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Thanks very much! This is exactly what I was looking for!

Running Dungeon of the Mad Mage now. What I'm wanting to do is take the various map pages and import them into a basic graphic editor program like MS Paint or something similar, but set as a permanent background. I'll then fill up the image using black paint (except for Room 1), hook the...

If they wanted to go the route they did, I think they should have used the 3E Profession (whatever) Skills. Either make Thievery its own skill again, or at least say Profession: Thief. I also think it's more intuitive to explain to a Newbie that they're proficiently trained in being an Alchemist...

Which is why virtually every game ended up starting characters at level 3 or 4 after the novelty of playing a neophyte wore off. Cool to be "wet behind the ears" the first time around, but the vast, vast majority of players, when starting a new campaign, came up with a character concept that...

There's an immediate and obvious answer for me that one other person pointed out: The index. This is the most god-awful index I've ever seen in a book, and it goes out of its way to be as obnoxious as possible. It's been a joke for the past ~4 years that any time someone opens the index to find...

We have fumbles in our game, but it's kind of a 3E style where you have to "confirm" a fumble, which is rolling again and missing the target, otherwise it's just a plain miss. Therefore, someone fighting a zombie, or a high-level Fighter attacking most things isn't likely to fumble unless they...

I bet. But 1E was the epitome of bizarre rules for their own sake*. It's the only edition I never played, not counting the SSI Gold Box games. Went straight from D&D Basic to AD&D 2E around 1989 or so. I remember that also being the edition that Wizards (Magic-Users) could learn to throw darts...

Agree. I've struggled to see them in a way that makes them pop out as their own thing. Usually, it's just comical dwarf/half-ling hybrid that's especially tuned to magic. I've certainly never seen a player play a serious gnome PC that was pretty deeply thought out and role-played.

As others have said, try playing with the rules as written and figuring out why they were written as opposed to just making changes off the bat. I know in the last few editions, I've seen certain rules that looked odd up front based on my prior edition experience but made sense later. For...

Not how *I'm* using them. But that's the OP and some others interpret them, where X rolled well (or over Y), thus X gets their way in having things happen. I don't think I've made it a hard and fast rule, but generally any attempt to influence somebody has to have a reasonable chance of success...

I always thought this was wonky with 2E, and liked how Runequest did it, with inverting the way D&D did it. Yeah, you probably can swing that dagger a heck of a lot faster than that guy who's got a Halbard, but he's still going to get a first shot at you.

Pretty much my first thought. I don't think I've seen anything in the rulebooks or official modules that refers to the DM having NPCs use social skills on PCs other than perhaps Deception (so a player can use Insight), and an NPC succeeding in that case only means that the PC can't tell if the...

Yep, ask them a concept, make their character for them, give them a basic list of things they can do, but hold a copy of their character sheet and do all of the math for them. Gradually fill them in on how the math is working a bit at a time. For example, they start out only knowing they roll a...

I think there are some worthwhile options being discussed. Some people have expressed reservations about making the caster more powerful than non-casters, but the goal should be to offer flexibility, not power. My first 5E character was a Valor Bard, and I can certainly understand the...

I'd agree with the first at least, with the problem. However, from what I remember of the 1st and 2nd Edition Dragonlance books, along with the novels, Kender were typically described as being like Tasslehoff, especially as first introduced. He ends up being more introspective and serious as the...

Anyone wanting to play a kender in any game of mine, even it was Dragonlance, would find that character dying in a fire. Exponentially more disruptive than the average evil character. Ok character for a novel, trash concept for a cooperative gaming experience. On a more serious tone, I voted 5...

That thought occurred to me as well, especially the "Head of Vecna" gag, along with it being a very weak idea for a joke. That requires a specific level of knowledge/Ignorance on the PCs' parts, i.e. A. Somehow doing something with a dead person's body part to swap out with your own could give...

Sounds like a good idea. That actually gives some greater purpose to the item and ensures that it might come off as having a point to the PCs (if they pay attention to it, if not, that's up to them).

I love a lot of the accessories WotC has put out for D&D over the years (I just bought the 0-6 CR Monster Cards last night and are eager to try them out), but I've been mostly unhappy with the official published adventures they've put out. I've found much greater satisfaction with the smaller...