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I treat passive scores as 5+skill modifier instead of 10+skill modifier. IMO, if you aren't paying attention, you should get a penalty to your check, not the average score. This seems to take care of most of the concerns discussed, while still allowing for bad luck for active rolls (rolls less...

Monte Cook's "Ptolus" campaign setting might be a good resource. I think it has a section dealing with a lot of the issues you are discussing. It is one heck of a ptome.

I use almost entirely published material. Huge time saver for me but it gives me enough space to add/subtract whatever I want. A side benefit is the common experience of so many players playing the same material.

I didn't use it until several weeks after going live. I haven't had significant issues. If you are building basic characters, I think you would be fine. I still prefer it to buying all the necessary source books.

The multiclassing in 3e was an incredibly cool idea to me. Yeah, there were problems, and, yes, I didn't use it that much. But the fundamental idea was golden.

Done well, I love them! Done poorly, they feel stilted. Still not sure how to make "Done well" occur every time.

You might want to look at the "Return to White Plume Mountain" 25th anniversary edition that came out for 2e for a slightly more modern treatment. Still would take some work to get to 4e...

hmm... to move back on topic a little bit... I have a friend that works at a major MMORPG (not WOW). He told me that he is continually shocked at how little the developers use world data to inform world development. Most of it is anecdotal (mainly message boards) and very little of it is driven...

My name is Dedekind and my parole officer suggests that I tell you that: * I dislike almost all fantasy and sci-fi novels. IMO, most are terribly written, particularly the dialogue. I've stopped reading them. * I really love the statistics/probability side of the game. * Corollary: I get...

I think you can totally get away with it and it would be very interesting. With that said, you may encourage them to only take from classes in the same role to keep the party balance. Of course, it sounds like you are pretty free-wheeling group, so I bet you can get away with most anything...

I've heard the argument before that sometimes entertainment should make you uncomfortable. While I agree that is one of its purposes, RPGs are potentially unfiltered entertainment. I watch a movie knowing that, given its rating, I will not witness anything I don't want to see. That can't be said...

Yup, Random Tables for monsters. For NPCs, Monster Manual. For a new storyline, I steal from books that I've read that I'm pretty sure the players have not. They ended up on a whole quest for the Gonfalon (sp? a flag) of Moradin that happened to be kept at temple in the middle of a warzone...

Wow! Is that what happens when people use the Deck of Many Things?:p

haha this reminds me of an author's (maybe?) response in the following conversation. (I paraphrase, btw.) Audience member: "Why not publish your material for free on the web? The information wants to be free." Author: "Yeah, but the rent wants to be paid."

*Knock on door, Chris sticks his head in* "Mike, we have a problem." "I can't help it if Shelly dropped hummus on your map." "No, it's worse. A guy at Hasbro says the Red Box is too complicated." "Too complicated?" "Yeah, apparently they think using a d20 is too much, and want to just flip...

You make a very good point. The whole thing is complicated, however, by the fact that the workload can be volatile. At the peak, you may 30 people, but the trough may require 20. This is where freelancers come in, I guess, and we know WotC makes use of that. On a different note, my company...

*Mike's "Fifth of Beethoven" ringtone goes off* "Mike here, in living color." "This is Bill. It finally happened." "It didn't." "It did." "It didn't." "It did." "It did?" "Yes. The new guy proposed Flumph as a player race." "Tell him he has a 5 minute head start."

*Mike's AC/DC ringtone goes off* "This is Mike." "Mike, there is a guy from Hasbro in my office. He wants to know why the box has to be red." <Edited for the children> "I'll be right there."