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Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012
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11:16 am - Choose your weapon
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apestyle
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You're going to join a 3.5 game. In order to restrict minmaxing and bloat, the DM has given a caveat: You have access to only core books and ONE expansion book. Only you get to use the spells, classes, treasure, feats, etc from that book (although other players can also opt to choose the same book as you).
Books that are off limits: Spell Compendium and Magic Item Compendium. Those are in the province of the DM and he or she may decide to use part or all of the things from those books.
So. Which book do you choose?
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(34 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, May 3rd, 2012
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3:05 am - No Comparison?
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| Sunday, April 29th, 2012
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12:23 pm - Two-Weapon Fighting
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nerdwerds
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I'm currently GMing a game where the system we're using doesn't actually have any rules for a character who fights with two weapons. I wanted to house rule in something, and in my research of how other game systems use dual-wielded weapons I was really surprised how this facet of combat has evolved over time.
In the current 4th edition AD&D rules I think it's addressed the worst. I can't even find a reference to allowing characters to dual-wield unless they have a feat for it, and even then the feat only gives the character a +1 to damage if they happen to have a weapon in each hand.
The 3rd edition rules are the longest, with a table of modifiers and descriptive explanations, along feats that adjust how characters wield two weapons at once. Essentially, anyone wielding two weapons suffers a -6 penalty to their main weapon and a -10 penalty to their off-hand weapon, unless they have a feat which lowers the base penalties to -4 each.
I was actually really surprised that the 1st and 2nd edition rules for this are identical. They're phrased differently, but the initial penalties and ability modifiers are the same. The primary weapon suffers a -2 penalty and the off-hand weapon suffers a -4 penalty. A very high, or very low, Dexterity modifiers will offset or increase the penalty. I'll quote word-for-word from the 1st edition rulebook:
"If the user’s dexterity is above 15, there is a downward adjustment in the weapon penalties as shown, although this never gives a positive (bonus) rating to such attacks, so that at 16 dexterity the secondary/primary penalty is -3/-1, at 17 -2/0, and at 18 -l/O."
Holy shit!
Keep in mind, 1st and 2nd edition were written in a time when feats hadn't been imagined yet. I never knew the 1st edition rules were written like that, basically because I've owned a copy of the rules forever but never actually played with them, nor read the rules from cover to cover. This has spurred my interest to see if there are other things that are wildly different from the origins of the game. But mainly I thought I would share this weird little transition over the years.
People often complain about powers getting nerfed in revisionary changes, but nobody ever points out how the rules sometimes get harder, or disappear completely.
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(23 comments | comment on this)
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1:25 am - Role-Playing and Format
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brother_dour
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So, I was talking to a friend who I used to MUCK with (laugh if you want, but for a long while it was fun. Just ask ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) tashiro and shiftercat- they were there too). Anyway, he and his boyfriend just started playing SWtOR on my server, and we got on the subject of role-playing games, their structure, and the differences between old-fashioned tabletop RPGs and the so-called 'MMORPGs' while I was crafting and they were leveling. And I thought it might make a good discussion here, since the community has been a bit quiet lately.
So, let's talk about classes first. Classes make sense when you have potentially millions of players, all who have different desires and preferences, playing classes that most likely have different specializations they can go into. It is probably the easiest way to balance things- not only between players and mobs, but between classes and possibly even factions for some MMOs. That's pretty much the norm for MMOs these days. But- why do so many old-fashioned tabletop RPGs still being produced today still have classes? Aren't classes an archaic construct? What are the advantages of classes when you don't have to wrangle millions of players (or even dozens) and the mathematics and game mechanics are extremely simple compared to what goes on under the hood of a computerized MMO?
Now, on to the second issue. Generally, I don't think there is really any such thing as an "MMORPG". There are MMOs, but they ain't RPGs. Role-playing means doing what is expected of your class, filling your class's role, and nothing more to the typical MMO player. One possible exception: LotRO. Most people are such huge fans of the lore and of Tolkien that a lot of people role-play, or at least stay in character. That MMO actually has 'lore Nazis' who will gripe at people who misuse public channels and report characters with questionable names.
You know, for that matter, I would not call console games like Fallout or GTA or Elder Scrolls true RPGs...to me, if you aren't playing with other human beings and you aren't staying at least somewhat in character, it's not true role-playing.
