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Virtual tabletops In the past year, one friend in Brooklyn, N.Y., another in St. Louis, Mo., and I (in Boston) have tried a number of things for online role-playing. Fantasy Grounds had a sweet interface, but getting access to the host server through our firewalls was a problem. RPGtonight is a...

My backups to D&D4e Although I am looking forward to Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition, I have several backups in mind in case my role-playing group doesn't like the revised rules: -True20: Solid multigenre support, might tweak combat rules (Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Ed. is already a backup as...

D20 favorites I'll second the Mutants & Masterminds nomination. I'm also fond of the many nonfantasy D20 books, from Hamunaptra to OGL Steampunk to Traveller D20. Since you mention Thieves' World, I also liked Conan (more for flavor than rules, but at least it was generally compatible)...

Recruiting gamers I've used various methods to vet potential role-players over the years, even as my groups have fluctuated in size from four to a dozen members, depending on the game and things like academic schedules, family and work obligations, etc. Now, I typically ask prospective gamers...

D20 Steampunk I used the D20 Sorcery & Steam sourcebook for a side adventure when my regular D&D3.5 party ended up 500 years in the future from its usual ancient/medieval setting. However, I had run and played GURPS steampunk games before that, so I had many resources (such as Space 1889...

Critical fumble house rules In my game, critical fumbles happen on a natural 1 on a 1d20 attack roll. To confirm, use one of the following two methods: -Another attack roll against the opponent's Armor Class, including all normal attack bonuses. [Game Master's note: I considered using just the...

Beyond D&D I've played and run lots of different games beyond Dungeons & Dragons over the past 25 years, but here are my favorites: -GURPS: The Fourth Edition of Steve Jackson Games' Generic Universal Role-Playing System is useful for any genre, and there are indeed numerous well-written...

Gygax is gone, but not forgotten... Thanks for passing along the sad news that "Dungeons & Dragons" co-creator E. Gary Gygax has died. I first learned of this from a co-worker and one of my gamers. Even as we enjoy D&D3.5 and look ahead to Fourth Edition, I have fond memories of first playing...

D&D past and future I started playing Dungeons & Dragons with the boxed set in 1982, when I was a freshman in high school. I later played and ran AD&D1, AD&D2, and D&D3x/D20, as well as other systems, ranging from Palladium to Storyteller to GURPS. I've generally been an early adopter, and...

Best D20 SF universe building The "Star Wars: Saga Edition" RPG has fairly streamlined character rules, as well as plentiful and well-known examples of worlds and ships, but it's a bit skimpy on world-building advice, at least so far. D20 "Stargate SG-1" and "Farscape" are better, providing...

Dinars for D&D Looking at my collection, I can count several Ikea "Billy" standard 6-foot-high by 3-foot-wide bookcases of gaming books. The shelves are full as follows: -D&Dx and D20 books about Player Character options: 1.5 shelves -D&D3x/D20 references about monsters and environments: 1.5...

Easy come, easy go I've spent more money than I care to admit on D&D3x/D20 books over the past eight years, but I am looking forward to D&D4e. I still have some books from OD&D and AD&D2, but with each new edition, I've kept the few books I've liked (such as AD&D1 Oriental Adventures, AD&D2...

Spending money Here are some things for higher-level Player Characters to spend their hard-earned gold on besides improved weapons, armor, and magic: -Strongholds -Followers, family, and friends -Obtaining and breeding exotic animals -Providing start-up funds for new adventuring parties...

Starting ages I started role-playing with the D&D boxed set back in 1982. I was 13. In the years since, the gamers in my campaigns have ranged in age from 12 to 45, with the average slowly climbing to about 35 as I've gotten older. Still, I've had the 70+ parents of players sit in on sessions...

D&D4e PCs I think midlevel characters will be affected the most. Lower-level Player Characters should be relatively easy to translate from D&D3.5 to "Dungeons & Dragons" Fourth Edition, whereas higher-level ones might benefit from the customization abilities promised with D&D4e. I think the...

While I know that Greyhawk and the Forgotten Realms have the most supporters, I'd like to see "Dungeons & Dragons" Fourth Edition support (by third parties, if need be) for Mystara, Dragonlance, Al Qadim, and Kara Tur. This may indicate some nostalgia for OD&D and AD&D, but there has also been...

Third-party D&D4e/OGL publishers I think that Mongoose's licensed D20 properties, Green Ronin's historical sourcebooks, and "classic feel" supplements from other third-party publishers would all be good things to update using the allegedly streamlined rules of Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition...

Necromancer is in for D&D4e! I'm already looking forward to Tome of Horrors and the Advanced Player's Guide! "Fourth Edition rules, First Edition flavor," here we come!

D&D4e Mystara I would also be interested in eventual conversions of the "Known World" to "Dungeons & Dragons" Fourth Edition! Perhaps we can hope that it will eventually get official support from Wizards of the Coast in a subsequent D&D4 PHBx? Yeah, I know that the Forgotten Realms and Greyhawk...

QFT, Claudio!