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I'm not sure I agree with your description of classic D&D. I never played through the BECMI system (although I owned all of them and the adventures), so if the presentation was so focused on the dungeon and only the dungeon, that was a later development and I'm not sure I would consider it the...

I’d recommend considering that they delayed character go last in the segment. That is, those who actually rolled that segment are acting, and the delayed character is reacting to the actions in that segment. It also allows you to retain the Ready action, which does go first, but limits your...

I’d recommend considering that they delayed character go last in the segment. That is, those who actually rolled that segment are acting, and the delayed character is reacting to the actions in that segment. It also allows you to retain the Ready action, which does go first, but limits your...

Nice. My daughter and I loved Brain Games. Yeah, the percentage of people that notice is something like 60 to 80%, although if you know that it's something more than just counting, you probably have a better chance of noticing things. The reality to me is that there's a significant chance that...

This is one of my pet peeves, and it goes both ways. I totally get that you spent money and want to be able to use the book. And I own a copy myself. And while I’ve stolen bits and pieces of it, I don’t like the majority of the content as written and won’t use it in my campaign. I’m one of...

I think what he's saying is that the amount of time the character takes always matters. The amount of time taken by the players does not. You can very easily skip forward in real time and still take into account the amount of time taken by the character when adjudicating success.

Really, I think the system as designed addresses most of the issues, with a few minor modifications. I don't think I explained my thoughts very well in my earlier post, so: 1. Your passive score essentially provides a floor for your skill ability. That is, most of the time, below this threshold...

I bring a lot from earlier editions (and other games for that matter) into our rules. But that's both intentional and unintentional. In terms of 4e specifically, I think it was an incredibly well designed game, and as I've dug into it (and learned from avid fans), I've found a lot to like. And...

Oh, there was an article by Gary Gygax that famously said something to the effect that "if you weren't playing AD&D by the rules, then you weren't playing AD&D, you were playing something else." Of course, Gary never played AD&D himself, he had his own variations on OD&D. To me it's really a...

I didn't play a lot of 4e, so that's interesting. Although it does extend my point that the progress of game design encouraged the players to take more control over the rules, and that 5e is scaling that back a bit. And I have rarely (including myself) who has not brought ways of doing things...

OK, this is to answer for "ways that other DMs deal with situations where players roll the dice for skills without being asked to do so." The short answer is that I tell them not to do it. In my house rules, and at session 0, and reminders if they do it during the game. If they still do it, I...

So this is specifically in response to "Did I miss something between AD&D and 5e?" Although his blog post hits on a few reasons why, mostly it's why not to do it. I don't agree with all of his assessment, and I'll address that subject separately. What changed? Player enablement. In AD&D, the...

Agreed to a degree. It's highly unlikely that a theoretical physicist will make a mistake on a simple algebra equation. Could it happen? Sure. Your woodworker isn't likely to have a lot of failed simple birdhouses. My point is simply that as you get better at what you do, the threshold of where...

And likewise, if you don't agree, that's cool too. I didn't think I was "up in arms about it," just commenting that I don't think your premise makes sense. I don't think the amount of protection a shield provides changes at all, regardless of what armor your wearing. Either it stops the...

I'd agree with Bacon Bits. The metagaming he's talking about is a question as to whether you're focusing on the action in the game, or the rules of the game. We prefer to focus almost entirely on the action, rather than the rules. So if somebody wants to drop their bow and draw a sword in the...

No, because stowing a bow is more difficult to do, for one. It takes your focus away from the action immediately in front of you, and it's even more difficult if you're wearing other equipment, armor, a cloak, or whatever, and it's going to require two hands to do. Also, in regards to dropping...

Sure, and it's not even really about whether dropping an object adds complexity. When wielding a bow, a right-handed person holds the bow in their left hand. They'll draw their sword with their right.

So a question for you. If you’re an expert at something, how often do you fail at something that’s medium difficulty? The reality is, when you’ve reached a certain skill level in something, there are a lot of things below that level of skill that you can just do. Having said that, in my...

It’s not redundant though. A shield is more effective than armor because of the air gap between you and the shield. If something penetrates the shield you’re still likely OK, or hit in the arm, but when something penetrates your armor you’re usually in trouble. Also, if something penetrates a...

Shields just provide some amount of cover in my campaign, depending on the shield type.