I found another Dark Dungeon parody at the following site. Note: that it contains some strong language but it is hilarious.
http://www.unhelpful.org/chyx/
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That chick tracts thing's got a lot worse on it than anti-gaming propaganda. It isn't just d&d they hate, it's imagination in general - among other things.
Whoa... That tract's the weirdest one yet. For a start, I never would have thought that disrespecting the Tooth Fairy would get me strangled by some irate 8-year old - or that they even put little kids in prison like that. God died for our sins? And who's that "god hater" on the lower right? An anthropologist? Man, this stuff is surreal...
I don't really HATE any system, although I like simple percentages (d20, etc) better than bell curves (GURPS, etc) - because as game master I find it harder to stat encounters "on the fly" using bell-curve based success. (I'm sure if I'd been raised on a diet of bell curve gaming, I'd think the exact opposite.)
I like bell curves for a little more consistency. I concede that d20 and percentage dice are easier to read. I have a friend who simply can not add three numbers together in his head. He was simply amazed I could do G.U.R.P.S. characters without a calculator (this was before character generation software).
I have never had a problem stating encounters "on the fly" for any system. Obviously, dice are not much of a factor for me. Also, having narrativist leanings, I feel free to embrace the story and maintain pace without getting bogged down in rule details.
It is frustrating because I feel like I am staring at a 1,000 pound gorilla in the room and no one else will acknowledge that it is there.Just like M$ Windows. Oh, I hate microsoft !!!
To me, Wizards of the Cost is the Microsoft of the gaming world.
For example, notice how they are using their monopoly power to make us all upgrade to a newer version.
Does newer imply better???
I hate Microsoft too. One day WotC will require we all have Usernames and Registration Data just to play D&D.
We'll have to insert a card with our ID Information to log into our Character Portfolio, or have a tatoo'd Barcode on our arm with our PC's information, dungeon masters name, etc.
All our movements will be tracked and put into a database.
Isn't that the one of the signs of the apocolypse?
yes; yes it is
Indeed, the mark of the beast is a sign of the End Times. I spent far too much time last night reading these horrid little comics, passing through various stages of rage, amusement, sorrow, helplessness, indignation and horror. I'm pretty much Chick'd out, now.
Bell Curves:
I also take a light touch where the rules are concerned. (While I'm nominally playing "Dungeons and Dragons," any rules lawyers peaking at my notes would be mortified. My only defense is that my players love it.) Having an easy percentile grade to work with means I can usually ad-hoc DCs that keep things interesting without having to worry about scales of too likely/exactly even/too unlikely. That said, I can understand where such a scale might actually be easier for someone trained in its use.
Further, the percentile-DC-based nature of d20 + leveling up actually means that sometimes your best frame of reference for improving, say, your move silently skill, is against fellow party members that aren't as good. The evil sentry you meet at 10th level is probably going to be as likely to hear you as a 10th level character as the crooked guard you met as a 1st level character was likely to hear you then. The only guy who is going to notice the vast gulf of skill modifiers is the guy who never had any ranks in move silently. That guy could have made it past crooked ol' Cedric Grayshale on a good day (were our hero willing to lose the plate mail), but he'd never slip past the legendary Sentries of the Festering Pit - that's a job for the 10th-level rogue. This makes scaling easy, while maintaining a character's sense of improvement. Just don't spend too long thinking about it- it seems a bit cheap sometimes.
While I believe I get the jist of your argument, there are a lot of other elements in your example that rankle my fur. For both our sakes, I will do my best to stay on target.
Increasing skill level scales in bell curves just as it does in a flat system; granted there are diminishing returns at both ends of the scale. Low skill levels have low chance for success, although the margin is increased as you move closer to the height of the bell curve. High skill level vs. low skill level still has a high chance for success vs. a low chance for success. The difference is minimized as you move away from the height of the bell curve.
What I do find is that it is less common for the low skill level to shine above the high skill level since the rolls fall in a more flat range. Essentially, I see it as relying more on actually skill level vs. relying on the luck of the die. As someone who favors skill whores and has the worst luck with dice, this plays quite nicely for me.
Just looked through the MST3K script - pretty good. It also got me to notice something that I had overlooked when reading through Dark Dungeon originally. I had largely ignored the footnotes, having no interest in looking up the 'relevant' passages in the Bible and so I didn't notice the one that recommended burning the works of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis as well as D&D manuals and rock music. Events in the movie industry over the last few years must have hit Chick pretty hard.
Of course, if you're opposed to anything that can be found in an occult bookstore, then you'll have to expect constant setbacks, as such trappings of Beelzebub as shelves, carpets and light fittings continue to proliferate.
...and now I've read Chick's bizarre attack on Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny. Whoever said that he was attacking imagination in general hit the nail right on the head. What a bloody fruitcake!
It's hugely ironic that he should be so savagely opposed to suspension of disbelief considering the scenarios that he comes up with and the messages that he's trying to peddle.
It's hugely ironic that he should be so savagely opposed to suspension of disbelief considering the scenarios that he comes up with and the messages that he's trying to peddle.
I don't know, I think most kids who believe in Santa generally end up killing another child by the age of 8 and finding themselves next to Osama Bin Laden on the FBI's most wanted list. There's a few who transcend such abuse but not many. I should know...I was one of those Santa believers. Luckily, I got help. But I'm one of the lucky ones.
It's hugely ironic that he should be so savagely opposed to suspension of disbelief considering the scenarios that he comes up with and the messages that he's trying to peddle.I don't know, I think most kids who believe in Santa generally end up killing another child by the age of 8 and finding themselves next to Osama Bin Laden on the FBI's most wanted list. There's a few who transcend such abuse but not many. I should know...I was one of those Santa believers. Luckily, I got help. But I'm one of the lucky ones.
Yeah, you're right. I suppose that I was in denial - blanking out my memories of the yearly schoolyard bloodbaths as each generation of children discovered the awful truth. What a terrible price we pay for our unreasonable addiction to charming whimsy...
I believe I instigated a few bloodbaths myself. Not because of disbelief in Santa mind You but because people kept insisting that since I'm and elf I must be one of his helpers. Sorry, but short little guys who like to build all sorts of crazy contraptions are called gnomes, not elves.
And don't get me started on those cookie-baking fey...
This is one of the better versions.
I like the fact that the DM is wearing an official Paizo ninja costume.
Obviously a Paizo ninja since everyone can see him.
Another things that irks me is that D&D has not been innovative since it first came out. People rave about how great this or that aspect is when 10 other RPGs did it better first. Chalk that up to my old-timer/elitist mentality.