Tynam

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In The Beginning Was The d20. Daniel is a long-time computing geek who spends his days spreading this good word. Interests include painting, medieval swordsmanship, and every conceivable form of game design.

	5,848 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	2 years, 7 months
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May 20	comment	How many people does it take to steal a Star Destroyer? @AceCalhoon Possibly. Commercial shipping will certainly be much more automated. The power plant will be less powerful and need fewer staff with less overload risk. However, commercial ships also avoid redundancy where possible - wasted mass could be extra cargo space. There's one source of safety a warship has that a trader doesn't - it's designed to survive battle damage, assuming the crew know what they're doing. (This advantage becomes a liability with a skeleton crew. This is another reason for the huge warship crew; they provide damage control parties.)
May 12	comment	Is it better with sparse or detailed pregen characters for a con adventure? @RMorrisey: That's true, though inevitable in generic answers like this. If your convention game is one of {Paranoia\|Toon\|Polaris\|Og\|Monkey\|many others...} then almost everything I said is utterly wrong. @mxyplk is completely right though; I was trying to get at that in paragraph 3, but he said it better. I'll try and think of a better edit.
May 12	comment	Is it better with sparse or detailed pregen characters for a con adventure? I agree with both of you: there's an interesting "good-subjective" question in here, but it might be worth rephrasing it to something like "what works well and why", allowing a more definitive answer.
May 10	comment	What GM-less RPGs exist and are the mechanics adaptable to other systems? having mentioned Polaris, I'd add: take a look at Bliss Stage, by the same designer. It's not quite as GMless as Polaris - one player plays an older, in-charge 'mission briefing' character who can set the mission objectives - but it's very group-narrative based, and has several mechanics easily used for a GMless game. In particular, it has player-controlled NPC relationships, player-designed antagonists, and while the missions are 'GM' designed, players can alter objectives on the fly, and final plot resolution is always player-controlled.
May 1	comment	Where can I download an Everway character sheet? Nice work, Mark. Thanks.
Apr 21	comment	Where can I download an Everway character sheet? The SAJ sheet is kinda cool, although I still think it's not nearly as beautiful as the original. (If I ever do find my originals I'll have to scan & upload.) Thanks.
Apr 21	comment	Where can I download an Everway character sheet? I'd love to, @Brian. I'm busy this weekend helping friends paint their house (although apparently running Everway is a major part of my house-painting duties...); I'd be glad to run this some time soon - I'll drop a message when I get back and we can arrange something.
Apr 19	comment	What's with this tier stuff, and how does that translate to levels? @mirv120: Good point. Edited in.
Apr 18	comment	What is the difference between D&D and D&D Miniatures? Granted; they're not close. Still, they're undeniably related.
Apr 18	comment	What is the difference between D&D and D&D Miniatures? "Nothing to do with one another" is a bit of an overstatement. Monster powers for the minis game are essentially simplified versions of the creature in D&D, and the stat cards for the minis thoughtfully have the roleplay stats on the back. Minis is really D&D's skirmish-wargame cousin.
Apr 12	comment	How reliable are dice rolling programs? Yes. Reliable pseudo-random number systems are pretty well understood and not hard to implement nowadays; your die roller program is probably less biased than your actual dice.
Apr 10	comment	What's a good way to use treasure XP in 4th edition? @Numenetics is right. PCs will do what the XP system rewards; the more of the XP is for treasure, the more PCs will be greedy. If XP is for killing things, PCs will be violent. (Personally, I prefer to make them problem-solvers by awarding XP for advancing the plot, but that's an aside, as it's irrelevant to this question.)
Apr 7	comment	Techniques for communicating setting and campaign information to the PCs? 2) I'm currently having the players in my Werewolf campaign play their own ancestors, in flashback. Not only is it a nice change, but they've gradually realised that their current big-bad-enemy is a hereditary enemy. And I've been able to introduce it's backstory in bits, along with a lot about it's personality, strengths, and weaknesses - setting up other campaign backstory for later while I'm at it. I've also paid off magic items and plots from the current day, by showing them being created and used in the past... adding depth by showing, not telling.
Apr 7	comment	Techniques for communicating setting and campaign information to the PCs? Seconded, both suggestions. 1) I've never run a Microscope game that didn't end with us having created a campaign world that I wanted to GM in some other system for the next six months. And...
Apr 7	comment	How do I make and use tactically interesting terrain? Welcome to the site, Galieo, and +1 for demonstration. The best way to have the players do things with terrain is to have the monsters do things. Kobolds and goblins are good for this, because they pretty much have to. (IMO the best RPG I ever saw for examples of how to do this was Feng Shui; if you can borrow any Feng Shui adventures from anyone, look through any combat encounter at random for a long list of ways to turn terrain to advantage. The setting is different but the principles are the same.)
Apr 7	comment	How many sets of Dwarven Forge do I need to start with? Again, this substitutes a time cost for a money one, but their sets are ridiculously good. And yes, once bought the only real cost is printer ink.
Mar 31	comment	How to deal effectively with a player unable to lose? Agreed. Change the stakes. (For a great example, see Bliss Stage, where heroic death/character drop out is actually required of almost everyone to accomplish the long-term party goals. Dying in action is the closest thing to winning the game has.)
Mar 19	comment	How do I make a dungeon the party will not know they are getting lost in? +1. Natural features are the simplest, subtlest solution. Keep corridors irregular. Make them estimate distances (How well do you judge the difference between a 17 and 18 degree angle by eye? 51' or 57' long? D&D works in 5' squares; doesn't mean you have to.)
Mar 11	comment	How do I explain the concept of “staying in character” to a newly starting player? In hindsight, it's amazing how good Paranoia is for teaching GMing technique, and for encouraging character-player identification.
Mar 9	comment	RPG system based on Diablo? Can't agreed; Feng Shui only really has treed abilities in the martial arts, and that only works for a warrior type. Diablo-style wizards/thieves can be played well in FS - but that's not what the question asks. The advancement mechanics don't really match.