I'm a novice in the World of Darkness games. Most of my books are purchased piece-meal through game stores. This  has been incredibly helpful in laying out the various games and editions that exist.  I have around 30 books of various classic World of Darkness product lines - Vampire, Hunter, Werewolf, etc.  However, most of the books don't explicitly say what version of the game they are for (1st, 2nd, revised, x20, V5, etc.). This leaves me confused about which materials are appropriate for which games - and where to put them on my shelf!  How can I tell whether my books are intended for 1st, 2nd, revised, x20, or some other edition? Are there tradedress somewhere I should be observing? Or unique mechanical elements that differ?
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I've recently started getting into World of Darkness and I'm realizing there are 5 different editions of sourcebooks:   First edition  Second edition Revised (3rd) edition V20 (4th) edition Fifth edition   Is there an easy way to know what edition a sourcebook is without having to look it up?  Like can you tell what edition it is by looking at the cover?
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This is specifically about the development and planning direction of the game development.  I'm creating a fairly basic RPG and am wondering about the approach that I should take. I've been trying to outline it all in a flow chart first, but want to see if this is a good way of going about it.  For example, I've created a class called "items", which then currently derives into "Weapons" "Armor" and "Potions". I then derive these classes further into specific types and I keep going and going, basically as specific as I want to get.  Before I get too deep into this (again, I'm still planning) - I just want to know if this is a good way of approaching this problem.
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While going through the Gatherer database I noticed that the Alpha version of  says,     {1}: You may tap any land, creature, or artifact in play on either side.   whereas the Tenth Edition of the  says,     {1}, {T}: Tap target artifact, creature, or land.   This has me wondering, does the newer Tenth Edition card text retroactively apply to the Alpha card or does the Alpha text still apply when that card is in play? In other words, if I were to play the Alpha version, would I play by its rules, or the newer rules on the Tenth Edition card?
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I'm a GURPS oldschool player, playing GURPS 3e since 2000, using GURPS Magic, GURPS Fantasy and the Core Rules.   I have heard a lot of things about D&amp;D and specially about the Forgotten Realms, and I want to migrate from GURPS Fantasy to the Forgotten Realms. (Yeah, I know that I'm really late.)  Searching on the Web about the Forgotten Realms, I noticed that there are a bunch of books about this world. What are the books that I must read to learn about the lore of the Forgotten Realms, and in which order?  To be more specific: I want to play D&amp;D 5e, but my main interest is to play in the Forgotten Realms setting. The lore is my main interest. I know the path to learning the system/rules of D&D; this is the "easy" part. I know I can play in the Forgotten Realms setting using GURPS too, but that is not the focus of the question.
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The question is, what elements on a DM screen are essential? I'm new at playing and DMing, altough a lot of experience watching games, just got a group to play with now. Started with the starter set in 5E and the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure, however I've noticed the game can come to a stop when checking the rules or how to do something, while getting the books and stuff like that. So I thought to make a DM screen with some cheat sheets, of the most usual things new players, and new DM's have doubts on, and how to make the game flow well without long rule-checking breaks. What are the essential things to have on that screen? So far this is what I found  but not sure if it has all I need or so much stuff that'll also make the game stop a lot while cheking it out.
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As much as I like having the hardcover core rule-books in front of me, usually I read or reference most information for RPGs on my computer.  Unfortunately, my google-fu has failed me at finding places to buy a Player's Handbook PDF, or even whether said PDF exists at all.  My question is this: Is there any place I can go to legally buy a D&amp;D 5e core rulebook PDF?  I'm not looking for the starter set or basic rules, since those are incomplete (and free), I'm just looking for the core books in PDF format.
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So, I bought the book, read it, but I have a question, and just to be sure:  The max level from an skill in rank can't be more than your level, so, a starting character can only have a skill on level 1 rank, right?  Later in the book, it says that the max rank on a skill can't be more than your hit dice, so, for example, a bard has a d8 hit die, so, does that means he can only rank his skill up to 8, once he leveled up once?
