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I've never understood the desire for new editions, especially new editions which are essentially entirely different games issued under the same name. When I get done with a computer game or a board game, I go out and buy a different computer game or board game. I don't see why rpgs are any...

One other sandbox prep helping tool... E-mail!!! If you don't want to be over-preparing, communication with your players is key. At the onset of the campaign a group email listing your rumors and maybe a paragraph giving the general lay of the land, followed by a question to the players as to...

Some non-rpg resources: A baby name book. I have one that's broken down by national origin. That way, people from area A can have German sounding names and people from area B can have African sounding names, and so on. Google maps. Particularly the satellite imagery. Click on a little town...

I've said before that the clusterkcuf that was the D&D video game licensing situation was one the biggest problems with the D&D brand over the last 6 to 8 years. Essentially, D&D sat out an entire console generation without a major product. Simply unacceptable. My first suggested product: A...

It's in the AD&D 1e PHB. Fighters get 7sp per person per month. M-U's get 5 sp per person per month. In the Companion rules the question is answered in even more detailed form with the taxes depending on what resources are present in the holding. (Gold mines bring in more taxes than cow...

Under the letter of the OD&D rules, in order for a first level fighter in a party of six to go from first level to second level, his party would have to "defeat" (not kill) 120 orcs or 12 red dragons. Anyone who knows anything about combat in early D&D knows that it would be completely...

Prior to 2e, the game as written was really a lot more about taking the stuff. The killing was fairly incidental to the stuff taking.

The original D&D rules were presented as add-on rules for a miniatures combat game and have very little to say about the combat system. D&D, then, was originally about what happens before and after combat, with the combat portion being handled by the miniatures rules. The OD&D rules had more...

I agree with you and Williams to a point. The players need to have a general idea of the odds when making a decision. But instead of wanting the system to take care of things, I take absolute pains to make sure players (especially new ones) have an idea of the mechanics involved in their...

I like the slightly more detailed OD&D version:

Here's a Skip Williams interview from 2009 in which Mr. Williams discusses some of the same issues but - probably not surprisingly - takes a contrary position. Check down the comments area about halfway to see Mike Mearls' comment.

I am far more interested in getting new and different games than getting another edition of a game I already have. I wish rpg companies put out more different games and fewer supplements to games.

This is not accurate. It depends on the edition. The original rules, (Vol.1, Men & Magic, pg 18) says "defeat." The 1e PHB and DMG both specify, "slay." The 1981 Basic rules says, "kill or overcome by magic, fighting, or wits."

I can just say that for me personally, I don't become any more interested in spending time on character builds at 7th or 17th level than I was at first, second, and third levels. If anything, I become less so. A 1-5 level basic boxed set that leads into the 600-700 pages of core rules that...

This is precisely true. The issue is trying to give beginners and casual players (and old crotchety players like me who just don't want to deal all your ding darn rules) a manageable (as in under 600 pages of core rules) ruleset one can actually use to play an extended campaign. If you...

Mearls' imperfect understanding of any edition prior to 3e rears its ugly head again, and in this case it's a pretty blatant misconception... This is false. In the 1974 rules, the three abilities tied to the three classes (strength - fighting-man, intelligence - magic-user, and wisdom -...

I think the release of a radically different edition from 4e would be brand suicide. It's only been 3 years and a few months since 4e came out and they've already had a second version of those rules in that time with Essentials. The prior edition players are already gone and the 4e players are...

I want to comment on one point of disagreement here, before I get to the rest of the OP, which I generally agree with... True retro-clones are attempts to be actual clones. That is, as close to the original rules as legally possible. They are not attempts improve on what has already been...

I understand what he's saying. He's trying to come up with a list of unifying features for all editions of D&D. He says before formulating his list, "If people play D&D in such a variety of different ways, then what’s left to unite us?" What I'm saying is that his list is neither sufficient...

There are a number of rpgs that are pretty close to being "D&D" according to that list that aren't "D&D" according to their brand name, and I'd say a number of those games are more akin to a particular version of D&D than other versions of D&D. For example, Tunnels & Trolls and OD&D are quite...