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I think this is funny because I think everything you write seems to me to fall within the scope of the Big Model of the Forge. The reason why I think it's funny is because I can't understand why some people - those who have decades of RPG experience - read the exact same thing and come to...

I find that one interesting element of good encounter-building guidelines is that the players can use them as well as the DM. In other words, they allow the players to determine the difficulty of the encounter; if they have the opportunity to choose between different encounters, they can do so...

I agree, though I don't think that NPCs and PCs need to use the same method of determining their stats. I think this gives the game the most flexibility - you can still run the game in a "4E scene-framing" style that way, as well as in a Gygaxian or a 3E "rules are physics" style.

Here's some text from the 2E Monstrous Manual on orcs: For every three orcs encountered, there will be a leader and three assistants. These orcs will have 8 hit points each, being the meanest and strongest in the group. If 150 orcs or more are encountered there will be the following additional...

You got me thinking about things. Your post made me realize that you can't have resource refreshing from actions that the PCs would take in the normal course of adventuring; it needs to be a choice. I think that your "triggers" ask for a player choice in most circumstances, but I think you'd...

That sounds like a logical extension of how you run 4E. I'm not sure about the specifics - maybe they should be a little more 4E-ish? creating status effects/refreshing resources? - but I think it's a great idea. * I've been playing my 4E hack lately and it's grown pretty distant from 4E, so...

With many things 3E, I think it depends on how you DM the game. I don't think +1 horseshoes are going to cause any problems. Will +1 holy frost shocking brilliant energy horseshoes have issues? Probably not, but only you can judge that.

I agree with this (and the rest of the quoted post). I'd like to see 5E sit firmly in the game camp. edit: As far as simulation goes, I think there should be enough simulation to make the game interesting and no more. The amount of simulation in B/X is what I'm looking for.

I think there are some interesting design questions here, starting off with this being a DM pacing choice vs. a player choice. For example, in my game the pacing is mainly player-driven. Let's assume the PCs went to some nearby adventuring site, spent a number of their daily powers, and have...

I have done some work here but probably not in the vein you're likely to go down. Most classes recover their daily resource by spending some other kind of resource - time or gold. (I have some other stuff that makes time a solid resource instead of fluffy DM-handwavium.) Warlocks are the most...

Since the game seems to be based on 1E I'd just go with a half-elf's stats and reduce the level cap for Magic-User. (Though you could leave that since the mother of this PC is a magic-user herself.)

My thinking is that, if you want to touch someone and they don't want you to touch them, you have to roll to resolve that conflict. If the conflict is resolved such that you touch them, then they take the shock. I don't want to have too many rolls so I don't want to have a save here. With...

I think so, yes. I'm not sure where the line should be drawn, but I think I'll get into that as we proceed into higher-level play.

This is a distinction I like. Some effects just take place - there's nothing the other side can do about it. The way I like to look at saves is that they aren't necessarily dodging or anything else; they're a metagame feature. You screwed up, now the game gives you a second chance to save...

Actually I was referring to the level 22 Elder Red Dragon. If you take away its 1/2 level bonus (+11) and its high DEX bonus (+5) you get an AC of 22. Anyway, that's like, what, +3 plate? It makes more sense to me that an Elder Red Dragon's hide offers the same level of protection as +3 plate...

I believe that you can take HP damage from things like illusions in AD&D. (I think it was from a Q&A with Gygax on this site.) 4E actually has a pretty consistent "game-world" way of setting ACs, at least in the Monster Vault. I went through the monsters there, worked out their ACs - (Level...

The other issue is that, if you start to codify time as a resource, you're shutting out a lot of play styles. Maybe you could create some kind of conversion between game styles, but I don't know if that's possible. Anyway, it's a big challenge to design that properly. (And I don't think...

pemerton - food for thought; let me get back to you in a couple of days or so. At the moment I'm thinking that the "rush" + driving towards your own goals is the big thing, not so much interesting adventures. But I need some time to think it through.

The problem I see with fast healing - overnight or close to it - is that it makes it difficult for the actions of the PCs to percolate through the setting. Which means that the players make choices, their PCs take actions, but there's little response to those actions except in the immediate. A...

In a certain style of play - challenge-based player-driven play - they are rewards for the player. Imagine a trick where there's a flame tongue floating in a glowing ray of light in the middle of a room (with a bunch of clues as to how to get it and what the consequences of screwing up might...