Retreat Forward

This is one part gaming blog, one part life blog. Granted, I haven't posted in a good long while. I'm not going to speak to that, because what is the point? Saying I'm going to post more is just blowing warm air into the aether. Only posting real content counts. I've been busy the past three weeks or so with the fine (and sometimes overwhelming) details of getting my wife and kids settled here in South Korea. Let me say that, after a year living here without them, I cannot overstate how happy I am to finally have them join me here. However, there is a lot to do just to get things put together here. There is already a pretty strong support system in place but one must often puzzle out how to use it. They are otherwise happy to just let a person flounder on his own. Couple in the fact that our vehicle has yet to arrive from the States and you have a recipe for long walks and real tests of one's planning and efficiency. From a D&D standpoint, I feel like I

In 3E, I can take a bunch of feats in order to be really good at tripping people with a spiked chain. Figuring the most optimal combination of feats (and skills) at the very least takes a few hours. I have to make sure I understand what the heck my characters abilities are, how they interact, and when and how to best use them. Once I do all that, is my character unique? Not unless you think that tripping people with a spiked-chain is unique. No, after a couple hours of effort, all you have now is a one-dimensional character defined entirely by some combat stunt he can pull off until it, too, becomes old-hat. Not to mention, the next guy can pick the same feats (and skills) and generate the EXACT SAME CHARACTER. Couldn't we save a bunch of time and effort by simply writing “+2 with spiked chains” or something and move on. This goes double for skill systems. There are finite skills in D&D. Nine times out of ten, you're only going to find a handful of them useful. So,