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Glide rocker. Sweet. My prayers for a healthy delivery for all concerned, Old One.

I think there is some merit in all the suggestions so far. To clarify some parts of my agenda: 1. I actually love NPC classes, and have a souped-up expert (gets feats every four levels, mainly for skill focus at +3 or +2/+2), and a "higher powered" version called the scholar who gets fighter...

Consider this stolen. Good work.

I share the joy of the NPC classes, and don't see this variation (if I ever actually use it) as a substitute for that. My primary focus was to provide a bit more depth for some of the longer-lived races. I've always wondered what elves have been doing for 90 years that makes them the equal of...

I've been toying around with the following idea: I'm not sure if its a good one. The gist: allow players to add years to starting age in exchange for skill ranks to flesh out background. For example, Bob the fighter spent years working it his father's forge before he mastered the martial arts...

I had a 12 page house rule section (I run some serious variant rules--that hand out didn't even include my magic mods, which I worked out with the one wizard in the group) and an 8 page campaign handout. What I made sure to do was label the sections in the background handout clearly, and begin...

Other factors to consider would be the metaphysical, social, and historical contexts. Metaphysically, you might ensure some conflict by having higher (steam era) technology and magic act as a zero-sum game: the more pervasive technology (and technological thinking) becomes, the less powerful...

I'm enjoying the Moorcock-esque feel here. I look forward to reading more.

The canpaign I run actually has all pregenerated characters. I made up eight characters, complete with backgrounds tailored for the specific setting, and allowed the players to pick one (with only 6 players, I wanted to have some room for choice). I did this for several reasons, not least of...

A very good book relevant to this subject is Life in a Medieval City by Gies (sp?). It's a very well written account of a city that hosted an annual fair in Medieval France. It describes life in a merchant's household as well as other mundane details of city life at the time.

First, let me say fantastic responses all. I have been very fond of political campaigns lately, and even have my long time players (usually rather fond of hacking and slashing) now really getting into sessions of eavesdropping and negotiating. First, some macro suggestions: In addition to...

One suggestion they had on the Middle Earth d20 project was to require all spellcasters to multiclass, with no more than half their levels in a spell casting class. That would make the effective caster level of anyone only 10th level, with repurcussions for the entire "magical economy." That is...

You may also want to increase the effectiveness and duration of some of the buff spells (and cross list them from cleric spells, perhaps) to create some kind of melee ability. Come to think of it, you might consider cross listing nearly all of the divine spells into arcane. I like the idea of...

My initial impression is to be pleased by its simplicity. I am slightly worried that it might serve to bog down combat-- you not only have separate wound and damage rolls, you add at least one save roll to every successful hit. Has that proven to be a burden in testing? This also might...

Let me begin by saying I've always been a goal-oriented DM myself. I think one big difference between a pleasant cruise through interesting country and being railroaded has to do with pacing--do the players have time to follow a few interesting digressions or not on the way to armageddon (or...

As others have pointed out, you should always emphasize religious differences and NPC attitudes based on region and other factors. If you keep playing out various atittudes, your players will become more sensitive to it. You should also try to lavishly develop and describe whatever aspects you...

I have only a few cities above 50,00 because of a design decision tha there are no large domesticated animals in this world. Without horses and oxen (or their equivalents), transport of bulk materials in much more costly and usually limited to waterways. This would mean that most cities would be...

I usually sign letters (you know, those old fashioned things you write on paper and send through the post office) "pax nunc." Simple Latin: peace now. My first name is Will. Back (ages ago) when I first was allowed to actually pick my own email address, I combined these into "willpax." It...

I use high diplomacy and intimidate skills (with successful checks) as a license to intentionally create misperceptions for my players. A diplomacy check will produce lots of "He looks pretty sincere" side comments and such, while I will intentionally exagerrate the combat prowess of people who...

First, I agree wholeheartedly with those who say that a detailed social world (that the players understand) is a must for a roleplaying-intensive adventure. I try to work with the players to flesh out background--and this will inlcude giving them an understanding of what they know, how others...