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(25 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, April 5th, 2012
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10:28 pm - Brand-New Gamers
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brother_dour
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Well.
I am within one month of finishing my master's program, and unless something absolutely unforeseen and borderline miraculous happens in that time, I'll be moving away to (theoretically) bigger, better things. This also means I will be leaving the gaming group I've been a part of for the last decade.
Now, there's no doubt that I'll miss those wacky kids. It is a good group of mature, experienced, talented role-players that will go on without me. And each and every one is a great GM as well, with some fun campaign ideas. But part of me thinks things were getting somewhat stagnant, so I am also looking forward to a change.
And that brings me to my question. Last session, we were reminiscing about a couple of very fun and promising gamers who once played with us (I live in a college town, so there was a good deal of turnover there for awhile). Those guys were new gamers, and although I can honestly say they had potential, part of the fun was just playing with new gamers.
I think it would be a lot of fun to GM for total newbies. So, I wonder: how would one go about starting a new group of entirely new gamers (adult gamers, because asking a bunch of minors to play would be kind of creepy)? Has anyone tried this, or found themselves in this situation? What was your experience like? What tips, advice, or dire warnings can you give me?
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, March 21st, 2012
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6:01 pm - Avoiding First Encounter TPKs
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fiat_knox
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This theme seems to occur far too frequently: an adventuring party ventures forth, and on its first ever encounter stumbles across a party of kobolds.
Weak, useless kobolds.
Who hand the party their arses on a plate. TPK.
Just as there are different kinds of adventures than what is considered the "standard" dungeon crawl - technically dungeon crawls are raids, since the primary activities carried out are looting, pillaging, vandalism, theft, defilement and murder - there has to be a way out of handing a fresh party an unnecessary TPK before they've even reached the temple or tomb they set out to plunder.
The DM, GM, ST, referee or whatever the title has to ask some simple questions.
One, is this a random encounter or part of the story?
Two, if a random encounter, what does the other party want, if anything? Food? Water? Money? Or do they just want to get back home and get some sleep and grub, and maybe a little kobold fun tonight? Or do they (90%) chance not want anything to do with the adventurers whatsoever?
Three, does this other party look like they want to get into a fight with somebody? If all they want is some bed and board back home, maybe not; if they just came back from the annual Brainball tournament and they're boisterous and drunk on Kobold Bloodbeer, maybe so.
Four, if they do want to get into a fight, what are the chances of the adventurers knowing what they are doing? (First timers, maybe not).
So how do you avoid putting yourself into the shoes of The DM That Hands Out First Encounter TPKs?ooks, kill more mooks,
I've had some thoughts about this, and I've come up with some answers.
First, adventuring in a roleplaying game is not like a video game - meet the mooks, kill the mooks, meet more mooks, kill more mooks, unlock a new ability, use it against the mid level mooks, fight the level boss, start new level.
It doesn't have to be like that. Not even if the aim is to raid some temple or nest of baddies.
Second, a good DM encourages the players to pursue non-combat resolutions, and to engage in combat only as necessary - only escalating to lethal attacks when the enemy escalates.
Third, most roleplaying games have skills lists now, other than just combat abilities. Influence, trade, barter, questioning the encountered parties if they know anything about the destination the adventurers are heading for - these approaches should be made to work. They should bear fruit.
Fourth, a good GM can make the encounter significant not for this adventure but for a later one. The kobolds the party bumped into in that first encounter can turn up at a later date, where they can recognise the party. Whether they remember them for good or ill will depend on how the party and the encountered group parted company that first time - a party that swapped jokes and shared food at the campfire will be remembered far more kindly than one that ended in hostilities.
Fifth, make notes. Always make notes. Even an inconsequential encounter could be used later for some reason. Not all of them, not by any means. Just some of them.
Actually, a really good GM can spend time creating encounter parties to throw at the characters, so that he is ready for them. Whether they meet in combat or just pass by, at least they're prepared and ready for the players and their characters.
