Note: This post will make my Operating System preferences clear.  However, it is not a post about Operating Systems, and any comments relating to an OS war will be ignored and probably deleted.

“I just think 3.5 feels a lot more like UNIX.  You can do whatever you want.”  That’s what one of my players said to me.  That would be great, an gaming edition that lets you do practically whatever you want, writing scripts to let you perform any action, putting input in one end, and getting a phenomenal result on the other side.  Hundreds of small single-purpose pieces that let you pipe input and output however you need to.  You could have a wizard where you put components, casting time, and targets in one end of the equation, and get a a targeted mini-Fireball with each foe’s name on it out of the other side, telling you how much dice to use for each one so that it is balanced with your abilities and the other classes of the same level.  You could have a paladin script based around how the enemy responds to his Smite Evil. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 4e, operating systems, trifecta of geekiness, UNIX

OK, SO I”M *REALLY* unhappy with the firearms in D20 Modern.  One of our GM’s wants to run a game set in it.  He’s asked us to ‘fix’ the gun combat with as few changes as possible, while keeping the game somewhat heroic - so guns don’t need to be simulator realistic.

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Tags: crit system, d20 modern, vitality, wounds

With all the screeing pre-teens swooning over the release of Twilight, I just wanted to throw my two eyeteeth in.  I haven’t read the book, nor do I plan to see the movie, but I have some major problems with what I do know of the storyline.  In short, it’s the fact that the main male protagonist is a vampire.  VAM-PIRE.  Nosferatu.  Nightstalker.  Blood ghoul.  Child of the Night.  Chupacabra.

Maybe not that last one.

Anyway, from my many hours spent role-playing D&D and Cthulhu, and my current reading of The Dresden Files, I know that vampires aren’t cured by love of some weepy tart alone.  They need to be staked.  Possibly subsequently beheaded and burned.

So, here’s how I think the movie should go:

Weepy teenage girl: “You’re a vampire!”

Vampire dude with bad hair: “Yes, but I’m a wounded vampire.  I’m a strong male character with a flaw.  Your love can heal me.”

{days pass}

Girl: “AAAAH!  You bit me!!!”

Vampire: “Yah, you’ll be my thrall by dawn.”

Girl: “I thought you were a good vampire, though!  I can’t believe this!  I should’ve listened to my mother, and stayed away from the undead!”

Vampire: “Woman, I’ve done this for the past 400 years.  I don’t need weepy teenage hangers-on.  I need servants that can move my furniture and make me coffee.”

THE END

Tags: preteen screeching, thrallbait, Twilight

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, I’m running my first 4e game soon.  I’m not 100% sold on it, just like I’m not 100% sold on 3.5.  But, I do have some serious questions I need to ask before I go forward.

• How hard is it for a character to die in 4e?  To me, with all the checks and healing surges, it seems nearly impossible.  That seems to really rob the game of any sense of danger.
• Do the limited number of ‘paths’ make it difficult to truly ‘customize’ a character?  (i.e. do all Fighters feel alike?)
• Are the number of given options in combat overwhelming or freeing compared to 5th ed?  Do they eventually get tedious?
• Do the healing surges, in practice, really mean that you’re never carrying around any damage?
• Is there anything I should know about the learning curve?  Any beginner’s mistakes I need to look out for?

Tags: 4e, advice from readers, D&D, RPG

I just read that Michael Crichton died.  There will be a lot of stories about him over the next several days, but I just wanted to make a quick comment.  I think Crichton did a lot to help legitamize Sci-Fi as a genre.  He may not  have written “hard” Sci-Fi like Asimov or others, but he always had that edge there.  Personally, I always liked Timeline (the book, not the movie), but I encourage everyone to read at least one Crichton novel in their life.  You may get hooked and read them all.

Tags: Books

Another idea that I have had for an Ideal RPG is a critical stystem.  Crits should hurt.  Yes, dealing massive amounts of damage does hurt, but in an abstracted HP system, the damage is just eventually healed anyway.  In my opinion, it was always more fun when we played a system where a crit meant something (i.e. Warhammer RPG or Mechwarrior).

Crits should have lasting effects in game, that aren’t easy to fix.  The critical could sever an artery, cost a player an eye or leg, or scar his face.  This may mean lasting repercussions to the character, or at least disadvantage until they could be properly healed (what if clerics couldn’t fix all damage immediately? That may be a topic for another post).

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Tags: crit system, ideal RPG, RPG

In celebration of Halloween, I present you with a Neil Gaiman classic, I, Cthulhu.  Enjoy, oneheads.

Tags: Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft, Halloween, Neil Gaiman

So the band of heroes isn’t acting very heroic?  They’ve told the old King to go rescue his own daughter?  They’re starting bar fights because they won’t accept the quest and they’re getting bored?

It’s time to bring in the Mentor.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Campaign, Game Master, RPG, Theatrical

Every system and edition has its strength and weaknesses.  In particular, D&D 3.x was good at individual optimization, and 4e is good at group optimization.  But, it still seems that there is room to better simulate what is possible in real life, without getting bogged down in details, tables, and dice rolls.

So, Wolfgod and I came up with a few things we would eventually like to see in a game system.  These may be eventually made into a system; we’d have to hash out some statistics first.  For now, it is just a pipe dream.  Here’s a smattering of our ideas: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: ideal RPG, magic system, RPG