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The Scotty bit in STIV I think has to be looked at not simply as a programming language issue (computer programming being so new) but as a question of wrangling with old syntax in language and its presentation. I’m reminded of editing 16-18th century business and property records (complete with...

The idea of Warden is an interesting one in what it implies. A number of 4e classes have been scavenged for parts but have core elements left untouched. Just as there are parts of the Warlord in Battlemaster and a few Paladin oaths, parts of Warden have spread out among ranger and druid spells...

It strikes me that a big argument over how rests are done, and thus resource management, is largely a matter of players expecting their useful tools to be in limited-use abilities, choosing “at-will” abilities (attacks, cantrip, etc) as generic damage that may or may not be used depending on...

If the Barbarian has a story reason for familiarity with said crystals, but not the right skills, wouldn’t the prudent “Yes But” DM action be to allow him to use a Help Action to give the Wizard Advantage on his roll, perhaps asking/reminiscing about the crystals the wise men of his tribe used...

While the focus here is of course on OG games, I was amused by the idea of D&D being predicated on “the seeking” and combat as something to be gotten past as quickly as possible, similar to ways I’ve heard OD&D and AD&D described as being basically puzzle-boxes where combat was an obstacle to be...

I tracked down this note about the aging of Númenóreans from Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales which could work: "It is further expounded that the increase in the Númenórean span was brought about by assimilation of their mode of life to that of the Eldar: though they were expressly warned that they...

My first though, oddly enough, would be something in the enterprise sector. The growth in work from home has led to a explosion in new tools for off-site collaboration. The development on online virtual tables seems very portable to virtual offices in various ways.

Clearly, the enemies of Graz’zt have substituted less-beautiful imagery of him over recent years to lessen his appeal to potential followers and thus bolster their own cases. It’s all a story hook in the making...

There’s been a lot of debate over what the lawsuit was about, but the news on Del Rey (rather than Wizards resurrecting their own publishing imprint or Hasbro self-publishin) suggests something to me from my time in publishing. Because Dragonlance has both DL-specific content which Weis &...

I finally made an account 15-17 years ago, even if my actual posting is minuscule (I’ll go years reading without posting and then have a few replies scattershot across a couple months before going dark again), but I can totally dig. I remember fondly learning about the upcoming edition on the...

A pet rock is a spell focus and low-upkeep animal companion in one!

All said, however, I do wonder if posts like this suggest a market for offering cheap bound prints of the basic rules for sale on newsstands and comics racks, for folks who are willing to shell out a few bucks rather than print out a bunch of pages or keep consulting a screen. As someone who...

AD&D as a puzzle to be solved remains my favorite way to look at the game, and a reason why I‘m still cursed in modern systems to focus on building jacks-of-all-trades with nonsensical toolkits over anything optimized!

I always liked the Constitution score negative HP idea myself, such that an “average person” would die at –10, but a sturdy character might last to –16 or even –18 (while a weaker character at 8 Con needs help that much quicker). Especially in AD&D and it’s clones, where permanent Constitution...

1st edition ranger will always be my first ranger love. Everything else just reminds me of what we had in our time slaying giant-types together...

Part of me has always wondered about building a Transformers RPG in the Palladium system, mainly kitbashed out of Robotech and Heroes Unlimited with Rifts as a scaling comparison. I agree that d20 is an odd beast to work with, both from the perspective of Cybertronians contra other beings such...

There’s been the ongoing debate on how to run 5th edition more like 1st edition, but all these new properties being run on a 5e engine solve that “problem” in one particular way: having your 5th edition party wander through a dungeon door into Gotham City or onto Cybertron is the new 1st edition...

More than necessarily character survival, I think the resolution system is the big issue. Horror works as a narrative by ratcheting up and more rapidly advancing drama’s build and release of tension (in an odd way, farce is the comic version of horror in this way — probably why horror parodies...

My thoughts, if we’re looking at three open settings returning, would be Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and Greyhawk. (like Eberron before it, Greyhawk in 5e would stress the systems where it differs from playing in FR, probably even playing with a lot of the DMG variant rules as recommended standards)...

Not to step on any toes, but I’m guessing there’s not much much actual study of Anthropology or Comparative Religion here beyond “lets watch a cartoon on YouTube“? Because your assumptions are both historically inaccurate and totally incorrect in modern intellectual usage. The term shaman or...