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Going through the First Edition MM I count: 8 fully exposed female breasts 6 somewhat obscured female breasts 2 depictions of female pubic hair 1 Centaur penis It seems to me that TSR considered their audience to be primarily adults. That book would never get published for D&D nowadays.

As a DM, my experience has been the opposite of the OP's. I was part of a weekly 4th Edition group at my FLGS (which is unfortunately closed as of today). As an occasional side game I suggested running an "Old School Sunday" once a month using Classic D&D (in its Rules Cyclopedia incarnation). I...

The shape of the next "big thing" in gaming depends on whether you are considering existing gamers or the larger public. The next "big thing" for the existing gamer population is likely to be some kind of smart phone app that functions as a combination automated character sheet, random number...

The point of much religion is, on a certain level, to make miracles more likely. So, miracles should occur more frequently for the pious than for the impious. They're a reward for behaving in accordance with the god's wishes. On the other hand, some miracles might really have no point other than...

For me, Magic is a matter of command and will, while Miracles can only be requested and accepted. The magician commands the spirits and forces of nature to do his will, while the priest only requests that his deity grant him a miracle. Magic is subject to laws and rules, albeit bizarre rules...

Nope. My Elves are androgynous, bisexual, polyamorous and spend much of their time strung out on drugs. They will will wage wars against each other (using human mercenaries as proxies) over issues of fashion or aesthetics. Their legal system is based on beauty - someone or something's legal...

My current Classic D&D campaign is heavily based on ancient Central Asia at the the time of the Silk Road. Humans are barbarians, or are just establishing city states ruled by tyrants. The Old Testament (especially Genesis and Judges), the Golden Bough, Clark Ashton Smith and Tanith Lee are the...

Sure, all of those things are technologically possible. But as the Copenhagen summit is demonstrating, politics will always get in the way, no matter how necessary or possible something is. In short, I'm not betting on human beings actually implementing any of the promising possibilities for...

Why not? There are plenty of real-world foods that are only edible after careful processing and/or cooking. Things that come to mind are nettles, and cassava. The shells of cashew nuts contains a very potent caustic agent, which is why they aren't sold unshelled. And then there's fugu... I...

I'm not a technophobe, but I don't understand why I would want an expensive electronic device to do the job that pen and paper does perfectly well? Also, pen and paper is greener, since trees are a renewable resource (and growing them on farms helps combat climate change by absorbing Carbon...

The Irish Hero/God Lugh was a wizard (in addition to being a warrior, poet, smith, musician, and scholor). The Paladin Malagigi (from the legends of Charlamagne) was a wizard who was also a knight. The actual medieval stories about Merlin are very well developed, and he goes through his own...

In 3rd, the DM always has the problem of Feats to think about. Any attempt to change procedures can invalidate one or more of the PCs carefully chosen Feats. For instance, giving any player a chance to hit multiple opponents (with severe penalties), because it would be dramatically appropriate...

I will admit that in my experience pre-WOTC D&D is much more sensitive to DM quality than WOTC D&D. In 3rd or 4th, a player is pretty much assured a fair to good game every time. Pre-WOTC can be truly awful when you have an awful DM. A good DM, however, can take pre-WOTC D&D to great places that...

Pre-WOTC D&D is definitely easier for the players, for the reason you state. In my experience, pre-WOTC D&D was also many times less stressful to DM, because the rules were a hodge-podge of unrelated sub-systems. If the DM forgot an official rule, it didn't really matter. He could make up a new...

I don't DM 4th Edition, but I have a "down-time" system that I use for Classic D&D and Castles & Crusades. When characters are in town, I ask the players to tell me how well their PCs are living. I expect them to live on a large scale, so if they want to be cheap they get to experience all the...

It was usual for painters and other artist to have apprentices, just like any other craftsman. And just like any other craftsmen, artists would use their apprentices to do the boring work involved in creating art (prepping canvases, painting solid fields of color, sculpting rough shapes out of...

Rules Cyclopedia D&D pretty much qualifies. In particular, dominion management and mass combat using the War Machine and Siege Machine are their own mini-games. You could easily play an entire series of games using the War Machine and never make any reference to dungeons, treasure, or even...

Something to remember is that in the ancient world and middle ages employers were responsible for feeding their workers. So any wages you paid were in addition to the food. The food had to be commensurate with the workers' social status. You could feed lower class laborers on onions, cabbages...

The main thing that keeps down the popularity of RPGs, in my experience, is prejudice against gamers. The overwhelming number of people won't play PnP RPGs because it means associating with people they've been trained to regard as social outcasts. That people want to game is proven by the...

Mixed bag. I played it for several months and enjoyed it, but not as much as Classic or 1st Edition. It seems tightly focused on a particular play-style consisting basically of linked tactical combats utilizing a menu-list of predetermined options and played out with miniatures. Fighting...