Several of us used “skinned” our powers to be a little more realistic. My group tends toward a less fantastic type of game, which clashes a bit with the 4E D&D style. Instead of sneak attacking, your character does extra damage by aligning your chi with your opponent’s. Instead of studying a spellbook, perhaps your character meditates with a rune covered stone. I’ve long advocated letting players describe their actions, and this is just taking that a step further. Replacing flavor text lets you use good mechanics that simply don’t “sound” right for your character. Instead of NPCs, however, you’re changing the description of your character’s abilities. The identical method is available to players. In an earlier post, I wrote about how a GM can simply describe things differently to achieve a different result, while leaving the mechanics the same. Rule-tuning can fix broken hose rules over time, but can turn “gaming” into “working” very quickly. In our very next game, the wizard quickly learned that he could create a maelstrom of high-level fireballs over a couple rounds. So, we came up with level-scaled “Magic Points” that could be spent to cast a spell. Unless the player’s really trustworthy, the situation is the power gamer’s catnip.įor example, in a 2nd Edition AD&D game, we decided the spell memorization mechanic was too restrictive. I get suspicious when people start homeruling their own characters, especially without input from the whole group. Instead of an explicit playtest, though, house rules often get tested during everybody else’s regular game. How many of us have minor tweaks or whole sub-systems to fit that specialty character? Of course, this sort of circumvents the whole problem, since the character now is supported by the mechanics. If the mechanics don’t exist to play what you want, just make new ones. This is the most extreme option, and ironically, the most common. Don’t let The Man get you down! This post will give a few strategies for working around the system. However, while your character may not be a perfect fit, there’s no reason to force conformity. There’s no shame in playing to the system du jour. Does this mean you should pick another character? Maybe. Your perfectly imagined character might not fall within the game system’s sweet spot. He’s also opined that 4E D&D is awesome for tactical combat. He has written about how FATE is great for story, but not so effective for detailed tactical combat. There’s just something about understanding the rules, how the mechanics fit together, and the consequences they have upon play.Īs Charlie has mentioned, however, there’s no silver bullet. For a RPG geek, there’s an undefinable allure to game systems.
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