bowlofspinach says:
What was a book you read completely outside your usual genres that you really loved?
Ninety Degrees North: The Quest For The North Pole - I normally stick with Fantasy or Sci-Fi but I was gifted this book for christmas one year. It's an account of the early attempts to reach the North Pole, found it a fascinating read.
bowlofspinach says:
What's a mechanic you dislike in an rpg you otherwise really like?
The whole resolution mechanic in the 2nd edition of the 7th Sea RPG. The intent was apparently to make characters feel really heroic but I just found it robbed the game of any feeling of risk and consequently reward.
[ +- ] The mechanic for those who are interested
So the way it works is at the start of each 'round' everyone declares what they are going to try to do and then rolls their stat+skill in d10's, after that they arrange them into sets of at least 10 (so a 9 and a 1, two 5's, a 7 and a 5) trying to get the most number of sets as possible. Starting with the person who got the most sets each person does stuff by spending sets of dice.....this is where the rub was for me, doing an action pretty much costs a single set with no risk of failure. Dangerous actions may cost more than one (such as leaping through a burning room) but there's never any risk of failing the action. If you have enough set's for the action you can do the thing. No risk, no conflict
bowlofspinach says:
What's your favorite word?
Groovy :)
