Palladium Games

[Spriggan]

That was never realy explained in any place that I can think of off the top of my head.  Except for rail guns we have no real technology that could explain that.  The gun pods could be a type of rail gun, RIFTS has several like it.  Back when the TV show was made Rail guns were realy uncommon.  If I have time I'll check Macross Plus, they mention some things on the gun pods there (I think).  It's just a story and one that's 20 years old at that a lot of things weren't explained, but that dosen't mean that one or two streaches of reality make the rules that hard to comprehend.  Heck 90% of things in all RPGs are just as much of a streach.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

The Japanese Sources point toward depleated uranium slugs,... but if your using them on the enemy then you'd also have to use them on a veritech.  
Robotech had no "rail guns" per se.

[Spriggan]

ok this kills your .50 cal comparson.  Have you seen the size of those shells?  .50 cal aren't even 1/100th the size of them.  It would be like shooting someone with a freaking Bee-Bee gun.
Also I do suspect they are a type of rail gun, but not in the sci-fi/rifts way.  More like the US navy uses now.  In the barrel are magnets that speed up the bullet even more (gun power is still used), the bullet is not projected sololy on magnets.

[Fellfrosch]

I love the smell of flame wars in the...oh never mind.

[Mr_Pleasington]

The sheep have brought trouble...

Seems that Maryann and Kevin Siembieda are bound for divorce.   It's on the Palladium forums which seem to be down currently.

Whatever I think of Palladium, this certainly is bad news.  I hope they can work through it as amicably as possible.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

OK, tell me it gets better.
I'm about 50 pages into Palladium Fantasy, so far, I have a few complaints. To wit, what is UP with the organization? Why aren't all my character generation rules in one place? Seems like they're scattered throughout the 336 pages of the book. You get your abilities right up front, and a basic process. Then alignment, then a chapter on how to roleplay? then the combat, THEN OCCs, Races and xp progression tables are at the back? What?
Also, yeah, why are there three pages on alignment when alignment appears to have absolutely no game function whatsover? Shouldn't there just be a chapter on "developing your character's personality" or something?
Finally, in the combat chapter, is the best organization he could think of to put it in alpha order of terms? It kinda jumps all over.

That is all my whine
However, I would like clarification of the "Death Blow" rules. Does it mean you can chose to make any roll of natural 19 or 20 a death blow by surrendering your next combat action? Or do you have to specifically say you're going for a death blow before you roll to hit?
Oh, and another explanation? What is the rule procedure for dodge. All the book explicitly states is that it takes a combat action to dodge. I assume it's a roll against the opponents attack roll. Any bonuses on that? and can you use it if you failed to parry?

Incidentally, now that I understand SDC, I'm not as against it. I like it better than the 5 wound levels in LOTR. However, is there also a "megadamage" or something like that? Probably that doesn't apply to Fantasy, but could I get that explained?

[Spriggan]

dodge can only be used if you give up one of your attacks per melee, unless you have auto dodge.  There are bonuses, your PP bonus and any you get from skills/magic.  And you cannot use it if you miss your parry, you have to decide which one to use.  The reason for dodge are there are certain attacks that cannot be parried, (mostly magical).
As for death blow if i remeber correctly you have to declare it before your roll and it you forfit your next attack.  There's no MDC in PFRPG but Fell can expain that better then me.  
Alignment has the same use as in D&D there are spells that affect certian ones as well as magic items and such.
The lay out dosen't bother me that much, they give you in the beginning what you need to do then they lay things out after that.  I think its a lot better then say D&D or decipher where you are jumping back and fourth.  But you are right about the lack of character development and the short combat section.  The best book to have that explaines combat is Ninja's and superspies.  I don't know why but they have a large section on combat in that book.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

So to strike a death blow you dedicate TWO attacks to the attempt, and then have a 10% chance of succeeding. Sounds hard to do a lot of damage (not a bad thing, just making sure I have it in perspective).

I guess my problem with the organization is that everything for character generation is all over the place. I've been told I get skill bonuses, but I don't know how to even really choose skills. And they aren't all right next to each other. I guess skills and OCCs are right next to each other, and THAT'S appropriate, but races are at the end. So you have attributes, then 40 pages of material, then skills and OCCs, then your magic chapter, and finally races. Player races need to be next to OCCs, because that's how most people define a character. If you have to give a 2 word description, you say "Elven Ranger," or "Human Wizard." Because not only does that give the idea, it does the most for defining your capabilities and persona. Anyway, just a beef about organization. Not system. I guess maybe I'm lonely in thinking that Wizards got it right by placing all of the generation material together, then magic and equipment later.

[Fellfrosch]

I don't like Wizards' page by page layout, but their section-section organization is ver good. Decipher's, on the other hand, is abysmal.

[Spriggan]

I like wizards character creation layout but their combat and magic section needs to be reworked.
And as for skills in Palladium, ya they can be confusing to know which ones to take.  about 50% of them are never used unless your GM wants to.  But takeing Physical skills is allwayse a good bet.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

The one thing that I really hate about wizards is their combat section. Better organized than alphabetically, but a lot of it isn't clear. Attacks of opportunity being one of the biggest criminals. That's STILL not clear, and there are problems with it even when you DO understand it. I mean, these are the guys who do M:tG, you'd think they'd know how to carefully word things. <sigh>.

The biggest criminal of any organizational approach at all has to be Steve Jackson though. What is UP with that guy? The sidebars in every GURPS book contain material sort of related to the material, but in a completely different strain. You have to read the book twice. Or else keep interrupting. Plus he has the WORST problems detailing rules. nothing is clear in GURPS. Though it's a fun generic system. I think I don't like points based systems as a whole though.

[Fellfrosch]

I think the "poorly explained rules epidemic" is the main reason I tend to avoid rules when roleplaying. Saint keeps sending me my character sheet for AORP, and I keep ignoring it. I figure that as long as I play in character, and have a good idea of what I can and can't do, I'll tell a good story and have a good time.

[Spriggan]

we'll I guess you could say it's an art to explain something as complex as an RPG to other people in a book when you are the one that created it and understand everything.  Almost like you can tell the authors thought process by how they lay out the book.  But if we're ripping on bad layout remember Riddle of Steel?

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I think I'm going to try and make a living as a consultant for RPG companies: I'll make their rules clear and well organized.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

Hey don't forget me buddy, we're a team.