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When I was younger, in my late teens and twenties, I was heavily into immersive role-playing and telling sophisticated stories that revolved around deep human emotions and tragedies. Then people I knew started dying. Struggled with real addictions. Got divorced. I started having those REALLY...

It's on page 43. The sole, single, and only legitimate use of the word "gish".

1.) 7 players, plus myself 2.) Yes. 3.) Not currently. 2 of the players may be DMIng for the group in the future. 4.) 6 men, 2 women. 5.) There's a really good boardgame store store (with game space) around the block from me. No RPG-focused store in town right now. 6.) 100% homebrew. 7.)...

Hey, at least its not a Bangkok Coke-bottle-trick rogue! And if you don't know what that is, don't try to find out. You're better off not knowing.

This image: http://info.lib.uh.edu/sca/digital/beast/pages.html?id=91 from Edward Topsell's "The History of Four-Footed Beasts And Serpents" is the inspiration for the AD&D Lamia. It's not ancient Greek, but early 17th century. The same book contains AD&D's scaly bull-like Gorgon.

There is a problem with increasing crop yields by magic: who is going to harvest all the extra crops? The crop yield of historical pre-industrial farms is enough to keep the farmers working from dawn to dusk from spring to autumn. In winter, there is animal slaughtering and meat curing to be...

Speak the words, brother! Amen!

Try this wonder, only recently made public: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-495538/Eighth-wonder-world-The-stunning-temples-secretly-carved-ground-paranormal-eccentric.html

Medieval population densities for urban areas tended towards about 20,000 to 30,000 per square mile. Yes, 20,000 to 30,000 per square mile. People lived on top of each other, and whole families lived in one room. The density of the towns was due to many factors, including the ease of defending...

Some other medieval urban unpleasantness... There are no flush toilets, so you have to use a chamberpot. It gets emptied every morning, usually by dumping it into the street. Walking under upper-story windows in the early morning morning is asking for trouble... In any event there will be a lot...

To the average person, playing a RPG is "playing D&D". People buy it because of its name. I've said it before, WOTC could have introduced a new race of intelligent dinner plates in the PHB and the book would still sell. They could have simply re-packaged any of the pre-3rd edition rules, and the...

You can't explain it. Don't try. "Being marked" has no relationship to anything that happens in a real fight. It's bad gamist design (and yes, there's such a thing as good gamist design). Sorry, somebody had to say it.

WOTC pretty much lost me as a customer once I realized that it was easier for me to do my taxes than write a 3rd Edition game session. And trying to DM that beast was an exercise in frustration. Nothing about 4th Edition has convinced me that its anything other than a tactical miniatures...

Rules Cyclopedia. A complete version of classic D&D, including everything from mass combat to becoming a god. Can be run fast and loose, or pretty darn crunchy (if you us the optional weapon mastery and skill systems). The art aside, probably one of the best RPG books ever put out by anybody...

My understanding is that the "Vancian" magic system was a always a part of D&D as published, and was deliberately created to distance D&D magic-users as much as possible from real-world occultism. On account of their personal beliefs, neither Gygax nor Arneson wanted to promote or condone the...

I'm a 1st Ed AD&D DM who was an early adopter of 3rd Edition because I recognized the flaws in AD&D and hoped the D20 rules would create a faster, more streamlined gameplay. Boy was I wrong! I play C&C now because I think it combines the best things about AD&D (the ability to houserule and...

In AD&D and C&C, Fighters (and only Fighters) get multiple attacks per round against 1 HD creatures. An AD&D fighter can attack ordinary humans (including your basic man-at-arms) and humanoids as many times a round as his Level. It allows the DM to replicate fiction where a great warrior takes...

As a DM I dislike miniatures beacuse I feel they draw the player's attention away from the faces of the DM and their fellow players, thereby decreasing interpersonal interaction and roleplaying. I dislike miniature-centric rules because they reduce the dynamic chaos of combat into an orderly...

In my experience mechanical attempts to encourage role-playing, such as XP awards and the such, tend to make players unhappy. They resent it when other players get awards that they feel they deserved, and eventually start feeling like they have to jump through the DM's hoops. The first thing I...

It's certainly the way I feel. Prior to 3rd edition, I never gamed with ANYONE who used miniatures, or even wanted to use them. 3rd Edition's practical necessity for miniatures seems have become an absolute need for them in 4th Edition, and that's one of the two deal breakers for me (the other...