Game News Age of Decadence Released on Steam Early Access

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

In my P&P groups, I have a special system for rewarding characters efforts in ways aligned to their attributes and skill setups without punishing them. For example, one player in my group decided to attack a Balor with his mage's quarterstaff (+1), and rolled a 20. I looked at the stats and, though he did no damage according to the silly D&D rules, I decided that a roll of 20, and with 21 intelligence on his mage, it was fair that, I quote, "You surgically remove the Balor's brain with your indepth and intelligent (see how I focus it, there, so he knows why he's rewarded?) knowledge of alien anatomy". I am a very popular DM.

In my P&P groups, I have a special system for rewarding characters efforts in ways aligned to their attributes and skill setups without punishing them. For example, one player in my group decided to attack a Balor with his mage's quarterstaff (+1), and rolled a 20. I looked at the stats and, though he did no damage according to the silly D&D rules, I decided that a roll of 20, and with 21 intelligence on his mage, it was fair that, I quote, "You surgically remove the Balor's brain with your indepth and intelligent (see how I focus it, there, so he knows why he's rewarded?) knowledge of alien anatomy". I am a very popular DM.

In my P&P groups, I have a special system for rewarding characters efforts in ways aligned to their attributes and skill setups without punishing them. For example, one player in my group decided to attack a Balor with his mage's quarterstaff (+1), and rolled a 20. I looked at the stats and, though he did no damage according to the silly D&D rules, I decided that a roll of 20, and with 21 intelligence on his mage, it was fair that, I quote, "You surgically remove the Balor's brain with your indepth and intelligent (see how I focus it, there, so he knows why he's rewarded?) knowledge of alien anatomy". I am a very popular DM.

In my P&P groups, I have a special system for rewarding characters efforts in ways aligned to their attributes and skill setups without punishing them. For example, one player in my group decided to attack a Balor with his mage's quarterstaff (+1), and rolled a 20. I looked at the stats and, though he did no damage according to the silly D&D rules, I decided that a roll of 20, and with 21 intelligence on his mage, it was fair that, I quote, "You surgically remove the Balor's brain with your indepth and intelligent (see how I focus it, there, so he knows why he's rewarded?) knowledge of alien anatomy". I am a very popular DM.

 

[Monty]

Clearly a troll. Too good to be true. A pity as when he started off telling VD about what makes a good RPG I settled back to enjoy the show...

 

[Irenaeus]

VD, include some Balors in the next AoD update. I gotta try this.

 

[The Glitterdust Golem]

Contact me if you want someone to help you with this, by the way. In my P&P groups, I have a special system for rewarding characters efforts in ways aligned to their attributes and skill setups without punishing them. For example, one player in my group decided to attack a Balor with his mage's quarterstaff (+1), and rolled a 20. I looked at the stats and, though he did no damage according to the silly D&D rules, I decided that a roll of 20, and with 21 intelligence on his mage, it was fair that, I quote, "You surgically remove the Balor's brain with your indepth and intelligent (see how I focus it, there, so he knows why he's rewarded?) knowledge of alien anatomy". I am a very popular DM.

I honestly can't tell if this is trolling or people really think this is smart.

It's about adapting to the choices you make, no? A good DM will always be able to adapt to your decisions, whereas a bad one will always be confined to the four closed walls of skill checks, attribute checks, racial checks (seriously, we've progressed past these) and, I kid you not, poor information. I once played under a DM that killed off my character because there was a trap in her way, and he did under the guise of, "You never asked to check for traps.". Ridiculous.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

VD, can you include an AWESUM buttan in AWESOME mode that makes the player character spontaneously explode and have chunks fly out and kill all enemies? 'Cause explosions are awesome.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

it's true that in AoD basically no enemy explodes when you click on them, it's a bit disappointing tbh

 

[Irenaeus]

I thought you could make hand granades with Alchemy, maybe I was wrong?

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I once played under a DM that killed off my character because there was a trap in her way, and he did under the guise of, "You never asked to check for traps.". Ridiculous.

 

[hiver]

hiver, be sure to start the guide with:

Oh, shitslurpers, listen up...

Tsk! It should be "Oy!"!

- but you do know who i rightfully and correctly call shitslupers.

To you, a character should not be able to progress if they haven't refined the skills for whatever task is needed, and it somehow makes sense that said character - who I might remind you is -our- personal fantasy - can't do something that we decide they should be able to do just because of skill sheets.

A true connoisseur of "RPGs" - extreme emotional retardation.

it's true that in AoD basically no enemy explodes when you click on them, it's a bit disappointing tbh

Well... i did have some awesome things happen to me.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Remember when this place could identify obvious trolls even if they didn't include a at the end

that was cool

 

[a cut of domestic sheep prime]

I want to believe though...

 

[FeelTheRads]

A good DM will always be able to adapt to your decisions

So, ad hoc brain surgery was you adapting to his decision? Shouldn't he said he was trying to erm... do something to the Balor's head at least? What you're doing is popamole DMing, where you take the decisions away and play your own script.

