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Basically, yes. The assumption is that only a select few can handle being a DM and it is not fun unless you are one of the special people who can enjoy it. It just seems very elitist to me. The game doesn't need to be as complicated and onerous as you detail. You are defining an set of...

This is kind of what I've been alluding to in wanting something that makes DM'ing easier to pick up. Being a DM requires none of the things you listed. All one needs to be a DM is to be able to provide an interesting environment for players to explore. It doesn't have to be grand plot lines and...

The one things older editions had was morale rules and reaction rules. They kind of act as an equalizer. So you don't have encounter design rules, but you kind of have a series of safety valves that keep things in check. My guess is people didn't use these rules back in the day, and as a...

Yeah you are probably right. No one in my group really wants to run. I do occasionally get a 'I don't think I can handle it' response when I suggest a friend takes the reins. I don't own the Essentials set yet, but it looks like a good idea. I think there needs to be a reset of expectations in...

OSR games can definitely do the dungeon crawl, but yeah not so much hack and slash. In OSR games you don't want to hack and slash, you want to carefully plan your combats and use clever play to stack the deck in your favor. To support this, most OSR games feature rules for Reactions and Morale...

100%. The Meetup group I'm in keeps gaining new members. The problem is there are too few DMs who run games. I run as many as I can handle. I think more people need to run games. Grab a module or dungeon and go for it. I think there should be something that makes the entry into DMing easier...

No idea other than what is posted above. I assume characters that don't speak the same language can't understand each other (each language is different enough to be in-interpretable). So Common and Undercommon are two completely different languages. A lot of times I do make a 1 in 6 roll to...

So I think this conversation may have got off to the wrong foot a little. If you thought that my post was an insult to you, I apologize I didn't intend that. My point was more addressing the assertion that running a game based on rulings somehow means you can't have an objective game. My...

Oh they most certainly do. I still play them (I run a B/X game every Tuesday to a full table). I enjoy them. I'm perfectly happy running and playing B/X and its clones. They work perfectly fine for me. I don't know why you have to come in and tell me the game i enjoy is old and busted or I...

I've also played D&D since the early 80's. The one thing to note, is that all of what you say about people abandoning the game... they are already served. For those who have moved on from this, there are multitudes of versions of D&D that support the style of play that those people enjoy. The...

This isn't really the case at all. Granted older edition games require a little more from the DM than modern games. Mostly because they often have to make rulings to cover for things the rules don't cover. This is a feature because it allows more open ended actions and choices for the players...

The fun of OSR is in exploring a challenging and dangerous environment with only your wits and skill as a player to protect you. Your character is fragile at first level... you can't rely on the numbers on the sheet to protect it. Making a poor choice in the game will certainly result in death...

I love it. I actually prefer it to 5E, and I would run it exclusively if I didn't have a lot of people who want to play 5E. It is basically a clone of B/X but using base to hit and ascending armor class as well as separate race and class (with limitations - forex. no dwarf magic users). The...

In terms of my setting background... science and magic are different concepts but have a unified origin. My world is an actual planet that exists in a solar system that exists in a galaxy and so on. There was a super science Visitor race that colonized the planet in the ancient past. They were...

I found this blog post had an interesting idea... https://muleabides.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/roll-for-caller/ I haven't tried it yet, but it might be interesting. The basic idea is that if there is a lull in moving forward, you have the group roll for caller and for whomever wins you narrate...

I ran D&D 5E this past Saturday, but I ran Basic Fantasy RPG (B/X Retroclone) this past Tuesday. So I voted 5E this time. I run 5E and BFRPG at around the same frequency.

I'd leave the situation as it is. I would not do anything in terms of DM fiat to help the players. However I would suggest and encourage and allow for interesting problem solving and player choices during the session. Lay out the situation and it will probably be clear to your players that...

I like the cleric being more of a militant divine character, so I see it distinct from a mage. Priests give sermons in their temples... clerics venture forth and bash undead with martial might and divine rage. Traditionally, clerics have always been either front line combatants or a good back up...

Check out Courtney Campbell's Hackslashmaster blog. He does a series on henchmen / sidekicks that has portraits and personality traits. http://hackslashmaster.blogspot.com/2019/06/on-henchmen-collected.html

One thing to add about B/X and similar... the parity between monster / character hit dice and weapon damage dice. A typical low level monster has 1-8 hit points, and the typical weapon damage done by a first level character is 1-8 hit points and vice versa. I love the simplicity and brutality...