Done right, with some forethought, the Games Master can make sure that even the first encounter can be as memorable for the characters as the actual adventure - but for the right reason, and not "We got put through the mincer by kobolds before we even got to the temple."
current mood: busy
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, March 20th, 2012
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10:34 pm - Daylong Sessions
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sutanri
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My gaming group stopped meeting for campaigns a while back; we all live in different parts of the country now, so meeting up for regular sessions isn't practical. However, when we are all in the same place, we run one or two daylong sessions. Each of us has written a bit of fluff, and we try to play through one dungeon or storyline that somone's prepared in one day. Often, each DM likes to keep all their daylongs set in one world, to give the feel of things developing with each session, giving it a sort of campaign-esque feel. Generally speaking, the system used is D&D 3.5.
Basically, I'm looking for advice on making a one day session run smoothly, keeping it fast paced, making sure it doesn't feel too railroaded, that sort of thing. The difference between this and a normal campaign session is that I have all the time in the world to put into it, and I'm sort of expected to put in a fair bit. If you had tons of time to put into planning just one session, how do you think you'd structure it? Any related advice is appreciated.
Also, as an aside for any 3.5 specialists, any advice on making level-appropriate challenges? Level 6 Gestalt, three or four players, full casting progressions are banned so level 2 spells are the highest I'll have to deal with. Any tips that help with finding that optimal level of fun where challenging meets doable are much appreciated.
If it's of any relevance, the basic plot is that they are sent on a quest by a powerful spirit (a sort of mini-god, if you will) to gather information on another such spirit after he started getting some rather worrying magical vibes. They'll journey to a massive underground city to do some investigating. There is a fair bit more preamble to it than that, but I shan't bore you all. Thanks!
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, March 13th, 2012
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12:00 am - System Design Help - How much can I borrow from other systems?
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kyubikitsune
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I've been working on my own tabletop RPG for months now, one that I hope to have published eventually. Things about the lore and setting are finally falling into place, and the major thing that I think would push this game into finally being playtestable is a dice mechanic. Once I have that, everything should progress more smoothly.
I've been struggling to come up with my own dice mechanic, and it's not working out so far. I tried coming up with a wonky system using 2d10s - 1d10, and when I can barely explain it to someone else and can't work it out… it's time to throw in the towel. XD
Honestly, what I'd really enjoy using is a simple "roll a bunch of d10s and count the appearance of specific numbers" mechanic, with the amount of points in an attribute determining how many d10s you roll. However, as most of you can tell, this is pretty much the dice mechanic used in the Storyteller System behind White Wolf RPGs. (Is something similar to this used in any other role playing system? I would feel SO much better if it was, seriously. XD) I could just make things easier on myself and just use an OGL system, but none of them have what I'm looking for.
Here's what I'm thinking of doing with it though. Basically, what I'm working on is an East Asian inspired high fantasy setting, and the magic system is heavily inspired by fung shui and onmyoudou. I got the idea from a Chinese astrology book, where I saw the constructive/destructive cycles for the five Chinese elements and thought to myself, "Why hasn't anyone used this for an RPG before?" XD (if someone has, let me know, because while I've scoured the Internet and found some pretty obscure things, and people have used the five Chinese elements before, I have still not seen anything that uses these cycles nor yin/yang energy.) Balancing yin and yang energies is a huge part of my system, and "balance" is the theme that I want running throughout the RPG itself.
I wanted to use d10s because the number 10 has a significance in the cultural mythos I'm working with. (Plus, it would be cool to be able to use Mahjong dice! XD) I see characters as having points in things such as Yin Fire, Yang Water, etc, making for ten total attributes. (Yin and Yang versions of Water, Fire, Metal, Wood and Earth basically.) For example, Yang Fire governs both physical fire magic and Intelligence. So, as an example a character could have 3 points in Yang Fire, and roll 3d10s for checks related to that. A person could roll the 3d10s, and count the number of 0s and 8s that come up (again, 10 and 8 are pretty significant numbers in the mythos I'm dealing with) and 4s would be failures, because of the "Four = Death" pattern in East Asian cultures. (In fact, I would probably make an 8 a Critical Success where you'd roll again, since it's so lucky.)
The one thing that does make this slightly more iffy though is that, well, this game is primarily focused on shapeshifting animal characters with an animal form, an "anthro" form, and a human form. This does push it more towards the games that… the other company I mentioned makes.
