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I'll definitely say that the presentation has changed over the years. I would say that was what initially put me off 4e- the presentation has emphasized the RAW, combat, etc., a bit more than before. I would chalk that up both to the formalization of things that used to be at loose ends-...

I understand that a game can get harder to house rule if there are already a lot of rules in theory... in practice I just don't quite know what someone would like to be able to house rule that they feel unable to do because of the existing rule system. Can you think of something from d20 or 4e...

DM'ing combines several distinct tasks: making & interpreting rules, world building, creating and playing NPC's, plotting. There is no guarantee that any DM is good at (or enjoys) all of them. Having rules to cover a wider array of situations without recourse to on-the-spot adjudication helps...

Not loving the drawing that they were presenting. Looks more orc-like than goblin-like to me. Too muscular, too simian, too threatening. It looks like a dwarf orc rather than a goblin, though without anything else for reference it is hard to get a sense of scale. I will say that I like the...

Yeah, I winced a little at that as well. Firstly because I want goblins to be credible threats even when there aren't 100 of them, and secondly because I quite like the idea of PC goblins being viable- I liked having that option in Eberron, particularly, since goblins had a lot of great history...

Fair point. I tend to think of cursed items that way and not really be interested in bothering with the less story-connected ones- seems like a hassle for the players without adding anything to the game. If you're picking up random cursed items that can be converted to decent items through...

A plaguebearer class could be fun- more of a villain role, but rich in Nurgle-y goodness. Different attacks could add conditions or effects to the target- nauseated, dazed, etc., but with the caveat that any time you apply one of these conditions to a target you add a "tick" of disease to...

Hm, I had the opposite experience. The streamlined travel and very limited need to ever eat or drink while questing or running instances made the game feel less immersive to me and was a factor in me dropping my sub. I had the same complaint about Warhammer Online- the teleport-style travel...

I agree- curses should be created by the ill-intent of powerful casters (the One Ring), or by significant game world events (a sword wielded by a Paladin who betrayed his god, a talisman that belonged to a genocidal lich) and should require comparable effort to remove. For me, a cursed item...

I kind of like the idea of a two tiered system: Startled: You have reason to suspect danger, but can't anticipate what it is going to be. You're opening a door, wary of what might be behind it, but don't know if a trap is going to fire a crossbow bolt at your head, a crouching goblin is going...

Elegant systems are: -Consistent: Core mechanics are the same in every regime. If you are rolling a d20 vs. a target number to establish success in combat, you aren't rolling under fixed percentiles to establish success while driving a boat or building a shed. -Compact: Flows naturally from...

Actually, that makes me think of something that could be another interesting use of a high magic/technology setting- namely, treating magic like technology in a 3rd world country. Elites- nobility, whatever the upper classes are- have lots and lots of magical gear to make their lives easier...

I think the position, often, is to take technology and add magic; train + magic = lightning rail, zepplin + magic = airship, etc. You could also start from the opposite direction of taking existing magic items, and then scaling them out to industrial levels of production- flying carpet...

It's a pre-expansion lull. We won't really know anything about the health of the game until after Mists is released (not just because players who have lapsed because they are tired of the current content may re-sub, but also because we've yet to see what the changes to the game will do to...

Have you watched the (admittedly somewhat trashy) series The Tudors? It offers a lot of insight and examples of how fluidly rank could work- and it's set at a late stage of the feudal system, when things had become a bit more regular than in the 12th or 13th Century. One thing you will notice...

So being closer to the situation, you'll be a better judge of what might be going on than I, but- Are you certain this is what your players want to be doing with their limited recreation time? Designing and testing something can be really compelling for someone who is scratching an itch to...

I had some thoughts along similar lines, but more of a "hey, my rogue only needs 1,000 xp to level up... what's the Wizard worth these days?..." You're certainly not the only one doing that, but in terms of creating a system for less experienced players and DM's to use in judging when is the...

I'd be interested to eventually see something, but I don't see it being part of the 'core' game. You are talking about combat on a fundamentally different scale than what the basic rules have to cover, which pushes things pretty solidly in the 'module' direction. Mass combat seems like one of...

So I've seen some discussion over the years of hit points, particularly as they relate to advancement. There are several things not to love about the default 'gain a level, roll a die' method. It gives a single roll a lot of weight in the character's advancement, melee types are penalized by...

To me, the Barbarian class being the guy who uses rage or berserker-type attacks is well established enough that there is little reason to change it. It builds on a popular perception (even if it perhaps not a correct one), it was used that way in 3e, 4e, and Pathfinder, and there were a couple...