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This is a good point. My understanding is old school D&D used nested system design to incorporate vast amounts of detail in every situation, because every game situation could potentially include something from somewhere else in the rules. For example, Creature pages might include the designs...

With the Story vs. Game question we get right to the heart of the hobby and the roots of D&D. Is the goal of the rules to support "good" storytelling or to place players in a defined space where they are to achieve objectives? The game can't support both without being two fundamentally...

Admittedly, the more I learn about the Hârn systems the more impressed I am with what I can beg, borrow, and steal for OD&D. Previously I had always though of Hârn as world specific (HârnWorld) and considerably more "hyper"-realistic than more roleplaying games get into. The detail is there, but...

3e had a heck of a time trying to create a mass combat rule set that supported all the potential options that the individual character build rules included. All the feats, class abilities, spells, types of arms and armor, plus special maneuvers designed mostly for 1:1 duals, and so on. This...

The biggest difference here and old school D&D is XP is pre-apportioned to each PC prior to the combat. I mean, instead of that 1500 XP reward getting divvied up equally 3 ways, 500 XP each for everyone, the PC's XP rewards are apportioned by -character level-*. This means combats are still...

I like this considering it can be made abundantly clear to DMs what these stats are for. XP is "XP Reward" and overall "Encounter Difficulty' (combat difficulty only still, but...) Challenge Rating (CR) is "Monster Level" and "Dungeon Level appropriateness" (and/iow PC level appropriateness...

To me, the new indie games take the approach of Blank Page to allow creativity to construct any shared story. Rules are there only to inspire, prepare, and help people share. Current D&D games take the approach of game systems to min/max, master, and powergame to high levels and build...

World saving (or at least world altering) adventures are going to be applicable to only the highest level characters. Thinking that stuff has to be part of every adventure is just seeing how the crazy-high-level foes have their fingers in a lot of pies. It isn't necessarily that everyone is a...

Descriptions happen in layers. Starting descriptions mean the players aren't actively searching an area. They only learn what they can sense passively. If mapping, then they are actively searching, but usually only distances for wall, floor, ceiling and other features. However, this may...

I believe old cities became cramped because they took over the role of castle in defense of the local population. We ran to the "leader" because he had a stone tower and we didn't. (And boy did he ever Lord it over us). ;p Cities had armies camped in them and/or walls to protect them. Maybe...

It strikes me that AD&D's Variable Encounter Ranges by Terrain would be a useful re-addition to play, if extremely short range combat is the norm. Visibility when traveling matters, especially if you believe monsters are after you and are smart enough to ambush (goblins ambush). Then you can...

1:1 is the balance of a monster with any other monster, even a PC Monster. But changing the bar for balancing is done easily enough. What's actually disconcerting is: -They still assume challenges (combat or otherwise) are not chosen by the players -NPCs are out of the game ("screen time")...

In D&D terms I would say Light Xbows (1-handed firing, 2-handed loading) are as damaging as a shortbow because of their bow length. Heavy Xbows (2-handed always, set to fire) are as damaging as a longbow, also because of bowlength. However, Xbows can be even bigger in the different sizes of...

Yeah, "A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe" is the best thing I know of too without asking a professional historical geographer. My answer is: It's going to be what you want it to be, but you can account for all kinds of stuff you want accounted for. So, cities are basically treated...

Fire used to be dealt with better. Fire would deal damage to its source until it was burned up or put out. Which meant players needed to act to put out flames if they didn't want it causing damage. Magical fire is different altogether. For a forest fire I'd check out potential fuel sources...

The law is a huge thing. Criminal law, law enforcement, due process, and the justice system are normally what people think of when it comes laws in RPGs. "What will get me arrested here?" sort of deal. But everything dealing with government is technically applicable. Look at English Common...

Playing the game of D&D well is advancing in the game through player skill. Like any game it's a test of each players' ability.Ours is all mental ability rather than physical prowess, but it's nothing to mock. The game is hard. D&D isn't supposed to rely on player skill when the dice are rolled.

Fluff-wise, what do you think a spell list is? There are a few different lists. 1. M-U character-specific lists defining the spells he or she has learned well enough to cast. 2. Ditto for Cleric spells, but learning occurs by wisdom rather than intelligence. 3. Group lists defining the current...

I'm interested in how Monster CR will relate to XP. Also how they are rating dungeon levels, treasure, magic items, and the like. XP gave a finer granularity for rating monsters than simply level, but they were still grouped in a particular span. This is strange, but I assume d4s, d6s and so on...

You are correct sir! But it's not just Tower Shields, which allow wielders to crouch behind them for Total Cover. Any and all environment which can afford a PC Total Cover can be used as well. Readying your action is a little harder. I *believe* 3.5 has discerning the type of spell being cast...