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D&D has never been about providing a good story, but rather providing a good game. Games have the potential to result in boring episodes, like in lopsided successes or wins. Stories always have the timer on the bomb defused with 2 seconds left to go. This column simply supports how backward...

Percentile roll. I always like the God Call mechanic. Even if it was a house rule from back in the day. Get really, really lucky and maybe you get something to take notice. That may not necessarily be good if the PC's not aligned. Or you could roll poorly and attract the attention of something...

Fatigue is in OD&D for melee and running (sprinting) with penalties accruing after 3-5 rounds of each. Outdoor Survival rules in OD&D measured LLI (Life Level Index) for tracking food and water requirements for living creatures. There were multiple, even severe penalties for starvation and...

I really don't like the Check "system" of the new game, but I believe the game can survive losing it for something better. What I do like is the modularity of the new design and the spirit and inclusiveness being built in. Those are all positives and hopefully will allow broad entry for all...

<Loud applause> That was a very significant column for the years it lasted.

There used to be Caveman and Neanderthal. Those might fit?

That's true. You can customize the game with every iteration. Maybe we simply need to call it out in the DMG? How to build a new class? A new magic item? A new spell effect?

We need a new T-shirt: I FOUND PRINCE THROMMEL

The last few editions have stripped the game from the DMG and put it in the PHB. I'm hoping they do the opposite. The Player's Handbook should contain the very few rules everyone knows. Plus examples of play, lots of play advice and common strategies for players to otherwise try. Maybe some...

I miss the game being magical and mysterious from the players points of view. The Weapon vs. Armor Type rules. No skill system. Especially now the default "check" system which refers to...? has become the core game rule. Custom designs for whatever the players could express. Mechanics for...

What is the game of learning the language? For the following purposes I've assumed a text-only approach unless the language is stored orally somehow. Perhaps by blowing wind through pipes to create particular sounds? Or a series of Magic Mouth spells? For fine detail: Do the players collect...

What a strange mini-forum. Armor Class used to mean class of armor. Skin, leather, chain, metal plates. And equivalents. It's basically Hardness, but not as a damage buffer like in 3.x. Later games emulating D&D would use armor as a damage buffer and that works. New versions of D&D use it as...

I've been advocating for modules (and settings) where the timeline of the world is generated forward. At least for everything and everyone not the PCs. Then the players play the game changing what they do as they move into those places and times. But I agree adventures with plots for what the...

I think Kamikaze Midget nailed it in a big post up thread. Bards are everything in their own special way. Here's my take on it. Bards are artists and in that they are like the Arts. Art doesn't abide any other sphere of existence. To Art, art is everything. Combat? Obviously an art. Magic...

This is an interesting take. The core question for a Bard's spellcasting is: Is the source of effects arcane (inner plane) or divine (outer plane) or something completely different? I like the clerical bent with healing and emotion. Perhaps there could be a slight throwback to the Druidic...

ExploderWizard does a good job of explaining it. I've tried the same, but usually end up saying things like, "higher level monsters are found in lower numbers in higher dungeon levels with lower level treasures. Unlike lower level monsters who are found in higher number in lower dungeon levels...

D&D campaign setting books have to be a single point in time. That's the world the players begin in. It's up to them to change into something different, even if that means sitting around and watching as it changes itself. A setting with a timeline quits it from being a game as the player's...

Because I seem to have the time tonight... Most spells aren't combat spells in D&D (not that wizard players don't try to make them all so), but the ones that are are show stoppers. They can flat out end the encounter. A well placed fireball, acid cloud, iron wall, sleep, hypnosis, it all...

Feel free to play it however you want. As I first posted I've been pondering over this one myself, so it ultimately makes sense for my game. The "Our allies share a language" and "So do our enemies" is very useful, but it has not made sense for me when Alignment shifts. Or how high level...

I should point out group initiatives allow players to sequence themselves so they act in the order they want to. That doesn't mean the PCs whats and whens the Caller declares for the round resolve themselves as declared. But that's part of the game. Players sharing initiative can have several of...