Recent content by Kurotowa

The thing is that "video game RPG" is a big tent. If you're playing a traditional RPG like Baldur's Gate or Elder Scrolls or Mass Effect, you're expecting to design your character from the ground up. Their physical appearance, their class, their dialog choices, everything. But there's also an...

Some things never go out of style. For every person who ages out of it, a new one ages in. And an edgy goth girl warlock? Voiced by Tricia Helfer? That has potential. Mind you, potential can be squandered. I have a whole mental list of "Series with great concept pitches that amounted to...

Past performance doesn't always shackle future achievement. More experience, more time, more budget... game studios can definitely outdo prior works. But still, after Dark Alliance this is absolutely going on my "Wait for the reviews" list. No pre-orders here.

The only setting material in Forge is around the three campaign skeletons. So pretty limited and focused. But funny enough, I was just looking up thri-kreen in Eberron a couple days ago when I was kicking around character ideas. There are mentions of thri-kreen in Xen'drik back in a few of the...

I was considering it, but they blocked me for that reply. So I guess they saved me the trouble? Back on topic... what was the topic before they derailed things? Oh right, warforged appearances! I was glancing through the book again, and while short on flavor text the warforged entry ends with...

Wow. That, uh, that's some pretty sharp moral judgments read into a perfectly standard edition change. Are you... new to RPGs? Because this happens all the time. And I don't just mean TTRPGs, things like MMORPGs are constantly revising their character classes and game mechanics. Classes get...

When I echo a person's point as a launching off point for a post, it's not because I don't think they understand their own words. It's because I'm trying to demonstrate that I understand their words and want to expand on the idea they offered with the thoughts they inspired. I'm picking up the...

That's because it's scripted "randomness" in fiction and genuinely random in a game. And the two aren't anything alike, even if they seem to be on the surface, and things rarely translate well between them. This goes for any sort of kayfabe random powers that aren't actually random in the least...

I would never play it myself. I'm a planner, I like to plan out my turns with deliberate precision. Throwing things to the dice gods is anathema to me. But I don't object to it being an option that exists for someone else who enjoys that sort of thing ...provided the result table doesn't have...

I came in just after the release of 2e, so I never had any 1e books to compare. But I do remember with 3.5e how it was enough of a clean break that they immediately restarted the class splatbook lines over again with Complete Warrior and its successors. This time, it's a bit fuzzier. They're...

Putting out Forge is what I classify as a "least bad" option. It has downsides, but all the alternatives are worse. I absolutely want these player options updated for 5.24e, I don't expect to get that for free, and I'm happier not having to buy a replacement Eberron setting book that's mostly...

Rising from the Last War is not obsolete. A few very specific parts, the Artificer and the Dragonmarks and the Eberron specific races, are upgraded to 5.24e. Everything else, the magic items and monster entries and pages and pages of lore, are still current and useful. And for that matter, the...

Given that "Weapon Mastery" is a new and major game element just added... I think your speculation about the word itself being an issue is baseless and improbable.

Agreed on both points. I'm not against updating the warforged look, but this just feels... I dunno, a little bland? "Shiny silver face with no distinguishing features" feels like every generic near future android design from the last 20 years. Otherwise though, I do like the aesthetic. I've...

I'm increasingly suspicious of the idea that a single "typical group" even exists. With online multiplayer video games, there's a feedback loop because everyone is in a single shared community. People share information, people copy what's successful, trends emerge, social pressures exert...