Search results

The "default setting" for the 5e rules presented in the Basic Rules PDF is intended as a compromise between simplicity and customization options, and I think a binary skill system with a limited number of options accomplishes this. The proof of whether WotC hit their "modular complexity" design...

Thanks for the kind words. I've removed the button and put up text-links instead. J.

Hello - longtime lurker here. I made a hexmap of the British Isles in ca 400 AD, at a scale of six miles per hex. If you would like a copy (PNG or HXM format), you can download it here for free: http://darkagebritannia.weebly.com/ Have a look, let me know what you think. Yoroshiku, J.

Hey, if Paizo can do it (watermarked, with close supervision of the usual piracy channels), so can WotC.

It is a fact that in Basic D&D as well as AD&D (1st edition) 1st level PCs were less powerful than later editions. By the RAW, A/D&D 1st level characters rolled for HP, which could well leave you with 3 points or less. Fighters had no special attack powers and only marginally better...

As others have remarked, B2 has great potential for its open base-and-expedition structure. As a player, I enjoyed the role-playing in the castle (the evil priests, getting into the inner keep etc) much more than the actual dungeon-crawls. What bothered me even at the time (we were 15 or 16 the...

Well, opinions on what E6 is or is intended to be may differ. My point is not that the set must be labled "E6" or even include the "feats instead of levels" rules - just that it might be clever if they did indeed cut off class info, spells and all the rest of it at that point, and signal this on...

IntroSet = "E6 for kids" The Intro Set should be targeted at kids aged 12 to 15. These are the people the hobby most needs to win over, and who most need an introduction. It should feature a subset of the current PF rules, with fewer classes, fewer races and a shorter span of levels - calling...

Well, I wasn't talking about an ancient red. And obviously it would be tough, that's the point. But still - a good size party at 6th + a couple of extra feats, with a good range of items and spells prepared for the occasion ... Keep in mind, this wouldn't be a random encounter/plain stand-up...

In my book, a dragon would be a perfect fit for an E6 campaign - as the scourge of the campaign world, the arch-opponent, a threat to be fled dozens of times before it is faced once, in the game's ultimate combat encounter. Where it can only be defeated by the greatest heroes of the age, after...

My group parted with D&D when 4e was launched. As far as we're concerned, Pathfinder is the new D&D. WotC might as well ... fade away.

Another vote for Maptool, which we have been using for more than two years now. It's free, it's stable and the Pathfinder framework is amazing.

Can't help you for D20, but check "GURPS Ice Age" if you can. Offers a good summary of what life in the stone age was like, including lists of creatures, equipment and ways of including magic.

Castles & Crusades is still probably the closest recreation of AD&D 2nd edition and does simplify the math (i.e. AC going up like 3.x). Hackmaster Basic is newer than C&C and IMO well worth checking out if you are looking for innovation. It keeps many AD&D 2nd edition core features like the...

The most basic cluster is probably Warrior, Expert and Adept, as per True20.

Just to add to the many excellent links in this thread, I suggest you watch "1066", a recently broadcast dramatization of the battles of Stamford Bridge and Hastings by Channel Four (a UK station). It tells the story from the perspective of regular people and while the acting isn't all that...

Couldn't agree more. To me, Kalamar is the very definition of a dull setting. Hundreds of pages on a generic fantasy world; all the usual stuff is there, it's huge and pretty well detailed ... but none of it ever adds up to anything special.

RC, just stumbled upon this thread a few days ago and took a while to read through the material you have published so far. I'm quite impressed: a skillful compression of the existing D&D rules-material, some good novel ideas and exemplary clear writing throughout. I am curious to read more...

No, it isn't and this really frustrates me. Over the last 30 years, our group has migrated up through all versions of D&D and found that, on the whole, every new edition was an improvement over the preceding one. We were ready to like 4e. We were fed up with 3.5's bloat, broken bits and...

How long has your group been playing together? The core five players have been playing since 1985, so 23 years. What are the ages, genders, and professions of the people in your group? All male, all 38 or 39 years old. Two work in IT, two are teachers, one works in social services. What...