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How can following the rules for their game be cheating? By that measure, everybody using point buy or 4d6 drop 1 is cheating as far as I'm concerned. 3d6 all the way!

Yes, but he’s still modifying the results. But I’m not debating exactly what the DM or players are allowed to do. The specifics are only relevant in relation to what the table agrees to. The point is simply that if the rules (published, house, table) allow something, such as fudging dice, then...

I disagree. I think it depends on the rules that are in play. The 1e DMG explicitly instructs the DM to not be bound by the dice. Yes, you should generally follow up them, but if they didn’t make sense, then ignore them or use them as a guideline. If the rules explicitly allow something, then...

Yeah, it doesn't have to be that big. I think that for me it has to do with being bigger than a single group (even one with different characters or even players), but also has to do with multiple stories that form part of the greater whole. That there are multiple characters (possibly players)...

LOL. I can't tell you how many things I wrote (or was working on writing up) back in the day with the intention of submitting it to Dragon or Dungeon magazine, only for it to come out first from somebody else. I'm not a Spelljammer guy, but you have to admit that your idea of the Astral Plane...

The few issues I had with Spelljammer had nothing to do with space fantasy. Most of it centered around the tone and their poor attempt at humor. The real problem with humor in a written medium that you'll be reading frequently is that the jokes grow stale and are no longer funny. This tendency...

I think part of what needs to be defined is what's a campaign? Wikipedia states that for an RPG campaign, it's a connected series of battles, adventures, or scenarios played by the same character. In the body it states "usually played by the same set of characters." By this definition, in order...

Well, I think that's only true to the extent that it was the early stages of RPGs and the game was built around the motivations the players had for their characters in Gygax's and Arneson's campaigns. The game was new, it had a level of re-playability that I don't think any other game had at the...

Exactly. Which is why we have everybody have multiple characters, and they are always creating more. Because a lot of the time the characters move onto something else. We do it for a number of practical reasons as well, the primary one being that we don't have to worry about whether everybody...

Very cool. I like your list of effects. I may incorporate them as other options. My approach is quite similar, but I wanted to leverage existing 5e mechanics as much as possible, and also maintain the abstract approach that D&D combat uses. We use a modified version of the exhaustion track...

That’s pretty similar to what we do for lingering injuries. We use a modified exhaustion track and the death save mechanic. You get one save attempt per day, 3 non consecutive successes it gets better by one level, 3 fails and it gets worse. High level magic to heal. We love the system.

We have pretty extensive house rules at this point, but I'll see if I can summarize where we started, which was working on making it feel more like AD&D. Or at least AD&D as we experienced it. For me it boils down to a few goals: 1. Focus on the characters and their narrative - not the rules...

Huh? I have no intention, nor have I attempted to discredit anything you'd suggested. I simply stated that I didn't care for what you were proposing, and why. Furthermore, my objections are to the design of the 3e rules for vision - it's not your houserule. It was the published RAW for 3e...

The difference between fog, foliage and darkness has nothing to do with earlier editions. But whatever. Thanks and you too!

Here's another approach that I don't think has been mentioned. Use the 5e rules as written, except: Creatures with superior darkvision don't have disadvantage on Perception checks in darkness.

Yeah, I wouldn't call recognizing that the impediment to your vision is different for fog, foliage, and dim light a house rule, ad hoc or otherwise. Those are simply examples of circumstances where your vision is impacted enough that you have disadvantage on Perception checks. That the rules...

I make no claim that the rules prevent me from anything, nor have I stated that I have any issue adjudicating such situations. My "complaint" is simply this: If using the 3e/4e rules for low-light vision, at what level of lighting does a creature with low-light vision suffer the effects of...

“Dim light” due to patchy fog is different than the dim light of dawn and the dim light of a moonless night, etc., and not everything needs a rule. To me “common sense” which could also be described as “table consensus” is what the table agrees to in terms of things that aren’t covered in the...

No. And furthermore I think a published setting modified to suit the group’s specific needs is the best option. I don’t limit player’s access to published material (as if I could), and actually encourage it. They understand it might not be 100% correct, and nothing is canon until it actually...

Actually, we deliberately slow level advancement because of the exact opposite. We prefer the campaign to focus on the growth of the characters, that is, the people. The game, however, has continued to be centered more and more about gaining levels and new and better abilities. Like TV dramas...