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You're speaking from hindsight and not the thoughts at the time of people as the products were in development and first being released. People seriously wondered if these were trial platforms for DnD that was going to replaced 2e. Just the same way that people wondered on Saga Star Wars if it...

Not all editions of DnD have been successes. There are actually quite a few versions that people don't talk about because they were that big a failure. For example, I could summon up the original Saga DnD system (not the Saga of Star Wars which is pretty kwel but the card based one that was...

I usually find that I don't have to do anything. If I have monsters move on the 'squishies' then the 'squishies' start to scream like little piggies for help. From a game perspective, I'd just have some encounter design advice. 1> Avoid having all the exact same monster. One it is dull and...

Some thoughts; 1> Magic should be dangerous to the user: If you want to play that style of campaign, great! May I point you to some RPGs that have great mechanics for these sorts of things like Call of Cthuhlu, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, other horror based RPGs. 2> Some people...

Fairy Tale, the Anime and Manga series. You would be best to do this sort of thing with 4e style of classes with plenty of skinning to cover up the abilities. You might need to write some new powers too.

I've heard that magic in Lamentations of the Flame Princess is pretty much that way. If you use magic then it is very dangerous.

I actually don't think it really is a matter of spells are bad and break rules. It is more an issue that people are mentally 'locked' into the paradigm of non-magic. In a world where magic is common enough to have 'adventurers' or even common enough that royal courts include wizards, priests...

Monte Cook does an interview on the Jennisodes Podcast. Looking towards the Future // Podcasts | Jennisodes Podcast I have not heard the full thing yet. I'm just listening now. He talks on Playtesting which follows his recent blog topic and the show notes list things like some sort of...

I blame the invention of 'Marching Order'.

There was an earlier L&L discussion on various dice mechanics. Point 4 seems like a perfect occasion for a dice mechanic to be used. For example a re-roll mechanic, an extra die rolled and added to the total, or roll 2d10 instead of d20. These kinds of things could make the rogue 'feel'...

There is also no reason to 'compete' on the DnD influences. Campaign settings come and go. The magazine Dungeon used to each month present a new way to take the DnD rules and conform it to a new paradigm. I've got rules for Dinosaur worlds, Mecha rules, alternate magic systems, psionic...

For Earthsea wizards you'd likely be better with the word system in Pathfinder's Ultimate Magic book. ------------- A modern style wizard would be Jim Butcher's Dresden and the White Council. In the Dresden Files RPG, the use of magic is broken down to five different large arts with other...

3 core books? As far as I know the presentation style had yet to be established. It could be like Essentials with a few different Player's Handbooks with different classes in each book and the general rules in a size that is friendly to carry around with you. The monster manual might be an...

Where do people get the crazy idea that DnD hasn't changed and been influenced by the tropes of it's time. Why is there a Monk in DnD? Answer: The series Kung-Fu was popular (and several other Martial Arts movies). When the series Shogun came out the community got Oriental Adventures book...

So, it has been over a week since Monte Cook has left WotC. His own blog The Chapel Perilous Now, he says that you shouldn't take his thoughts as an indication of anything (like his post on game design). Still, it make you wonder on his posts on going to see Terminator films and looking at...

The discussion of Pillars is no different then the guidelines the RPGA used to provide for Living City back in 2e days. You would need to provide 6 encounters. 2 encounters were to be combat encounters 1 encounter was to be a puzzle 1 encounter was to be a roleplaying 1 encounter was to be a...

If fighting is 'owned' by the Fighter Class then does this mean that the other Fighter options will be superior with the other 'pillars' as compensation? Does this mean that if I choose the Fighter Class then I am choosing to not be capable of leading troops (Roleplaying/Social) and unable to...

Is it pick on Wizard day? Is it pick on Clerics tomorrow? ;) The trouble is not with the spells. A spell is just a package of rules like a magic item or an equipment item. It is really nothing special in rule terms (the rest is the fluff). The trouble is how the rules award the spells with...

For 5e, is WotC looking to go for a less 'word' defined skill system? Too early to tell. I say it is too early to tell because it appears they had a system but they've done some re-thinking of their system. I'm not even sure what we see in the initial Playtest will fully give us a 'clue' as...

Me, if I was doing a new edition, I'd be the crazy fool in the room that would drop everything, including rolling d20 for attack rolls, and 3d6 (4d6) for attributes. For some people, 'this is DnD', as Gygax intended it. To me, there are just so many play problems with this initial baggage...