@trogdor -- read that link from DavidWilkins --and it's rather interesting in some ways, I personally agree that initiative is a bit of a hack, but my problem is that I can wind up overrunning folks if you try to get too loose about the ordering of combat actions and reactions wit hme
it occurs largely because I am viewing combat from an abstract-model perspective -- and my character is trying to get inside his or her foe's OODA loop
but, that clashes strongly with game balance and player agency -- sure, there are scenarios where it's quite realistic for one character to act several times before their target can really process what happened, but most RPers get really pissed off anytime their character is in that position because it in effect reflects the character throwing the player's agency over the situation in the garbage
My group has experimented with Marvelous initiative both in 4E D&D and Fate, and it basically boils down to the person who just took a turn choosing who goes next
@trogdor To an extent, readying actions helps this, but only if you know the circumstances you'd want to react to ahead of time, which often you don't.
3.5/Pathfinder have always been systems of opportunity for me, I guess. It's not that I don't enjoy them. If someone I know says "I'm running Pathfinder, want to play?" I'll probably say yes. But if I had all choices in front of me, it probably wouldn't be my first choice.
also, BESW deserves some credit for being the person who mainly runs most of our games, and most of the new systems we have tried out have been from his suggestion/curiosity.
though I look forward to next week because I have actually cooked up a session to run myself, which I have not done often. I also have not done this much contingency planning in the 2 Fate sessions I have run before
yeah, I assume that is a lot of what he has been doing
we tried Lady Blackbird, for example
that system is awesome, and I couldn't stop playing the lady's bodyguard, who was apparently a pit fighter/slave before she got her current job XD
even if you end up deciding it isn't for you after that
I think it could use a little more explanation as to how you could create your own character though, unless it already has that and I just never saw that part
but I think it does happen to have a decent number of good pre made playable characters.
Which is part of why I haven't tried it yet, because I prefer more personalization, so when I first looked at it and saw that it was tuned to one specific setting and premade characters, I set it aside.
so far, we have gone quite a long time without our Australian contingent, and only just relatively recently got most of the rest of our group back for a game yesterday
so all I am really saying is that it is worth it to try, not that your group needs to do it anytime soon per se
@BESW -- the Combat as Sport vs Combat as War thing is a particularly good one for me, since it hits the nail on the head about one of the problems I run into on a regular basis with being seen as overpowered
@trogdor Well, in 4e we accepted that the point of combat was usually to have combat. When something else was the point, it was either not conveyed through combat or something was specifically added or changed to combat in order to shift the focus.
I would not want to skip combat in 4E,... it was most of the point
that is part of what I mean though
I also mean that Fate is just better at dealing with whatever the PC's do just because it is more flexible
like, I can decide where the PC's will be going in a campaign structured the way ours is, and decide all of the things and people who are in that area who I am putting in
then the PC's can decide to look for something or someone I have not prepped beforehand, but because it is Fate I can wing that
all I need to do is create the thing with aspects and skills that would be appropriate, and role play/describe anything that would fit
in 4E, I couldn't do that as easily, especially if the PC's tried to fight something I had not prepped beforehand
I quite happy to be able to explore the kinds of feelings people have during dreams and the strange stuff that happens in game form
Dream logic is just weird, and I think I even just tend to think of things that I would probably never think of while awake
a few times I think I even woke up realizing something that was bothering me without having consciously thought of it beforehand, and I couldn't remember what the dream I had was that pointed it out
though actually, for the dream session idea I have, I am not sure to what extend some of my ideas will work
because the subject has an exceptional capacity to go in any direction
(one of the main reasons I have a different session planned to do before it)
though I do think I can stat some things out and leave the flavor of those things for the PC's to decide
From a design point of view, the first thing to decide is whether dreamworlds are a shared place (either created collectively by dreamers or as the place from which dreams independently emanate), or are individual realms tailored to individual dreamers.
And then to decide whether these worlds are inherently stable or unstable.
At least one part of the madness might be an aspect that you compel for mad things to happen, and PCs can buy it off with Fate points--resisting the madness and asserting their own version of reality.
Hey guys, does anybody know where I can find info about the Feinds/Devils/Demons a warlock with a feind pact in 5th ed D&D? the back of the book only has Deities for the cleric
i am preparing for a session 0 tomorrow and in talking to the GM about my idea for a cleric he wanted more info about the deity. Since I have never played with the other players (just the GM) i dont know what people are going to want to play, so I came up with a few ideas and right now I am working on a warlock idea. But I need a list of all the entities (or types of entites) I can make a pact with
well, demon lords archdevils, and ultrogoths sicne I have inmind a very rough flavor for my character and I'm hopign researching the specific entity i make a pact with will help me flesh out the rest of the character idea