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I wouldn't have expected any different a response from D&D's most ecumenical publisher. Good to see nonetheless. More than any rule particular, I remain most interested in how compatible the non-core of 5e is to the greater D&D/OGL/d20 family of games. While I strongly doubt I will be using...

Some historical observations: Armor Class (in OD&D without the supplements) was originally just that. It was the class of armor you were wearing. It was a static, discreet number that didn't vary unless you changed what armor you were wearing. There were alterations to your chance to hit...

I don't understand your post at all, particularly the bolded. Keep on the Borderlands was pretty much entirely about the what you're talking about in the first paragraph. Keep has no story to be experienced, no overarching goal or plot. It's pretty much entirely about going to the Keep...

The actual quote from Mearls was... "We are looking at making a lot of that older material available to you..." That's not a promise to do anything and leaves a whole bunch open for interpretation. For example, what exactly constitutes "a lot?" What is "older?" I don't think anyone should...

Erick Wujcik (1951-2008) - TMNT/After the Bomb from Palladium and Amber Diceless being just a couple of his great contributions. He also wrote one of my favorite rpg theory essays of all time in which he linked his diceless rollplaying system to a certain style of playing OD&D. It was a huge...

I don't think Redcloak is without his flaws. Like Tsukiko, he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the universe that I think will somehow ultimately do him in. His misunderstanding is this: Humans don't randomly slay goblins just because they're goblins; humans attack goblins because goblins...

I think 5e would benefit greatly from being OGL based on the little WotC has said about it. It seems that they are going to start off with a relatively basic group of core rules, with the intention of letting DMs mod it however they wish. It'd be a lot easier for DMs to mod it that way if...

I love random tables for stocking wilderness and dungeons. The fun is in figuring out how seemingly incongruous results can function. The Storm Giants live next to the White Apes. Why? The Whites Apes used to be their pets until they rebelled. Now they live in a state of tense cease fire...

I never got the sense that Xykon cared two figs about her. (Or anyone else, really...)

I've tended to play with 4-6 players. My campaign I'm in right now averages about 6 players. But there tend to be many more characters along for the adventure in henchmen, hirelings, and various other hangers-on. We probably average 10 or 11.

I would say there have been as few as 6 editions and as many as 11 editions, making 5e somewhere between the 7th and 12th edition of D&D. The candidates: OD&D BD&D (Holmes ed.) 1e AD&D B/X D&D (Moldvay/Cook & Marsh ed.) BECMI D&D 2e AD&D "Black box Basic" D&D/Rules Cyclopedia 3e 3.5e 4e 4e...

I did a chronological list of AD&D gaming products (no stickers, minis or pencils) a while back. It's posted here among other places.

These are "defining," not best... I'm listing the modules that sum up to me what these editions and sub-editions were about. OD&D (1974-1979) -- City State of the Invincible Overlord, Caverns of Thracia BD&D (Holmes ed., 1977-1980) -- B1 In Search of the Unknown, B2 Keep on the Borderlands...

I love that Rich can maintain a great balance of the bad guys being both comic relief and really, truly, horribly evil.

1. Exploration based gaming as a supported mode of play, where the players have to weigh diminishing resources (spells, hit points, torches, food, ammunition, etc.) and increased risks (the farther you go from home base, the badder the monsters are) against increased rewards (more treasure the...

Let's put aside for a moment the fact that WotC has been telling the entire rpg community that "adventures don't sell" for more than a decade. Let's forget for a second that WotC has repeatedly said that core rule books are their main source of D&D income, and that by releasing what will soon...

Personally, I don't like the typical event-based adventure path design. There are exception, but I generally find them more annoying than useful. I prefer site-based adventure modules like the original Keep on the Borderlands much more.

It goes the other way, too. Until very recently, WotC has often gone out of its way to exclude players of prior editions from their D&D tent.

A basic list that will at least get me to take a step inside the tent... 1. A core rulebook (or books) with about 120 pages, that isn't crippleware. In other words, a relatively slim, concise set of rules that I can run an entire campaign with. If the basic entry products are either three...

Is there a third option that would make everyone content? If you can't agree which version of D&D to play, but everyone likes Star Frontiers or Tunnels & Trolls or whatever, why not just play that? Lacking a mutually agreeable third option, the DM should pick. And I think the DM should pick...