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    • Monstro

      Monstro added a comment to his blog post.

      Intimidate, bloodied opponents, and other skills
      Intimidate's a weird skill.  Lots of people don't like its ability to...
      February 14, 2012 at 6:55am
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      2 / 5
      MajesticMoose
      MajesticMoose
      I really really like this idea. One thing I would like to see in this veign is the idea of group checks for a group exorcism and also maybe a sliding scale of success.
      One thing about the intimidate skill as it stands in 4e is that a single check becomes the power word kill with at-will usage. Perhaps two or three rolls, or a need for scale for degrees of success and failure. Say if the skill check succeeds the target gains vulnerability X, if the check succeeds by 5 or more than it is...

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      February 16, 2012 10:08 AM PST
      Monstro
      Monstro
      I concur. I'm kind of wondering if the intimidate mechanic was a little like the disease and poison mechanics: it deserves a lot more thought than the game's original designers gave it and it hasn't been developed up to its potential. I like power word: kill because I like alternative ways of ending the encounter besides the hammering down of opponents, but I also think that you're right in terms of the scale. Maybe in the next edition...
      February 16, 2012 11:23 AM PST
    • Monstro

      Monstro posted a new blog post.

      The Combat Challenge
      I sometimes run combats as skill challenges to get them moving faster. ...
      February 14, 2012 at 7:30am
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      Monstro
      Monstro
      I do use this in combats where combat is 50% or more of the experience budget. Players like it so long as they know that the BIG fights will be to the finish. Keep in mind, though, my group is big on story lines. They had trouble with 4e because of how much time passed between story elements. This helps that. Also, I have 3-4 hours a week to play. If I play a 3 hour combat, that's all we do that week.
      February 14, 2012 2:44 PM PST
      I_smile_alot
      I_smile_alot
      Hmmm, I like the set mechanics of this and freely admit that I freq. drop monsters before their technically dead as well as call a fight when it becomes obvious that the PC's have won. I will also build in an "end game" event that they need to reach that will end the fight. But, all that aside, I will also run a fight as a combat challenge, but, it's very different from this mechanic.
      February 17, 2012 3:24 AM PST
    • Monstro

      Monstro added a comment to his blog post.

      We interrupt your turn to tell you...
      4e combat takes forever because  bookkeeping takes time.  Any time...
      February 13, 2012 at 3:14pm
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      2 / 17
      GobiWon
      GobiWon
      Amen!
      February 16, 2012 6:38 PM PST
      halvgrim
      halvgrim
      Perhaps some of the bonuses could be moved to the description warlord class.
      A party without a warlord should not get a lot of situational bonuses, and their fights should be fairly fast.
      A party with a warlord should get a bonus when the warlord remembers to apply it.

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      February 21, 2012 2:45 AM PST
    • Monstro

      Monstro posted to mvincent's forum thread.

      Forum Topic: Rules Q&A FAQ + ask a simple question
      February 11, 2012 at 12:55pm
      3 people like this forum thread.
    • Monstro

      Monstro posted to his forum thread.

      Forum Topic: Masterwork armor, when can the characters get it.
      January 27, 2012 at 12:55pm
    • Monstro

      Monstro added a comment to his blog post.

      What Went Wrong?
      So, why a new edition?Mind you, what I'm about to say is reliant upon a...
      January 17, 2012 at 6:31pm
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      2 / 8
      Pa11ad1n
      Pa11ad1n
      I agree that the aim was to make the game one that 'anyone could DM' but I don't think that is the same as trying to make a game that 'everyone would DM'... and I'm not convinced that they did try to do that at all. If they did think that they clearly didn't do market research... the reason why some people DM is because they want to... and the reason why most others don't is because they DON'T want to... and that isn't affected by how easy it is. Most people simply prefer to play... I doubt this...

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      January 24, 2012 3:30 PM PST
      Materiam
      Materiam
      I guess I'm going to try to keep my comment short, largely because I don't really fully understand your post. Sorry. You mention that 4e took the DM out of the equation. How again? I mean, how did telling them to roll a DC 10 Acro roll become "righteously unfair"? If they make it, the stay put, if they fail it they slide... and? (plus, a DC 10 shouldn't be hard or life-threatening, even at level 1).
      As the DM, the books and rules are GUILDLINES. The DM ultimately has the power to alter...

