...

I'm down with creation quests, but I can't help but be disappointed that these various upgrades would just limited to just tchotchkes. Climb the mountain, learn to cajole the air spirits to let you glide... I don't see why a cloak that does the same is okay, but the ability to do so without the cloa...

I always found inaccessible magic items to be really jarring to verisimilitude. "Where did these come from and who made them and how" shouldn't just get the SHHHHHHHHHH treatment.

I'm a big fan of "low attack roll = no ammo/jam/misfire" to consolidate rolling, rather than tracking ammo. A post-combat roll to see if you're effectively out of ammo might also be relevant.