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Damning with a faint praise, indeed.

2e was one of the editions whose designers seemed to have been uncomfortable with D&Disms, and tried to fix them by applying contemporarily fashionable design concepts. The end result, although more digestible than its precursors, felt sanitised and somehow inadequate. I wouldn't consider it...

I believe this is the right answer. If there had been a clear case vs. OSRIC when it was released in 2006, it would have been killed in 2006 (and mind you, some people did report it to Wizards specifically to get it killed). Three years later, the probability of action seems slimmer and slimmer...

This is my position as well. The mismanaged introduction of the GSL is worthy of a lot of blame, but there also seems to be an underlying cultural shift towards more official, more codified, more fine-tuned gaming instead of the fairly free market of ideas that characterised 3.0. Looking at...

No kidding, even with Bledsawian level demographics (i.e. a lot of NPCs who are 2nd to 4th level PC-classed types), a 8th or 9th level fighter can wipe the floor with a whole lot of opponents. Alone. I have seen this, and it wasn't pretty. ;)

Well, they aren't - they are generally considered "sword&planet" stories or "planetary romances", a subgenre with period SF trappings but little attention paid to (or even interest in) actual science. Star Wars is an offshoot of the same family with a strong infusion of Tolkien's dark lords and...

I have found that engaging encounters on your own terms and trying to withdraw from those where you don't have that is a good general rule to live by. But I also fondly remember my first character ever, who was killed by orcs in a mine in his first combat, the wizard who was caught breaking into...

A small, self-contained campaign where the action is driven by player agendas interacting with an open world instead of plotlines set by the DM. They are done by Goodman Games, and are more variable in quality than Necromancer's output - some of them are pretty good and creative; others have...

I really liked the second part's hostile mini-dimensions, and the dungeon in the first was good if you don't mind completely unrealistic things (I don't). The third part has some good ideas, but it would take an incredible memory to commit it to mind all the parallel things going on; part four...

If you are looking for a mini-campaign, I can recommend The Vault of Larin Karr, which describes a valley with settlements, mini-ddungeons, wilderness lairs and a full underworld to explore. Everything is interconnected, so it is fun for the PCs to descend into a dungeon from a cemetary, find an...

billd91: yup; that's what I was getting at. It's a sort of game with different needs and different solutions than an average tabletop game.

arscott: well, in a game between strangers, there is often a lack of trust that should be assumed in a standard home game; conversely, there may be a tendency to emphasise unambiguous rules that can be left to the books instead of allowing DM interpretation (and thus the dreaded fiat). I suspect...

To use the tried and true analogy, your method was the New Coke of Internet posting. As for the main topic, it is an argument that has to assume either the inevitability of changes, or the objective infallibility of designers. The first is a misunderstanding of how hobbies differ from corporate...

Oh wow. Very impressive; it looks like I'll have reading material for this evening. :)

I do have a recently opened website, but at the moment, it is only a collection of support material for my Hungarian old school game system. I plan to upload English content in a few months, including a recap and perhaps expansion on pet topics such as dungeon mapping or The Tyranny of Fun. You...

Indeed. I consider Abysthor the better module, but Rappan Athuk was the one that consistently captured and fired peoples' imaginations, and invited discussion (including a lot of opposition - today, the sorts of dungeons RA represents seem to be a lot more accepted than they were at the time)...

Oh -- assuming again that D&D the tabletop roleplaying game will still exist -- I have no doubt the 3e period will have new classics, since it was a time when D&D became reinvigorated, attracted a lot of lapsed or new players, and put itself back on the mental maps of roleplayers as a quasi-new...

Assuming D&D will still be around in a recognisable form in 15 years, which I am not sure will be the case -- I'd say some of the earliest 3e modules will be recognised, as much for print runs as quality. The first two, Sunles Citadel and Forge of Fury stand out as the most likely candidates...

I do not have the product yet, but I am working on it. The shipping TLG is regularly using is a killer ($38.95!), and other outlets don't have the Upper Works in stock. Sigh.

I voted AD&D first edition, but really, any of the systems in the "TSR D&D and simulacra" family would be all right. Cross-compatibility is high, and they share a similar design philosophy/implied play style. I would not feel comfortable with a 3e, 4e or LA version; Zagyg just isn't for those...