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Plagiarism, Copyright, and game design are three very different things. Plagiarism is using someone else's work as your own. It's not a crime, unless you do so to commit fraud, in many nations. Paraphrasing the wizard of Oz doesn't make it any less plagiarism... Copyright is a system of...

If it reads like a stereo manual, it's illegible chinglish, impossible to use at first and worse to try and decipher... I want authoritative tone, plenty of setting info and adventure seeds, consistent single task mechanic, with genre enforcement via mechanics.

ANd the second in a row to ignore the large fraction that are doing multiple. At least this one, both groups, the answer is the same, Generally satisfied. Tho' I've players in both groups who seem to channel their inner Alan Alda...

Are you being too optimistic? Probably. Is it really a problem? Only if you hang your emotional well being upon it being useful to have that prep or expect the group to actually see most of it.

Not quite, but adjacent... Most games do not try to avoid exceptions. FATE Accelerated is about as close as any I've seen. Everything is done using stats and assets. Cortex Prime comes pretty close, as does 2d20 Dune... but my actual point is that the mechanically interesting parts of a design...

That is the key takeaway of the original GNS article... ... but not the full extent. There are multiple things about it: 1) the group having similar preferences is important 2) the game and the GM having similiar approaches is important 3) The stories being played/generated need to be in line...

He's written several well acclaimed games 20 years ago. Socerer, Trollbabe, Cartoon Action Hour.... and more since. Socerer is one of the most laser-focused designs I've read. His goal is clear, in one's face from the moment one starts reading it, and the game is built to follow-through on it...

I don't have a "regular ruleset." I rotate through a half-dozen, with occasional others for effect. The very question is broken in that it leaves no room for multiple-system groups. within the scope of games I've run multiple campaigns of Very Satisfied: Alien, Pendragon 4th ed, The One Ring...

I'd label many, if not most, as "experimental Indie Games"... Many of them also/alternatively as story games.

Plexi durable enough is not cheap. Which is why my RV (used as a residence) has boards bolted in place of the broken door window. Sure, you can get 1/25" thick, 11×17" sheets for a bit over $1 each... but that's not gonna hold down a crease. 1/8" 17×22" is around $30-$40 per sheet... MDF in the...

I agree that D&D 4E, at least through PHB2, seems to be unified mechanic and 90% of abilities are just flavors on standard bits Each spell and each feat is an exception to the general rules of play. THOSE are every bit as much exceptions as class features are. It's just that they're available...

Alien has better rules. At least for my needs. The key horror element of Alien as a setting is the eponymous Alien species. The stress rule is not, in and of itself, a horror mechanic. It's perfectly suited to a type of Drama that Traveller just cannot provide, that of the Vorkosiverse style...

Sun D&D: not held; GM migraine

There are several oldies in the RPGGeek database; I used a cutoff of 1990 https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/46189/the-complete-warlock https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/46191/warlocks-menagerie https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/46190/warlocks-tower https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/233403/lair-of-the-warlock In the...

Both GURPS and HERO have official adaptations... and SJG now has permission to sell Autoduel Champions (Abbr ADC. The HERO port) in PDF. Both go the "build it in the system's native design rules" mode, so nothing actually ports save the setting. ADC does have extensive additions to CW as well...

False. A significant number will need help and not bother learning from it, and if not helped, will quit. Hard core players oft way overestimate the tolerances of casual players, especially for complex systems or systems with complex mechanical interactions. (4E isn't itself terribly complex...

I do find it unacceptable to need software for CGen other than a die-roller for the online group. I do find it useful for ensuring rules adherence and/or quick NPC gen. Which is part of why I never bothered trying to run 4E, and only played pregens in one-offs. (Encounters, H1) I'll note that...

Still processing my way through Fed-Klingon War, but the added material makes it "Discovery S1-S2 part 2"... it avoids direct overlap in resources, but is designed to make use of it. (I cheaped out, as I have with all of STA, for PDF only.)

Alien isn't even a horror game when run in the campaign play, unless and until your generate that one special encounter. Then it's horror for a session or two. Then, it's on to next campaign.

Most? The Traveller Adventure - which is misnamed, as it's actually a full on campaign. But it also serves as a sourcebook for the Aramis Trace.