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I voted "No" and find the fact that so many people voted "Yes" in some way or other mindboggling. I am not convinced that any GM needs a rule about morale. At all. If a GM wants opponents to give up or run away, they can do that without any rule. Just decide that it happens... and it does! It...

I think it is good for you that you liked THAC0 and vancian magic and all that. At some point I liked that, too. But different versions of DnD appeal to different people. That is why some people do not like 4E. If you want to have a version of the game that appeals to most players (it can never...

This information together with the info in the blog suggest that the new edition will probably please players of very old versions of DnD. Judging from the marketing WotC is doing, this seems to be one important target group for them, so they seem to be catering to their taste. It will be...

I do not think that the game rules themselves are per se without value for a company. After all, they are what makes the game. And only if players like the game, meaning it’s mechanics and how it actually plays, they will spent money on it. The discussions about how 4E plays differently than...

I am playing this AP in 4E (Eberron) at the moment. I do not know if you plan to run it in 4E with DDI support as well. If you do, you would have to change the encounters of course, which, since it is 4E, is not so much of a problem. What I find hardest about the individual adventures...

I feel it is time that Paizo starts supporting 4E and later 5E strongly. They should strongly support all that is DnD. I would like to see a translation of their early APs into 4E, for example. They could generate more revenue from it, because more 4E GMs will buy their products. Also, since...

Fire powers do not necessarily set things on fire. Lightning might set things on fire. Metal doors might probably not reflect lightning but instead guide the lighting into the floor. A fireball might not heat metal the way you think it does, because it does not last long enough. We can have an...

I agree that it sounds so smooth when he writes and says this stuff. And this is how he must have convinced people back then. But the fact is that it did not work. What if a company wants to be really innovative? In a basically conservative game environment such as RPGs this is not going to...

I agree with this 100%. This is one of the things that will make it hard to create a "universal" edition. My hope is that WotC will try to satisfy the loyal customers they have with 4E, like me. Maybe they can satisfy your taste and mine. I would appreciate that a lot.

I think you are right about all of this. But what the 3e OGL shows is that it becomes much much harder to publish a new edition in a couple of years without enabling the competition to keep producing stuff under the OGL liscence. So what WotC wants is the unifying factor of the OGL, which lets...

Yeah, narratively, I am with you on this. But I was talking about the mechanics and the reason why they are there.

It was done because the ritual "Knock" imitates what is essentially the typical rogue ability (in 4E somebody who is trained in Thievery). In order to compensate for this, the ritual is cost-intensive. This design was based on the fact that so many spells in 3e took away the role from...

My 3e experience tells me that "save or suck" attacks just, well, suck. Plus, the 3e save made an additional die roll necessary, which dies not speed up the game. In that way, 4E defenses are much better, because there is only one roll, the attack roll that targets a specific defense. In...

Mr. Dancey did not mention board games. He mentioned family games. And there is a difference. There are a lot of family games that are not board games, but, for example, card games. Like Mafia (Werewolf), Dixit or Dominion. There even is a Settlers of Catan card game (very good on travels). You...

I know, but the text of the rules can be protected. Plus iconic names. And that makes all the difference. Otherwise, why the need to design an OGL in the first place? It is to give 3rd party publishers that security.

I think that the split was inevitable. If I remember correctly, I felt back then that the stuff WotC produced for 3e in the end was, well, unremarkable and symptomatic. What I mean is that the spell compendium, for example, basically pointed out that there was too much stuff out there, that had...

I think it would have been possible. For example, one of the hamstrings of the GSL in comparison to the OGL is section 10.1 "Termination". WotC can basically terminate the liscence whenever they wish to do so, which makes planning for 3rd party companies hard. You do not have to put something...

I have always found it hard to understand why on earth WotC designed the OGL. As I have said upthread, legally it would have been easy to design something with almost the same marketing and networking effect but with more control over the use of the IP. But I think I finally have the reason...

Interesting post. My two cents, actually three. First, the OGL succeeded in legally creating an everlasting version of the game, which is 3rd edition. That this version of the game would be everlasting seems to have been the goal, which was achieved. I am not sure, though, that this was such a...

I really love 4E. My players love it, my wife and kids love it, it just is a great experience. I am having a blast. It is extremely easy to prepare for a game session. As a GM, I can really concentrate on the story and do not have to worry much about stats anymore. I love the digital tools, I...