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But Hasbro was a manufacturing specialist, one of the top in its field. They had people who know every facet of game manufacturing inside and out. Very little of the company was dedicated to designing games; the vast majority of it was in place to manufacture and sell games. It is surprising (to...

Over the last year, I've deconstructed the MM down to its foundations and completely statted or evaluated CRs for over 400 monsters converted from d20 and S&W. The DMG section on creating monsters is 6.5 pages of text plus 2.5 pages of tables, so it's not simple or concise -- except by...

There's also "Under the Moons of Zoon" by Luigi Castellani. The PDF can be had for free -- just Google it and it'll show up via DriveThru or direct from Sig. Castellani's website. It's not exactly Barsoom, but it's outstanding sword-and-planet romance.

The reason they have to go back to Naerytar is that's where they abandoned the job. At the start of their journey north, characters were tasked by Leosin Erlanthar and Ontharr Frume with finding out where the cult was taking the treasure and what they were doing with it. It should be obvious to...

Until there's some official measure to clear up the vague and unhelpful rules in this area, I consider it to be an official blessing to do whatever suits your taste. Decades ago, I was a big fan of perception-type skills in RPGs. Over the years, I've come to see them as generally a bad thing...

Merric; Blood bath is the spell the acolyte knew. Steve

My players got their first taste of it a few nights ago, when I handed them an NPC character sheet containing a lost spell. Their reaction was, "whoa, the necromancer is teaching his acolytes spells we've never heard of? This guy might be scarier than we thought." Steve

Lost Spells is very close to done. We hope to put it in Chuck's hands for layout next week. Steve

All this dickering over semantics is really dragging discussion away from the point I hoped to make. OK, let's say I formulated my thoughts badly. What I should have typed was "The second decision that hamstrings D&D now, as it has for two decades, is the stubborn insistence not to have an...

I'm well aware of dndclassics. Send me another link when you can buy the 5E PHB, DMG, or MM there. I'm also well aware of how successful D&D Insider was. I was part of the DDI team from the beginning, and I'm quite proud of the fact that we made it one of the few successful subscription...

Wizards' crippling disadvantage is that it can't come to grips with the digital age. The company is terrified of digital piracy -- and not without good reason. Digital piracy of D&D products during the 4E years hit staggering, mind-boggling levels. WotC doesn't buy the standard arguments that...

This may be my favorite thread on ENWorld ... :D Steve

Echoing Astrosicebear. Most DMs can throw together an evening's worth of exploration with 15 to 30 minutes of prep and extemporizing the rest. A short, pre-published adventure site description is still going to take 15 to 30 minutes of prep, so unless it's something really inspiring, why pay for...

Our experience playing 5E indicates that many CR ratings in the MM are skewed toward the high side. That's not to say that they're wrong, but when a critter was on the line between two CRs, they went with the higher number. We did the opposite -- if a rating was at all close, we went with the...

A mistake (from my perspective) that many people seem to be making is assuming that every situation in D&D should be "fun." If my ambition is to have nonstop "fun," I'd be better off playing Lego Star Wars or Whack-a-Mole. D&D can also be thrilling, frightening, inspiring, maddening, depressing...

Ooh, I really like that third one. Steve

I do, and I like 'em -- a lot! I've found plenty of things to like in every edition, but I'm more excited for D&D now than I've been in a long time. That does not, however, mean that I'm not willing to bend the rules in creative ways. Not ignore them or break them outright, but exceptions are...

XP and CR values aren't listed in the sample because they haven't been assigned yet. Those will be the last things attached to the stat blocks, after most of the other work is done. I see many of the folk online who are analyzing 5E stat blocks assuming that CR is the first number laid down and...

Since I still have most of my 1981 D&D B/X material, that's my go-to old-school game. If players need rules, I steer them to Labyrinth Lord and everything meshes fine. I like the simplicity of Swords & Wizardry and I play it every chance I get, but as a DM I prefer the more developed version...

IMO, it's important for the DM to have a deep and thorough knowledge of the setting. The more the players know, the better, because it brings the setting to life in their imaginations. But asking them to read more than 5-700 words about it at a time is expecting too much. They need to be fed...