I'm not GM'ing anymore , but I still want my gaming book fix . What's going on ???

Things are being slow as they always are.
Just ignore the scheduled release dates and assume that books are like snowstorms; they just sorta happen and it's difficult to predict when until about a week before they hit.

~J

Last I heard, Fanpro is having a lot of problems with the company they use for printing.

From my sources...

Also remember nothing happens in the business world during december.

There was a time when some one with "Dumpshocked" under their name would have shown up and given us the straight poop. What's up?

They are probably working. (Unlike the rest of us.)

I love you like I love all my illegitimate children, Grey, but please don't misquote me, even in jest. I've said nothing of the sort and have heard nothing of the sort.

Shadows of Europe is not ready to go to the printers, mythical printer problems or not.

Myth is often based in reality, so the obvious conclusion is that Fanpro is going out of business.

Just doing my part to fuel wild rumours

I hear Wotc bought fanpro.They plain on burning it down,then salting the earth...

Funny, I had the the thought of doing the same thing to them.

But then since Peter Adkinson bought GenCon, I decided that he'd probably be in too much mourning to throw another one, so I changed that plan.

Instead I snuck into the White Wolf booth, intended to prank, but was distracted by Invader Zim.

I'm not a fan of the system, but I don't have an irrational hatred of it. On the other hand, I do have an irrational hatred of the thought of D20 Shadowrun.

~J

Heathen!

D20 is the scourge of all that is good and pure in this blighted world!



And just because it is mildly appropriate from the thread

Dang! I forgot that smiley existed! I swear that the only time I'd use it is when I'm trying to debunk rumors, otherwise it's a little to arrogant for me. And now the perfect opportunity comes along and I forget about it!

Basically, yes.

Yup. We'll need the epic-level munchkins that use Gate to get from their original plane to the SR world so they can kill Verjigorm. Nothing like being wailed on by a 60th level paladin/monk who was tanked-up by a 60th level cleric while a 60th level sorcerer rains down death upon you and a 60th level bard farts-out sonatas.

Man, so I had this Adept that was like, a level 12 initiate, and then I went up against this Sammy in full military armour and a Panther Cannon. But then - it was so cool! - the rigger drove his suborbital into the building we were on top of and blew it up! I love this game!

mmmm, farting bards...

And then. like, we had this game that worked just fine and rewarded stuff like actually being in character, but then we scrapped it and went to a system where you only earned experience by killing stuff!

~J

Damn! So that section in the DMG about awarding XP for non-combat portions of the game actually doesn't exist?

Nope, it's just your imagination. Just like this strange thing you call a "computer".
Well, how interesting. I had been informed by someone who had read through the books, and who I would've thought would have read them carefully, that there wasn't anything on non-combat XP. Guess I don't have to write out the 2nd ed non-combat awards for her, then...

~J

From memory, it doesn't give hard-and-fast numbers, because obviously the amount of XP you should get for accomplishing facets of a quest should scale with the danger and the character's level.

Also, it's a little unclear in the text - again, from memory - but you don't necessarily need to "kill" someone to gain XP; just "defeat" them. As far as I'm concerned, distracting someone and accomplishing The Goal is as good as killing someone and accomplishing The Goal.

D&D/d20 is flexible, you just have to let it.

I have several friends and acquaintances who swear up and down that you never get xp for anything aside from combat, that 3.5 turned the game entirely into a miniatures game (ruining 3.0), that d20 is the munchiest thing going, that all d20 games are class-based, that all d20 games are level-based, that all d20 games use the "hit points" system, and other assorted lies and nonsense about what is one of the best game systems going today. All of those friends claim to have read the books, none of them have or they skipped over everything . When shown the evidence, they look incredulous and get quiet. Later, they repeat the same mistakes. It's just in some people's programming to hate d20 and they'll never learn.

You can get by with a preference-based argument that you like successes-based systems instead of TN-based systems. That's wholly subjective, of course, so "rational" probably isn't the best word for the argument. There are the counter-culture sheep that instantly despise anything popular, for no other reason than that it is popular, but they're not rational either. The fact of the matter is that d20 is a very solid, well-balanced, and adaptable system.

I don't care for the "character-class, hit-or-miss, no-levels-of-success D20 system" personally, but I do agree that it is a solid system. As far as game systems go I have always preferred shadowrun and L5R. But I have been playing D&D for years and I enjoy it. (Although while playing I do curse the system when ever an attack of opportunity comes up, or when I want to do a called shot.)

I feel that D20 is too focused on balance and not as much on fun. The D&D worlds I loved like dark sun and the outer planes have become impractical because the level adjustment for the races is too different. Look up their ECL method and you quickly see you have to start out as party of 6th level characters to play a party of adventurers in setting... unless everyone wants to play a human, an elf or a dwarf. One thing that does make up for D20's short comings is that other people are allowed to modify it. So after adding the crit system from starwas and the action dice from spycraft you get a workable system. That is much better then the old system. Because of that I would say it's on of the best systems out there.

Now having said that... every game system that converts to D20 loses what made it unique. L5R is just not as much fun in D20; you have lost the realism that made it fun. Deadlands was a very different game after the conversion. Games that covert lose at least some of their appeal to their fans. And so far every time a game has converted the original system is pretty much thrown out. This is where I think the bitterness comes from because I didn't hear many complaints until the old systems started getting thrown out.

(having said all this I will return to work, and eating my chocolate covered expresso beans to stay awake at work... sorry if I rambled)

On a vaguely related note, I have noticed the SR3 core book at a lot of the big book chains lately. Something I hadn't seen since FanPro took over.

adam, you can't just go around ruining baseless accusations with your "facts" and your "evidence". it's not fair.

I will certainly not change my opinion that converting Shadowrun to D20 would be more or less equivalent to burning FanPro's buildings and sowing salt on the real estate. Whether or not the system in itself being used for games that were designed for it is good or bad is another matter.

~J

oh, yeah--i'm not interested in d20 SR. bad idea. i like my SR system. but i also like d20. they tell me it's some kind of genetic mutation.

For NERPS, or for the rumor?
Hm. Maybe I should make you bribe me with NERPS to make me actually run games. Either that or a pocket calendar that gives me electric shocks when I'm about to miss games.

~J

If the electric shock thing actually worked, I'd just zap you whenever I wanted a game. It'd need an adjustable setting, you'd become tolerant of little zaps real quick.

You mean a rolleyes smiley like this one ?

~J

No, like the one at Utopia-Politics.com

Having located one of said smileys and looked at it, all I can say is: ewww....

~J

Hey where is the best place online to buy SR stuff?

IMO: Stiggybaby's.

~J

about xp and combat--3.5e DMG, pg 50, 51. it lists a variety of encounter types.