Tag Archives: Pathfinder

Multi-Round Actions (Part 2, Channeled Spells)

When I thought of “things in D&D that can take more than one round”, the first place I went was “spells”. However, that space in D&D is largely filled with “spells not designed for combat” and “sorcerers trying to use … Continue reading

Posted in Game Design, House Rules | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Multi-Round Actions (Part 2, Channeled Spells)

Non-Binary DCs (or, Why Players Can’t Have Nice Things, Part One of Infinity)

D&D is largely a binary system: you either succeed at something or you don’t. There are no partial successes or glancing blows, and aside from critical hits and natural ones on Reflex saves there’s nothing in the system that rewards … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Multi-Round Actions (Part 1, The Folly of Setup)

One of the post ideas that’s been puttering about in my head for at the last year is the conceit that D&D 4E drastically cut down on the amount of actions a player can perform. Ostensibly there are the same … Continue reading

Posted in Game Design | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Multi-Round Actions (Part 1, The Folly of Setup)

60-Minute Session Design

I think a person can judge their proficiency in some area by determining the relative complication of the things in that area that frustrate them. For example, I cook fairly frequently. I’m no executive chef, but I can turn ingredients … Continue reading

Posted in DMing | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Character Creation

Little-known fact: there’s nothing that gets me quite as excited as this: I’m the sort of person who watches video game rosters very closely during production. I watched every reveal trailer for Marvel vs. Capcom 3 the day it was … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Mythic Adventures

Lest my previous post come down too hard on one side of the axis, I generally don’t have a problem with powerful, even startlingly so, characters. My concern is with situation where a player’s style is so focused on powergaming … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Mythic Adventures

Making Death Interesting

I’ve died six times. Given the amount of time I’ve been playing D&D, it’s a little surprising that I’ve only died six times. One was from a TPK during the first session of a campaign, and I decided that maybe … Continue reading

Posted in DMing, House Rules | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Ultimate Campaign

Ultimate Campaign is a curious book. It almost doesn’t feel like a book at all, but rather a bunch of small books all put together with the only unifying theme being “these things are kind of neat, but fully optional”. … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged , | Comments Off on Ultimate Campaign

Campaign Writeup: The Eight Arms and the Empire of Sin

The Eight Arms and the Empire of Sin is the fourth campaign to end in the Eight Arms universe. After their escapades in dwarven lands left the Eight Arms persona non grata, the crafting team is sent to the Wild … Continue reading

Posted in Campaigns | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Campaign Writeup: The Eight Arms and the Empire of Sin

Alternate Hit Point Systems (or, Various Ways to Make Crits Stop Being Fun)

There’s a quiet assumption in 3rd Edition and its related systems that hit potions don’t actually keep track of damage. Getting cut by a sword is normally quite severe if not fatal, and gunshots and firealls aren’t any better. Rather, … Continue reading

Posted in DMing, House Rules | Tagged , , | 5 Comments