"Jester" David Gibson
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Results for tag: Star Wars
Posted by:
The_Jester
on Jan 23, 2013 at 04:57:53 PM
An often overlooked element of world building are organizations. Even if they are included, organizations are often limited to the role of antagonists. This might be to avoid heroic groups that might be seen as deus ex machina (or a dreaded Dungeon Master PC). This does a disservice to groups as they can play multiple roles in a campaign setting and have varied benefits for a setting. There are innumerable examples of organizations in official worlds. Dragonlance is especially known for its organizations with the Knights of Solamnia, Knights of Takhisis/Neraka, the Legion of Steel, and the Wizards of High Sorcery. Dark Sun has the Veiled Alliance, Eberron has the Order of the Emerald Claw, and the Forgotten Realms has several such as the Red Wizards, ...
Posted by:
The_Jester
on Oct 22, 2012 at 06:10:12 PM
Non-human races are a big part of what separates Fantasy fiction from Swords & Sorcerery (and extremely poorly researched historical fiction). Folk Tales, Mythology, and Tolkien have all blended together in a smoothy of imagination to given us the standard fantastic races of RPGs, and numerous fantasy stories and D&D splat books have added and expanded the pool of potential races for a fantasy world.
This is the fourth part in a series on Campaign World Building for 5th Edition AD&D, and the first where we really get into the conventions and assumptions of D&D Next. ChaptersBelow are links to the other chapters in this series on World Building....
Posted by:
The_Jester
on Jun 28, 2012 at 07:08:55 PM
The hook behind 5e, what really makes the edition special, is its emphasis on customization. Instead of the game telling you how to play, it will let you play the way you want, emulating the edition you want. 5e will have “rule modules” that can be used to customize and redefine rules, options that can be dropped into a game or used to build a campaign. What are the must-have modules? Which optional rules that simple have to be included as soon as possible? Here’s my list: By Any Other Name First, I need to get one quick thing off my chest. WotC needs to rename the optional rule packages. The term “modules” is a little confusing, having been already used to describe adventures. Using “module” is a little like using “level”. D&D has ...
Posted by:
The_Jester
on Sep 22, 2011 at 07:08:45 AM
D&D came out in 1974. More or less. Which means in a little over two years the game will be 40 years old. This means that someone who started playing with the first booklets at age 15 will qualify for senior discounts at many stores and restaurants, and – if they invested well – they’ll be eligible to retire. I’m nowhere near that age and got into D&D much later. My first introduction to the game was seeing older kids play, when I was still too young to even grasp the basics of the game! However, I’m far from young. I’m married with a child and a well-paying career that required multiple years of schooling to even qualify for, but I’m still younger than D&D. In my lifetime, there have always been twenty-sided dice. Dungeon Masters have never not ...
Posted by:
The_Jester
on Dec 29, 2009 at 01:03:26 PM
Having touched on the benefits and problems with healing surges yesterday, today I’m going to write about options and additions to the system to add injury and wounds to the game. In essence, this is adding a mechanic to represent physical damage that cannot be slept-off or shouted-away by a warlord, which requires time or magic or resources to remove.
Why Injuries?The big question is why: what benefit is there in a system that only affects players – as few monsters survive after their initial encounter to develop wounds – and would add an extended penalty to a character? The answer is mostly realism. This is a bit of an ugly word/ concept for some, as they want their game to be, well, gamey. (Probably a poor word-choice but few others spring to mind. Game-ish? Game-atic?) Adding ... |
