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IMC I've had a couple of players take centaurs using the Savage Species route and have found allowing them the mounted feats was not that much of a problem and was generally offset by periodic movement problems. After all, the centaur may say "I'll boost you over the wall", but he rarely can add...

I've successfully used a system for honor and reputation where the score can be used in place of charisma for social skills. Players start with a score of 1 and normally only get 1 chance per level to raise it, though exceptional circumstances may give extra raises.

As a real world commercial real estate broker, I can tell you that not turning a profit for the first ten years is by no means unrealistic (though not desired)for a small businesses. However, the owners also usually serve as the help, thus receiving some form of subsistance level living by...

It's not quite roleplaying, but a few years ago I was in my state capital a weak before the gubenatorial election on a business trip. A couple of friends of mine and I decided to get a diplomacy game together. We needed six players so each of us said they new at least one other person who would...

Having recently been through this twice, both as a player and as a DM, I have found that its hard to accept cash from the needy and innocent. A couple of things I have found; Have the King/Church/etc. give them a small stipend. The word can make ridiculous amounts of money seem reasonably...

While the D&D concept of "dungeon" is somewhat skewed from reason, I do like to have a dungeon's layout make more sense than simply filling up a rectangular peice of paper. A couple of useful tricks I have found are; 1) Include an sideways view or elevation sketch which includes the dungeon...

More common in other eras than you might think, at least in periods of stability and among the upper classes. In ancient Rome it was a mark of the patrician classes. Even in the classic medeival world of Europe there was ongoing sales of properties, though the rights of property ownership...

I use a simple rule of thumb and generally set land prices at ten to twelve times the total annual rents. If I don't have rents for the area, I figure them at 50-60% of the total household income(s) in crowded areas (like anything inside a city wall) down to 40% for rural areas. For productive...

We went through this back in the 1st ed days. First we house ruled that forcefully changing the alignment of another was evil (open to debate). Then two of the DM's launched seperate diabolical plots centered around evil thieves guilds using the helm to sway otherwise LG people in order to...

Right now I'm running a campaign set in a sea region that borders three continents - one quasi India ruled by Rakshasa, another arabic setting using much of the old Al Qadim, and an Oriental region, more Three Kingdoms/chinese than Rokugan. As the players explore more I'll be introducing a...

Water! Its nearly everywhere in a swamp so use it in encounters. 1) Hip deep in water the party must fight opponents who can hide in that water - think any bad giant anaconda movie, though dire crocodiles, bullywugs, lizardmen, and giant frogs all fit the bill. This is nearly effective as...

Hellhound has pretty much hit the nail on the head. This will be a return (new characters) to the campaign, but last time the spellcasters were a little to free with their spells, to the point the players began to feel something needed done to reign it in. Using a seven day week we should have...

For my next campaign I've been toying with the idea of changing the spells per day to spells per week in order to fit better with a swashbuckling/intrigue style of play where more than one encounter in a day is unusual. The question I have is what am I overlooking? Its easy to say that where...

In our my last campaign the BBEG was dapper, suave, and smart, but couldn't swing a sword or cast a spell to save his life, quite literally. He instead relied on a vast web of favors, friends, and arms length mooks to do what needed doing. He frequently confronted the PC's in circumstances where...

I've long run a campaign in which sexism is the standard in that most NPC's fall into tradditional gender roles. A few exceptions exist, perhaps more than in our world, but the differences are visible. What's important thought is that female PC's are allowed to function with little hinderance...

Back in our 1st Ed days, while dungeoneering on a remote island two PC's contract a horrible disease from the 1st Ed DMG and die of the runs two days later. As one of the dead was our wizard who had teleported us to that stupid barren rock in the first place we had a TPK as the surviving PC's...

I find it almost inconceivable that the paladin should suffer a permanent penalty. This shouldn't be an alignment issue, its a DM issue. If in the campaign the action would have warranted an alignment violation the DM should have told the player so rather than simply warning him he might kill...

I have long allowed primitive black powder weapons. In themselves they are not unballancing at all. Slow to load, relatively short ranged compared to high quality bows and crossbows, and with the ever present unreliability they are not popular choices. The draw back is every character wanting to...

I've had it (actually one of my players left it) since it came out and the only thing we've used have been the alchohol rules.

Mostly disease appears IMC for NPC's, or to explain a PC's inactions when the player is absent. A few times I have used diseases as a plot device to nudge the players in a certain direction. No more than once every two or three years of real time though, as players in D&D seem to balk at the...