Reconciling the Dual Nature of Player Characters
The 1980's was one long journey down the road from pawn toward protagonist for the player characters in RPGs. The novelty of controlling a pawn as he crawled through mazes, battling monsters and collecting loot, was wearing off. Jaded players wante…
Blog posts : "rpg"
Pawn or Protagonist? (Part 2)
Pawn or Protagonist? (Part 1)
Reconciling the Dual Nature of Player Characters
Nameless, faceless, identical -- pawns exist to be sacrificed on the chess board. Growing emotionally attached to your playing pieces, struggling to keep them instead of staying focused on which ones to give up in order to move yourself close…
The Rules of Narrative: Every PC Comes to the Table Armed with Chekhov's Gun
Much ink, both virtual and real, has been spilled on the subject of how important it is for a GM, in his limitless power,…
Further Thoughts On the Resolution Bonus Chart
It was brought to my attention after my last post that the defensive fight maneuver was changed in fifth-edition Pendragon. It now longer allows a normal damage roll on a critical success, so the maneuver has been reduced to use as a delaying tactic. I only checked to make sure that the maneuver sti…
Wilsonshire Pendragon Mods: The Resolution-Bonus Chart
Here’s the first and most important house rule I made to make Pendragon playable with an over-achieving player: the resolution-bonus chart.
The number one thing that makes the game’s rules fragile is the over-20 resolution-roll bonuses. Grab yourself a sword (so that it doesn’t break on a tied…
How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Game
Hello. My name is Leonard, and I'm a power gamer. It feels a curious thing to admit to, given some of my other beliefs about myself, but there you go. And I think it's why I was able to get my mind around D&D 4E and have some fun with it while my friends were dissing it as a lost cause. I've also go…
Ed Greenwood Still Owes Me an Apology
I recently threw out as a one-liner joke on Google+ that, "I blame many things on Ed Greenwood. Some of them might even be justified." After that, another participant in the conversation observed that he didn't "get the anger toward Ed".
I can't speak to any issues other than my own, b…
What's Your Role-Play Alignment?
It's a well known social acxiom that when your goal is to have an amiable chat with someone you don't really know, never allow the topic of conversation to turn to politics or religion. A less well known social acxiom is never discuss whether or not you believe a game master should allow h…
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