Now, can I roll with this, excuse the pun? I've learned that game systems can't be copyrighted, but the terms are. Bear in mind that my terminology will be different, and I also have a magic system involving Chi points, Yang points and Yin points, as well as a my own lore for the setting. So, about the only thing I'm borrowing hopefully is "using d10s and counting certain numbers that pop up" and "number of points in a stat determines how many d10s to roll." Well, and it happens to involve shapeshifting animal people… but, again, TOTALLY different lore and terminology for it! XD
If this is getting too similar, is there something out there that I CAN use that would give me the effect I'm looking for? Or maybe even something potentially better? The only other one I've considered is the "Yang Die - Yin Die" in the Qin roleplaying game, but it was a little /too/ simplistic for this game. (That was where the "2d10s - 1d10" nonsense came from in the first place XD)
current mood:  hopeful
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(29 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, March 6th, 2012
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1:17 am - Amber: What It Isn't
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tashiro
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I've read the first novel in the Amber prequels. Now, while it isn't a very popular book, it was written with the blessing of the estate, so I'm willing to accept it on those terms. While I will say it deserves it's 3/5 stars, I will also say it was very educational for the Amber RPG. I've learned a lot from it in fact.
The big thing is Trump, and where it comes from. Trump is not a power source (like they say in the RPG), it is a focussing tool for using Pattern or Logrus. You imbue the trump with a portion of power, which allows you to 'short cut' shadow shifting and allows you to make a contact with someone, drawing off of Pattern or Logrus as the power source to do so. Trumps are not indestructible - they can be crushed or broken like any other card or piece of paper. They don't 'sting' Logrus users, or anything of the sort.
The Logrus does not require any form of shape shifting - Dworkin's children have navigated the Logrus, and none of them knew how to shape shift. It is hazardous, but only in that it causes physical and mental drain. And while the powerful bloodlines of Chaos can learn to navigate the Logrus, the weaker bloodlines can actually find it hazardous or fatal - or not be able to navigate it at all.
Each Chaosian has a 'copy' of the Logrus within them - effectively they hold in their blood a pattern of the Logrus, and navigating it attunes them to the Logrus so they can call upon it. If this 'pattern' diverges too much, you can't navigate the Logrus.
The rest of this is spoilers, so I'll stop there. However, as you can see, this veers wildly off from the RPG - but actually meshes neatly with the novels. So... this means I need to re-think my Amber game some.
current mood:  contemplative
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(7 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
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9:50 am - Is This Thing On?
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tregenza
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Why have a whole bunch of posts dating back two months ago just appeared?
Is this a technical or a moderation problem?
Will this message disappear for two months?
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, December 17th, 2011
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12:32 pm - Gaming: respectable geek hobby, or haven for sex-obsessed teenagers?
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lederhosen
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(rant mode on, feel free to skip if discussion of gender issues in gaming is likely to annoy you)
So, t'other day I was in my friendly local gaming store, and happened across these figures (both NSFW) plus more in the same vein:
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/bug-hunter.html
http://www.coolminiornot.com/shop/xstacy-limited-edition-300.html
"Bug Hunter" wears heavily armoured pants that sit so low on her hips that her thong undies are showing. The only thing she's wearing above the waist is a T-shirt, pulled up to wipe her faceshow off her breasts.
X'Stacy is wearing some solid-looking bracers, and gaiters that should keep her ankles nice and warm, and a helmet (good to see!) and... not much else. She seems to have forgotten her pants and her "torso armour" doesn't cover the two most prominent parts of her torso.
The really sad thing is the tags. The numbers indicate how many figures on the site have the same tag:
female (82)
boobs (36)
topless (23)
breasts (26)
scantily (25)
clad (25)
nipples (7)
nipple (5)
sword (25)
chain (1)
Now, don't get me wrong, I have no problem with nudity. I'm quite capable of appreciating an occasional naked woman in art (although it helps if the artist has actually met a real live naked woman at some point in their life and is not relying solely on ancient myths) and I've painted one or two scantily-clad figures in my time. The women I game with have similar attitudes.
But when "boobs", "topless", and "breasts" show up more often than "sword", that says something creepy about the focus of the game. I keep hearing how gaming has become a respectable hobby for grown-ups and intelligent children, but from this sort of stuff it looks like the "hur hur boobies" factor is still strong.
