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Yep, me too. I've been burned on too many purchases to buy these sight unseen. If I like what I see and hear a couple months after release, then I won't mind paying full price (besides, I like my FLGS). OTOH, if I don't like the new game, then I'll be glad I didn't waste my money on a pre-order.

Just my guess, but I suspect the only reason they are releasing the GSL is due to concerns about the outcry from a very vocal minority in the hobby if they didn't. The original purpose of the OGL as explained by Ryan Dancy wasn't met - WOTC was expecting third party companies to produce the...

And why should WOTC want to encourage more companies to use the license? What is the specific, bottom-line benefit to them in having more competitors for D&D products, not fewer?

We have a choice?? This is WOTC's call. It's their material, that they are producing at their cost, for their benefit. If you want them to change anything about it, you're going to have to make a much better case that those changes will benefit WOTC. I'm with the poster above who questioned...

(emphasis added) I agree completely. Realistic is a slipperly concept anyway, as no fictional world can be 100% realistic, nor should it be (this is a game, after all). A game world just has to hold together enough to allow the players to suspend disbelief, which is a much lower standard. And...

I wonder if the disagreements we're seeing on the OP's question have more to do with expectations than rules? For example, a character could also ask, "Did you hear? The king fell off his horse and died. The funeral is scheduled for this Sunday. Gee, why didn't the kingdom's high priest rasie...

True, which is why one good response to the drow example above is to allow the players to pursue the project, requiring that they research the ritual, acquire the necessary ingredients, perform the ritual at the right time in the right place, etc. None of that is outside the rules, as there are...

That's become my take after several years of trying to shoehorn cool ideas into the 3.x ruleset. What I've discovered is that limiting my world to the rules takes much of the specialness from it. Whether as player or GM, I want some things to be inexplicable. Not arbitrary, such as the drow...

Interesting, as your experience is the exact opposite of my own. For a couple years I ran almost exclusively converted Dungeon adventures for my 3.x group. I found the adventures to be fun, and substituting different monsters or statting up the npc's for the new rules was no more work than...

Not quite what you've planned, but you might consider having the wizard contact professionals for this. - after all, I would guess that kidnapping is not his area of expertise. He could reach out to the local mob and request their help with a "negotiation". The mob makes clear to the characters...

This one gets my vote. Heck, build the tower near a small, pleasant town, then buy a local tavern and tell tall tales of the nearby "mad wizard" who consorts with demons and such. Or get yourself elected mayor. Or just sit outside the barber shop whittling. Lots of good things to do when folks...

My current rule is that any hit that takes a character to negative hit points takes the character to -1 and dying. No more getting killed because the ogre critted you when you were wounded. Of course, if he hits you after you've been knocked down to -1... :eek: I'm also considering a rule that...

I think this is right. Though no one thinks of it as a module, it was a good bare-bones adventure which I used at the time. I wonder if Gen Con IX Dungeons qualifies as the first module? It was published in 1978 by Judges Guild. It was a reprint of the two tournament modules used at Gen Con IX...

Wow, I disagree with just about everything in the article. I have no problem with a GM saying "Sorry, I didn't think you guys would go that way, so I didn't prep for that. Would you mind following this other lead and I'll have this one ready for you next session." That's the kind of thing...

Some folks just don't get along together. It's rarely a case of one person being a complete jerk (tho that happens). It's just that no one gets along with everyone, and sometimes one person just doesn't fit. Sometimes that person is me. It happens. My reaction to those situtations is to try to...

So far I haven't read anything definitive about OGC. With the 3E OGL, any new content based on the core mechanics must be open (though many publishers, some quite popular, have done what they can to avoid this requirement). Fluff can be closed, but the underlying crunch must be open. Has WOTC...

This is the part I can't figure out. Once you add in armor and shields, it gets pretty hard to hit an opponent (unless the level bonus to AC overlaps with, vs stacks with armor). Fighter-1 Combat bonus +3 Level bonus to attack: 1/2 level (rounded down?) Total bonus to attack: +3 Opponent...

A couple PDF's: City Guide I, and City Guide II: Coffer of Coins by Dark Quest Games were remarkably helpful. I used roughly 80-90% of the material in fleshing out my towns. A few locations didn't catch on, but most were a big hit with the players.

I wanted to run Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, but I knew I'd never talk my group into going through it a second time. The first GM ran it mostly as is (the most interesting encounters tended to be the ones he made up himself). The CRM was such a slog, it turned us off the whole thing...

You may be right, but I still think it's too early to tell. Warner will be producing material in both formats until May, and even then, their stuff will work on dual-format players. I expect at least another year or two before the war ends, and possibly longer. Which is a shame, as it just...