Recent content by Retreater

We've certainly ruined geek culture by making it popular and expensive. Gaming conventions attract 80,000+ people. Mark Hamill's autograph is $400. Corporations are scrutinizing geek brands, trying to over-monetize every hobby, fandom, and past-time. Comics, Star Wars, videogames, D&D - they...

I have a friend who uses AI to debate me in conversations, and it's annoying. I've told him I want his opinion on the history of heavy metal music, not AI's. He seems to think it speaks with an authority over us. "It's obviously correct." As far as the integration with Hasbro ... I'm happy that...

The obelisks are at best an Easter Egg. Few players are going to care (or remember) that there were random obelisks in an adventure they played 8 years ago. After my players are done with a campaign, that's basically the end of it. They certainly don't think the campaigns are connected in any...

I mean, a GM can just limit the PC options to what they want to allow in the campaign setting. I've been doing that since I started DMing in 1989.

I missed my chance to get it before it sold out everywhere. I'm getting on this reprint opportunity.

It was for our group when we played a campaign for a few months. Players relied completely on using the Gateway website. There were many new abilities to remember. My cleric got new features every level and the character sheet was 4 pages. Which is great for some players, but my group just...

So I'm looking for a sci-fi game with high adventure and flexibility. Starfinder is too complex. I don't want gritty survival and horror, so that takes out Alien, Mothership, Coriolis, Vast Grimm. Traveler is too mundane and not "high adventure" enough. I'm thinking a 5e compatible one would...

She hasn't. I think she'd like it and she's interested based on what she's heard. But I haven't been able to get it to the table yet. I'm not sure if I have the mental capacity to do so.

My wife was already a fan of 5e before we met. One afternoon, she let me run a "D&D through the editions" solo game. She ended up immensely disliking B/X - 3.5. 4e became her favorite edition.

1) My players don't like OSR games. They prefer more epic power fantasies and consider most of the characters too weak, the options too limited, and the focus on resource management too boring. 2) I've found that my own nostalgia for the OSR can be sated after a few convention games or a weekend...

Many OSR systems have abandoned negative AC completely - or at least present positive AC (like D&D 3e-5e) as the primary option. These include Dolmenwood, Old School Essentials, Shadowdark, Swords & Wizardry, Castles and Crusades, DCC, and probably other systems. For me, I can like classic rock...

Nostalgia, simplicity, a less corporate (and more artist-focused) publishing mentality, streamlined presentation, compatibility with decades of content. But that said, I like it only from a theoretical perspective, to collect the books and support the creators - not to actually play it.

And ... removed from DriveThru.

I voted "other" because I don't expect there will be a big adventure in 2026. The Beadle & Grimm platinum edition will likely be a reprint of something that already came out - Tomb of Annihilation or something.

I'm famous for being an WotC curmudgeon on these boards. Even I was slightly interested in Radiant Citadel to use for the occasional one-shot.