Not sure if I was really driving at a particular point here, just felt the need to rant.
current mood:  annoyed
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(26 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, January 1st, 2012
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12:14 pm - A Serious Bargain
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tregenza
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To start the new year with a bang, 6d6 (the RPG publisher I run) is having a two day sale. As well as discounts on our physical products and PDFs we are offering a huge 80% discount on memberships to 6d6 Online.
6d6 Online is the publishing platform we use to create our products and members get full access to it. This includes all our content so that members can reuse and remix all the official 6d6 content with their own. Members can also create their own content, sharing it with the world or keep it private.
Members also get PDFs of all our products and because we are selling lifetime memberships, this means you get all the products currently released plus all the products we will release in the future.
So for £30, you get the entire commercial output of 6d6 forever.
For more details, check out: http://6d6rpg.com
Have a happy new year.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Monday, January 9th, 2012
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2:19 pm - I'm not sure what to think about this, really
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| Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
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11:21 am - Ain't it Dead Yet?
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tcpip
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RPG Review 13 and 14, a double issue dedicated to D20 and Planescape has been released with the following content:
A Crafty Interview with Patrick Kapera and Alex Flagg, Hot Gossip: Industry News, D20 History and Product Review, Natasha Keshell: An AD&D Character, Effective Combat Tactics for Assassins, Stop The Madness! An Anti-D20 Rant, A Year With Fantasy Craft, The Shifted Soul: Pathfinder-Planescape, Planescape Spell Compendium, Planescape Charms, No Exit: An Existentialist D&D Scenario, The Illogics of D&D, D20 Horror on the Orient Express and Masks of Nyarlathotep, Recalculating Hit Points D&D 4e, PG Game Review: Virtual Villagers, Movie Review: Deathly Hallows, Movie Review: Contagion
Download from here: http://rpgreview.net/files/rpgreview_13.pdf
Join the announce mailing list here:
http://rpgreview.net/mailman/listinfo/announce_rpgreview.net
Issue 15 of RPG Review will be dedicated to independent games and system concerns, with an interview with Liz Danforth!
Submissions welcome as always; reviews, scenarios, characters, rants and more :)
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, February 7th, 2012
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5:26 pm
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girl_next_dork
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Hello, folks. I grew up with my beloved Final Fantasy cartridges, played D&D 1st and 2nd editions as a teenager, and - having moved across the country and wanting to make more geek friends - recently found some Pathfinder groups locally that I now play in. I've got a pretty good background in game mechanics in general, I feel, so mostly right now I'm the newbie of the group trying to remember which skills I have and how they work.
Mostly I'd like to introduce myself and vent a little bit. I want to find a way to get into a game that I really enjoy. Right now I play with guys who seem to know EVERYTHING in the books backwards and forwards, so as soon as the GM describes the decal on a shield someone chimes in "oh, it's a Whatever Shield with +2 To This". It seems everyone's played in the same regurgitated campaigns at least once and are only interested in level grinding or treasure hunting. I'm a pretty artsy person so I'm disappointed that the role-playing is really not happening. That's what I'd hope for from folks who opt for tabletop gaming instead of a console title. But we've had a few characters die and the player says "oh, good, he sucked anyway, let me make a new BETTER one", which promptly dies after that, ad nauseum.
I'm kind of at the point where I've started altering Pathfinder rules and writing background materials for my own entire campaign setting (based off several years of development of a comic book) but I'm really questioning myself a lot. I'm mentally ill so it's hard for me to get on with people - yeah, I'll admit it! I'm a girl so the Dude factor makes me feel left out at times. And while I feel confident in my creative abilities to run a sandbox campaign, I worry that I'll be too emotionally attached to it and potential players (even forewarned of the kind of gameplay I'm fostering) will molest the hell out of it and drag their feet through an actual storyline. Last week a friend of the group dropped by and made small talk with the GM - I would roll an attack and have to wait 2 minutes for them to stop talking so we could move forward with the battle. I was turned to stone basically for fun and the GM still giggles to the other players about it. I am not feeling optimistic about the local game scene anymore.
Please tell me I can do better than the games I'm in now. Sigh.
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(24 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
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3:29 pm - Product Name Woes
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brother_dour
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OK, here's the deal...
