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I agree wholeheartedly. Though honestly, the non-weapon proficiency system grated on me like nails on a blackboard even back when we were still playing 2e. I can't imagine anything that would make me want to play that system again, short of a huge pile of cash...and that only because I could...

Conversely, I hate when everything has to be done through in-character, first-person conversation. Anyone else ever play in a game where they ran into this? PLAYER: I head down to the market and buy some rations for the trip. GM: Okay, you walk up to a stall heaped high with food of all kinds...

When I was in fourth grade, my school's gifted program was an hour-long mini-class you'd leave your normal class to attend. They ran original red-box D&D for a while (at least a month, I think), but I wouldn't count it as the version I started with, because it really didn't grab me. Maybe it...

Honestly? Human. I mean, you get more skill points and an extra feat, and I love playing highly-skilled characters. I've never even considered any of the other races seriously; in fact, the only nonhuman character I've played was basically done on a dare. What can I say? I'm a skill addict...

...and you're playing weekly, or at least more than once a month?? :\ Dude, you're BEYOND stingy. You're the Ebenezer Scrooge of GMs. I'm surprised you aren't just kicking your players and shouting "HUMBUG!" at them instead of awarding experience points. ;) Still, I guess that's kind of a...

Oh, it's not so bad. Coolthulhu inflicts 1d6 SAN loss if you don't pass the Sanity check, but only 1 SAN if you do. Just make sure your shotgun's loaded and that someone knows how to draw an Elder Sign, and you'll be fine. --

A little exaggeration for effect, but the complaint is genuine enough. For example: Why does it have to be the last heir of a lost dynasty? Why can't it be a charismatic and good-hearted general who was cast out of the tyrant's army and is now trying to muster up a resistance movement? Why...

This describes one of our former players fairly accurately. Even when we'd do the usual routine for character creation (everyone gets together and talks out what the party's overall goals are, what character ideas they have, and how to connect everyone together), she'd just nod and contribute...

Our group shared items, too, though not for "everyday" obstacles like traps and so on. But you'd better believe that every time someone had been level-drained, whoever had the best resistance-granting items would pass them over to the drained character for the next day's saving throw, and in...

I'd say the odds are good that the "less involved" players would, if you asked, point out that they don't have enough free time to spend on keeping you informed about what their characters want, to call you several times during the week to ask questions, and so on. And also pretty good odds...

Ugh. Whereas with a Golden Age lurking in the background, you can have epic struggles like "prevent Osdnaos from reawakening the ancient evil that ended the golden age!", right? ;) Seriously, though, if things are as good as they've ever been, then what you aspire to is to make them better...

My most-hated traditional fantasy convention hasn't changed from the last time this topic came around. It's that damn "Golden Age of Magic and Heroes." You know, how years and years ago magic was everywhere and all-powerful and there were flying cities and life was SO MUCH BETTER until the...

All that means is that now your players have to trust you to accurately present the scale of those challenges, and set them out there in a reasonably consistent way. If they approach an encounter cautiously to gauge whether it's something they can handle or not, they need to know that their...

Huh. Weird. Me, I try to keep the GM informed about what I'm planning to do with my character, and about the things I really enjoyed in previous sessions. I like giving the GM enough information to be able to actually make plans in advance for how to deal with what we're going to do in the...

And some day, I hope to be a blasphemer! -- it's good to have goals

I'm not so sure about that. Eliminating two of the most annoying signature characters from the setting can only be a good thing, in my opinion. ;) Besides, as far as "treating the canon with respect" goes, I'd have to say that's trumped by the "you bought it, it's yours" rule. Seriously...

This isn't a bad idea at all, if you have the time for it. And trust me, it also helps to TELL YOUR PLAYERS ABOUT THIS. Start off the next session by saying "Hey, I like running a game for you people, but honestly, it's really hard to deal with eight players. Like when you all decide to split...

Usually Wisdom or Strength are the first stats to go on the chopping block for me. Wisdom tends to lose out a little more often, but only a little. I don't know why, really. I like Wisdom. I like the skills that use it, I like the saving throw that uses it. But when it comes down to the...

Our group is always short on clerics. The thing is, the people in our group who don't mind playing clerics (from a strictly roleplaying perspective) hate managing the clerical spell list and consequently don't have much fun with them. The people who don't mind managing spell lists hate playing...

I let them. And then later on, when they're not around, I grin like a fiend, swear a little bit, think about all the other things that will change as a result of what they did, and then, finally, I think to myself "I AM THE COOLEST PERSON WHO EVER RAN A GAME AND MY PLAYERS F-CKING ROCK."...