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At the Table: Actions taken which infringe on the fun of others. This includes, but isn't limited to: PvP without explicit OOG agreement between players allowing it, stealing from the Party, betraying other party members, actively hogging the spotlight, or undermining party goals. Between...

My understanding is that the OGL was Ryan Dancey's brainchild, and that it was created specifically as a counterpoint to TSR's ultra-hardline take on IP protection. . .as a way to signal to fans that this was a whole new era of D&D and that fan contributions would be welcome and encouraged, and...

While the downside is that it can make life rough on people who are striving to make a living by selling 3rd party D&D material, I think a bit of historic context is needed on what the OGL has done for the game. Remember in the 1990's, TSR was extremely hostile to any 3rd party creator, even...

Well, it IS an old chestnut to point out that Gandalf the Grey would be about a 5th level Wizard in D&D terms, that nothing he does in the books is greater than a 3rd level spell (there was an old article in Dragon from the 80's I think about this). So, saying Wizards in Dying Earth would be...

Downloaded for future reference. Good to see someone else still showing the love for 3.x around here!

No. I've read and studied a LOT about the Disney acquisition of LFL. Disney originally made an offer in the summer 2011, but Lucas didn't take it seriously and refused, not wanting to sell the company. What changed his mind was the flop of the film Red Tails in January 2012. It flopped hard...

I know TSR did a couple of licensed Conan modules for D&D, treating the Hyborian Age as a one-off (or two-off I guess) D&D setting, but I didn't know they made a complete separate RPG of it. I always kept around a copy of Conan's D&D stats from those modules (translated to 3e) as a reference...

I always wondered what messed up contractual issues caused WotC to not renew their license with LFL for Star Wars. It was clear that the SWRPG was doing well overall, and it's hard to believe they made renewing the license in 2010 so expensive that WotC couldn't afford it but FFG could. To my...

I like money D&D.

I've played Dungeons and Dragons Online, the D&D MMORPG (based mostly on the 3.5e rules, set mostly in Eberron but also with expansions into Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and Greyhawk) for years off-and-on. It's interesting to see some of the expansions and adaptations they've made to the rules...

I pretty much agree with all these things. The reason for the little fiddly feats like investigator, nimble fingers etc. was that the "+2 to two related skills, with a thematic name" feats got to be VERY popular in 3.0 supplements, both WotC and third party, so they were made core in 3.5. The...

The existence of Basic D&D was always a curious evolutionary offshoot of D&D, never treated as the main focus. I'm sure it split business some, but it was always clear that AD&D was the focus. TSR made many, many questionable decisions, I'm sure it could be studied as a "what not to do" case...

I'm just thinking back to when I was a kid and didn't have access to specialty hobby stores, and it was just what I could buy at big-box stores or the mall. . .and neither of those were places where D&D was sold (aside from the basic box set I found at Toys R Us when I was in Junior High). I...

My very first introduction to D&D was the 1991 "Black Box" set I'd bought at Toys R Us. It's biggest flaw was that when I actually found people who wanted to play D&D, they played 2e AD&D, instead of the RC-derived rules in the Black Box, so I had to re-learn the game I'd been studying to...

Most of those things were present in earlier versions of D&D, just not codified or standardized. They were either optional rules, unspoken assumptions, or present in at least one prior edition of D&D. Tactical movement on a grid had always been a part of D&D, as an optional rule or style of...

Well, we knew it probably wouldn't end well, this being the beginning of this volume instead of the end. . .but I really think Durkon made a mistake by not pointing out that The Dark One will probably NOT survive until the next world. I think that's the real game changer, that if the world...

No, this is just more internet forum metagame nonsense that I never saw at an actual table. I never saw real, flesh and blood 3e players (besides the one guy who insisted on making everythign some optimal "build") think they needed to play some insanely specialized "build" to compete with...

This. We tried keeping track of each and every last component in my 2e AD&D days. . .it ultimately meant that casters had sheets and sheets of components for common things like sand and rose petals. I saw the innovation of 3e's component pouch, and the presumption that if a character has a...

I don't think you took it too literally, I think you took it as intended, then WotC backpedaled on it. While I didn't follow the 5e development process super-closely, the talk about returning to elements of previous editions, of walking away from 4e's renunciation of D&D's heritage, of trying...

I will say that I could get behind a game that is a blend of 5e and 3.x. I do appreciate some elements of 5e, certainly it generally has better designed classes, and I do like how it made combat faster. I prefer the triad of Fortitude/Reflex/Will saves, I prefer a lot of 3e-isms though. I...