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Amen, brother! :) I'd expect a fairly complete list of top surprises to have leaked within 24hrs, and in 48 I think we'll all be able to say with some confidence whether, on the whole, we will like 4e. Seriously - I think the next 48hrs are an extremely critical moment and a bellwether for...

So the site was "in alpha" all along, and we just didn't tell anybody. To, uhm, pre-test the functionality ... all part of the plan, which is ... uh, oops, I guess the dog ate my homework there ... Yeah, right.

How come there's all this great, highly stylized artwork featured in the 4e preview books, and for the online character builder they show this embarrassing generic dross? "Tacked-on" and "half-baked" is the impression I'm getting here. Doesn't bode well for the D&D online offering, does it...

Check out "The Vault of Larin Karr", from Necromancer games. A sandbox setting with multiple plot strands presentable in little episodic chunks. Levels 4 - 9 are catered for, and a lot of it takes place freeform, in a remote valley with only three villages so you should be able to accommodate...

The campaign I currently DM uses English for Common, German for Dwarvish and Japanese for Elvish. The setting's background is that the players (all human) emigrated from an "old world" continent, where a human (lawful) theocracy has been conquering and enslaving the local dwarves. The "new...

LOL-ing about the big GURPS echo here. Whodathought? Thing with GURPS is, there's a lot of people I know online who take their GMing seriously, post intelligently and absolutely swear by the system. So I always thought it must be me who doesn't get it.

5 to 6 hours per session, including the first 30 mins where people sort of trickle in, pick their spells etc. The way we play (everything is typed out, no voicechat) it's possibly a little slower than ftf on average, though a lot depends on the situation. In general, ftf is faster when players...

I like this idea, and not just to close off the (plot-) road not taken. It's actually an elegant way of structuring a dynamic, multithreaded sandbox-style campaign: Set up six or so major plot strands, most of which are fairly low level, the players decide which of them to pursue, and how far...

Agree. Their current site is way too cluttered, heavy and slow and I have a hunch they'll botch their virtual tabletop as well. It's a typical example of corporate-driven product design, imho: Instead of putting user interest first, they obsess about brand & ip, forced retention and eye-candy.

I probably learned more English from my 1st edition AD&D books than I ever learned in school. Also, rpgs are a great introduction to the basics of statistical mathematics and to historical studies. So, yes, I'd say it does your brain some good.

Loved the druid story, and the idea of arcane spellcasters receiving different kinds of spells depending on their actions, being "courted" by gods of conflicting alignments. Think I'll gank that - thx!

Here's my group's statistics, for comparison. We play weekly online sessions (using Maptool), about 5 or 6 hours in length. I have four players, whose characters (cleric, paladin, rogue, wizard) have progressed from 1st to 3rd level in 15 sessions. We have between 0 and 3 combat encounters...

I really want to like GURPS but every time I try to actually play it, it falls flat on its face. In theory, having a completely generic, modular system should be a GM heaven, but somehow it makes characters and spells feel really amorphous, and the combat aspect of the game - again, very...

My main problem with turn undead is the way it's so hardwired into the class concept of the cleric and the game system at large. If you want to run a campaign which plays around with the nature and powers of undead - i.e. take them out completely, make them rare and really scary, or to use...

Interesting observation, this. Reading your (very entertaining btw) session reports, I came away thinking that this is pretty much the campaign style I was aiming for: Keep the world moving in multiple directions at once, douse the players in plot-strands - but let them decide where to go next...

Thanks for all the replies, especially to Ryan. I'll check out Necormancer's The Lost City of Barakus and The Vault of Larin Karr for sure. Cheers, J.

Some modules tell a great story, but at the expense of player choice (railroad-plots). Others give the players almost complete freedom, but don’t offer much overarching dramatic structure (Wilderlands-style sandboxes). Some might say that story and free player choice are actually...

IMHO, "A Clockwork Orange" is the best treatment of this type of plot. But doing it justice in an RPG is difficult, because as with any moral dilemma, it's hard to adequately protrait the subtleties involved in a game that's mainly about bashing the bad guys' heads in. I don't think I've ever...

Innocent enough question, but quite tricky to answer. Some notes: 1. I like it when the situation and the player's choices give rise to a gripping story. The more time you spend "inside your head", imagining what's going on and acting out in reaction to that, the better the session. This...

I'd recommend Midnight, for a dark, mature take on Tolkien and an excellent read in its own right. Just the thing a (judging from your list of past faves) settings connoisseur would enjoy.