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What part of "Which is not to say that PCs should never face overwhelming forces from which they will need to flee." did you not understand, exactly? I mean, you quoted it. I assume you must have read it, right? Could be. But that's not what he said, so that's not what I replied to. I...

No. But if the reinforcements they fetch from the next room will result in a TPK due to the way the module has been designed, then fetching reinforcements is not really a viable option for a DM that isn't primarily interested in killing the PCs. Which is not to say that PCs should never face...

That's just a variation on the Rule 0 Fallacy: "Since I can rewrite this module to eliminate your critiques, your critiques don't apply to this module." In some cases, this can also require a substantial revision of the rules themselves. D&D Gamma World is an extreme example of this: The...

"My Precious Encounter" refers to encounters which (A) Are prepared before play which are so painstakingly balanced that they are inflexible in actual play: Their location can't be changed (because the monsters have tactics that sync with the location). Reinforcements can't be added (because...

Um... No. That didn't happen. WotC may have stopped shipping books to distributors, but they never tried to recall product. Wait... what?

The GM should be the ocean and lands unexplored. The players are in charge of figuring out (a) what they want to do and (b) how they're going to do that. Thus, they are both determining where the ship is going and charting the course for getting there. They are both captain and navigator.

Cartoony redrawings of microscopic selections from the original, panoramic pieces stuffed into a faux-tome look that would be generic and uninspiring even if wasn't being disrupted by the faux-parchment and "seal" across the bottom? I guess the answer to your question would be: Everything.

Well, that saves me $120+.

I'm a big fan of the way 3E cleaned up the whole system, BUT there's a lot to be said for reverse compatibility. Not only does it let you continue profiting off the IP you've already developed; it also lets you continue to sell supplemental material to people playing older versions of your game...

Fact check. Physically connected lairs: (1) B and C (2) H and I (3) D, E, and F (4) J and K These lairs belong to: (1) Orc and Orc (2) Bugbear and Minotaur (3) Goblin, Ogre, Hogoblin (4) Gnolls and Human Necromancers Three out of the four connected lairs include non-goblinoids. (And one of...

While that's true for Gandalf, the class abilities of the original ranger are: - Must be of good alignment. - Minor spell capabilities of a naturalistic bent. - Very good against trolls and giants. - Good at tracking. - Good at sneaking through the wilderness. - Able to use palantirs magic...

That's ridiculous. Everyone knows you get better bonuses from dwarf bread katanas.

If there's one player who is reducing the enjoyment of the other players, then: (1) Talk to them about it. (2) If that doesn't fix the problem, kick them out. The only reason to give anyone more rope than that is extraneous social factors: You'll risk a friendship which you otherwise don't...

And yet again with the weird-ass strawman that has been explicitly contradicted in this thread multiple times. There's clearly no point in continuing the discussion when you're both completely unwilling to actually listen to what the other side is saying.

Sure. And at other times they'll be weaker because the daily demands of a particular scenario will outstrip their resources. Unless, of course, your entire campaign consists of absolutely nothing except static, magically warded sites which nobody except the PCs are interested in. And if all of...

This is really typical of these conversations: I list a dozen different methods of having an active campaign world which will prevent the 15MAD and you are completely obsessed with the one you don't personally like. Then pick a different (set of) methods. The point is that there are dozens of...

You're right. It is a playstyle thing. If your style of play is to have the NPCs always and consistently do absolutely nothing if the PCs attack them and then withdraw, then you're going to have 15MAD. Allow me to repeat myself: You don't have to hammer the PCs every single day and with every...

I'd give you XP for this, but I've got to spread it around. The 15MAD only works in campaigns where the game world is static, unchanging, and unresponsive. There is this one, narrow type of campaign that allows the 15MAD to happen. But the number of ways in which you can AVOID having a static...

Defining them firmly as a "narrative cool request" action point system sounds pretty solid. I should say that I'm looking forward to Ashen Stars based on this thread. I've been collecting GUMSHOE stuff casually despite my reservations with the system because the source material is so...

I ran a session of Esoterrorists. In doing so, I ignored the questionable adventure design advice and designed the scenario the way I normally do (and which later GUMSHOE games apparently advise): Lots of redundant clues. Under those conditions, I found that the "auto-find clue (if you use the...