Choosing a rubric for awarding XP is key, as it shapes how the game is played more than any other aspect.

As I see it, XP can be used as a reward in several different ways:

• XP can be rewarded for completing goals (like Belief Artha in BW, or resolving a Mission in Reign)
• XP may be awarded for overcoming obstacles on the path to a goal (standard D&D)
• XP ( Read more... )

 So, i have this crazy idea to take the stuff I've been talking about, and the stuff Rob Donoghue has been talking about, and see if i can mix them with Pathfinder, and the card-based approach to D&D... easily and fully.

This old post on Campaign Mastery has some interesting background material. It's obvious that Pathfinder has filled the "AD&D ( Read more... )

Earlier I mentioned my problem with D&D's skill system. Thinking about it, however, i'm certain there are several other aspects of the D&D system which bother me.

To me, D&D is the game of fantasy adventure, drawing on Tolkien, yes, but also Leiber, Howard, and Moorcock. It seems like the mix is something like one part High Fantasy, one part Sword ( Read more... )

There are lots of different approaches toward making sure a campaign reflects its setting. A few ideas:

Method 1

• provide Cultural Traits to emphasize cultural and racial differences between characters
• use Background Traits or Professional Classes to display a character's prior life experience
• focus on Classes with rich customization options or lots ( Read more... )

Thinking about design features:

• Fantasy Heartbreaker
• Inspired a bit by Avatar (the cartoon not the movie, err, either of the movies! ;) ), as well as Thief With No Shadow by Emily Gee
• Stats are sliders which move up and down in response to actual play events
• The world is characterized by the 4 elements - elemental peoples & critters, in various ( Read more... )

 I'm preparing to GM a story-arc sized campaign for my long-time gaming group in the next few weeks, and while i have a very good idea of what i'd like to do in regards to the situation/story, i am less confident with my ability to wrangle the D&D beast into submission.

The disconnect between the reward system & advancement is one area that i think ( Read more... )

 I'm setting the Aliens game in a far future science-fiction setting i like to call "Commonality Space" or "Commonality's End.

This is actually just the latest incarnation/revision of a universe with a long and turbulent history on my writing desk and in my gaming. The whole kit-and-kaboodle originated from the setting i helped write for a GURPS ( Read more... )

 Continuing from my previous post:

I guess i should really work out exactly what i want to do with this game before i pick a system to run it!

A few things i'll need:

- intense SF battles with a multitude of combatants, both friendly & enemy; including both humans and feral aliens.

- intrigue and infighting, with personal priorities at war with the ( Read more... )

 I'm sort of planning to run a short Aliens-style military science fiction series at Christmas, and i've been stuck pondering the notion of what system to use for the game. BE seems like too inflexible an entity, despite the potential of FireFight. I've always liked the Storyteller "stat + skill" die pool construction, and i've done hacks of the ( Read more... )

 So i'm thinking of a recipe for an awesome "old school" styled adventure game looks like this:

Vincent's Storming the Wizard's Tower (Level 1)
 +
West Marches Campaign
+
an Adventuring Company "Meta-Character" (a la Reign)
+
Treasure-spending Rules (eg. putting prices on StWT's equipment lists)
=
Awesome!

Specifically, this would be a game of adventuring ( Read more... )