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Torg The Torg roleplaying game (by West End Games, I believe) actually had a skill called "Science!". It was for mad scientists for the 1940s pulp reality to create their radium pistols with. Ken

You know, another way of dealing with Sunder is to simply make it easy to repair magic items. That way you can gain a tactical advantage by sundering the orc barbarian's magic greataxe, but you don't miss out on selling it for 8000gp later. I ran a campaign a few years ago where the high cost...

Wow, Merric, thanks for summarizing this. 4E just won a few more points in its favor for me. I think the game will really be helped if 1) megadungeons are more viable 2) pcs can reasonably engage tougher monsters for a couple of rounds and then run away I also really like his explanation of...

teleporting In general, I am coming around to liking most of the 4E changes I see. But I really, really dislike the proliferation of low-level and racial teleport abilities. In my opinion, anytime you disappear from one place and reappear somewhere else, that should imply big, powerful magic...

You really don't want to play a bard/beguiler. You want to pick one class or the other, and then branch into the other's abilities with feats. Otherwise, your character will suck in relation to the characters of the other players. Ken

great change I really like this change. It especially helps the rogue. In 3.5, it's really foolish to play a rogue without darkvision if you plan on doing any sneaking around. No humanoids should have darkvision, period. The ones that live underground can use torches or glow-worms or...

schedules Yeah, oddly enough I am thinking that game design is a lot like software engineering in this regard. Trust me, nothing gets done quicker by adding a bunch of new people to the mix. It pains me to say this, but in the long run WoTC is probably making the right decision. Getting the...

If playtesters are forbidden from saying they are playtesters, then the only way to tell who is a playtester is for all non-playtesters to admit it. By process of elimination, anyone who doesn't say they aren't a playtester can be assumed to be one. I'll start: I'm not a playtester.

Bullywug, Myconid, Iron Cobra

No thank you please. One of the better things about D&D 3 is that all weights and measurements are done in easy and well-known units. No more measuring scale in inches, which sometimes translates to yards or feet; no more measuring spell durations in turns instead of minutes; no more wacky 12...

Here's how I handle it: Languages. Characters have separate ranks in each language, and characters can spend skill points to acquire ranks in languages. 1 rank implies ability sufficient to communicate with others who are taking time to speak slowly. If you are using the listen skill to try...

I won't boycott WOTC because ... they put out good products that I think are worth the price. How much simpler could it be?

In Living Greyhawk, everybody living speaks Common. What you really want are the languages are most likely to be found written on the wall of some dusty tomb: Baklunish, Ancient Flan Oeridian, Old Suloise, Ancient Pick up these four + Draconic and you'll be 75% covered.

My campaign is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.

My version of reference sheets (customized for Living Greyhawk) is attached.

Pygmies In addition to some of the races described above, I used pygmies in my homebrew Heroic Greece campaign. From Bullfinch's Mythology: Here is the description I used in my handout

Let me make the point with an example. Suppose I am creating a new character with a 25 point buy, weighted per the DMG. I can choose between a human (no ability score modifierd), elf (+2 Dex, -2 Con), and a nonstandard half-elf (+1 Dex, -1 Con). Suppose I am aiming for an archer-type, and I...

But, by the same token, odd modifiers also prevent you from improving strengths and disguising weaknesses. For instance, if you have Dex 14 Con 14 and if my Alt.Elves got +1 Dex and -1 Con, then you could get Dex 15 Con 13 For a net decrease. But, you might reasonably interject, no...

I've seen it asserted many times that even numbered racial adjustments are a canonical example of good (d20) game design. As I understand it, the standard rationale is that if there was an ability score adjustment that was +/-1, players would buy an odd ability score for those abilities, thus...

Most frost giants carry frost weapons for the same reason that most people take levels of commoner, most orcs take a level of warrior, most ogres wield clubs (instead of swords), many clerics take the healing domain, most dragons like to lie on piles of gold (instead of spending it on defensive...