Ok, read this you lazy GMs 😀 complaining on the bestiary: https://lawhammer.blogspot.com/2020/01/trolls-trolls-trolls-trolls.html?m=1 Except this isn't really advice for lazy GMs - it's justification for lazy games design (framed as advice for "lazy" GMs). This is kind of a separate topic...

Just to add my 2 cents. I see no problem concerning snowball effect. 90% of the time is taking the player's side and the rest 10% the players have several options to change it. The way I say it, most important thing is the player's narrative and the game is spot-on on this, along with some serious ...

Sure, it can take a bit of time as my group is now back in town and heavy fighting is not on the menu (well things tend not to go as I planned so lets see about that!) Ok, read this you lazy GMs 😀 complaining on the bestiary: https://lawhammer.blogspot.com/2020/01/trolls-trolls-trolls-trolls.html?m=1

Capping Advantage is a mandatory thing to do to make the game at least playable IMO, from what I’ve read and from the little I’ve tried. Do I think that’s a RELIABLE way to reduce swingyness? Ehm, no: all it does is reducing snowballing (reducing an amplification effect tied to how Advantage works)...

I can't see a reliable way to manage 4th edition swingyness+snowball effect in that. Fair enough. Do you think the Optional sidebar on p164 is a reliable way to manage 4th edition swingyness? Game-design is interesting to me... Personally I got more annoyed by denialism or proposal for "simple...

Great post Graak. Thanks for that. My point should have been formulated in an other way. It does feel to me like the devs are doing LARP themselves ! Realism is always part of the topic when we discuss RPG rules. More or less depending on the game. Less in Toon or D&D and a lot more in wfrp. The...

Oh I am not sure I am the one that really wants to pick a fight ^^ I am quite happy overall with the game.And I am not trolling other systems forums explaining why they are bad. Having done my share of fighting with orc costume and latex swords I find the combat rules realistic with the added realis...

I find doing boss and key monsters and NPC profiles fun. The rest, low lvl monsters, work fine. We are all different I guess. Yes Mr Zapp is likely a cool knowledgable dude but has been very vocal how he doesn’t like 4e basically everywhere on the internet and frankly comes out as a bit of a bitter ...

Well it’s the same in 4e as in 1or 2e really. Basic beastmen work the way they are, as do Greenskins etc... Boss and leaders (and big monsters with low WS that you may need to boost depending on your party) you need to work on and tbh that is part of the fun as a GM Then in your opinion 4e combat an...

Yes and that’s fine off and def together, no probs with that, we are not playing world of warcraft here. I was answering Zapp’s definitly neg comments. And ofc maxing combat will leave you very bad as a detective or thief or social type of PC and you can’t always rely on friends talking for you or s...

- "if you focus on only one skill, you suffer elsewhere". Have you heard of party tactics? Any minmaxer knows that increasing your offense is well worth having a low defense, especially if another team member is there to cover for you. Well that is mostly wrong happily. It goes with the ”m...

Big monsters are difficult, push to hard on their WS and the multiplier means quick death if you start hitting your PCs when they are beginners or semi beginners. To low WS and they are a joke. We ran if looks could kill, the beast managed 1 blow on a ranger type with 4 soak and it meant 1 fate poin...

Nah it works fine especially with low XP chars. Gives them a chance against fear causing monsters. At 30/40 cool it might come handy. And with some creativity it works ok with goals and party goals and such. You do have to work a little to find these goals specifically. And It's fun to see a player ...

With 5500 XP a Dwarf pit fighter if he wants to go to lvl 4 to get furious assault the key talent, picks up dual wield, ambidextrous, robust,and then focuses on his melee skill should be quite formidable. Melee skill could be around 90% without magical items. Toughness may be 60+. May be if goes har...

My players use fortune quite a lot and it's fine. Resilience has been used a few times as a "save" to avoid a huge hit. Never to get a guaranted crit. Now one of them, non human^^, is out of resilience points. I don't give resilience back easily so they know spending 1 point is a pretty bi...

I had a dwarf with 8E, with +1extra AP magic armor and shield even an out of the box major demon needed to crit to arm him ! I think we actually agree for the most part. it should be included, unfortunatly it’s not and without extra work on the GM side the monsters do not work. Feels that they have ...

Don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of complaints about 4e, but needing to tweak/rewrite monsters is not one of them.

Well you wholeheartedly disagree then proceed to completly agree with what I wrote. The bestiary sucks - No doubt We agree it needs a lot of GM work, both on the profiles and abilities mechanics that frankly make little sense. May be it’s a hinder to people new to rpg. You are right. Wecseem to also...

Monster stats in the rule book do leave a lot to work on for the GM. I really don't see it as a problem however. It's part of the job. Bumping the stats of a minotaur isn't hard. Finding new monster ideas isn't hard. Adjusting an encounter to the strength of your party isn't hard. You get the hang o...