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The one time I played a paladin I stopped using my Detect Evil ability because I only ever came across one character who did not detect as evil. Mind you, my character had never tried Detect Evil on his wife.

The Five Good Emperors, for a start. And perhaps Perinax, though he was not a successful ruler.

Hammerhead has hit the nail right on the head. Don't let the 'master' bit in 'dungeonmaster' go to your head. You are playing a game with your friends, not bringing them up. In choosing between those options, keep sight of this: a game is not fun if the PCs are pushed around by powerful NPCs...

I'd just like to get a feel for how nothing your nothing is. Do you have a group to play with? Have any of them played before? Do any of them own the core book (Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, Monster Manual)?

I know from bitter experience that what Hjorimir writes is quite true. Back in the late '80s I inadvertently trained the players in my usual group to rely on the fact that if their characters got into trouble I would intervene in some way to save them--and not just from danger to their lives...

I would have liked to vote somewhere between "when it is dramatically appropriate" and "let the dice fall where they may". If player characters in my campaigns behave in ways that are dramatically appropriate they meet challenges that are dramatically appropriate, and then the dice falling...

Hear! Hear! the profusion of different monsters, spells, feats, class abilities etc. in D&D is in my opinion its most significant weak point. If DMs and other players didn't have to devote so much attention to mastering game detail they would have more cognitive effort available for interesting...

Isn't it the other way about? Herbivores (such as rabbits and goats) destroy vegetation and produce barren wastelands. Carnivores suppress herbivore population, and thus promote vegetation. The only exception I can think of off-hand is the destruction of the megafauna in Australia, where the...

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant "You [the GM] can run great adventures for [players whose characters are] the official detectives."

Nor do I. I find that political intrigue can be a good generator of mystery and motivator of action. But I don't much care for a game that focusses on the intrigue itself. Don't overlook public investigation! You can run perfectly good adventures for the official detectives.

True. But on the other hand a good campaign only results from the GM running material that he or she enjoys and is enthusiastic about. You have to find common ground with your players, not pander to them, nor evn compromise with them.

I may have guessed that he did, and intended a quip.

I don't blame them. When the protagonists are NPCs, I quit the game.

Does cruelty in the role of an adventure designer count? A cloak of poisonousness, with a scarab of death in the pocket. In a tournament modlue in which you lost a lot of victory point for leaving dead comrades on the map at sunset. Three parties each lost two characters to that little nasty.

That's not quite true. The game I favour (ForeSight) has rules for combat, it's true. Also for sneaking and hiding, patrolling and counter-patrolling, lying, recognising lies, persuasion, resisting being persuaded, seduction, resisting being seduced, lock-picking, penetrating electronic...

Are masterwork weapons +1 to damage now? That must really make that first +1 enhancement bonus suck: but you have to start with masterwork to enchant a weapon, don't you? Answer to your question: the first is much less effective against 10/+1 DR, but much cheaper.

Or "For clever twists we are prepared to pay. Stereotypes we can produce without your help."

I've play in such an adventure twice (once in fantasy, once in Call of Cthulhu), and I have run such adventures at least three times. And once I faked one of these by having an NPC's body taken over by a possessing spirit.

Mythusmage expressed this in terms that are more absolute than I might have used myself, but I agree with the thrust of his remarks. Game mechanics succinctly convey information about the game world, particularly about magnitudes. We all know that King Beowulf was pretty damned hard, because he...

Well, it's certainly not extreme in the sense that they could easily have more. I've often seen D&D parties better equipped with magic than that. Nevertheless, D&D might still have an extreme proliferation of magic in the sense that no other game and no popular fantasy literature or films gives...