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      February 12, 2012 11:06 AM PST
    • Monstro

      Monstro posted a new blog post.

      Digital TPK
      I don't think I really understood how to play 2nd edition until I played...
      January 17, 2012 at 7:06pm
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    • Monstro

      Monstro and Bog97th are now friends.

      Bog97th
      January 16, 2012 at 10:11am
    • Monstro

      Monstro posted to his forum thread.

      Forum Topic: traps and readied actions
      January 9, 2012 at 6:46pm
    • Monstro

      Monstro added a comment to The_Jester's blog post.

      Why 4e Is ALL Combat*
      *and what YOU can do about it.  Over the last three years, I’ve...
      November 16, 2011 at 5:59pm
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      2 / 26
      0bsolete
      0bsolete
      Ironically, I found the exact opposite of 4e. I found it refreshing that there were no rules restricting RP and that exploration was left to the GM. I don't need balance, rules and limitations for my RP, just for my combat. In fact, the RP descriptions of abilities allowed my normally hack and slash players to get more naturally into their characters, starting to describe the fight scenes in a way they never did when an attack was "Roll a d20, then roll damage" which has resulted in deeper, more...

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      January 27, 2012 9:09 PM PST
      qbitner
      qbitner
      Yes, you certainly can roleplay in 4e, but the problem with the system is that in the event the game turns to combat, which is inevitable, they last two hours or more. This is due to the fact that players have to sift through too many powers, keep track of multiple stacking effects, and roll multiple damage dice. Now I have instituted some measures to speed up combat such as preparing damage rolls and save rolls ahead of time, but this trims minutes only. Our game has characters that are...

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      June 30, 2012 9:37 AM PDT

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    About Me

      About Me: I've played D and D since I was 8. I am now 37. I work as a professor of English and have a side job building scenery for various games (fantasy and science fiction). I am also the father of two young children who really want to play with daddy's toys.
      Movies: A Clockwork Orange, Brazil, The Big Lebowski, Fanny and Alexander, Time Bandits, Fight Club, Twelve Monkeys, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Meaning of Life, first three Star Wars, Excalibur, Conan the Barbarian
      TV Shows: Lost, The Big Bang Theory, Battlestar (still), Better Off Ted, Pushing Up Daisies, Top Gear, No Reservations, Twilight Zone
      Books, Comics and Graphic Novels: Books: too many to count. I have a Ph.D. in American Literture.

      Comics: Prefer crazy underground stuff. My favorite ever was Stray Toasters.

      Graphic Novels: The Dark Knight Returns, The Tick Omnibus, MAus
      Music: punk, metal, funk, occassionally rap
      Hobbies: building scenery, reading, video games, writing, dungeons and dragons
      Likes: honesty and dilligence, people who are well read, a good book. I like role playing games that center on story. I play wargames for combat.
      Dislikes: people who try to break the game with their characters. Pitifully bad character conceptions. Rude people. MMORPGs.
      My Games:
      Axis & Allies
      Dungeons & Dragons
      Heroscape
      Magic: The Gathering
      Other Games I Play: Warhammer 40k--I play this a lot. My armies are Chaos (all four and an undivided), Space Marines (Ultramarines and Space Wolves), Eldar (Saim Hann), Tyranids, Orks, Grey Knights, Necrons.

      Board games: Arhkham Horror, Battlelore, Talisman, Settlers, and a bunch of others. I really like Chaos And the Old World.

      Video games: right now, I'm playing Bioshock 2.

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    Hello! It's a honor to have you as the 50th member of the Zendikar - D&D group ! :) If you're interested in entering our play-by-post campaign, don't hesitate to ask! And same goes for any questions or posts you'd like to make in the forums or to me. Welcome aboard!

    LordArchaon
    January 27, 2011
    3:41 PM
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    I appreciate your friendship

    privilegium
    September 9, 2010
    6:28 PM
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    I didn't have the time to read your page at first, but now I have. It seems I'm destined to meet English majors (see I capitalized it because it's important) though a I have never known anyone with a genuine PHD. I think I was sent here by the horned one to annoy anyone with perfect grammar, sorry in advance. I saw you like story driven games so I posted my favorite characters back ground if your interested. Lemme know what you think when you got the time.

    theunknownreturns
    May 17, 2010
    4:29 PM
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    Congrats on the PhD!

    wrecan
    May 14, 2010
    12:18 PM
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