Diary of a Failed Game Designer

This is a great idea. If it's your kind of thing check it out! Build a better Gm challenge, Have a great day, -Mark.

I just read this and wanted to share it (and not loose it) So yes this post is a single link to the  Sword and Scoundrel  blog. Just one link, but I think it's a good one. -Mark.

Let's break some  5th edition today. Attributes are a great way to measure Characters against the environment: (For most of these examples I'm going to use the "Strength" attribute because it's easy to quantify.) "The wizard has a strength of 8 there is no way in  heck the wizard is going to beat the  cleric in arm wrestling  because the  cleric has a strength of 14.  Meanwhile, the  warrior who has a strength of 17 laughs at both of them." I like to look at attributes in D&D almost the same way as the Amber diceless RPG did*. In my mind if a one character has a higher strength than another, even if it's only by one point, the character with the advantage is unequivocally stronger. A strength 16 warrior will NEVER beat A strength 17 fighter at arm wrestling unless they give themselves some kind of  exterior advantage.**  Attributes are so useful as this kind of comparative standard I feel it would be a shame to ditch them altogether. *** What I w

I,m not even giving an attempt at context. Where is that damn NPC? (1d12) Attending a viewing of an “orctopsy “or the autopsy of a dead orc at the local university.  Did you know Orc livers are bivalve in design and almost twice as big as a liver of a normal human? Did you know Orcs have a second smaller sub stomach used to store and slowly digest fibrous matter? Learn these things and so much more at the Ocrtopsy. The NPC is at the inn and has been drinking heavily. You find him or her gleefully chatting up a well-known local prostitute and about to make some bad life decisions. The NPC is out wandering the fields looking to catch a weasel. The NPC wants the weasel to train for rabbiting. Unfortunately, the NPC has no idea how to properly trap anything. The NPC is skulking around the dark corners of the local streets, trying to trail a lover who has recently spurned him or her. The NPC is at the town hall trying to get recognition for a lease that will grant him or her ownership of a