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I recommend adding the following: -Geographical features (in a fantasy setting, this can include moving islands, floating mountains, Ley lines, planar portals, etc.) Weather patterns may also be useful, if the area is large enough. -Trade goods: In addition to the usual foodstuffs, metalwork...

There are also Rakshasa, and I think the D20 Mindshadows and Nyambe books have feline races.

D&D3.5 books What are you looking for? I've got a decent-size D&D3.5 book collection, and I'm about 10 miles west of Boston... In recent visits to Pandemonium, Danger Planet, Your Move Games, That's Entertainment, and the Compleat Strategist, I've noticed that D20 inventories are lower than...

Avatar: the Last Airbender I agree that tonight's one-hour episode of "Avatar: the Last Airbender" on Nickelodeon is must-see television! I strongly recommend this animated series to all fantasy fans (the first two seasons are available on DVD). Despite the streamlined art style and youthful...

Being G.M. vs. being a player I also usually prefer to serve as Game Master, although I do enjoy role-playing occasionally.

Professionals and gamers When I lived near Washington D.C., not surprisingly, many of my fellow role-players were lawyers. I've also gamed with accountants, doctors, programmers, writers, and the occasional musician. If only the general public knew that many of us don't exactly fit the...

D&D4e I agree that the discussions in advance of "Dungeons & Dragons" Fourth Edition, as well as the options provided in talent trees, potentially streamlined combat, and non-Vancian spellcasting are all good things. Flattening out the "sweet spot" in terms of levels and challenges could also...

Virtual gaming I used Fantasy Grounds for much of this past summer to role-play by teleconference with two remote players (I'm in Boston, and they're in St. Louis and New York City). Lately, we've switched to RPGtonight running alongside Skype, both of which are free. For freehand drawing, we...

Tables Nice job! Reminded me favorably of the old AD&D DMG... I'll try to use these (and the adventure generator) in my D&D3.5 and other games...

Marxism in RPGs While it's true that communism is typically found in modern and sci-fi settings, there is some historical precedent. Small, isolated groups that didn't need to worry about famine or overly aggressive neighbors, say, on tropical islands, could afford to share what wealth they...

Xp I award Experience Points based on the following criteria: -Combat: the standard method -Role-playing, teamwork -Notes, character record sheets, participation on message board between face-to-face sessions -Creativity, above and beyond the norm -Noncombat challenges: traps, talking to...

Talking like a Dwarf What I meant by "Tolkienesque" is that the names and cultures of certain races in my D&D3.5 homebrew campaign setting resemble those used in the Middle Earth books. As for talking like a "Star Trek" Ferengi, imagine a 3-foot-tall Goblin with snaggle teeth, large ears, and a...

Languages In addition to the human cultures in my campaign, the standard races also have accents and names resembling those of real-world and other fictional peoples: Dwarves: Hill -- Scottish or Scandinavian Mountain -- Slavic or Klingon Elves: -High -- Tolkienesque, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon...

Humans Interestingly, in most recent parties in my homebrew campaigns, humans have been in the majority, with humanoids slightly ahead of demihumans. I think my group is trying to get away from traditional fantasy and D&D stereotypes, but to each his own. I like demihumans as a player myself...

Variable magic level support in D&D4e My player group and I have also been concerned about the amount of magic assumed to exist in "Dungeons & Dragons," with the possibility of feats, talent trees, and race/class abilities replacing D&D3.5's reliance on magic items across classes. I myself...

Role-playing via teleconference For the past six months or more, I've been using a combination of technologies so that remote role-players can participate in my games. On Tuesday nights, a guy in St. Louis uses Skype to videoconference into my face-to-face D&D3.5 campaign in the Boston area...

Role-playing in public In high school, I briefly participated in a role-playing club, and we occasionally met in vacant classrooms, during study hall, or in the cafeteria. Not quite public spaces, but we were exposed to the general student body. During my freshman year of college, I managed to...

D&D4e art I've liked and disliked bits of the art in every edition of "Dungeons & Dragons," and I expect D&D4e to be no different, although the importance of the core rulebooks as something that most D20 players will refer to regularly can't be underestimated. The tone, from eccentric...

D20 Silver Age Sentinels We played a D20 "Silver Age Sentinels" game for almost a year, but that was a few years ago, right after it came out. I'd put it somewhere between Champions/Hero System and GURPS Supers/Powers in terms of complexity. Note also that it was already an adaptation of a...

My campaign setting Of the published settings out there, I like the following: -OD&D "Known World/Mystara"-for nostalgia (it's the first world I role-played in), its Tolkienesque style, and the Clyde Caldwell art on the well-written regional supplements -AD&D2 "Dragonlance/Krynn"-for the...