Recent content by FitzTheRuke

I was speaking of WotC, which the thread has been about (as they usually are) even when using the term "AP".

I don't expect to change your mind. But also, I'm not quite sure what you mean re: the shift. You mean the shift toward what? Or away from what? I don't think anyone would argue against the idea it continues to evolve to reflect whatever "modern sensibilities" that seem prudent, so yeah...

That's part of the point, though. Some of the art in new books is still straightforward gritty - just not ALL of it. You seem to be asking for a book where NONE of it (or very nearly so) is anything but dark. I get the desire. What I don't get is the idea that a darker tone is excluded because...

I don't mean to call you out here, as your perspective is certainly as valid as mine, but your post makes me think - I struggle to understand folks who feel like they are being left out of "modern" D&D when it moves to be more inclusive (this extends to other aspects of life that we can't...

I find it odd that they won't take the space to do a dramatis personae - with art, and NPCS profiles. It would work great for that idea of the "thieving DM", where you could ignore the adventure if you wanted but steal some of your favorite NPCs.

I consider all revisions of D&D to be upgrades, though never without areas that were changed that should not have been touched, and parts that could have been changed, but were disappointingly left the same. Still, I would call it a gradual progress, if we take into account that it tends to wind...

The only fault I have with what you're saying here is that the designers have specifically stated that they mean to design them that way. I'd agree with you if you want to say that they didn't do a great job of it, but I can't get on board with you when you say that they didn't do it at all...

I'm more thinking of all of the 5e APs, not anything epic-level (though I think if you built slowly and properly, you could pull THAT off, too - obviously you'd do it less often than you'd produce 1-7 Adventures - but you could do it occasionally. That's probably how I'd do it - I'd make...

I agree with you that buyers shouldn't be expected to hunt down interviews and blog posts, but I can't come close to agreeing that something doesn't exist just because you can't see it in front of your face. That's just not how reality works. But in case I haven't been clear - I absolutely...

I've run Dragon Heist twice, and while it has some structural issues, I think that it's pretty good. I think that the thing that it has going most against it, when it comes to how it's reviewed, is the simple fact that you don't get to steal any dragons. The titular heist happened before the...

I would LOVE to "stick it to" Cox for his terrible handling of MtG and his horrible treatment of both us FLGSes and our MtG customers (I can't say I give two farthings for the shareholders themselves, but for once, I am partly on their side), BUT... I don't think that they are going to be...

That kind of thing only indicates that it is selling worse than the person who ordered it expected it to, not, in fact, that it is selling poorly. I see this all the time, owning a comic book store. Sometimes a book comes out that some folks seem to think is "Hot!" because most stores "Sold...

I think most of the adventures are great, but I also think that they could be a lot better, and much of that comes down to presentation. I particularly think that they could tell the same stories while being organized in a much better way for DMs to actually use them. To me, that is their...

The claim IS true, but you're right that it's opaque. The designers have talked about it quite often, that that is the intent, but they sure as heck don't make it clear with the product. They leave it to the "clever thief" DMs to figure out for themselves.

I would argue that that is because they don't do it properly. For example, if "higher level" is harder to sell, then WHY do they want "world-shattering" stakes in their AP's? The answer is, I think, "people like world-shattering storylines". So do those. Where they belong. At mid-to-high level...