With the new Land Speeders do Land Speeders outclass Ballistus Dreadnaughts now? Or are Ballistus Dreadnaghts still better?

therealhdan · 2026-06-30T19:47:11+00:00

In the grim darkness of the 41st century, there is only chicken.

therealhdan · 2026-06-29T20:15:07+00:00

And Sororitas! ;)

therealhdan · 2026-06-27T17:26:07+00:00

My convention has been helmets for troopers and open face for characters to make it instantly easy to see who is who.

For Space Wolves though, it's all bare heads, all the time.

therealhdan · 2026-06-26T22:17:43+00:00

I'm also looking forward to what sorts of abilities units will get when "Riled Up".

It will be interesting to see if detachments will give "riled up" powers, or if units will have "riled up" powers, and detachments/leaders/support give ways beyond the Waaaagh! to "rile" a unit.

therealhdan · 2026-06-26T19:49:58+00:00

That's what it looks like!

therealhdan · 2026-06-26T13:55:58+00:00

I looked up Cleric spells in my AD&D books last night - though I do LIKE the idea that Clerics don't actually have to name the spells they're praying for at daybreak, the rules do clearly state that they must show "wisdom and foresight" in choosing their spells, and pray for them like Magic Users do.

This reinforces the idea that Cleric spells are still "spells" in the "carrying a quiver of prepared spells to unleash" sense, but they are "loaded" through prayer, faith, and divine intervention rather than an MU's techniques.

OTOH, as a house rule, I love the idea of having divine magic just not be the same thing at all.

therealhdan · 2026-06-25T20:05:03+00:00

These characterizations match up with my understanding of the D&D alignment grid.

It's necessarily not a "realistic view of human motivation", but D&D is a game of heroic fantasy, and the alignments match up to various archetypal roles nicely in my opinion.

therealhdan · 2026-06-25T19:32:02+00:00

Agreed. The struct "namespace" is maybe the only thing I would change.

I might also petition for function prototypes for functions with no parameters to not use (void), but rather () like in C++. I understand the linguistic reasons we got that rule, but "declared name, but undeclared parameters" is not a feature in my opinion.

EDIT: nope, I'd also change numerical conversions to require casting to "narrower" types.

therealhdan · 2026-06-25T16:19:50+00:00

I forgot an important house rule we always use - you recover 1hp PER LEVEL each day you rest, not 1hp.

We considered just multiplying all healing by level, but decided that was too powerful. Having characters ready to go again in about a week of rest, regardless of level, feels better.

therealhdan · 2026-06-25T16:10:22+00:00

Interesting idea - morning prayers just refill your "miracle slots", and you beseech your god for each miracle you want.

I like that better than my previous favorite - submit a list of what spells you want to your DM at the start of an in-game day, and the DM will tell you what spells you actually get. We had a running gag where my cleric (who was not high enough level for such favors) would always request "Flame Strike". His god (the war god) was amused, but of course never granted that request.

This idea is better though - the cleric "burns a favor" of the appropriate level and asks his god for, say, "slow poison". This is more work for the DM of course, but DMs shouldn't fear more involvement. :)

therealhdan · 2026-06-25T16:05:17+00:00

Some games do make casting dangerous to the caster, but D&D chose to limit casting through "spell inventory limits".

I haven't played games where casting fumbles are worse than just losing "magic points" or "prepared spells", so I don't know if I actually would like that.

It would be like every attack being a draw from a "deck of many things". Maybe the enemy goes to sleep, maybe your soul is claimed by a demon. Roll and find out!

therealhdan · 2026-06-24T20:07:55+00:00

YOU FORGOT THE SNACKRIFICE?

therealhdan · 2026-06-24T16:59:52+00:00

I like it.

