Monday, July 13, 2020

No Update for You!

I kid, here is an update.

1. Not much on the gaming front. I haven't had time to get much gaming work in over the last few weeks. I have done a little bit of tinkering with Shards of Tomorrow and I flipped through my books once or twice, but that's been about it... because...

2. I finished my doctoral program! I successfully defended my dissertation a little over a week ago, and had to do another big round of edits to get the dissertation ready for form and formatting - and then I needed about three days just to sit and stare at a wall and realize I was finally DONE. That, and I had a job interview for a building principal position (and I have a second round interview tomorrow), so that has been taking all of my time and attention. Finally, I promised a friend I'd do some editing on a project of his (that is pretty sweet), and I have to get that done before I get back into my stuff. I hope that I can get back to more gaming stuff in the coming weeks.


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  2. Hey! Congratulations on being done, Dr. Desing! I've been absent too, due to heavy work on The Superverse, which is going quite well. However, I wanted to write because I finally got to play one of your games this weekend. T'was Tales of the Splintered Realm, which I ran impromptu for my wife and daughters. We had a blast!

    I do, however, have a couple of questions:

    1) Darkvision is listed under Skill Talents as "a racial ability allowing you to see in darkness to a range of 60'." However, none of the player character races list Darkvision as an ability. Am I missing something somewhere, or is this an error. If it's an error, which races did you see having Darkvision? The usual D&D suspects? What about Wood Trolls?

    2) Do you have any advice for how to adjudicate what should be resolved as a FEAT versus what should be resolved as an Attribute roll? I get that perceiving things and saving throws are feat rolls. That's easy enough. I'm a little more confused when it comes to skill-like abilities, as there seems to be some overlap. Near as I can tell, Feats are reserved for more specialized skills (such as Burglary, Hunting, Pilfer, and Sneak), while Attribute checks can be used for more more generalized applications of raw ability. That works for me, but I want to make sure that I'm understanding your intent.

    BTW, would you allow someone without Sneak to make an Attribute check (DEX) to avoid detection by distracted guards and the like? I figure anybody can try to tip-toe past a sleeping giant or past a bunch of guards who've decided to play dice instead of doing their job. I think I'd give a character with Sneak an automatic success on such attempts, but make everybody else roll a DEX check to succeed. I figure characters with Sneak are the only ones who have a chance of avoiding detection from alert guards, and certainly the only ones who can benefit from surprise as a consequence of making their FEAT roll.

    I feel like I had another question, but I can't remember what it is. I'll post it later if it comes to me.

    All the best,

    Aldo

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    1. 1. Ugh! Yes; all non-human races have darkvision. Wow. That's a major omission.
      2. Your reading of FEATS is accurate. If the rules don't specify that something is a FEAT, it is probably an attribute check.

      I'm a very free-form GM, so I would totally allow a DEX check to try and sneak around like you suggest.

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  3. Sounds good, Michael. Don't sweat the omission of darkvision. I'm getting ready to forgive myself for whatever omissions and errors I discover upon finishing The Superverse. Producing this stuff on your own is tough, and something is bound to slip by (even though we strive for perfection).

    I'm glad to see I've got a hang of the FEAT vs. Attribute system and that my interpretation of how to wield the rules jibes with your own.

    I'm looking forward to playing it some more. Question: The adventure section of Saga can be used for Tales without modification, right? I really like that set-up and would like to give it a go.

    I'm hoping to get some Sentinels of Echo City going sometime soon.

    Cheers!

    Aldo

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    1. It should be able to be ported with no changes.

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  4. When you make more stuff fer me to buy?! I'm probably going to run Tales of the Splintered Realm tonight. What I REALLY want to run Sentinels of Echo City, but I don't think my group is up to playing in a superhero game right now. They're hankering for medievalish fantasy after 10 sessions of Starfinder and 2 of SUPERS! Revised. (We were supposed to finish our SUPERS! Revised adventure today, but two of our players couldn't make it.)

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    1. I need to get going on that, I see! I started a bunch of things, but nothing is really shouting out for me to get around to finishing it :)

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    2. Hope your game goes well, by the way!

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