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I think ad hoc just means no underlying system which is the definition of exceptions based design. You create an element and you figure out if it is workable by play testing. Many things throughout the life of D&D were just arbitrary decisions. Is fly better or equal to fireball? Well it...

I'm not sure I understand this answer. Where you responding to my post?

It would be handy but I don't see platinum pieces being minted at that rate of exchange. Unless prices are radically increased. For example if 1 a silver piece is a days wage then 1 PP is 1,200,000 dollars. We don't have million dollar bills for a reason. Even if a days wage is 10sp (which...

I am not disagreeing with anything you say but let me add this... I use the term gold piece to mean gold piece standard weight. There may be all kinds of coins from different nations that can be expressed in gold piece weight. Same for silver or electrum or copper. It can be fun to find...

I think there is a fantasy trope where at some point a wizard has to exceed in innate power a fighter. A man with a sword can only go so far and if you bring magic down to that level you make magic boring and if you bring martial prowess up to magical levels you make it wuxia. So as a goal, I...

I wouldn't have guessed that but I have no data one way or the other.

I think when designing adventures the DM should do a design that initially sets up the bad guys based on what they'd know about the world. Their experience of it. After the PCs engage though, I fully expect the bad guys, if intelligent, to change up their tactics. It's why my groups know that...

This is very interesting. A very VTT driven person. What percentage of today's players would you think are of similar thinking? I could go either way I think.

Did you perceive I was arguing against any of that? In fact if you read what I said, I was saying exactly that. I do think though that a DM has to learn or his campaign will struggle. So some guides on how his group might go off the beaten path power wise would be a good idea. I like that 5e...

I wouldn't say that. A path where you go from 1st to 20th? Absolutely not. I've never ran that sort of campaign. I realize the concept is popularized because of Paizo but I still wouldn't say a continuous unbroken path is normal by any means.

The fact is even if you rolled entirely randomly, which I don't, you would have plenty of desirable magic items. The reason I don't roll randomly is that my dungeons are thematic and as such the items tend to follow the theme. If one of my groups really had their hearts set on a particular...

I think this is why I don't worry overmuch about CR. I never worried about "expected" magic item levels and I always created adventures suitable to there general level and ability. My group was high skill so any CR WOTC would use would be too weak with magic items or not but I gave out a fair...

I found 4e was written encounter wise to be way too easy for my groups. I was talking about systematization. 4e was exceptions based. 3e was a broad system. The Designers complained of all the tinkering they had to do to get their monsters to adhere to the demands of the 3e system. And...

In these words, you haven't said anything that is not in accord with the kind of verisimilitude I seek. I just seek a world that seems real. We know it isn't but it feels that way. And what you do above is how you build up that feeling in my opinion.

And really if I followed the monster guideline rules all the time some of my groups would have been bored in almost any edition. A DM does need to understand the play skill of his groups when building an entire campaign let alone a dungeon. I do think over time if you play in my campaign your...

So it wasn't about players cleric powers cannot be taken by their God?

We don't agree on fun that is clear. I have a lot of people who like my gaming style and I like running it. I wish D&D supported us better but they don't. That is really the entire discussion. I'm one of those just saddened that new players of D&D aren't even given the chance at a style...

I agree most traditional players have abandoned D&D and most players only know 5e and 5.5e. 65% ongoing just aren't that worried about rules. That was true in 1978, 1990, and 2001. I think 4e woke a few of them up but still most of that mass of players are just along for the ride. They like...

If I had not already decided to ignore this edition as I did 5e and wished I did 4e, that would put me over the top.

What is fun and engaging varies between people is all I can say. The fear the undead invoked in my PCs cannot be easily duplicated without those rules. And while you may or may not be in this group so don't take it as I'm saying you are but there exists a group of what I would call entitled...