Exile Game Studio

[the Evil DM]

Oh man, I feel one of those "Canon VS. Non Canon" threads starting.

Quick, somebody call Gary Gygax!
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[madwabbit]

[Gimp]

With how I've run games through the years, I'd be amongst the first to say no game has to run the way a company pictures it.

I've just never liked adventures that require a specific tone to be playable.

If an adventure requires a large scale 'canon' to work, it limits playability. The more I have to rework the adventure to fit my group's world, the less effective it is for me.

I may love the idea, but the adventure becomes only a skeleton I can pick over instead of a cool addition I can tweak and throw out when I'm short on time.

Exile has given us a large tapestry to work with, without being restrictive on what we can create. Any adventures they publish, however, follow the same strictures I mentioned. The more I would have to change my group's world, the less effective the adventure becomes.

If a fan adventure has home brewed rules for characters, I can use them, but unless the amazing happens and those rules gel with Exile's, I'm stuck not using Exile's, or making players change their established characters that have grown through those home brewed rules. I don't like making a player change what they have worked to create.

That's fine if it's what a group wants, but I don't see Exile's site as the place to proflugate material that could hurt Exile as a company when they publish rules for the same concepts.

If someone wants to post their awesome concept for major rules additions, and Exile is willing to let them, that's fine. It's between them and Exile. I just believe that such stuff should be posted as an alternate world idea instead of as HEX rules.

Critters are critters, and only show up when the GM wants. Equipment and such gets used up or broken. Neither stays any longer than the GM wants if they conflict with new rules or get out of hand.

There aren't too many ways for a character to be unmade or changed back.

I'll give Exile the first shot at new rules areas that will change characters made for their game. My group has their own world, but I believe common courtesy, if nothing else, should give Exile first shot at new rules ideas for it. They've given us plenty to play with for now.

[the Evil DM]

[Wolverine]

[madwabbit]

[HarrierPotter]

[the Evil DM]

[madwabbit]

[JohnK]

Hullo, Gimp,

I gotta start deleting stuff from this post, as it's getting rather long and convoluted.

[JohnK]

Hullo, Tim,

[Salem Saberhagen]

[JohnK]

[Gimp]

I've enjoyed several debates here, because people actually take the time to think about most ideas.

There is a growing disparity after the length of this discussion, though, as HarrierPotter noted.

Throwing out ideas for new stuff I've never seen as a problem. I have Wargods of Aegyptus figues, as well as several others, that will be appearing in my HEX world. Every campaign world will be different, and that's part of what role playing is about: collaborative creation within a group.

I'd love to see JohnK's Dalek. I like to hear people's thoughts about their HEX worlds. I see good in ideas thrown out for home brewed rules, because they may help Exile polish theirs based on fan response, or give some GM's ideas to tweak what they use to better suit their group.

In the end, we do this for fun, so we should enjoy ourselves.

My concerns were solely over downlodable adventures posted on the Exile site. I would like to see that happen, because it would relieve some of the pressure on Exile to publish faster over better, and it would give players more to play with.

Under those auspices, I don't see home rules with a major lasting effect on a campaign as appropriate.

New creatures and such would be a major boon. I love the Skull Island creature thread.

New rules that would be hard to unmake, like specific Atlantean language rules, should stay in the discussion area, and not be part of fan adventures posted here.

A fan adventure that uses a moon for sky pirates in the inner Earth is workable, though it loses appeal for groups that don't use a moon.
If those sky pirates are a huge force that rules most of inner Earth through super science, it again becomes less useful, because it forces other groups to adapt more outside influence on their game.
If those sky pirates use home brewed rules for psychic power skills, it becomes inappropriate to post on the Exile site because it forces the use of an outside rules set that will cause issues when Exile publishes theirs.

Fan adventures posted on the Exile site need to be general enough to fit into a broad range of player group's games, and need to refrain from adding new rules.

Creatures and equipment are not a problem unless they are designed poorly, and even then are easier for a GM to shift and alter. New rules should stay in discussion areas.

[jcombos]