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As I noted in my post, WotC did not originally authorize translations of 5e. Hobby Japan did a translation of the Basic Rules out of the goodness of its own heart (and probably hoping to regain the license). Hobby Japan did get the license from Gale Force 9 in 2017, and then released...

Well, I don't know if Riggs was aware of it when he started his research, but I imagine he was floored to find that Nesmith not only had a hand in Dragonlance, and wrote the Ravenloft campaign setting, but also went on to be the lead designer for freaking Skyrim. Nesmith doesn't have the name...

To be accurate, Japan was originally introduced to D&D in 1985 through BECMI, using the original design and layout, by a company called Shinwa. They did well for a while, helped by such tie-in media as "replay" stories in magazines and the Lodoss novels/anime, but they were a victim of their...

Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of the case. Basically, Apple argued that the entire "look and feel" of the GUI was copyrightable. The court didn't agree and required the infringing elements be "virtually identical." Both parties agreed that a jury trial was not needed giving this ruling...

But the rationale for OGL support in the new iteration has not changed from when they decided to do it for 5e. For good or for ill, D&D was released until the world in 2000. When they tried to take it back with 4e, they inadvertently created their biggest competitor. I expect the pitch during 5e...

Windows 95? Apple sued Microsoft after the release of Windows 2.03 in 1988. (It was the first Windows with overlapping windows.) They lost, but it was pretty obvious and understood by all that Windows 3.x took its cues from the Macintosh OS. Windows 95 was merely the perfected expression of that.

To be honest, @hawkeyefan 's experience strikes me not as a case of MMI, or railroading, or even of anyone doing anything wrong, but as an example of the friction inherent in RPGs. There are a number of things both players and DMs (and the rules!) can do to reduce this friction, but I don't...

My rank linguistic pedantry has led to a discussion on caster/martial disparity and multiclassing. This is certainly one of the D&D threads.

In fairness, while the DM saying “No” is the emblematic result of MMI, in practical terms what people are complaining about is the DM adjudicating the attempt in such a way as to render even “success” as non-beneficial or even harmful, making even Yes-es turn in No-es. For example, allowing the...

The material in the 5e SRD that was released under the OGL is open in perpetuity. WotC can't claw it back. The only way for WotC to "cancel" the OGL for the next iteration of the game is to make significant changes to the game play, like replacing feats with 4e-type powers, and then not...

They are biased because they are biased. They have an inherent selection bias. You can get results from such a sample, but that usually involves various statistical analyses to demonstrate that any differences are unlikely to be result of random chance. And even then, any study that involved...

It’s just so crazy. Lorraine Williams had a meeting with Christopher Tolkien that went like this: Tolkien Estate: So we hear you would like the Lord of the Rings role-playing game license. This seems very possible. TSR: Yes, and in addition to the role-playing game, we want to publish new LOTR...

I like the idea of bloodied as a trigger. I do not like the idea of bloodied as a condition. I do not want to see a return of the 4e Christmas tree, and I’m already leery about the return of Slowed.

I will be satisfied if the old adventure content in compatible with the new core books and new adventure content is more or less compatible with the old core books. I don't expect slight math tweaks in character generation or monsters to significantly effect bounded accuracy. I don't mind a...

FWIW, I disagree with tetrasodium's take on the DMG. As I indicated above, 5e is not really "rulings not rules", except in as much as it eschews hard coded rules (like 3.x) in favor of a more generalized resolution system (ability checks). It does note that the rules (particularly the dice) are...

FWIW, the 5e DMG doesn't particularly address power dynamics, probably because it doesn't see exactly see itself as a GM-resolution based game (thought of course it can certainly be argued that it is). The assumption is that when a player states what they want to do, it will be either a) covered...

Here's the web archive of Cook's review of 3.5. The money quotes are, They jumped the gun for short term sales (both for 3.5 and 4e), but the original idea was 3e in 2000, 3.5 in 2005, and 4e in 2010. As they saw it, the Core Books were the main sellers (one reason why Dance urged the OGL, to...

After reading that book, I didn’t fault Arneson for his lawsuits. D&D was created from his idea, and he had a contract. What I did come to understand, more than before, was that as innovative as Arneson (indeed, all the Twin Cities crew) was, his idea would never have become available to the...

My rule is to give Inspiration whenever my players inspire me. Likewise, ad/disad comes up a lot in our games because it’s my go-to when I need to make a ruling.

I voted “Other” because I am unsure about the premise. The DM in D&D requires trust because they are the arbiter/referee of the game. If the players do not have faith in their rulings, the game will quickly go south. There is no commensurate trust necessary for players, other than the basic...