The Speed of an Unladen Barbarian

    In the d20 System

    The Barbarian class in the d20 System gains a 10-foot bonus to speed. But how fast does this make them? In this, I will do a quick examination of some aspects of speed in the d20 System, and show that, on average and in general, the speed of d20 System Humans is on-par with the speed of real-world Humans, allowing for reasonably small variances in physical fitness.

Standard Litany of Complaints, GURPS

When reading forums and other material on the internet, there are complaints that are levied against this or that RPG. Upon reflection, it seems that many of these complaints can be compiled into standardized lists, and addressed generally. This is an amateur attempt to do so for some of the complaints levied against GURPS; said attempt will likely fail horribly in at least a few ways, and likely more.

    1982: Commodore 64, $595 USD

    1982: Median US Income: $14,531 USD

    Musings and observations...

    The Commodore 64 is, arguably, the best-selling computer system. Not of any particular decade, but of any computer system since the Abacus. And by Abacus, I mean one of these: Wikipedia: Abacus
    Sales of the Commodore 64 may have reached close to 30 million units, for a total of nearly $18 billion in gross profit. In 1982 money. For its time, it had high-quality graphics, sound, floppy disk and cartridge support; multiple types of input, including keyboard, joystick, and even mouse support. it came with a built-in programming language; later additions included a hard drive, and modern efforts have managed to connect it to the internet through its cartridge port.
    In short, it was one of the very best home computers you could buy, and all for $595. In short, it was cheap, and high-quality.
    But that's $595 in 1982 money.
    In 2014, the median US income was $53,657 USD. Today, a high-end gaming machine will cost around $1,500 USD.
    With inflation, that $595 in 1982 USD is now $1,485 USD.
    In 1982, a high-end gaming computer was 4% of US yearly median income. Today, a high-end gaming computer is around 2.8% of US yearly median income.
    Funny how the $595 seems smaller...

    Tabletop Roleplaying Games as Food

The following arose from a discussion with my brother, as well as with friends and other discussions.

• Hero System is a set of ingredients. You make your own tabletop RPG out of the tools provided.
• Everything you make in the system is constructed out of basic items that you put together, then label. One beam attack with a rate of fire of 3 and 32 uses might be an AK-47 and the other might be a Wand of Ray of Fire, but the difference at the end of the day is that you've named one "AK-47" and the other "Wand of Ray of Fire". Or in food terms, different spices.
• GURPS is a menu at a classy diner. You might want a burger; but then again, you might want a 6 oz. Porterhouse centre-cut steak with a side of potatoes with gravy.