rules Archives - Page 5 of 9 - Neitherworld Stories

September 5, 2007

Character Roles

There has been a lot of talk about character roles in 4e. It sounds as though each character class is designed to produce PCs who will fill one of the following roles: Defender, Striker, Leader, or Controller. I understand, I think, why this is the case. It’s frustrating when you really want to play a Monk but what the group...

August 30, 2007

More external effects of the 4e announcement

I’m finding a lot of people writing thoughtfully about the d20 rules and how they might be tweaked and/or rewritten. Some of this is speculation. Some of it is wishful thinking. Regardless, I think it is, in general, a good thing to think critically about rules and whether they serve the purposes of fun. I’m enjoying reading EN World’s 4e...

August 27, 2007

Dynamic combat

I was reading this thread on EN World. It is about how movement might be encouraged/more important in combat in D&D 4e. I’m not going to speculate here on 4e mechanics, but this idea did get me to start thinking about how to encourage dynamic combat. Part of the goal is to get people to use their environment to their...

July 27, 2007

Random leveling thought and away message

First, I should apologize for not updating lately. I’m in the middle of moving and will be headed to New Orleans next week. It will probably be two weeks before I begin updating regularly… unless I figure out how to do so from my new Treo. Anyway, I was reading a thread on a forum (probably EN World – I...

July 19, 2007

Star Wars Saga Edition Review (Episode II)

Feats: Feats are very similar to basic d20. The “+2 bonus to two skills” feats have been removed. Skill focus gives you a +5 bonus. Bull Rush has been renamed Bantha Rush. Also, you get a lot of feats. Every other level in a base class gives you a bonus feat. Every third character level gives you a feat.The Good:...

July 18, 2007

Star Wars Saga Edition Review (Episode I)

We interrupt Silly Template Week to bring you actual content: Thoughts on the Star Wars Saga Edition. For those of you who don’t know, this is the new Star Wars rpg that is based off of streamlined d20 rules. Back in the late eighties, I played a bit of the West End Games d6 version of Star Wars. The books...

July 11, 2007

d20: Mounted Combat

In the real world, cavalry makes a huge difference. In basic d20, you get better mobility and +1 on attack rolls vs. opponents on foot smaller than your mount. That’s okay for armies, I guess, but (without funky class abilities) it seems pointless for a PC to be mounted. The only PCs that I hear about who are largely mounted...

July 6, 2007

Full Circle

The Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords is growing on me. At first, I sort of thought it was an Exalted clone in D&D clothing. My first impression wasn’t wholly misplaced, but I think that the primary inspiration was a bit closer to home. Ultimately, my take on Bo9S is that it is an alternative magic system for D&D....

June 15, 2007

NPC class: The Cutthroat

So, I’ve been frustrated with the current group of NPC classes. Mainly, the issue is that it is hard to make sneaky, combat-effective goblins without using PC classes. Warriors don’t have any stealthy skills on their skill lists. Experts aren’t that combat-effective. To fill the gap, I decided to create a new NPC class. I’ll eventually tweak it up and...

June 1, 2007

WoAdWriMo: Design Notes?

I’m torn as to whether or not to include substantial design notes for my WoAdWriMo entry in this blog. On the one hand, it might make for interesting reading. On the other, I’m worried about revealing too much about the adventure itself. In any case, I’ll definitely talk about some of my general rules. For instance, there are some things...

Tag: rules