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It sometimes arise that I need to use, for an article, a book chapter or any other written work, figures that I have already published (not figures published by others). These are usually schematic figures explaining what a chemical or physical system look like, how an algorithm works, etc. Thus, instead of reusing the exact same figure, I can easily create another one, conveying the same message with (more or less subtle) differences in presentation.  However, I have no idea how to answer the following question: how different need two figures be to avoid the second one infringing on the copyright of the first? What is a good rule of thumb to be used? Is it enough to change one of the following:   color scheme viewpoint of a 3D visualization moving around blocks in a 2D diagram (or mind map) changing axis properties (labels, tick mark positions, etc.) in a graph
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I'm looking for specific, canon (i.e. official, published) references to material for the Shadowrun game-world setting. My game setting is based around the Philadelphia area; I've turned New Jersey into a radioactive swamp, then dropped a nuke in it; I've got some things established for the Philly area, and NYC.  What I want to know is whether anyone knows of specific references to published material dealing with this region. Any mention of the big apple in Shadowrun's history? Any famous names in the area, or megacorps that are mentioned? Anything at all that's part of the published SR work, that I can incorporate, or at least avoid contradicting.  If you have any home-brewed material for that area, I would love to see a link in comments, but please don't put it as an answer. Thanks! =)
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I've always been interested in the Cthulhu mythos and I wanted to get into HP Lovecraft's books. What is the best book to start with? I know that Cthulhu was first mentioned in Lovecraft's Call of Cthulhu in 1928. Is that the best book to start with? Should I just start reading Lovecraft's books from his first publication onward?
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With the (relatively) recent release of the third game and the recommendation of a friend, I'd like to discover this universe.  I know there are several media; the books, the video games (though to be honest, I don't intend to play the first video game) and a TV series (also still unsure about that one), but I know almost nothing about how they intervene together storywise.  The books alone have me a little confused, given that the numbering of the edition I'm planning to buy (from the french editor Milady) doesn't seem to exactly match the original order of release:     Season of Storms (2013)   1. The Last Wish (1993)   2. Sword of Destiny (1992)   3. Blood of Elves (1994)   4. Time of Contempt (1995)   5. Baptism of Fire (1996)   6. The Swallow's Tower (1997)   7. Lady of the Lake (1999)   So, what is the best order, potentially mixing the various media, to discover the saga ?
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Most of the textbooks  I used during my undergraduate studies (outside north America) are International editions, so what is the difference between a national and an international edition of a book?  For example, I have a book that says     XYZ published this special edition for the benefit of students outside the United States and Canada.   and they don't mention why this international edition is special or what is the benefit!
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I'm a year one Destiny player; I bought The Dark Below, House of Wolves, and I'm thinking about buying the Legendary Edition. My only concern is that I'm not sure if the data from my original Destiny game would be overwritten or ignored by the Legendary Edition. Would it create its own save files like a completely different game? I don't want to get Legendary if that's the case, because all of my items would be completely gone, along with god knows how much play time.
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How often should I roll power recharge rolls and at which point in the monster's turn do I re-roll them?  I'm trying to find the official definition of the recharge mechanic in the online compendium and I'm not seeing it there.
117665
For one reason or another I managed to totally miss playing any of the Half-life series. I have the time and money now to play these games that I have heard such great things about. So what are all the Half-life games that I should play? and what order should I play them in?  I am confused of where the episodes and expansions all fit in. And what they mean by "Source" versions. Are these even part of the same series? And what about Blue Shift, Lost Coast, or Opposing Force? So many games, and I don't know where or if they fit.  Are there any in the series that I should skip, or just read the plot summary for? Can someone please give me a run-down of what I should play, in order.
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14 months ago, an  supplement was published that discussed how the ranger described in the Player's Handbook was under powered. These rules reimagined the ranger's abilities, and suggested that an official version would be released later.     Finally, we come to implementation. If this iteration of the ranger, or a future revision of it, grades high enough, our plan is to present it as a revised ranger in a future D&amp;D sourcebook.   Does that Sourcebook exist yet? If not, have the devs given an update or told us their intentions?
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My entry into Brandon Sanderson's works is Mistborn Trilogy, I finished and loved it. Then I got to know that many of his series are connected and happen in the same universe - Cosmere. Next I started with the Way of Kings, but am now kind of worried if I might read the series in the wrong order. So what is the right order to read them? is it the publication order..?   Elantris (2005)  Mistborn Trilogy Warbreaker (2009) The Stormlight Archive: The Way of Kings (2010) Mistborn: The Alloy of Law (2011) The Emperor's Soul (2012, novella) Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (2013, short story published in Dangerous Women) The Stormlight Archive: Words of Radiance (2014)    or I have seen people suggest the following order too,   Mistborn Trilogy Elantris and the Emperor's Soul The Way of Kings Warbreaker Words of Radiance The Alloy of Law Shadows of Self   I have also read posts where they say it doesn't matter which order you read it in. So am confused, since I have already started the Way Of Kings (Only a few chapters in), should I stop it and go back to Elantris, and follow an order, or should I just continue finish this and pick other books in an order.