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Something along these lines, a friend once played a Deathseeker (from Encyclopedia Arcane: Necromancy) who did not animate dead. The character was fascinated by the whole subject of life/death/undeath, and had to constantly resist the temptation to "indulge", whether through experimentation or...

As for RPG's, IMHO I see them declining until someone finds a new paradigm. Based on my own limited experience, we're seeing a steady graying of the hobby, and older players have too little time to devote to gaming. (The typical problem - when we were young, we had time and no money; now we have...

Just to nitpick a bit: I think it depends on how one defines "boardgame". If you include all the old stand-by's (Monopoly, Life, Sorry), I suspect (I have no industry knowledge) that their sales have steadily declined over the past 20 years, as we've latched on to other entertainment options...

I haven't read it all, but one thing jumped out at me: Take 10 is Scholar-only? Take 10 significantly simplifies play and should be encouraged, not limited to just one class. YMMV, but I would never give up the normal Take 10 rules, especially when trying to streamline the game.

Speaking of OD&D (white box) and 1E, death was much, much, much, much more likely. Two of the reasons are 1) death at zero hit points (none of this -10 business), and lots of "save or die" effects (or just plain "die" effects). It wasn't unusual to take six characters into the dungeon and come...

But most people don't play RPG's to mimic real world economies. We play to have fun, and worrying about inflation, deflation, supply and demand, exchange rates, labor, capital, etc. just isn't as much fun as killing things and taking stuff, or rescuing the princess, or saving the kingdom. We're...

Ok, maybe I'm missing something here. 1st level sorcerer with max Concentration build 18 Con (+4) 4 ranks in Concentration (+4) Skill Focus: Concentration feat (+3) Has a total of +11 on Concentration checks, so minimum roll is 12. DC to hold spell points is 10+points held So if the sorcerer...

GM-only rules for creating NPC's in 5 minutes (or 5 seconds). If someone posts a thread asking for ideas on how to reduce GM prep time, all sorts of good ideas come out. But by RAW, the designers seem to think all characters, creatures, npc's, etc. should use the same intricate character...

Check out local thrift stores. Be prepared to make a few trips, as the good stuff goes quick. For example, I just donated a perfectly good 27" picture-in-picture tube tv to a local charity. They'll likely price it for $100 or less, and I expect it will sell fairly quickly. Another option is...

Yep, tho the cost for cutting can exceed the cost of the original sheet in some cases. BTW, take the recommendations for thickness with a grain of salt - it really depends on how much you'll be moving them around. I purchased four 36" x 30" pieces years ago and they're still going strong (1/16"...

Yep, just surviving will be a success, because most haven't so far. The ones who survive 4E will be the ones who don't depend on 3.x for sales.

I agree. Do either of the games you mention require the PHB to play? My "predictions of doom" are for the products that supplement the current core rulebooks, not replace them. There will always be a market for something that's not D&D. Personally, I think that's the fundamental flaw in the...

This seems to mirror WOTC's view on racial LA, but I find it far too harsh. Generally speaking, losing an entire level is worth a total of about +6 stats (whether in one stat, or spread among several). This is because of all the other benefits of levels that the character loses (HD, hit points...

Yep, just IMO, but this seems a bit weak for +2 LA. At the least, I'd remove the penalty to Con. In fact, I would consider giving a +2 Con. That simple change would move it into decent +2 LA territory.

Only so long as they have customers. And it's by no means certain that they'll have enough of those after 4E is released. Most don't have enough customers today. It won't bother me to be wrong about this, but anyone who thinks that the current OGL market for 3.x products will survive 4E is...

I expect most, upwards of 90%, of d20-related material will stop selling within a couple months of the release of 4E. How much is selling a year later is anyone's guess. Four reasons: 1. Remember when 3.0 came out? Remeber how much of RPG spending it sucked up - it was like a black hole. After...

One possible advantage to a one-book model is that it forces the designers to make choices about what actually provides value in the core book. When you have 1,000 pages to work with, it's easy end up with bloated rules. We have numerous examples of spells that differ only in special effect, or...

I'm just thinking out loud, but I wonder if one approach is to create a "class" for LA that includes minimal hit dice, skill points, and feats. Each +LA would be a level in the "class", which would eliminate a lot of the problem with paper tigers. Another idea is two classes, one built for...

This assumes the players want to do that. More and more often I'm finding the players just want to blow off steam and have some relatively mindless fun. What they do *not* want to do is worry about the vagaries of monetary systems, or whether spitting on the floor is a criminal offense, or which...

I'm still of the opinion that Neville Longbottom is one of the key players in the finale. It's been too long since I read the last couple books, but there's something about the prophecy and the fact that Neville also lost his parents to Voldemort, IIRC. One possibility is Harry sacrifices...