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Ah, no wonder I didn't get it - didn't start playing D&D until a good bit of the way through 2e, just before the Skills and Powers series started coming out and making characters all crazy-like. :) Though Adauth's the sort to be carrying multiple pairs of boots if they're mechanically...

I don't follow you. :confused:

Modes of dress are one of my favorite little details to add to a character. I only wish they came up more often in-game. I don't think I've ever worn anything even vaguely resembling medieval clothing, however - my fashion influences tend to be somewhere in between anime or high-fantasy...

I don't play DDM, but nevertheless, sir, I approve! :D

My home group never used anything like this, with the occasional exception of an animal companion or what-not. And animal companions only ever showed if they were integral to the character, so we worked almost as hard to save them as we did to save endangered PCs. I recently moved, though, and...

Well, I guess I can see why Jim Hague is getting so cranky about this idea, but it's worked great for me in my games, from a gaming perspective - though we're talking about Far Realms creatures in D&D and not proper CoC action. Actually describing the creature, well, my imaginative powers tend...

Sign me up for Slot 1, Game 3 and Slot 2, Game 2. I'd kinda like to join the other TB's game - giant elephant-based cities are always for the win - but I just can't pass up the opportunity to finally get to play CoC d20. I've owned the book since it came out, after all... I'd also like to try...

This is all excellent advice, but there are a few of these points that I have more trouble with than others. More specifically, my version of the "dying's not the only penalty" and "use a zillion plot hooks so you can pretend you had your brilliant master plan in mind all along" sounds a bit...

I made three changes to the rules/way I DM to get this effect: 1) I use hero points from Mutants and Masterminds, for a variety of reasons. One is that you get some protection from instant death effects, without just making them never hit. (And hero points are much rarer than action points...

Since this encounter is supposed to take place around 6th level, you can't exactly get upset at the PC cleric for not preparing death ward since, y'know, he can't. That's sort of the whole reason the OP is wondering about the value of this encounter. Likewise, the room set-up makes it...

It depends on the situation. If it looks like the players in general are okay with an anticlimax, I'd let it happen and pretend to be more irritated than I actually am so they enjoy the easy win more. Otherwise, I throw the sorcerer a hero point for using GM fiat and the BBEG makes the save...

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft, the recent update of the classic adventure, and pretty early on. The cleric in question is a fallen cleric who's found a nasty book of nastiness and attempted to raise his deceased son from the undead. Instead he got a monster called a blaspheme, that's in the...

Hmm, your experiences are pretty close to mine. I'm not too familiar with Iron Kingdoms, though... A DM in a group I just joined is looking to start a campaign in that setting, though. I've heard nothing but good things about it, though. I wish we'd had an art budget to compete with theirs...

Oh, this sounds like a perfect situation for the stuff in the book. You can present his craft points as scavenged resources from the ship rather than as ongoing projects. You could even, either you or the player or both, decide ahead of time which devices are available on the ship. They're...

Thanks! I'm curious, though - could you tell me what your other favorite fantasy-tech material is? (It's a surprisingly crowded field, relatively speaking, though I've never really understood why.) And if you could elaborate on the few balance issues you've noticed, that'd be helpful too. I...

Yeah, the "virtual gold piece" way is easier to keep track of, easier to spend, and easier for me to balance. And you can still convert time into craft points in my version, which, to my mind, is the primary use of them. The version in Unearthed Arcana, once I sat down to adapt it, just struck...

Well yeah, I've already copped to this being a play-style thing, for myself and my players - we all try for cool characters and memorable moments, and my game as a DM is pretty much engineered from top to bottom to produce things like Mallus's crazed dragon-hopping. That sort of thing in...

Oh, definitely. I don't like that kind of critical fumble chart for the same reason you don't often see characters in movies, books, anime series, and the like doing something like hurl their weapon across the room on accident - it tends to diminish the cool factor. I prefer my screw-ups to be...

We appear to be working with different definitions of "staggeringly stupid." :p I refer to the example you gave as "awesome", actually. I use a hero point system similar to that in Mutants and Masterminds in my own games precisely so I can use them as little bennies with which to bribe...

This right here is why I tend to dislike critical fumble charts. I don't play D&D so my character can randomly do something staggeringly stupid, especially at high levels. This example actually helps you, but it would irritate me to no end anyway. With most critical fumble charts you get...