I just wanted to link to, and highlight, some posts today.
Roger Burton-West reviewed GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 3 over on firedrake.org. I'm always happy to see my work reviewed; authors rarely get enough feedback post-publication. One nitpick: Two capitals.
Douglas Cole is up to something, and it starts with "Dungeon" and ends with "Kickstarter." Scroll down until you see the green screen.
Gaming Ballistic, LLC – Update for 11/5
Erik Tenkar has a stripped-down version of a very stripped-down gaming system up - Swords & Wizardry Lite. I downloaded a copy of the PDF and I'm seeing what I can use out of it.
Swords & Wizardry Lite
Merlin at RPG Jutsu has a post up about overpowered GURPS PCs. It's a good read - mostly if you're a player. I've written on similar issues - Over-patching and some character fallacies - that lead to overpowered character building. If you're thinking, "Obviously I have to raise my Parry until it's 16 or less on my fourth consecutive parry while in close combat, grappled, and stunned, or I'm based automatically dead in combat!" this article is one you need to look at. It's written with an eye towards GMs scaling challenges to the PCs, but even in a game like mine where that doesn't happen, there are diminishing returns and self-sabotaging results that come from striving for the maximum possible ability in a small area.
Overpowered – GM’s Guide to Challenging Players
Finally, I like this post about appeals to realism over on Delta's D&D Hotspot:
Nothing Remains Interesting If Anything Can Happen
I like the post about Nothing remains interesting if anything can happen. I have thought about this in my game world set up. Why aren't dragons flying over small towns and torching them? Why are are towns equipped with antiaircraft like weapons? Why don't lich lords raid the countryside and slay the peasants and then turn them all into undead servants? One idea that made sense to me was from Ars Magica called Dominion. It is different than Sanctity that allows clerics to cast spells instead it is a covenant between the faithful and the Good God. If the faithful remain pious then the Good God will push out other powers like the Infernal and magical and then dragons and lichlords will be too weak to attack the towns but if the faithful stray the Dominion wanes and the Infernal and the magical can enter the towns with full power.
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