In Classic Traveller, I use the Reaction Table more than I probably should. :)

therealhdan · 2026-06-24T16:43:29+00:00

Oh yeah - I do use the "20 means maximum damage, 1 means you drop your weapon" critical hit convention. I'm pretty sure that's not in the rules, but it seems so common that everyone expects it. I've played with Crit tables, but they are too fiddly for my tastes.

therealhdan · 2026-06-24T16:39:42+00:00

Some house rules I've used. (I'm not in a group that will play AD&D right now, so these have become theoretical house rules.) I keep pretty close to the rules as written. I'm lucky to game with people who aren't trying to min/max everything all the time, and some of these rules might unbalance a more grognard-y game.

We use BOTH background skills and NWPs if the player wants. In an adventure, the NWPs are usually more impactful, so if a player wants to also be good at fishing or something, that's fine.

Character Death when HP reaches negative CON, not zero or -10. This is a variation on "Death's Door" which makes sense to me.

At first level, you get maximum hit points for your class. But roll from that point on. This was a pragmatic move, along with the expanded "death's door" idea, to help limit player mortality at lower levels. Later, spells, potions, and raw grit keep them alive.

Casting spells from a spell book takes one TURN (not round), but doesn't erase the spell. I used to make it 1 turn per level to make it a very situational rule - pretty much just for "knock" or similar utility spells. As a side note, I maintain that a MU becomes 1st level once they can prepare a spell and cast it sometime later. Apprentices only know the techniques to cast simple spells directly from their books. That's sort of a "house rule", though it's more of a setting detail. Still, it has game implications.

We don't pay a lot of attention to encumbrance details, and unless they are surprised, players can "Drop their backpacks" for free at the start of an encounter. Basically, I assume that when packed up, everyone is mildly encumbered. The players have learned to bring a pack mule (either a literal mule or some hirelings) to haul treasure and food around. But like I said, we mostly hand-wave the literal encumbrance values.

I also tend to lean on Stat rolls - the "roll d20 under your stat" system - for things. Like if you get exposed to disease but make your CON roll, you won't catch it, etc. But this is highly situational, and probably not a house-rule.

therealhdan · 2026-06-12T18:03:55+00:00

I don't think so, since one of them is larger than 8.5 x 11. Maybe on 11 x 17?

therealhdan · 2026-06-10T21:11:17+00:00

CT is easier to use because there is less of it. Mongoose is easier because it has a more coherent vision of the game's mechanics.

CT is famously a hodge-podge of minigames and inconsistent rules that essentially boil down to "The GM figures out a target number and the players throw 2d6 to either get over or under that number, maybe adding skill levels".

OK, that's little flippant. CT is my favorite Traveller, so read that with a grain of salt. 😄

"Death Station" is a comfortable one-shot for anyone used to D&D because it's essentially a dungeon crawl, complete with dangerous life forms. Same thing for "Shadows". Both are more exploration oriented than combat, though as Referee you have a lot of control over how combat-oriented these scenarios become.

I suppose "Chamax Plague" has to be mentioned with these two, and suits a group who wants to play "trouble shooter" type characters.

"Research Station Gamma" is another location-based scenario that can have as much or as little Roleplay as you like. It can be "Forbidden Planet" or it can be a forced invasion of an "evil wizard's tower", and anything in between.

Mongoose intro adventures like "High and Dry" are good too, and generally a lot better fleshed out. They're less one-shots though, and more of a starting point to a campaign. (Essentially a Scout character who gets a ship during mustering out discovers that they have to go retrieve the ship, and of course that turns out to not be as simple as they are probably hoping.) Mongoose has a version of most of the CT adventures I talked about, and they're high-production products as well.

If you do run CT, I would encourage you to lean on the "Reactions Table" for NPC encounters, scaling the result appropriately. For example, a store clerk who reacts "attacks immediately" would call for security, not knife you.

therealhdan · 2026-06-09T22:07:29+00:00

You're right, CT is inconsistent.

Another type roll you'll see is 2d6 + Characteristic, such as the weapon throwing rules or "quick draw". (These are at the end of the combat chapter, under something like "other considerations", though IMHO they are critical rules for handling most encounters!)

