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Thank you. I remember reading it and thinking that "rank" etc. sounded better and was certainly more evocative of what was being labeled. And it's stuck in my mind for the last 40 plus years :) I couldn't remember exactly where I had read it, in The Dragon, an interview, or, as it happens, the DMG.

IIRC, back in the dark ages when 1E was just getting going Gygax (I think it was him) talked about the overuse of the term "level". As I recall he considered "Order" for spells, "Rank" for characters and "level" for dungeons (or monsters? it's been a while). So you would have a 9th Rank Magic...

Dropping in to this one a bit late and, I'm pretty sure others have made this point. And, I only read about 3 pages worth of the posts and skimmed the rest :D There has to be a balance between "new user" friendly and the game your existing base wants. Making it friendly to new users can involve...

You Sir, have just ruined Beholders for me. Every time I see those eyestalks now...

Hey! Greyhawk fans may or may not except this as "cannon". I'm sure some do and some don't. I predate everything except the original game from 1974 myself, making me officially "old". The Greyhawk supplement was great. I have the original Greyhawk folio setting from 1E (I never ran it, but I was...

I must be old... like @Charles Dunwoody I found books the best, but not only source of inspiration. I didn't see him say other sources were "bad / wrong", just that books were essential, or perhaps to put it simply that books are the best source for your vision and imagination. Comics, Manga...

I didn't run modules, but I have every print edition of Dragon Magazine. The Demonomicon of Iggwilv column by James Jacobs were great.

Just having your NPCs undergo this type of thing can make the PCs think. An NPC quit adventuring after a near TPK (ghouls, only one PC hadn't been paralyzed). Nightmares about going back to the World Under. She said her goodbyes and went back home and built a steading with what she had saved...

Names are generally not a problem for me. My players have come up with some odd ones of course. And it is a FRPG, so some odd names are inevitable. I always shrug and say "your PC will have to live with it, not me". A short period of reconsideration typically follows, as does a better name :D...

Sorry, you are right. I was thinking back to Original D&D as of the Greyhawk supplement. I didn't play Basic / Expert. Then PF took the Rogue to D8... I think I prefer them to be a bit delicate (say D4 or 6), but then I always thought they should be sneaky skill monkeys rather than dashing...

Because he may not have bonus spells from Wisdom (he needs a 13 or 14 for those 1 or 2 spells) and he may need something besides Cure Light Wounds? Depends on what other spell casters are in his party. And he can't swap spells out for healing. A lot of people find Detect Magic useful. Still, say...

I'd say it's all good advice. The one I fall down on is #3. My "playing" time is limited and it's spent as a DM / GM. I haven't played in the better part of 20 years. Of course, being ancient, that still gives me 25 years of being a player and DM / GM :D Still, no experience at playing any...

You're right. I must have blanked out and gone 14th level / 14 dice. Sorry about that. It depends on if he has any warning. The low level characters are intruders. My PCs would have cast the requisite spells when trouble reared its head, not when it ran them over. Especially a lone magic user...

I went straight 3E for awhile and then 3.5E. I didn't migrate to 3E from 2E for a while, so my 3E time was short. I rapidly went back to encounters the way I had done them before. More challenging for the PCs but still less lethal than 1/2E. The athletic drive to win certainly makes sense of the...

I didn't say it wasn't for certain levels, just that it's a really broad range of numbers and power levels. It's not hard to notice that. Nine characters of various classes averaging 9th level vs. 3-4 "experienced" characters of 9th level. No differences there... What we had was the guide to...

The average for a 14th level magic user would be 35 hit points. He wouldn't use Lightning Bolt on the party and, with a Minor Globe of Invulnerability (4th level) no spell below 4th level could affect him. That includes Magic Missile, Lightning Bolt and Fireball. He can cast out as long as it...

Yes it is. The question is who goes first. If he / she does they are probably all dust. If they do the magic user might have to flee and come back ready. At 14th level they (probably) aren't going to drop him immediately. Situation is key. Who, if anybody, is surprised, who has initiative, how...

If you lock them all in a closet with "stab me" signs taped to the thief and magic user :D Really, it would be situational. The thiefs abilities are all in the high 80s on up to over 100% in climb. He could be deadly in the right circumstances or a victim in the wrong ones. But the 14th level...

Glad to know you knew how we played... except you don't. On the first level of a dungeon (the easiest of course) you could run into enemies from the 3rd level encounter table (this is in 1E, it could be the 4th level table in the original game, but it was pretty similar). If a rather squishy...