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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

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[My Name is Immaterial]

Why are "Actually running the game" guides so uncommon?

I am aware the DM can run the game anyway he wants... but GOODNESS some hints sure would be nice.

The rules and the flow are two entirely different things.

Perhaps this could help. It's got some interesting stuff on game design, adventure design, and other design related issues. His Quantum Ogre series is, IMHO, required reading.

[Neonivek]

One thing I love that SOME RPGs do that I wish more would catch onto...

Is the idea of making stealth not all or nothing.

In Dusk City Dwellers often the penalty for failing stealth is getting more "heat" (which is a vague point system that represents a sort of... People catching onto that something is going on. You cannot entirely avoid heat, but you certainly don't want to generate more then possible). Mind you... Sort of... by often I mean sometimes... kind of...
-Ok I like the idea of how it works inside my own head... rather than how it might be implemented.

Because stealth is so all or nothing in a lot of games they walk the line of being either too risky to attempt... OR too powerful to fail. (Yay the Rogue problem! too weak and powerful at the same time)

So now you have people using stealth and while they dread failure... it isn't so bad that it is something to avoid at all costs.

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Well blades in the dark is interesting... But it is VERY new and very untested...

It also seemed to be more popular during the kickstarter than it was released. (A lot like Exalted 3rd edition )

Without sufficient info or a real preview beyond quickplay guides... I can't really jump on it.

Quickstart sort of skims over a lot of the information (It is usually a lot like trying to learn how dungeons and dragons is done... by reading an adventure path) and YouTube sessions are how things are after everything is prepped.

THOUGH BONUS POINTS for having a horribly barf tastic pitch in the quickplay guides. It is far worse then even Bay12 is... for a taste

"Blades in the Dark is a combination of: Dishonored, Darksouls, and The Wire"

[Draignean]

Not sure if anyone's linked it before, but my brother showed me a d10000 wild surge chart, which includes such amazing things as "You appear behind the nearest king with a knife in your hand" and "You can only bark in the presence of royalty"

22: 8d4 of the caster's teeth become sentient.

Good lord.

[SOLDIER First]

8939: All trees within 60 yards decide to form a government.

[Sirus]

Not sure if anyone's linked it before, but my brother showed me a d10000 wild surge chart, which includes such amazing things as "You appear behind the nearest king with a knife in your hand" and "You can only bark in the presence of royalty"

The wording of that bugs me. Does that mean that the caster is incapable of barking for whatever reason until they are in the presence of royalty? Or does it mean that the caster can do nothing except bark in the presence of royalty? Probable first answer: "yes" or "both".

[Egan_BW]

Former if you're human, latter if you're some form of canine.

[SOLDIER First]

I would assume the latter, since the former seems to be unnecessary programming-type logic.

[Rolan7]

8939: All trees within 60 yards decide to form a government.

It's almost literally my favorite Rush song

[Oneir]

Not sure if anyone's linked it before, but my brother showed me a d10000 wild surge chart, which includes such amazing things as "You appear behind the nearest king with a knife in your hand" and "You can only bark in the presence of royalty"

The wording of that bugs me. Does that mean that the caster is incapable of barking for whatever reason until they are in the presence of royalty? Or does it mean that the caster can do nothing except bark in the presence of royalty? Probable first answer: "yes" or "both".

Which makes you an excellent detector of royalty.

[Aseaheru]

 Depends on how close to the line of succession is required. Twenty people ahead of you? twenty-thousand?

[Jimmy]

It's obviously not all solid gold, but there's a few diamonds in the rough in that list. I actually use this table for some kooky primal magic effects for the party's strange airship with a duration of 24 hours. Some of my favourites:

0182: All within 90 ft. check Int or forget who the caster is
0562 Caster can move at 3X normal speed when naked and unencumbered
0591: Caster can shine light out of his mouth at will

[Arx]

0320 Caster always feels like he is being watched.

...so no change?


I may have found my least favourite enemy type: those that have high initiative, high stealth, and lurk in dark, twisting passages. And apparently teleportation. When an 18 on initiative isn't enough to avoid being sneak attacked four times or retaliate before the perpetrators flee...

Then when the alchemist grappled one to stop the nonsense, it apparently actually vanished from his grip.

[Jimmy]

Okay, so we got (Su) teleportation effect since no concentration when grappled?

High Stealth isn't too bad. Get some form of non-standard enemy detection like Scent, Tremorsense or the like. Anything that works against Invisible should be fine.

Sneak Attack while flat-footed? If you're playing Pathfinder, any form of long term flight will stop that nonsense. You are not considered flat-footed while flying.

[Arx]

Most of those are tricky at level one. Also flying is a no-go in cramped tunnels anyway.

We made a tactical retreat and will come back with more of the party uninjured. The barbarian being forced to lurk at the back due to being on 2hp doesn't help anything. Also we brushed up on the rules for fighting Tiny creatures, and it looks like it's going to be free AoO day when we get back into the tunnels. That should help even the odds a little.

[Gentlefish]

Okay, so we got (Su) teleportation effect since no concentration when grappled?

High Stealth isn't too bad. Get some form of non-standard enemy detection like Scent, Tremorsense or the like. Anything that works against Invisible should be fine.

Sneak Attack while flat-footed? If you're playing Pathfinder, any form of long term flight will stop that nonsense. You are not considered flat-footed while flying.

Ooh... what? I never knew that.