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I still want to see write-ups of orange, yellow, purple, electrum, iron, lead, mercury, tin, and zinc dragons.

Yes, I find that troubling as well. I didn't mind as much when the interviews described giving creatures more interesting innate attacks (like dryads' "vine lash" and "thorn burst"), but magical equipment that mysteriously becomes unusable by anyone else is a bit annoying as an assumed campaign...

But it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing approach. Currently, D&D 5e characters have almost NO active defenses. That doesn't mean the only other position is one in which PCs ALWAYS have an active defense. In GURPS, for example, characters generally have a limited number of Active Defenses...

Have you heard of Douglas Cole's Dragon Heresy 5e-derivative? https://bira.github.io/octopus-carnival/2018/06/18/dragon-heresy-review.html

I learned how to calculate percentages fluently from playing AD&D (1e). It also produced some opportunities for setting up algebra and geometry problems, and continues to encourage practice in speedy mental math (adding dice rolls, halving totals, etc.). D&D and Traveller also spurred learning...

Two different campaigns: Faffing around lets Nazis counterattack. Capturing Zhentarim lieutenant reveals secrets.

Yes; which is why additional mechanics are unnecessary, and why organizational or procedural support might be beneficial for players who are not naturally gifted with those particular neurological traits.

Resource-management-heavy and variably-configurable classes like wizards are already harder to play. Adding some kind of meta-game mental-overhead tax to that is both unfair and unfun.

Engaging productively in a cooperative activity with any group of people requires wisdom....

First of all, this is one reason why there are different types of spellcasters. Magic should feel a bit different for wizards vs. sorcerers vs. warlocks, maybe even a bit more different than it already does. Second, if a player wants to play a wizard but doesn't have an encyclopedic knowledge...

This statement is really puzzling to me, because it seems to assume that there's some sort of Platonic Ideal for each NPC in a published adventure. But that's not true. Just as there is no definitive stage production of Hamlet for all of time and space, there is no singular play-throught of...

My wife and I were talking about RPG campaigns over lunch today, and a thought came up. Eleanor Roosevelt is reputed to have said that "Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." I'm not sure that campaign plots don't go in the other direction. One...

The Shadowrun lore already includes a variety of new North American ethno-states: Athabaskan, Algonquin, Tsimshian, Salish, Sioux, Ute, and Pueblo (and that's not counting the situation farther southwards). The challenge, as others have said, would be honestly, forthrightly, and respectfully...

I have encountered many older and/or casual players who are simply unwilling to play online, for a variety of reasons. Obviously, they're less well represented online, but they still exist.

I find myself agreeing with you on most points in this discussion. And I think mind control has to be used very, very carefully in RPGs, for exactly the reason that you describe. Having a referee who unilaterally describes a PC's emotional reaction to a mundane stimulus is right out. But...

Actually, that sounds like a potentially fun (but brief) adventure interlude. Foul sorcery has ensnared Sir Ensilmore's heart! Can he break free from the enchantment, using what means of resistance are available to him within the confines of the spell? ("I have to make the Faerie Queene...

That depends. Some folks feel no emotion at all beyond logical satisfaction: the game is merely a problem-solving practical exercise. More literary types may appreciate the story from the outside, as a third-person narrative construct, with just the sympathetic or aesthetic reaction you...

I've encountered DMs who seem to think that a "sandbox" obviates any need from them to provide a plot of any sort: that PCs will "experience" the world; that they will ask questions which can, after suitable deliberation by the GM, be eventually answered; and that it's basically players giving...

Some folks are spoiled for choice; others live in gaming deserts. As the maxim goes, even bad pizza is still pizza. (Though I think the pizza was originally supposed to be sex.)

One important question about a potential railroad: are the PCs allowed to fail? Years ago, I ran the adventure Plague of Dreams in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. The players made some unwise choices (despite prompting); the bad guys got the drop on them; I left them alive but had the bad guys...