Be social
Thanks for taking the time to post a new comment or a reply to one! First scan these quick notes, if you please:
General
* Currently, previewing a post is optional; you're welcome to preview or post immediately.
* You should see plain text input by default; click "enable rich text" for fancy formatting tools. (Some people love that and some don't. Be aware that formatting tool performance may vary by browser.)
* With apologies to all, "captcha" questions may face unregistered posters. Otherwise, the spam flow will dwarf the Nile.
Registration and login
* Registration is available! Sign up here. Chief benefits at present include the ability to edit your own comments, bookmark favorite content, and manage subscriptions (newsletter, threads, etc.).
* If you'd prefer to post as an unregistered visitor, that's welcome too. Just leave "Your name" as the default "Esteemed Visitor", or type in some other name. (But if you happen to type in a name used by a registered user – say, "tbone" – you'll get an error telling you so when you hit "post comment". And while your post text should still be there, waiting for a revised user name, there's a chance it could disappear.)
* If you're a registered user but haven't logged in and want to post a quick comment as Esteemed Visitor, that's fine; see above.
* If you're a registered user but haven't logged in, and enter your user name under "Your name" when posting, you'll get an error saying that's the name of a registered user. That's a good thing; it means strangers can't make posts under your user name! But as above, there's a chance of losing your post text. It's best to log in first here, and then start your posting.
Final
All the above is standard stuff for community web sites, but reminders are good; I hate post-related glitches, and hate to see people run into them on this site. On this or any site, it's a good practice to do a quick "Select All" and "Copy" on your post text before hitting "Preview comment" or "Post comment" – just in case.
For more on the whole topic of interaction with the site, please see User Interaction (opens in new window).
Patron advantage
How's everything?
Enjoying your Games Diner meal? Is the wait staff attentive? Is the chef bathed? (Then it must be a Sunday.) You do know that a little eggshell in the French toast adds calcium, right?
If the cramps haven't set in yet, I hope you'll say Hi to the chef or check out the many ways you can contribute to the Diner.
Now eat. Eat up! You're as thin as a rail.
Build a site!
Cast Seek Spell
THE TAKEOUT MENU
For collaborators, contributors, or the curious. Notice of site updates; project announcements; calls for playtesting; etc.
No disrespect to Palladium...
I haven't played it, and I have no doubt that if I played it with fun players, I'd have lots of fun, whatever warts the game system may have.
BUT, poking around Wikipedia, I couldn't help but notice "occupational character classes", "psionic character classes", and this about dice: "[the game system] involves roll-under percentile skill checks, roll-high d20 combat skill checks and roll-low d20 saving throws, and uses differing amounts of d4s, d6s, d8s, and d10s for damage".
Putting aside the business of character classes, why in the world would a game use three different dice mechanics for skill checks, combat checks, and saving throws, where one would do?
If I ever cough up my own RPG system, it'll have ONE dice mechanic for any all checks. Including damage, by gum.
Anyway, that's all a complete tangent with no bearing to the original topic. Back to that: Those combat books you mention sound interesting. I'm playing with some homemade (non-GURPS) combat rules, and so am on the lookout for some inspirations. I'll keep an eye out for the references; if you can recall the titles, that'll help a lot!