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When D&D 3.0 came out, I really liked it. When it started getting bogged down with extra material, I liked it less. However, I thought rule-intensive games could be good -- because I assumed that everyone would always have a high commitment to consistency in rule systems. Now, just today, I...

I've played many campaigns where the participants didn't know, or care to know, about the following passage from p.38 of the AD&D DMG: I've played in other campaigns where the rule was known but found too difficult for record-keeping in practice. Fatigue points were also suggested and...

I have a mad ambition: to run Temple of the Frog, the first module ever. I think AD&D rules will be suitable. My question is this: How on earth shall I handle encumbrance? There will be treasures that weigh much more than what a party could reasonably carry while walking. I suspect that...

I've used gods as NPCs. It worked pretty well except they tended to be just a touch too important to the setting. If you throw down the central deity of the pantheon, a lot of characters might start worshipping that deity even though you don't want it to be a big part of the story. Like all...

Having recently been told that I overemphasized the importance of killing and conquest in D&D, I've been looking at some old texts relevant to D&D. I couldn't find anything to substantiate the notion that treasure was supposed to be much more important than battle. First, Gygax's Role Playing...

I think I know a major cause of power-gaming, level-grind, munchkinism, etc. I think it's the arms race between players and DMs -- wherein the game companies are selling munitions to both sides. If the rulebooks give crunchy bits to the DMs which can be used to awe the players, then the...

If I had to sum up the flavor of D&D to me, I think I would say it is an Alice-in-Wonderland story of mystery and danger, with lots of close-ups on specific scenes. Similarly, Traveller is a wide-ranging view of a space empire that emphasizes application of general formulas. GURPS is a...

I'm still addicted to the quirky, unique flavor of AD&D. It's like John Bellairs' Face in the Frost -- detailed, baroque, imaginative, highly resistant to general description. AD&D wouldn't be AD&D without illusions and divination. In their original AD&D context, both work perfectly well...

Unfortunately it looks like I missed the chance to ask the Colonel himself what he might think of these during the recent Q&A. However, for your comments/criticisms/refinements, I present what I believe to be the Gygaxian Memes. (Meme is a buzzword for exciting ideas that seem to take over...

I have seen relatively few unique character specialties. The ones I have seen, in alphabetical order, are: Artillery and Heavy Weapons * This is the magic-user with a fireball or the space marine with a Fusion-Gun-Man-Portable-15. Weapons such as the M-79 grenade launcher blur the line...