other people's bright ideas

So Rob had something cool to say about adventure design and it can be applyed to everything from one-shots to epic campaigns.

Basically, the "hard" part of the episode is going to be one of the following:

1. Finding out what the creature is (and by extension, its weakness)
2. Get their hands on whatever they need to exploit the weakness (get the arcane widget, find the body, find the lair)
3. Applying the fix (Actually shooting/burning/stabbing/whatevering the thing, performing the ritual or the like).

In RPGs, there's often a temptation to make all three of these the hard part, and the result is adventures that turn into long slogs. By making only one of them the real problem, pacing stays pretty sharp, and the formula becomes MUCH more usable. If the problem was ALWAYS that the monster was unknown then every show/game would be about research, which would get dull fast. Ditto the other hard points. Shifting emphasis between these three consistent points (Research, Investigate, Apply) gives you the benefits of consistency while still providing versatility.

If you like you can read the rest here.

Hectic Life level: yellow

Yay! I think I'll now have time to start working on Spider again. I figured a way to get the beta charsheet up. click HERE

Glaring game deficiencies: magic

Requirements for magic:

Easy to play

Versatile spells

Jargon:

I'm thinking that instead of explaining magic use in terms of amount of energy you can wield (manna) to explain it as your mind/body/soul's capacity to channel that energy, and having the currency be called 'mettle'.

(over?) Simplification:

I've also had in the back of my head for some time, that, I can no longer seem to justify breaking magic into two groups (sorcerers and wizards) and may need to just combine the two.

GReat Idea.

Not for Cobweb mind you... wellllll....

Anyway, What if skill checks had hit points and you rolled skill-damage on them to compleate them?

Rob hashes it out here.