#RPGADAY: Game You'd Like to See a New/Improved Edition Of...

If you've been following this blog at all, then you know what I think of 5th Edition, but just in case you haven't here's a very succinct recap: 5th Edition is not only more than a few steps back from 4th, but they failed to address problems that have been plaguing Dungeons & Dragons from the start.

So, that's what I'd like to see a new and improved edition of: Dungeons & Dragons.

Something that allows for more meaningful customization than picking a race, picking a class, picking something at 1st- to 3rd-level, and then every now and then being able to boost a stat or pick a feat (that can for some reason provide instant and absolute mastery of something).

Something that is not afraid to look at the older traditions and lore, and discard it in favor of something that makes sense, or is just more inspiring or imaginative. I'm not just talking about the pseudo-Vancian magic that pervades almost every single spellcaster out there, but even stuff like the cosmology: the World-Axis was so much more accessible and felt more mythological than the artificial, fill-in-all-the-blanks Great Wheel.

Something that makes it easy to create even complex monsters and encounters, without having to reference another book, while still making them precisely as difficult as I want them to be.

Ultimately, something that would actually justify spending around a hundred or so dollars on (I don't care if the art is arbitrarily considered "inclusive" or whatever the Social Justice Warriors are going on about nowadays). This? This is something anyone could have done in a fraction of the time.

Also, the universal proficiency bonus is pointless and sucks balls.

Fright Night Kickstarter

That's what we're trying to Kickstart: more art like that. Burney is pretty spendy, but Melissa, Ben, and myself think he's worth every penny. If you haven't heard me talk about it before, here's the "plot synopsis" from the Kickstarter page:

"Fright Night is a lightweight, easy to learn and quick to play tabletop role-playing game intended to evoke the feel of b-movies, slasher flicks, horror films, and even dark comedies. The players take on the role of typical, everyday people that somehow cross paths with a variety of malevolent entities that they must either defeat, escape from, or contain.

Or die trying.

The rules are minimal and flexible, using a simple dice pool mechanic that relies entirely on six-siders: when you try to do something, you roll a number of dice equal to your stat, and each 5 or 6 is a success.

You normally only need one success to pass a check, but sometimes you'll want more (especially when it comes to attacking or evading the monster). Tools, weapons, vehicles, extras (NPCs), and environmental factors can grant you assets or impose complications, which add or remove dice to your pool.

While the players work with the Director to set the scene, and cast their characters and the extras, both the monster's nature and course of the story are randomized through a series of tables. This means that even the Director has no idea exactly what you will face or what’s going to happen next. 

Not only does this provide a kind of story framework useful for new Game Masters to work with (especially those not used to winging it), it also prevents you from learning the trends and habits of the guy your group normally ropes into the job of running your games."

You can get a stripped down pdf of the final rules here, and if you want to read up on a couple of our play reports, you can find them here and here.

If you're a fan of the horror genre and/or rules-lite games, then we think you'll enjoy this game. If you don't or even just can't support it (possibly because of GenCon or other Kickstarters going on), we'd still appreciate it if you could spread the word around.

Thanks in advance!