For the last three (!) years I've been working on a tabletop RPG system of my own. In a nutshell, after 20+ years of playing tabletop RPGs, I realized that I had yet to find one that I really, really liked. Yeah, I cut my teeth on the old D&D boxed sets and played everything from 1st Edition AD&D to 3.5. Not to mention various and sundry other systems: Champions, Marvel Supers, the old West End Star Wars system, Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, Savage Worlds, Rifts (urgh), Rolemaster (triple urgh), Alternity...and probably some I've forgotten about. All of them had something I didn't much like- or they were so old-school as to be, in my mind, outdated. So I started out to make my own system, one that (hopefully) would not only be my idea of a perfect system, but also have some commercial value.
Here is my concern: since I sent this edition off for copyrighting, I've made some rules changes. I've also discovered at least three other people using the title, "Herobound": one is a Homestuck fanfic on Tumblr, one is a series of amateur videos on Youtube, and the other is some kind of computer game currently in development by an individual like me. So, I'm thinking that maybe Herobound isn't the best title- I've always considered it a working title at any rate, and even if any legal wrangling should come from this name issue, and even if I can prove I had the name first, do I want my product confused with someone else's? That is probably unavoidable in this day and age, but still... Not to mention the potential legal fallout from the HERO system (which is what Champions is called these days) or Runebound (a board game published by Fantasy Flight). And I sure as Hell don't want to get into litigation with either of those gorillas!
What does everyone think? Should I start thinking about a new name for the next iteration of rules (the one I hope will go commercial), or stick with the name I've been using and change it only if I legally have to later on?
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(13 comments | comment on this)
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| Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
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3:50 am - Google Maps for GMs
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thedungeonlord
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I don't know if there is such a product out there now, but I think it would be cool if there was some form of software that operated like Google Maps, but did so for RPG campaign settings. It would have to have some sort of simple, intuitive interface for building "dungeons" and maps that included a global view, national level, regional level, city level, and building level of scale. Like Google Maps, it would have to have data editing software that let you pin information to a specific location, with the ability to search by keyword. I think such software would be immensely useful.
current mood: creative
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(8 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, December 4th, 2011
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11:26 am
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tregenza
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 We (6d6) are giving away a free copy of the 6dd Core rules PDF (worth £7.50) to anyone who signs up to our newsletter before Monday.
The newsletter is definitely non-spammy and you can leave it as soon as you get the PDF.
Find out a bit more here or dive in straight to the 6d6 Newsletter sign-up page.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, November 18th, 2011
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1:35 pm - Soul Calibur p&p?
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lord_tyger
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Been wanting to work on a Soul Edge/Soul Calibur rpg for quite some time now; but I keep running into a fundamental stumbling block.
Namely, this: Which system should I use? Pathfinder, BESM.. something else... feedback?
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, November 6th, 2011
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9:41 pm - Complexity and the GM
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tashiro
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I just recently had a back-and-forth discussion about Exalted, and the rules concerning NPCs. The game master is skilled at improvisation, and is more than willing to put NPC sheets aside, and just come up with appropriate dice pools for the NPCs. I'm more inclined to having the NPCs written and statted out according to the rules, and find that a near-impossibility when it comes to Exalted (and in some respects, this is a problem with Scion as well).
Now, putting aside the differences in GMing style, I'm looking at the rules themselves. I can accept some GMs play a bit fast and loose with the rules, especially when it comes to NPCs. My beef is that the rules shouldn't have to be played with fast and loose. In fact, if it is necessary to do so with the rules, especially with NPCs, then there's something fundamentally wrong with the mechanics.
See, my view is that a good game system reduces the amount of hand-waving the GM has to do, or at least incorporates it into the game in such a way that it's considered an integral part of the system. With Exalted, it is impossible to run the game, and especially run Exalteds, without either a phenomenal amount of character building, or a phenomenal amount of hand-waving - which is one reason I stopped running the game. (My wife's upset about it, too. She likes the setting, she likes my campaigns. But she doesn't really follow the rules, as they're way beyond her. She's not a rule person, and I'm usually the one who spends her XP for her).
A few games have done it right. 7th Sea, for example, is really easy for building NPCs with. Amber is a no-brainer, obviously. L5R, not so much, since a proper samurai NPC can get pretty complex unfortunantely.
Where do you think the tipping point is?
current mood: contemplative
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(38 comments | comment on this)
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roleplayers