@Rosie_Gamgee_ I consider myself well-read but I've never heard of Tim Dorsey. What do you recommend? I've read multiple books by everyone else on your list, if not all, in some cases.
@Nerdcognito I give *a* success for a critical success. 1st time, a gnome was being grappled by an ogre and needed a 22; he had a -1, but rolled a nat 20. Of course he didn't break free, but his struggles distracted the ogre, who then lost one of his actions while dealing with it.
@teachrobotslove My moral code doesn't come from my religious beliefs or my philosophy. It comes from those times I stood there in the rubble of my life and thought, "oh, THAT'S why they always said not to do that." I couldn't be happier, now, or more strict with myself. Those things are related.
@lilxanathustra@SandyofCthulhu@Nerdcognito Let's say they have a base 75%... if they describe a good strategy for finding it, that goes down to 60 or even 50... maybe even lower. If they still fail while searching EXACTLY where it is? Still plausible. Ask my wife. I do that myself a few times a week.
@SandyofCthulhu@Nerdcognito I use dice, but I'll adjust the difficulty based on how it's described.
"I'm going to search the room" will result in you having a lesser chance of finding something than "I'm going to slide out the drawers, tap the wall behind it, look for a paint mismatch" etc.
@Rosie_Gamgee_ I'd swap Frankenstein for Dracula but the other books in your second list have been the subject of much swearing and mockery on my part.
@SandyofCthulhu I'm a teacher and I agree with this image 100%.
(I was going to say 110% but that was just a little too much cosmic horror for a Sunday morning.)
@Eric_Die_Spinne@SandyofCthulhu There was a happy ending in the 2018 version??? I mean, I'll give it "satisfactory conclusion" but definitely not happy. I was in tears in the last episode. (Unless you're talking about the 1999 remake...)
@SandyofCthulhu@wtfcetialpha5 His Lovecraft "Easter Eggs" are better than his Cosmic Horror. In I think *Needful Things* a villain is sold cocaine that came from "The Plains of Leng," and that told me all I needed to know about how it would affect him.
@SandyofCthulhu Look at the TV series as being heavily inspired by the Robert Wise film or the novel. The family trauma that's hinted at in Eleanor's past is a character itself, and the ending took me by horrified surprise. Though, the extent of the haunting becomes apparent on a second viewing.
@KatinOxford Such an awesome trilogy. It's been 25 years since I've read it, but I remember a theme of at least trans-racial identity in the books. Guess I'll need to read then again.
@SandyofCthulhu It's pretty easy... if time- and fuel-consuming... to make, too. We have about eight taps and bags, and we make enough for our family of four to use for two years.
GMs and players: What's a mechanic from another game that you've adopted? For me, it's Call of Cthulhu's "Pushing the Roll." If you fail a skill check, you can try it a second time provided you explain what you do differently, and accept that failure this time will be horrible.
@SandyofCthulhu Those are the editions I have. I bought *Mountains of Madness* just because I saw it in hardcover at Dark Carnival in Berkeley. Bought the others within a month or so, when the Stars Aligned and I had a little money in my wallet.