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Experience gain in editions prior to 2e was primarily by gaining gold pieces of treasure, not by defeating monsters. That was a system that was not actually formally detailed in OD&D, although a description implied a fairly high 100 XP / hit die of monster defeated. Gygax gave NOTHING for...

There was a marked difference between the assumptions that went into D&D's design, and how groups received and played it. It was designed as an exploration-focused game where both combat and parlay were powerful ways to get treasure. As war gamers, Gygax and company figured that players would...

5e is really in need of adventures, and I was really hoping the announcement would have something equivalent to Dungeon magazine. Unless Unearthed Arcana is basically a magazine in itself, it's really going to be quite inadequate, especially when a month's article is a bit of a dud.

Wilderlands of High Fantasy is really good, but very large and a bit gonzo if you follow it literally. One resource I've used with a lot of success is Rob Conley's Points of Light. There are two books, both system neutral but assuming D&D as their setting, that each have 4 small hexcrawls...

What I love best is how combat feels. It's exciting and varied without being overly simplistic, and doesn't get mired down in details. It feels deadly (lots of PCs hit 0 hp in my games) without slaughtering truckloads of PCs. I also love the backgrounds and how PCs feel more three-dimensional...

This is simply false, since you are talking about "always" and "every edition." The earliest editions were primarily exploration games. If you got in a fair fight in Gary Gygax's Greyhawk dungeon, that was a failure. The better players avoided fights unless absolutely necessary; ask Rob Kuntz or...

My vote is for Fiend Folio, followed by Creature Catalogue. And then more alliterative named monster books! Beast Bible, Dragon Dictionary, Horror Handbook, Ogre Opus, Villain Volume... I wouldn't want a PHB2, ever. I don't want more classes at the depth that the PHB offers them. Maybe all the...

How does that go? Is it swingy or does it add much to the game?

I didn't really want to like 5e, but I found myself drawn to and eventually running it. Now I like it. I won't say it's my favorite, because I really love OD&D, but I certainly find it in the running for a solid second place. We are having a lot of fun, and the dangerous but not ultra-lethal...

I ran the third session in my 5e campaign last night, and it went really well. I decided that I'm incorporating a few items from the optional rules in the DMG so far. One is players awarding Inspiration. This has gone over well and helped with an area that I felt I was neglecting. Each player...

The proliferation of random tables. I've already used them in prep and at the table. The DMG has a table for just about anything you want to do.

5 out of 5 rating for D&D 5th Edition Dungeon Master's Guide I've perused all of the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide, and it is everything I hoped it would be and more. What jumps out about this book is that it is full of game-useful content. As an OSR gamer who loves the 1e Dungeon Master's Guide...

Here are the first two paragraphs as far as I can read them: The rest is too blurry and I don't have time, but that's a start.

The key with conditions is that they are inflicted on characters and monster, whether by spells or other abilities.. From your list, I think suffocating and maybe starving / dehydrated are conditions, because I could see something inflicting them on someone, like a spell that chokes or drowns...

That sounds terrific, wrenofwar! Tucker's Kobolds really shine in 5e. I like how you used the effects to create a cumulative danger, particularly the hunting trap at the end.

Looking at the list of conditions in the PHB suggests some great traps to me. Here's some preliminary brainstorming with this idea, more is appreciated. Blinded. Traps that emit an extremely bright light can blind victims who fail a saving throw. Deafened. Extremely loud noises can temporarily...

I've been running 5e in a homebrew setting. I've got a sandbox style approach in the game, with multiple factions and mysteries that the PCs are just starting to uncover, and I have 2 or 3 different potential adventure locations for the players to explore each session. After 2 sessions, the PCs...

Hollow Earth is a part of Mystara. FR sub-setting. Mystara again. Sort of a "drop-in" for other settings. Pretty explicitly a drop-in setting.

I voted Dark Sun. I'm not really that interested in 4th edition, but I'd love to see the setting get a serious, thorough treatment again that I could adapt to another system (probably some kind of C&C/2e hybrid). - Wayne

According to a little-read note in the 2nd ed PHB, it's "THAY-koh." Actual gamer pronunciation during the '90s was decidedly mixed between the two.