Search results

This made me laugh and choke on water. It truly was amazing that the colour coding article made it to the front page, but then again, there wasn't an awful lot of real crunch coming out of Wizards on 4E at the time. But still, I would have to agree with the others and say that the scoopers...

Oh, I actually agree. The Great Wheel isn't necessary for all those things. What is necessary is all sorts of "afterlives" from multiple, conflicting faiths stacked up in such a way that people are aware of the contradictions and strangeness of the so-called afterlife. Something analogous to...

That's the thing though, your Planescape games didn't need to focus on Sigil. Sure, most did because of the factions and all the doors to everywhere, but at one point I had my Planescape game based mostly in the Upper Planes, and in particular Mount Celestia and Bytopia. They didn't stay...

That would be interesting - seeing some of the old Planescape alumni working on it. Sadly though, I suspect the folks calling the shots won't want that. The 4E team seems to really want to put their stamp on things and make a clean break from the past. Perhaps you're right and we'll just...

They are actually going to come out with 4E Planescape after they demolished the Great Wheel cosmology and changed so much about things planar? I'm very surprised. I'm also thinking this may be something to get me to actually look at 4E at some point. I'm curious what they'll do with it...

Back when Gary was still running the show at TSR, he was very vigorous in protecting what he considered was TSR's intellectual property. Even within the game products of the day, and also in much of his writing in Dragon magazine, there was lots of talk about how bad it was to use non-official...

I don't see how it is all that different. If Blizzard slips a deadline, how is that any worse than Wizards slipping a deadline? The difference in my mind is that Blizzard has a large cadre of software designers and programmers whereas this is not WotC's area of expertise so they simply...

While I completely agree with you on the issue of multiple platform support, it's possible that they simply don't have sufficient depth or experience to deal with multiple platforms properly. In a perfect world, they would think of these things up front, but I suspect their web/internet...

I hear this all the time, but you know what, I really liked a lot of what came out of TSR at that time. We liked having all those different settings, variant rules like the C&T and Skills and Powers. It was an exciting time - at least with our group. All of the variety was good for the...

No, you are right. Open doesn't have to be viral. If we're dipping into software license pool, the GPL would be considered viral. Whereas something like Berkeley/BSD license would be an example of a non-viral open source license. However, I do not think the GSL as we understand it so far...

A seven figure development figure isn't all that surprising. Sure, it might sound like big stuff for the PnP RPG world, but consider the number of designers and developers involved and then cost out their salaries for the time they were involved - add in cost of project managers, brand managers...

Take my gaming group for example. Occasionally we like to scratch an itch and try something else for a bit. If that game is also d20, then when we are done scratching that itch, it will be easier to come back "home" to D&D. Fantasy flavoured games are our default resting spot, so if all our...

Some of the products mentioned there are settings and adventures, which certainly do feed back into supporting the core D&D area. If some of the people playing in these third party settings continue to buy various WoTC 'crunch' products (the Complete series, Weapons of Legacy, etc)., then...

There is a small risk for them of a backlash if some gamers are put off by this and simply refuse to move to the new system. But the risk is likely quite small because I suspect that most D&D gamers aren't fully aware of the OGL, the new GSL, and the implications of the restrictions in the new...

With 3.0 and 3.5 (and earlier versions as well), I did buy an extra copy of the PHB for just the reasons stated. It was a good idea for our group because it saved a lot of people from sitting around waiting for the PHB to be passed around to them. As far as 4E goes, no such plans. I don't...

Yes, I am quoting myself :), but I couldn't help but think of Elan from the Order of the Stick singing one of his inspirational songs "Heal, heal, heal today, time to get up again to play" or some such to inspire Roy and company to "heal".

It's still essentially the same thing as my earlier example. The power to heal a person is coming from within the person being healed. The divine influence of a cleric's healing spell or touch is now just a catalyst (or inspiration). And as such, it represents a radical departure from past...

I've been trying to think of some kind of in-game justification for this particular healing mechanic and the only thing I've been able to come up with is that it is somehow tied to the inner strength of the individual. When a cleric is involved, all they are really doing is serving as a...

If I ever do run a 4E campaign, you can be sure I will. ;)

If it comes down to stating creds, I've been administering and designing/programming on-line Fantasy RPGs since back in 1991, so I know something about what I'm talking about when I see design elements that look like something designed to fit well in a computer simulation. But that was never my...