Recent content by Joe Pilkus

So, I've had a campaign running off-and-on since 1987 where the Drow (sounds like "cow") have served as the antagonist to the story since the very beginning. I have found the Drow Elves to serve as an excellent foil to the party's moves and the Dark Elves' continuous attempt to reclaim the land...

My Top 10 List which I've shared for the past decade includes many of the things you mention...most importantly, get rest, stay hydrated, and wear comfortable shoes.

I'm excited!

As a native Philadelphian who has returned to the city after many years away ~ service in the Air Force and time with the Department of Justice in D.C. I'd love to see the maps and how the author treats this magnificent city.

I'm honestly intrigued by the entire conversation, but would certainly not prevent myself from purchasing anything that had AI artwork if I genuinely appreciated the artwork. While I'm certainly sensitive to "creatives" as I'm a board game developer and my daughter is a professional stage...

This is an excellent article! I've served more than a dozen different board game publishers and indie-designers over the past 12 years as a professional editor/proofreader. It's a time-consuming task, but one that I very much enjoy as I love board games. It's also nice that I can perform this...

Great article! In the nascent days of my company, Professor's Lab, I focused almost exclusively on proofreading & editing. Later, I added the twin arrows of design analysis and playtesting to my development quiver. What I found, 80% (or more) of the time designers were the ones penning the...

I've DM'd for nearly four decades and I remember my players wanting to advance quickly to receive more hit points...only to face things that were much stronger, as well. I've enjoyed my plays of 5th edition but my heart and soul for D&D rests with 3.5 as it includes about a dozen items that we...

I have my players roll 4d6, twelve times, dropping the lowest number from each of the twelve rolls; select the highest six rolls. I don't know what people mean by "none of the above" ~ do they just make up numbers :)

It's rolled for me...I'm not sure what people mean by "none of them" ~do they just make up numbers? You roll 4d6 twelve times, dropping the lowest rolled number for each of the 12 rolls; select the best six scores

While I've played 5th Edition and certainly appreciate what the writers and designers have created, I'll stick with 3.5 as it has the "crunch" which I absolutely love and it incorporated many of the ideas which we house ruled, a few decades before, including pushing bonuses down to 12s and 13s...

Dr. P., As always, it's a pleasure to read your articles. This is a conversation I've had on-and-off for the past several decades with friends with whom I've played or served as a DM (or GM) myriad RPGs, from D&D to Boot Hill; Star Frontiers; Traveller; Serenity; Mercenaries, Spies, and...

"No rules survive first contact with players" This is my take on Helmut Von Moltke the Elder's military axiom. In essence, playtest your game, but you must also know when enough is enough and get it out the door. Even after hundreds of playtests, they are no match for the thousand...

Great piece and I wholeheartedly agree with the main points and it sparked some interesting, if unexpected, discussion. As an RPG player for four decades you cite those elements that I find most appealing. Earlier, zarionofarabel mentions Traveller and in the original version, for which Marc...

The insights of that time are quite interesting. As we were merrily playing D&D, we had no idea of the inanity going-on behind the scenes