(un)reason
Legend
Dragon Magazine Issue 256: February 1999
part 2/8
Forum: Jason Sivyer thinks a 3rd ed is both inevitable and desirable. It gives them the chance to clean up stuff and incorporate the best bits into the core. Mind you, he thinks 3rd ed'll be a change on the same kind of magnitude of 1-2e. But then, I'm sure most people don't suspect just how big the alterations are going to be.
Matt Hinds tries to give some encouragement to the nervous novice DM. It's one of the most rewarding things you can do once you get the hang of it, and that's not as hard as it seems. Just remember, the only real rule is the golden rule. Everything else can be changed to make things work better.
Ian Mathers suggests something vaguely approximating the way sorcerers will turn out. As one of the more interesting and less obvious changes in the edition switch, this one'll need a little more working out.
Gary Sturgess points out how easy it is to achieve the same effect with multiple schools via different methods. He also points out that maximum ages are not remotely a balancing factor between various races in most campaigns. So level limits are actually a bit pointless, because they aren't compensating for anything concrete. Another argument for eliminating them.
Joseph A. Hoffman doesn't want to see D&D dumbed down or made to easy just because some people are scared of a little regeneration or energy draining. Let the dice fall where they may! I think the consensus will drift away from you.
Dungeoncraft: The second column of this is vastly more useful to me than the first one, because it actually has some pertinent advice. It's not obvious stuff, either. While some of the Dungeon Mastery columns give advice that if implemented, would require shittons of bookkeeping, this actively punctures that idea, instead encouraging economy of creativity, and figuring out how to best utilise the time and energy you have. Well, spending all your time creating enormous worlds with tons of houserules is fun when you have that time, but when you're older and have a job and kids eating up most of your time, you have to learn a little more efficiency. It doesn't take that much reskinning to hide the sources of your ideas, and there is a lot of material already out there to draw upon. He also starts giving us a specific example, building up a world of his own, which he intends to continue in future columns. Yay, continuity! We could definitely do with more of that at the moment. So this becomes a good deal more promising, but has yet to follow through on that. Carry on then ……
part 2/8
Forum: Jason Sivyer thinks a 3rd ed is both inevitable and desirable. It gives them the chance to clean up stuff and incorporate the best bits into the core. Mind you, he thinks 3rd ed'll be a change on the same kind of magnitude of 1-2e. But then, I'm sure most people don't suspect just how big the alterations are going to be.
Matt Hinds tries to give some encouragement to the nervous novice DM. It's one of the most rewarding things you can do once you get the hang of it, and that's not as hard as it seems. Just remember, the only real rule is the golden rule. Everything else can be changed to make things work better.
Ian Mathers suggests something vaguely approximating the way sorcerers will turn out. As one of the more interesting and less obvious changes in the edition switch, this one'll need a little more working out.
Gary Sturgess points out how easy it is to achieve the same effect with multiple schools via different methods. He also points out that maximum ages are not remotely a balancing factor between various races in most campaigns. So level limits are actually a bit pointless, because they aren't compensating for anything concrete. Another argument for eliminating them.
Joseph A. Hoffman doesn't want to see D&D dumbed down or made to easy just because some people are scared of a little regeneration or energy draining. Let the dice fall where they may! I think the consensus will drift away from you.
Dungeoncraft: The second column of this is vastly more useful to me than the first one, because it actually has some pertinent advice. It's not obvious stuff, either. While some of the Dungeon Mastery columns give advice that if implemented, would require shittons of bookkeeping, this actively punctures that idea, instead encouraging economy of creativity, and figuring out how to best utilise the time and energy you have. Well, spending all your time creating enormous worlds with tons of houserules is fun when you have that time, but when you're older and have a job and kids eating up most of your time, you have to learn a little more efficiency. It doesn't take that much reskinning to hide the sources of your ideas, and there is a lot of material already out there to draw upon. He also starts giving us a specific example, building up a world of his own, which he intends to continue in future columns. Yay, continuity! We could definitely do with more of that at the moment. So this becomes a good deal more promising, but has yet to follow through on that. Carry on then ……