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Hey, Mike, I have no problem with you or your content, but I did want point out that that is an actual treasure recommendation. “Any” is a specific treasure preference defined in the DMG as a roll on the Random Horde Table. For a CR 2 monster, that’s 2d4 x 100 GP and 1d4-1 magic items. Other...

Rulebook 2: Scenarios is a 51-page booklet. As it's a little bigger, I'm going to split it up over multiple posts. Before I begin, I think I should review the basic RPG culture in Japan, to provide context for some of the design elements of this box set. The important thing to keep in mind is...

Dancey didn't anticipate a Pathfinder because it never occurred to him that WotC would ever make more than incremental changes in a new edition, i.e., that 4e would be as close to 3.5 as 3.5 was to 3e, or as close as 5.24 is to 5.14. Level Up and Tales of the Valiant demonstrate what he...

Rulebook 1: Characters is a 36 page booklet, A4 size, with glossy pages just like the rulebooks included in the D&D Starter Sets. The book opens with the expected introductory material: Sword World 2.5 is a game that takes place in the sword and sorcery world of Raxia, you play adventurers...

I'm resurrecting this thread because I want to talk about Group SNE's Sword World 2.5 RPG Building Box, yet another box set released in 2021. The first two "Start Sets," detailed in the first post, are essentially of the same kind as D&D's Starter Sets/Essentials Kit products. They provide more...

If there's one thing I've learned from reading the histories, listening to the podcast, and observing all of the RPG companies I knew in the 1990s crash and burn to various degrees, it's that from 1975 to roughly 2010, it was very, very hard, nigh impossible to run a successful RPG company...

So I ran a session last week using D&D Beyond Maps, and thought I'd give some thoughts. So, some background, we are an international group: I live in Japan, while my family and friends still live in the States, so online play is our only way to play together. We were longtime users of Roll20...

It's not explicitly spelled out in the rules, but one thing that stood out to me in my Let's Read was how much the Basic rules, at least, lean on the d6 as a multi-purpose catch all mechanic. Initiative is a d6, surprise is a d6, wandering monsters is a d6, elf and dwarf abilities use a d6...

About 10 years ago, my sister and brother-in-law sent me the B/X boxed sets, our originals having been lost in a house fire in 1997. I treasure these, and paging through them just takes me back to 1987, and our first steps into this whole role-playing business. Even when DMing 5e, I use the B/X...

I loved the level titles, and used them diagetically. They were a handy in-world way to delineate power levels. If you needed to find a Level 6 cleric to remove lycanthropy, you could simply say, "Are there any church Elders in this town?" Also, it was satisfying to change the title on my...

In the true spirit of the thread, I have absolutely no interest in char-op, and my eyes glaze over when character generation discussion goes in that direction. And I hate how it dominates discussions about classes. Heck, to be honest, I'm not all that enamored of "character building" in D&D in...

Indeed, indeed. But with his official hiring in 1985, he became far more prolific and had his work on some major novel and product covers. I wanted to say that the D&D line was free of cheesecake for the whole of its life, but Caldwell doing the Gazeteers pretty much ended that.

That may be ridiculous, but the most ridiculous part is the "armor" that is so form fitting over her exaggeratedly ample bosom that the nipples can be seen, all of which is over completely bare legs. IMO, she became iconic because of the over-the-top ridiculousness of her outfit. That said...

There's an oft ignored corner of D&D history, where women were welcomed, even courted to play Dungeons & Dragons. I am referring, of course, to the D&D line (in contrast to the AD&D line) in the early 1980s. It started with Tom Moldvay's Basic rules (though he was building on the initial...

Then this is a misunderstanding, because it needed neither Chainmail nor Outdoor Survival. They were only recommended. Chainmail provided one set of combat rules (and plugged what Gary considered his most successful game until then), but OD&D provided an alternate set of rules. The only thing...

Certainly a fair consideration! In my XP, against a powerful foe, my players tend to bring out their big guns early. This whittles down the monster's HP by quite a bit, but the back half of the battle ends up a little sloggy as the party plinks off HP with their melee attacks and at-will...

I don't see any dramatic changes to D&D that would justify a wholesale switch. These are just alternative implementations to spice up one's game.

No, an AOE that targeted the entire monster would be saved against once by the monster as a whole. The increase in HP is only to forestall a cascade effect. Because eliminating a part also eliminates an attack (and possibly a defensive bonus), at certain point the math turns inevitably against...

I am by no means trying to pick on @jasper and @Staffan, who I understand are just reporting what Matt said in the video, but this was the one thing I really took issue with in Matt's video, so I want to push back on it. As I recall, in the video he even goes as far as to call original D&D...

Are you bored with your D&D monsters being sacks of hit points with multiattacks? Are you looking for a little more tactical variety, but without making your monsters too complex? Storywise, would you like to make your boss monster a challenge without adding a bunch of minion creatures that add...