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Did I say that? No, I said "You can get around this problem, but it involves thinking during character generation of everything you might want to do with your character's powers." This makes character design difficult and slow, and it also means that one is prone to make oversights (unless one...

This is only a relevant consideration in places where meat animals are raised on grain. There is a related consideration that is relevant where animals are grazed on arable land. But there are many places in the world, and in former times there were more, where people ate meat that was fattened...

You may be right about sweets. But hunting cultures (such as the Esquimaux) and pastoral cultures (such as the Masai and the Mongols) had a much larger proportion of meat in their diets than industrial people do. (They also had mmuch more active lives, but that is another issue.) People posting...

You are out of date. Dogs are now classified as a sub-species of wolf. The former species Canis familiaris is now classified as Canis lupus familiaris, while the common grey wolf wolf (formerly Canis lupus) is now Canis lupus lupus, and the timber wolf is now Canis lupus lycaon. See...

It is a 'feature' that contributed greatly to my first impression of Champions. A GM at the UNSW RPG Association ran a demo game for which he handed out pre-generated characters. Unfortunately he was one of those GMs who won't let you spit in your captor's eye unless you have paid for a a flash...

Hear! Hear! I have been GMing the way you describe for more than twenty years, and I don't get any complaints. At least, not on the grounds that by adventures are under-prepared, under-detailed, or inconsistent. It ain't broke. Don't fix it. Regards, Agback

Look at Herodotus' Histories. Those were written smack in the middle of the Classical Period, and describe the time of the Persian Wars only a generation before. But between Amazons and Neurians they contain all the colour and movement you could wish for. Honestly, monsters as such are greatly...

G'day I first took up the Hero System in its incarnation as Justice, Inc. in about 1985. I have also played and/or GMed it in its incarnations as Champions (a superhero RPG), Danger International[ (spy/thriller), Fantasy Hero, and in its generic form in SF, pulp adventure, action/thriller, and...

I would use the word "holster" or "boot" rather than "stirrup". Regards, Agback

You have a timing problem. The Persian Wars ended in 479 BCE, and the Delian League was founded in 478 BCE. Pericles was born about 495 BCE, but did not rise to political pre-eminence until Cimon was ostracised in 461 BCE. Immediately after the Persian Wars, while the Delian League was shaking...

If you were thinking of the Persian Wars that ended (and the Delian League that was founded) about 100 years earlier i would have two books to recommend very strongly: Histories (Herodotus of Halicarnassus) Soldier of the Mist (Gene Wolfe) Either one (and expecially both) should give you a lot...

Umm. One hundred thousand was very large for a mediaeval city. You are talking about several times that for soldiers alone, and several times that total for their families. Say one million mouths to feed. And therefore a fortress with a population to rival Imperial Rome, or mediaeval Cairo or...

Not counting ForeSight and HindSight in the spirit of not counting core rules: The Penguin Atlas of World History. Regards, Agback

I get a whole week of advance notice? I can design a campaign and setting in that time. For an improv. GM, this is not much of a challenge. I was in a Castle Falkenstein campaign once in which the five players took it in turns, week by week, to GM. Each GM would leave the characters in a...

That is what I figured. Which was my point. You had inadvertently given the impression that they were caused by imperfections, and that gems lacking them might be rare (rather than impossible). Regards, Agback

G'day Balance is what makes it possible to be different without doing something stupid. Suppose that one class, skill, or feat were so out of balance that anybody would be stupid to take it. No-one would take it, all characters would be a little bit more alike, and the game would be a little...

Naturally not, since cleavage planes are intrinsic to crystals, and have nothing to do with imperfections. Diamond is hard and strong. But it isn't tough: it is susceptible to cracking. Regards, Agback

Or like Blondel singing the Chanson de Roland in front of Coeur de Lion's troops on the Third Crusade. But can't you fight while you are singing? Or sing while you are fighting? One of the cool things I would like to be able to do with a properly-generalised version of D&D is to sub out the...

G'day As far as plane-hopping goes, the classic is the "World of Tiers" series by Philip José Farmer. I think the first volume is "The Maker of Universes", then "The Gates of Creation", then "A Private Cosmos", then "Behind the Walls of Terra", then "The Lavalite World" then "More than Fire"...

Teach Dhamma (Buddhism). Regards, Agback