I once played under a DM that killed off my character because there was a trap in her way, and he did under the guise of, "You never asked to check for traps.".

Good fucking riddance.

Tsk! It should be "Oy!"!

Yeah, I wanted to type "OK", actually, but "Oy" is good.

 

[hiver]

I thought you could make hand granades with Alchemy, maybe I was wrong?

of course you can. The requirement is a bit high so i didnt manage to increse my alchemy that much yet.

I do have a nasty feeling that there will be some craaaazy skill checks for throwing them, you know.. but there is no way to tell what skill i might need before i do it and then ill have to reloaaaaadd!!!

 

[The Glitterdust Golem]

A good DM will always be able to adapt to your decisions

So, ad hoc brain surgery was you adapting to his decision? Shouldn't he said he was trying to erm... do something to the Balor's head at least? What you're doing is popamole DMing, where you take the decisions away and play your own script.

I'd argue that I took the rules of the game and perfected them to how role-playing is intended. A roll of 20 suggests that the character put extreme effort into their task, and through their magnificent intelligence, why would they be incapable of this? There were two avenues for this to play out - "You hit the Balor with everything you've got, a superb and stunning blow that, somehow, does absolutely nothing to the monster", or my earlier solution. Needless punishment because of a silly system - despite character success (the 20) - or reward and further encouragement for choices they made for their character? I adapted the success into something that was actually rewarding, in a way that improved the situation for everyone and exemplified the character's strengths - which is what good storytelling is all about. Had I gone the other way, it'd be a dead character, and no-one's happy when that happens.

I once played under a DM that killed off my character because there was a trap in her way, and he did under the guise of, "You never asked to check for traps.".

Good fucking riddance.

I stand corrected.

 

[felipepepe]

Would the mage lobotomize himself had he rolled 1?

 

[The Glitterdust Golem]

On 1 rolls, I tend to keep the failure to little more than something the other characters would chortle and "Oh, you!" about, but I do still include failure. In those rare instances, it's a warranted exception, but one beyond the player's control and, thus, not something to earn a truly damning result. "You accidentally fling your staff the wrong way, and it flies from your fingers, smacking the balor in the nads!", for example. Hitting the balor, but temporarily losing their weapon - though I think up better scenarios in the moment, I have to admit.

 

[FeelTheRads]

In other words, your PnP group is playing popamole. Thanks for the insight, but wasn't needed.

 

[The Glitterdust Golem]

I appreciate the feedback of your posts, Rads, thank you. I'm afraid that Mister Dweller did quite congratulate me on my post, though, so I expect thorough changes to the game imminently, and we shall all be better off for it. I promise you this.

 

[Rake]

Well, who knew. I quess Bioware stayed true to their P&P roots after all...

 

[Irenaeus]

A page and a half of sustained trolling. 7/10

 

[titus]

On 1 rolls, I tend to keep the failure to little more than something the other characters would chortle and "Oh, you!" about, but I do still include failure. In those rare instances, it's a warranted exception, but one beyond the player's control and, thus, not something to earn a truly damning result. "You accidentally fling your staff the wrong way, and it flies from your fingers, smacking the balor in the nads!", for example. Hitting the balor, but temporarily losing their weapon - though I think up better scenarios in the moment, I have to admit.

Do you design games for Bioware?

 

[Vault Dweller]

Nah. A Bioware DM would have allowed you to sodomize the Balor with the staff (roll 20 to unlock the Romance subplot).

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Nah. A Bioware DM would have allowed you to sodomize the Balor with the staff (roll 20 to unlock the Romance subplot).

How dare you assume the gender of the Balor to be male. Check your cis-privilege.

 

[Lhynn]

"Your best attempt to hit the Balor is met with a chuckle, the gaze of the beast strips you of your magical protections as he picks you up and swallows you whole... your team watching in horror as he stares at them and laughs maniacally.
The last thoughts of the smart staff wielder are undoubtedly -Oh Oghma, how could my intelligence fail me at this crucial time-.

The rest of you need to roll will versus indimitadion. As for you genious, have a character ready for our next session."
​

I will fucking shred my players to pieces if their brain farts, i am literally waiting the entire session for that to happen, and they know it and they play with that knowledge to the best of their ability. I grin at each critical failure, i jump at each error in judgment with my full force. I am usually really forgiving when it comes to encounter difficulty, trying to keep it reasonable and not giving them more than they can handle unless they actually ask for it, as they are usually deadly and with no second chances.

For this i believe the gameplay should teach them to go with it, slowly revealing the mechanics of the game instead of just throwing them outthere and letting them get frustrated and quitting. So when a player screws up is their own stupid fault. So im going to insist one more time on the benefits of a short optional tutorial and then drop it and never bring it up again.

FeelTheRads hes trolling, i hope.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

VD should just link to that Surly-gamer guy who beat the first merc fight in his first attempt or something.