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I thinks its going to be Planescape, incorporating aspects of Spelljammer (Spelljammer ships traversing the planes, etc.).

For D&D, the "Golden Years" were the early 80s. D&D at the moment is culturally insignificant. The average person on the street is not even aware that people still play D&D. If you ask them what they know about D&D, to them it's something that people did in the 80s. If they have an opinion on...

I consider the features of Old School D&D to be: 1. Challenges designed to be overcome by player skill. 2. Real-world knowledge more important than formal game rules. 3. Modular rules that can be altered or ignored when necessary. 4. Enjoyment of game play more important than fulfillment of...

There is one factor about play during the actual "old-school" period of the early eighties that is seldom mentioned in these kinds of discussions. There were many more players than there are now, but a much larger percentage of the players bought few or no role playing books or materials at...

A suggestion would be something like "Tezuka-style" or "Astro Boy". Osamu Tezuka (the creator of Astro Boy) is the man who pioneered that style of Japanese art, supposedly influenced by the animated films of Disney. Personally, I see echoes of Betty Boop in the style as well.

I prefer the view of Alignment actually articulated in the 1st Edition books - that Alignment is NOT just a description of how your charcter acts, but rather a designation of what cosmic side they are on. A Chaotic Neutral charcter is not Chaotic Neutral because they act a particular way, but...

There's a well-known (at least to old-schoolers) cartoon in the 1st Edition DMG that depicts a group of fantasy adventurers playing just such a game.

A technique I like is to take real-life names and just change the vowels while keeping the consonants. It's gives some interesting results. For example: David Smith become Dovad Smuth. Amy Brenner becomes Imo Brunnir Here are some place name examples: Green Lake becomes Graon Liko Long River...

Honestly, the biggest culture/generational gap I've noticed isn't about the books different gamers have read, but the difference between Metal D&D and Non-Metal D&D. In the 80s, a very large percentage of D&D players were also involved in the Heavy Metal scene, and to great extent played D&D...

I started playing D&D in Northeastern NJ during the 80s, in a time and place when it was heavily associated with the Heavy Metal scene. Having parties comprised of Chaotic, Neutral, and Evil characters was the expected default style of play for most people I knew. It wasn't until recently that...

1) Rules Lawyers. I kike a fast and loose game. Too much arguing about rules, or looking up rules, at the table is a major turn off. 2) Too much emphasis on optimization. The process of mechanical Character Optimization gets boring for me very quickly. I do NOT want to spend hours figuring out...

I am a firm believer that the base classes in a class-based fantasy role-playing system should reflect pre-existing archetypes and tropes, and only pre-existing archetypes and tropes. Otherwise, it's pointless to use classes at all. The advantage of a class-based system is the ability to get...

Another possibility might be influence from Lovecraft. In "The Cats of Ulthar" and "Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" cats are actually a highly intelligent race that can fly through space. Gygax always claimed Lovecraft as a major influence on D&D.

Medieval bestiaries do ascribe a high level of intelligence to lynxes. It's mentioned in the context of the creature deliberately burying it's urine, so that people will not able to harvest the magical stone that the urine becomes. I don't know if that's what Gary had in mind, because there's no...

Nyarlathotep. Sure he's going to eventually help destroy the world, but for now, he's got real style. I've also been reading a lot of Clark Ashton Smith lately, which naturally makes me somewhat partial to Tsathoggua.

Excellent point!

I can say that in my experience high-lethality systems (such as Classic D&D and Call of Chthulhu) do encourage role-playing because players must find non-combat solutions to problems. In Call of Cthulhu this seems intentional, while in Classic D&D I thinks it's an unintentional side-effect of...

I have no problem with magic being a science, so long as it's weird, forbidden science. What I hate is bourgeois magic, with enchanted items reduced to the level of modern consumer electronics. I dislike happy, well adjusted wizards completely integrated into society. I don't want the local...

I currently DM a Rules Cyclopedia game, for a group that also plays 4th Edition. I also CK'd a Castles & Crusades campaign which is currently on hiatus, but scheduled to re-start. The RC campaign is set in the ancient history of the C&C campaign. I'll play any version of D&D (or C&C), but I'll...

My personal conception of Traditional Fantasy was formed by mythology, folktales, legends, and history. That's what I read as a child, but almost no mainstream Fantasy fiction. I tried to get through Tolkien a few times, and found him very boring. A could sit and read a treatise on the...