Quote from: Omega on April 26, 2024, 06:44:02 PMThen O and AD&D were aimed at children too by that logic.

I dunno, I have to agree B/X DOES looks more "kiddified" than AD&D. Even though it clearly is/was not. I do know that when I was a kid walking through Toys R' Us, B/X and later BECMI were right next to the Milton Bradley board games while AD&D was next to the Avalon Hill wargames. And everyone knows AH >>>> MB for complexity, so of course that means it's better and for adults and stuff.

I got a "power tower" for $30 at an auction, basically it was some Amazon return. Also got a power rack for $100. You don't need to spend a ton of money at all. I also have a Planet Fitness membership solely for the stairclimber and water bed massage thing; they also have dumbbells up to 85# which is good for most stuff if you need a decent, quick workout. I've sort of given up on powerlifting for the most part, though, because every time I squat or press with a decent amount of weight my slipped disc manages to find some way to rear its ugly head. Mr. oggsmash here and his mutant son are making me lament the bygone days of being actually competitive...

I don't hate the RQ version of this, but I prefer some of the later spins on it.  Can't remember which parts of this are in later RQ versus MRQ versus Legend.

- You can only improve 3 things, no matter how many things you tried. 
- You still need to try things to improve them, but it's just a check mark. 
- The difference between failing and succeeding at improvement is +1% versus a random, modestly higher bosot (like 2-4%).
- The skills are more limited in number and more carefully curated to be useful--still a wide range but nothing so niche you can't try it.
- Skills start a little higher than early RQ--so trying something isn't a killer.

The effect is that most of the negatives others have mentioned above go away or are so muted that the only people who would object are those who hate the whole idea or really do want to control and balance every detail (in which case, point buy would be better).  It does even out over time.  In fact, the biggest effect is that people with starting scores can get them into competent range without too much trouble, and then advancement slows down--which is part of the point.

I don't like how any of these games handle percentage near/over 100, but that's a different critique, and often a side effect of doing a d100 roll under game of any stripe.
 

Oooo!  Sweet and thank you!

Having played a few d100/BRP games, I don't like this form of advancement. Others have pointed out several problems, chief among which, IMO, players will find any excuse to use certain skills just so they can advance. And if the GM isn't aware of the problem, the whole game devolves into the same 5 skills being used all the time because that's what the players are good at.

I much prefer simple point buy. A character could have been studying, practicing, or learning from another character, and we don't need to role play those activities, so just assume it happened and move on with the actual game.

Just purchased this RPG, have to say it's giving me a lot of ideas for my OSR games.

Quote from: Lurkndog on April 27, 2024, 09:28:32 PMI see some problems with this approach.

1) Why does it matter whether you succeeded or not? You can learn just as much from failure. And as a starting character, you'll be failing a lot, and as GM there is good reason to reward failure.

2) Having to roll to see if your skills advance completely sucks. I say this from experience as a former Runequest player. It's hard enough to be a starting character without being unable to spend your xp. Especially when you then lose that xp.

3) By its nature, this will cause some players to advance faster than others, for no reason other than sheer dumb luck. That's not good. And if you say "over time it will all even out," you're wrong. The odds are exactly the same for each roll. The dice have no memory, and someone who pulls ahead because of a streak of lucky rolls is likely to stay ahead. And someone who falls behind is unlikely to catch up.

4) If you think it's bad when people get shafted once on advancement, wait until it happens twice right out of the gate. And it will happen twice to somebody. I wouldn't expect that player to come back.

5) How do you buy up new skills that you don't already have? What if nobody bought Cartography?

6) In Runequest, this encouraged what was called the "golf bag" approach, where players carried around a (figurative) golf bag full of different weapons, each of which they would use exactly once per session, to maximize their chances of getting a successful advancement check.

7) Some find the extra bookkeeping during play to be distracting. And the time spent rolling skill advancement checks comes out of game time.

Basically, this is point buy with extra steps. And those extra steps are problematic.

Well I disagree with that final statement, nor did you offer an alternative.

But to put it simply skills also progress on level up, or have a chance to, as I'm taking the RPGpundit approach of random level benefits, sometimes its extra HP, a boost to an attribute or 1d6+1 to a skill of choice. still random but it even's out. and you tally multiple skills, all skills you had success with or crit failed with have a chance of improving after the session, so it's very unlikely you get zero improvement.

And as well my system is pretty lethal in that OSR style tradition, the expectation is character may not live very long, so any one character plowing ahead of the others is not a very big issue.

I agree with some of the objections, but they seem easy to address: you skill spend XP as you want, but you can only spend them if you successfully roll over a skill you used.

If you use multiple skills, you get to choose which you want to try to advance first. If you fail in all your rolls, you can start again etc.

I think the only way to make the idea that 'everyone is god and they just don't know it, knowing it gives you powers' salvageable for a story or game is to make it so that bad people can realize this. Especially bad delusional people. Imagine if Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot had the powers of a Mage.

Quote from: Neoplatonist1 on April 27, 2024, 10:46:47 PM

Quote from: SHARK on April 24, 2024, 01:28:10 AMI hope that I have encouraged you, brother!

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK

I find your response and exhortation heartening, SHARK, and thank you for it.

Without giving us the right to defend ourselves and our loved ones God becomes a moral monster, and I'm happy to meet someone who sees a Christian way to avoid that horrible conclusion.

What Bible version do you use? Whom do you consult for Scriptural advice?

Neoplatonist1

Greetings!

You are very welcome, brother! I am always glad to help! As for Scriptural advice and instruction, I would absolutely recommend Pastor John MacArthur, and Pastor J. Vernon Mcgee. I have included YouTube videos of both men below. I have found that the doctrinal instruction and wisdom provided by Mcgee and MacArthur through the years have been rock solid in providing a powerful foundation that stands the test of time, and crushes all of the world's arguments, temptations, and fickle, spiritual fads so commonly passed about by one flavour of charlatan after another. Listen to these Godly men's teachings, read their books, and study God's Word. 
As for the Bible, I strongly prefer the King James Bible. The Common Man's King James Bible is my favourite. (By Hoffman)
For additional study, you can't go wrong with the MacArthur Study Bible. (NKJV).

Semper Fidelis,

SHARK


Pastor John MacArthur

Pastor J. Vernon Mcgee