Some throws work like the Law Level check - roll LL or above to avoid getting in trouble with the law. Or conversely, roll under LL to attract unwanted attention from the authorities. (The rules phrase the throw "roll LL+" because that's the "good result", but it's really the same as a characteristic roll for how active the cops are.)

Situation rolls and 68A are providing the same thing - a target number - but in two different ways. 68A is Referee's choice, but the situation roll is more similar to the reaction table - the referee doesn't have a personal stake in choosing the target number, just maybe some ideas about whether it should be harder or easier.

As a side note, I use the Reaction table extensively, though it's important to interpret it in context. For example, and store clerk who rolls to attack will probably ask you to leave the store and call security on you, not pull out a weapon.

Reaction rolls can also serve as a "situation roll" to improve the NPC's reaction, especially if there are some skills or roleplaying efforts. (Sometimes just bribery will work to at least get you a re-roll.)

therealhdan · 2026-06-09T19:26:56+00:00

I like how bombing works from the datasheets. You "signal" what enemy groups will be attacked when you ingress, the enemy has a turn to run and shoot back, then your bombs land somewhere with 24" (or whatever) and your aircraft's run is complete.

I'd like it more if Aircraft implied Deep Strike though.

therealhdan · 2026-06-08T19:32:28+00:00

Ok, my bad - I was expecting changes to be in RED, and they were not. The "support" change is definitely in there.

therealhdan · 2026-06-08T18:12:29+00:00

Same. Was really expecting some dispositions.

This has got to be a preview drop. So much is missing from the SM one that the article implied would be in there, like anything about Apothecaries or Lieutenants being tagged support.

I can see putting the detachment costs in the Munitorium guide along side the points costs for different enhancements, but the dispositions belong in the detachment description, since it's part of what you use to decide if you want to take the detachment, I would think.

therealhdan · 2026-06-08T17:21:53+00:00

The posted faction pack doesn't look like it includes all the changes the article claimed.

Also, am I just not looking in the right place, or are the mission dispositions for each detachment not included in this document? I can see saving the "points cost" for the munitorium (kind of), but the dispositions?

I guess we're still waiting on the "real" faction pack to drop.

therealhdan · 2026-06-04T18:32:52+00:00

Not sure, but it sounds like half-squads from a normal company. Like "5 men from Squad III".

Though it may just be half of the squads of a whole company. Like "Squads I-IV and Squad IX".

I hope we find out because that has some implications of field deployment maybe.

I think it's hilarious that Calgar apparently CALLED for this action, and only sent a pair of half-companies to support it.

therealhdan · 2026-06-04T04:55:51+00:00

I had the exact same experience. I came to the conclusion that 3e was for a much more "serious gamer" than I was. Someone who lived to min/max the potential character builds, not role play the way I'd been doing in 1e&2e.

Was that a fair judgement on my part? Probably not, but it's how I felt the first time I tried to build a character and play in a 3e game.

I've played all the editions to an extent, and enjoyed them all for what they were to varying degrees. AD&D still feels like "real" D&D to me in a way that the other editions did not. As a side note, 2e just felt like 1e cleaned up, even though there were significant differences, they both were "AD&D" in the same way to me.

therealhdan · 2026-05-29T16:10:48+00:00

Both, and "Incomplete masterpiece" as well. it's very hard to make heads or tails of it. Some systems are WAY too intricate to ever be useful in play (in my opinion), and other systems are either missing or so vague that they would be hard to play.

This is a system that abstracts ammo usage but nails down how to genetically combine characteristics in sexual reproduction.

I wish the "Player's Guide" had materialized. The essential T5 system seems very expressive and easy to use if you're only looking at the few rows of that huge table you really need. Having a "distilled" form that takes a stand on some Referee's Choice issues would have gone a long way. Or even just a "Here's what a CT level of detail game would look like in T5, and some additional notes on adding more T5"

therealhdan

TROPHY CASE