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RA's right. Dismissing the interest in these older games as based primarily on nostalgia is way off base, especially when you consider that there are lots of young folks becoming interested in games that were published before they started playing RPGs or even before they were born. Some of us...

Heartily agreed. A wise man once said something along the lines of "if the players don't entertain the DM, the DM will entertain himself at their expense."

On the contrary, improv is what being a good DM is all about. And has always been about.

Problem one is definitely manageable. Pick a few monsters of the appropriate terrain, and come up with a brief reason for the attack. Include it on the chart. Let's say the chart is for an orc fortress. My chart might be: 1. Orc patrol, 2-8 orcs, alert and armed. 2. Orc revelers, 3-12...

I disagree here. The players should have asked someone. It's not your responsibility to have someone run up and inform them.

A lot of posters mentioned talked about whether the players are having fun, but the DM is a player too - so make sure you are also having fun. That said, shifting styles from the railroad (as Dave pointed out, this could be too harsh a word) format to a sandbox format is going to take a...

It sounds like you're making a noble effort, and hopefully your players will adjust to this new style and come to enjoy it. The adjustment period is always hard for players, especially if they are used to being spoon fed. This is just part of the learning curve. The party picked a difficult...

This quote illustrates very nicely a point I'd like to make. From what you read on the internets, it seems like a lot of d20 and 4E players don't get or simply aren't that interested in the idea of an old school megadungeon. On the contrary, adventure paths seem to be the order of the day as...

I'm not sure I understand the reasoning behind charging for access to an "old school" megadungeon. I mean, we already have several bloggers giving it away for free. There's Greyhawk Grognard's Castle of the Mad Archmage: Greyhawk Grognard: Castle of the Mad Archmage February Release Now...

My definition of sweet spot is the range of levels for which the game plays well without becoming frustrating for the players or more importantly for the DM as he is designing challenges for the party. For that reason, I'd say the AD&D sweet spot is levels 1-14 or so. After that point, the...

Here's an article about Major Wesely's Braustein games, which took place before the creation of both D&D and Chainmail. ars ludi Note this one paragraph in particular. It's about Dave Arneson. "He lied, swindled, improvised, and played his character to the hilt. He came to the game with fake...

True, but even when you can describe your solution to the problem, you're still boned if you don't roll well enough. In OD&D, for example, you could describe how to avoid or disable a trap or lie to the king without rolling any dice.

True in Chainmail, not true in D&D. According to M&M, the only Chainmail abilities D&D elves receive are their combat bonuses vs. certain creatures. As far as invisibility goes, the common assumption is that Chainmail elves are wearing the elven cloaks described in M&T.

I don't really see it either. If 4e is similar to any other version of D&D, it'd have to be 3e. Both have an in-depth skill system in which success depends more on rolling a check rather than describing your character's action. Both have a unified mechanic and a highly codified set of rules...

I really wish my game shop did this. All they have is new stuff, and I'm really not interested in buying much that came out after 1985.

Thanks for the tip, TB. I'd buy one if I didn't already have my own well-loved copy.

I checked "other," meaning I wouldn't use a DMPC no matter what. The game plays fine with fewer than five people, and having an extra NPC around will just slow down combat even more.

Yeah, I'll play 4e because it's easy to find enough people to get a game together, but it's not "all that" or a bag of chips. I prefer the simple mechanics, the common-sense rules, and the freewheeling spirit of OD&D. Plus I there is just so much material that is compatible with it.

Sweet. I would play in that campaign in a second. One of my friends and I were talking just yesterday about how we miss rolling for ability scores. I also like the reduced hit points and the free-wheeling nature of the game. It's also nice to see some character deaths that don't result in...

I don't see any problem. Every class has a dump stat, and every character will see some feats that are hard to pass up. Your suggestion effectively gives a wizard player the choice of losing two points off his point buy or two points off his AC. And frankly the wizard as a class does not need...