From the D&D 4e preview material (namely, the Wizards website and H1: Keep on the Shadowfell), it looks like D&D has taken the gamist push of 3e combined with a modern design sensibility gleaned from MMOs (World of Warcraft being the canonical example) and other roleplaying games (Feng Shui's d20 crossover adventure had mook rules, many indie games ( Read more... )

I've been thinking about game design more than usual lately, especially in regards to the Star Wars Saga game. It's not that I hate the game; it's the best Star Wars RPG I've seen (yes, better than West End's). It's that I love the idea of the game so much that I'm turning my most critical eye to the thing. To that end, I think I've figured out ( Read more... )

Note that I have no idea how character generation has been changed in D&D 4e, so this post may be rendered moot next month. But not yet![Edit] Here's a quote from the most recent Wizards 4e preview. Turns out they haven't fixed it. At least they've made a note of it.Ability Scores: Your character race gives you a bonus to a particular ability score ( Read more... )

I'm a bit proud of the simplicity of character generation for Mighty Thews. There are still some things to work out, but the general idea is this: Through each player making a few discrete choices and providing a few sentences, you have bad-ass characters, a new game setting (or at least details from an existing one) and all the PCs tied together ( Read more... )

I've got one roguelike and two roleplaying games seriously in the works. The roguelike is now displaying borders. Not much to go on there. One of the RPGs is running under the design goal of, "If I could redesign the D&D Red Box that was given to me at Christmas, what would it be?" So far it's a combination of old-school (Strength! Intelligence! ( Read more... )

Prior Posts:

• Star Wars Saga RPG Hacks, Part One (Abstract Combat)
• Star Wars Saga RPG Hacks, Part Two (Story Points)

Another item ripped straight out of Burning Wheel. This replaces the credits system because hey, who likes counting credits?
( Star Wars Hackity-Hack below: Resources Skill )

Prior post: Star Wars Saga RPG Hacks, Part One (Abstract Combat).

This post is all about pushing a play style through rewards. If you know Burning Wheel, you'll see some familiar stuff ( Read more... )

I grabbed the new Star Wars Saga Edition. The presentation's great, and I really like the rules. I want to play this game, pronto. The good far outweighs the bad, but I'm not here to pile on kudos. Here's what I'm stuck on:

• The experience system gets a scant few pages, and you only get XP for overcoming "encounters." This means that the rewards ( Read more... )

Talking with the tech director at my work, a long-time D&D player. He was telling me about some of the rules changes they made, and one falls right in line with my firm belief in "if it's complex, ease your players in gradually."
( D&D talk below!! )

I keep thinking about a super-high powered RPG that can be described in one sentence as:
The high-powered insanity of 20th Level D&D, Rifts, Conan's epic stories, Kane's books and Elric's tragedy; these heroes strive to fight a threat larger than their own universe while conquering whole new worlds.

( Read more: Setting, situation & Character Paths below )