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Sorry, you're quite right. I was caught up in the context of this thread, and when I said "drain" I was really thinking about a sort of underground tunnel that lets out at some distance from the keep itself--like what was described here. Most castles do, in fact, have rudimentary plumbing, and...

No, it's 3.5. He's mentioned the possibility of going to Pathfinder or AE. But apparently he's sticking within the OGL sphere. (Though he does point out that most of the material is rules-light, and it could be used for anything.) Really interesting project and business model. Best of luck, Monte!

This isn't true, at least not at a fundamental level. I was there the afternoon R&D first unveiled the initial prototype of what would become 4E; I was one of the first two or three people outside of R&D to see and play it. Most of the fundamental concepts behind the 3E-->4E changes were in...

Right. But he chose a gun as a metaphor because it makes the point very nicely. Well, perhaps, but let me then put the question to you: Why was a climbable drain included in the adventure? If the answer is "because the keep needed to be realistic," I don't buy it. I live in England and have...

An entirely valid point. But don't lose sight of what's being discussed here: We're not talking about cows, gazebos, or even cross-eyed pianists. We're talking about what seems like a potential alternate entrance into a mountain keep heavily guarded by orcs. Who wouldn't suspect that it was...

The theory is called Chekhov's Gun. Not Chekhov's Grass or Chekhov's Painting. It's about a gun because a gun, just by virtue of being there, suggests that it might itself be relevant. Nobody--not me, and not Chekhov--is suggesting that anything you include has to be relevant, and that you must...

I hesitate to react to this, because it's entirely tangential to my point, but I can't help myself. I completely reject this notion. I'm running a campaign now that is following a very distinct story arc. We've been playing for a year and a half, and there's likely another year of play ahead of...

I won't disagree with your conclusion, except to point out that with a strictly simulationist/sandbox approach ("The tunnel is there because that's where the dwarves dug it, dammit; if the players mistakely react to the Chekhov's Gun expectation, that's their problem") you end up with...

Not in the presence of Chekhov's Gun. Chekhov's Gun is a noteworthy detail even if it is only present as a brief glimpse in passing. Consciously or subconsciously, Chekhov's Gun compels attention. The players are approaching a mountain keep. The GM presents them with what appears to be an...

No. It assumes that players' responses are conditioned by the rules of fiction in which we're all so thoroughly indoctrinated. Your game may or may not be storylike. And your goal may or may not be related to story. Regardless, there is so much similarity in the experience of how events unfold...

I don't want to sound dismissive, because this is a legitimate concern. But there's also a juicy irony to this. In the OGL era, adventures were specifically one of the categories of product that WotC wanted to see the 3PPs pursue. The 3PPs, in general, concluded that they didn't want to be...

So WotC offers every single person on earth the right to profit by publishing materials based on their IP, but only on their terms, and that's comparable to kicking people in the teeth? Time for a reality check.

Anyone ever heard of Chekhov's Gun? It's a literary/dramatic rule, which can be paraphrased as "If you show the audience a gun, it needs to go off an act or two later." In other words, it's a basic law of storytelling that when an element is introduced into the story that seems like it might be...

Unfortunately, there just aren't any shops in London with play space. If you're willing to get out of the city, there are plenty of options. Reading is just 26 minutes from Paddington, and Eclectic Games is literally across the street from the Reading station. The Games Shop in Aldershot's only...

Please note the list as originally posted had Kingdom of Adventure in the wrong town. Its event will be in Kirkcaldy, and the list has now been fixed.

Count me among those who disagree. I ran a couple campaigns and many one-shots, all with little or no FX. I also ran a couple of crossover events, in particular two or three lengthy one-shots that threw non-FX Modern characters into Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. Fun and interesting...

In our D&D group, we had two new players join. One had played D&D in the 1E/2E era, but hadn't played in 15 or 20 years. The other had played non-D&D RPGs before, but not for 15 years and never D&D. Both had heard a lot about 4E and wanted to try it, and both are still enthusiastic members of...

In related news: With three WWDDGD events this year, instead of holding a headquarters event at the London Dungeon like we did the past few years, we're going to partner each date with a different retailer around the UK. For the Player's Handbook 2 event on 21 March, we're working with Patriot...

Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day Player’s Handbook 2: 21 March 2009 In 2009, Worldwide D&D Game Day is set to expand yet again: This time into three separate events! That’s right, this year WWDDGD will be celebrated on three dates, corresponding to the release of the three “2s”—Player’s...

There's nobody on Earth who has more justification for cynicism in this regard than me. If I can look beyond it, so can anyone else on these boards.