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In AD&D I almost always played elves and half elves (exceptions were if I had a particular character concept incompatible). In WotC-era D&D I mostly play humans, with the occasional demi-human mixed in if I have a particular concept in mind.

Right. That's why I just bundled it into the single attack roll.

Great post; countersigned. This is what I do too, and what I did in 2014 5E.

Your confusion re: the level limits conflicting between 0E, 1E (with or without UA), and 2E is, is just missing the fact that the designers deliberately changed things. Remember that demi-humans (including elves) being able to become Thieves was introduced as an option in the 1975 Greyhawk...

IIRC -4 was the suggested Called Shot penalty in AD&D if you allowed them, so it's got resonance with a lot of older players. Of course giving a -4 penalty to hit is a recipe for feel-bads, punishing players for trying to get creative, and incentivizing them to play conservative and just roll...

2E was a very backwards-compatible edition. That's one of the reasons it retained descending AC for example (which was ironic, since the reason Gary kept it in AD&D 1E was for backwards compatibility/familiarity to existing players). 2E was more reverse-compatible with 1E than 3.5 was with 3...

You're thinking of the VTT, not character builder. 4E DID have an absolutely excellent character builder and everyone used it. It was the main reason so many people had subscriptions for the online service (it also helped with adoption, though maybe not WotC's bottom line, that one person in a...

The Core Brands concept was a pre-4E thing organizational thing at Hasbro. A revenue threshold which 4E's strategy of trying to integrate with DDI/a VTT with ongoing monthly payments was meant to try to reach. https://www.enworld.org/threads/wotc-ddi-4e-and-hasbro-some-history.661470/

Between the weight loss and not going as regularly lately I've been feeling a bit shrunken and weak, so I was itchy to get back last night. Did a little elliptical, machine chest press for three sets, standing barbell curls (busy night at the gym and the dumbbell benches were full) three sets...

That seems pretty solid. To capture the flavor/simulate the mechanics of the DCC Warrior I think you would want some random element determining whether you succeed in a Deed, though. Maybe instead of the Deed die you bundle it into the attack roll (keeping the simplicity of SD being centered...

"Re-skinning" is a colloquialism for changing the appearance of an element in a game, like a monster or character class, without changing the underlying mechanics. It's often used as a simple technique for adding mystery and variety to monsters without having to actually design new stats for...

Eh. I think they're meaningfully different products. You and I are both gamers, who got into the game books and actual D&D first, right? Then encountered Dragonlance as existing D&D fans? Or did you not get into the actual game until later? @JLowder has given some great insights into the...

They did not. They used combat tables like 1E and OE. I played with that for years, and while it was undeniably cleaner and easier to understand than 1E initiative, I still find it clunky and slow and probably the second-worst initiative system after 1E. The slower speed factors for longer...

I remember the Rose Estes and Endless Quest story, which was also related to TSR's abortive Educational department, but that was a few years earlier and a different product. I think it's a mistake to lump in the Endless Quest (and Super Endless Quest, and various other game books) series with...

While there are definitely major blunders, some aspects could also be positive. The Dragonlance books, much though I may decry the quality of the original trilogy, were a major success, and paved the way for Williams-era TSR pivoting to fiction and becoming the leading fantasy publisher in the...

Yup. You CAN make polymorph-type spells work and be balanced, but it requires a fair bit of complexity and setting numerous hard limits.

Indeed. Sam has come in for a ton of well-earned plaudits, especially in the wake of the movies, as perhaps the greatest hero of the story. He not only tried to carry on the quest by himself but was able to willingly give up the ring! But I think the movies undersell Frodo's quiet heroism...

Fair point that 3E at least expected you to acquire a protection item (amulet or ring) to give you a flat across the board enhancement bonus to all saves. So by 14th you'd probably have a +3 item, anyway, so the disparity would still be 10 points, but the floor would be higher. But 5E keeps...

The Battlesystem boxed set was expensive? That's interesting. I have the 1E set, and it's definitely less fancy than many of the big boxed sets they released during the Williams regime. It does have a glossy full color booklet with photos of miniatures, as I recall, and HUNDREDS of cardboard...

Along the lines of Braunsteins, though, back in the 90s I did used to LARP. And one of the distinguishing features of LARP games was usually that there was a huge number of players to a small fraction of that number of staff/referees and NPCs. Say, 20-50 players for a Vampire: The Masquerade...