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  1. J

    Which table concerns do you consider the most significant?

    I ticked that one because of a player who can't stop talking about his employee benefits, although they are of no interest to anyone else.
  2. J

    Do highly unique characters still get a bad rep; and: how to give them room to exist?

    "There's none of them round here, lad. Dragons and elementals in this world aren't interested in breeding with humans, and half-demons are treated as demons."
  3. J

    Do highly unique characters still get a bad rep; and: how to give them room to exist?

    It depends on the setting, and the premise. The last time I had to be firm about this was with a campaign within the great big meta-campaign, where the characters were a newly formed squad within a city's police force. One of the players was immediately thinking in terms of exotic cross-breeds...
  4. J

    RPG Systems that allow for characters of diverse levels of Power

    Exactly. RPGs are a medium of their own. Trying to emulate different medium's forms of story in them is fraught with peril.
  5. J

    How big are the biggest cities in your campaign world?

    This is why I prefer to know a fair bit more than I show. It makes creating scenarios more work, but knowing more about why something is there avoids glitches and makes the setting more consistent.
  6. J

    RPG Systems that allow for characters of diverse levels of Power

    I've successfully run a multi-session segment of a campaign featuring an NPC who was more knowledgeable and magically skilled than the party, but less used to combat. There wasn't much violence: they were exploring a region of the astral plane. It probably helped that they'd known and trusted...
  7. J

    RPG Systems that allow for characters of diverse levels of Power

    The problem comes with games that build "balancing" for combat encounters into the rules, which more or less started with D&D 3e. It makes running games much easier and safer for new GMs, but has this downside. It may have others, but I've rarely played and never run such games, so I don't know.
  8. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Cursed ruined city: no trees.
  9. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Blades in the Dark: Gave up; will play RQ.
  10. J

    How happy are you with your regular ruleset?

    Essentially, the states of stress and their effects lack subtlety and nuance. There are almost-audible clicks as the system changes state to "desperate" and the like. Also, the Roll20 character and group sheets are too complex and quite confusing. The GM believed it wasn't necessary to...
  11. J

    How happy are you with your regular ruleset?

    Edited into previous post.
  12. J

    How happy are you with your regular ruleset?

    I'm playing in AD&D1e and GURPS 4e campaigns, both of which I'm very satisfied with, and running two GURPS 4e campaigns, likewise. In all cases, the ruleset being used fits well with the setting and the style of play. My answer in the poll was "Very satisfied" for GURPS 4e, because that's the...
  13. J

    Commentary thread for that “Describe your game in five words” thread.

    I treasure the look I saw on a player's face as he recognised the sequence of saving throws he was rolling, and realised his character was hovering above a beholder they couldn't see.
  14. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Privateers of the Complications: To Orinoco's delta, via hurricane.
  15. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    AD&D1e, Avalon campaign: Heroes Feast for village children.
  16. J

    Running adventures in systems that they were not designed for.

    I have run many Call of Cthulhu scenarios under GURPS without difficulty. The games' similar attribute and hit point ranges make this quite easy, even when I'd adapting on-the-fly during a session. I have played the first four parts of the PF1e version of the Kingmaker adventure path under...
  17. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    GURPS Cold War Pulp: Superintelligent polar bear(s), confused scientist.
  18. J

    Ken Burnside on how screwed Asmodee is

    So the original owners sold it for something like what it was worth. Then the new owners managed to sell it for far more, and the next set of owners did the same. Looks like the value of the business has been wildly inflated by people who think "private equity" means "we can print money" and the...
  19. J

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    AD&D1e, Avalon campaign. Killing basilisks helpful with locals.
  20. J

    Commentary thread for that “Describe your game in five words” thread.

    May 1940. Last session, we were present for the British invasion of Iceland, which was very polite. We were able to foil some German schemes, and stop some of their agents from impeding the invasion. But one of the agents got away. We split the party, as three of us flew captured codebooks back...
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