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My experience with rules light systems involve a lot of situations where the GM works with the table to figure out how a particular situation is resolved. I've seen that as an explicit process (like Dogs in the Vineyard) or more of an implicit give and take (how I've seen Apocalypse World games...

I think there is less of a dichotomy between "playstyle preference" and "good group fix" than you suggest. I see it as more of a spectrum. There are plenty of rules that require a "good group fix" if the group has a particular play style, but work fine in groups (who may be good or bad at...

Short rests take considerably longer than they did in 4e (at least going by the playtest). It's no longer an assumption that the typical adventuring day will allow for a short rest between every encounter. Sure, there are bound to be situations where that happens, but a more "standard"...

As much as I prefer faster initiative systems, the weapon speed system did have the advantage of creating meaningful dramatic tension, especially with respect to spell timing. It was a big deal whether the wizard could get her spell off before the monster went and there was some nice rhythm to...

I don't know about everyone else, but -- from my view -- that would be a terrific sign (if true). If the game just isn't quite done yet, I would much rather see WotC take an extra couple months to finish testing and polish than rush out an errata-filled game in time for GenCon. Paper rule...

Even if you aren't rolling on tables, they can still be helpful. A table is an efficient way of communicating reasonable types of encounters and their relative frequency. When I was playing AD&D, I would sometimes put a dungeon together by picking and choosing the encounters that looked fun...

I enjoy epic adventures as the capstone in the campaign. When I say "epic", I mean: (1) The monsters are epic. The monsters that used to frighten you as mid-level characters become mere speed bumps; you can face dozens or hundreds now. You have already defeated top tier bad guys (major...

Those situations are few and far between, which is why I pointed out that a DM-gatekeeper is necessary to make sure that the world makes sense. But that being said, I can think of situations where you might want a strength check (e.g. holding on to the edge of a cliff to avert plummeting) where...

Skills in D&DN are based on the assumption that a substantial chance of failure or success is desired anytime you roll the die. That works if you want any character to be able to succeed at any reasonable skill check, but is a lousy way to simulate reality. If you want a realistic view of...

I hope they fill their splatbooks with less splat. I like extra options when they open up a concept that wasn't well supported before, but many of the 3e / 4e splatbooks sacrificed quality and playtesting on the alter of filling up pages with new rules material. Higher quality, lower...

I always feel like every campaign should start with a premise of who the PCs are, in a joint discussion between the players and DM. It's ok to have a campaign where the PCs are a bunch of ruthless treasure seekers, a band of nomadic Robin Hood figures who wander about righting wrongs, a handful...

This article addressed a worthy subject, but didn't have much that's interesting to say. First, the example themes at the beginning of the article were terrible. Look at them. Hardly any of them even mentioned the PCs. Dragonlance was not a campaign about the efforts of the Queen of...

I'll say again that I agree that the DMG should offer a balanced, playtested optional rule to support this playstyle, but I think the designers got it right in picking the default. It's fun to be able to play D&D with all its old-school extra-challenging aspects, but I think most wizards...

Ambushes are deadly in D&DN, but the deadliness primarily comes from the huge benefit that comes from attacking with advantage. If one side starts off hidden / invisible and gets a full round of attacks off with advantage, the ambushers can devastate their victim's casters and glass-cannons...

In previous editions, sniper archers behind a low wall could use a move action to stand up, fire their bow with their standard action and fall prone (back behind cover) as a free action. The new rule provides the same effect with much less mechanical complexity: win. "I stick my head out...

I roll for damage roughly 80% of the time, but use fixed damage when I'm running a large number of weaker creatures. Sometimes I'll use fixed damage in the first round or two when I have 20 low-level soldiers attacking the PCs, but switch to rolled damage for the same creatures once the PCs...

Well, obviously the game isn't out yet, but I think there are a few areas you can identify that aren't well supported by the playtest rules (or their obvious extension): - We haven't seen rules for summoner (or pet) versions of any of the classes, so you can't play a druid that focuses on...

I see this as an example of getting rid of rules that don't matter. Conceptually, there is no reason that you need to take your action at the beginning or end of your movement. Why should the rule provide an arbitrary restriction that doesn't reflect the "reality" of the game world? It's yet...

I see this as a pretty big deal for adventure quality. Under a traditional xp system, adventure designers who were expecting a certain leveling rate needed to pad their ideas with a bunch of encounters that aren't really essential to the design. I hope that this frees up adventure writers to...

For me the major benefits are: Less complicated character design - feats are optional and mid-level characters fit on one page Faster combat - no minor/move actions and many fewer modifiers to track Less tactical combat - we spend more time describing and imagining the combat, and less time...