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I think that the turn undead option was a way to counter the SoD effects so many undead have--and yes, I am including paralysis as SoD, to say nothing of no-save level drain, aging touch, and mummy rot. In other words, there was a sort of arms race between undead and turn undead. I like the...

In any case, the thread asked about whether creativity should be brought back to D&D. I contend that creativity has always hinged on the playing group, and the level of comfort the group has with the rules. For every every artist that works best with a blank canvas and palette of many colors...

By the way, whether someone thinks that an aspect of the game is fun is not necessarily the same as thinking that that aspect belongs in the next edition. For instance, I really had fun with druidic combat to rise in levels in AD&D. I don't think it should be a standard part of 5e, though.

I like the soft cap: don't provide many ways for characters to get stat increases. I am not, generally, in favor of ability-boost items. When the game includes them, they become the most important item for most characters to get--boost the main stat to make you the best at what you do. For my...

With the limited time me and my players have, one of the top concerns about any iteration of D&D (or other rpg) is speed of task resolution in comparison to story and roleplay. I have modified monsters in 4e to speed combats (half hit points, but +2 damage per tier, +4 on encounter only...

I hope some dragons are presented as huge, powerful, and bestial creatures. Though I can create some of my own dragons to be that way, many dragon archetypes are not smart and do not use magic. For every Smaug or Fafnir, there is a classical, unnamed dragon that ravages the countryside.

My two coppers: Spycraft>Top Secret (and I played Top Secret back in the 80's and Spycraft several years ago) Toon>other comedy/silly games, with Paranoia a close second I don't think everything is, or should be, a d20 style game. Some games are better when players have more narrative control...

AD&D games varied widely in treasure, even if using random charts as written. DMs could potentially pick a lot of treasure-poor monsters, and use many of their own adventures, which might have a lot less loot than the published modules (which often had lots of magic loot).

It isn't about whether the players or characters care, it's about the time it takes, whereas I could just improv a result without dice rolling and combat rounds, or just roll a couple dice to determine a final result if I want randomness.

Gah! If I ran rounds of combat "against myself" as the DM, my players would ask, "Why don't you decide who wins?" or "Isn't there a faster way to determine a result based on the overall effectiveness of the NPCs?" or "The two of us are going to be MtG while you roll dice with yourself."

Like others, I like the idea that weapons and armor with a simple bonus are not magical, but masterwork, "amazingwork", or made of special materials. I would like to reserve really magical items for things like glowing swords (yes, make that special again), fiery swords, metal armor that has...

I didn't even like most name level titles back in AD&D. If a player brought a ranger to Ranger Knight or Ranger Lord, but the story never saw him knighted or given land, then why the title? Likewise, a roving, adventuring cleric might not have strong ties to a hierarchy, and not every thief is...

Also, why would some PCs get "titles" at all? A low level AD&D thief should get a title?

What about a mathemagician? :p

I'm not against the concept--I merely offered multiple suggestions for a starting point. Your responses seem overly defensive. I don't think it is best to start with the simplest conceivable complexity. A minority of players will play that simplest complexity, which means the majority will be...

If find that the level titles are a strange mishmash of terms found in a thesaurus. Examples: The 1st level fighter is a veteran? What about many old-school gamers who want 1st level characters to be bumpkins? The magic-user goes from a conjurer to an evoker to thaumaturgist and . . . these...

I'll note that being captured is related to magic item dependency and Expected Wealth: if PCs aren't really dependent on magic items, and they don't have a lot in the first place, being captured is not nearly as bad.

Third edition had mundane items, though they generally were too pricey at low level and not effective enough at high level. Still, plenty of +2 skill items were in use in my games. Fourth edition has some mundane items, too.

Sounds like you have a pedantic, rules-lawyer DM. That's not my preferred play style. By the way, Exception-Based Rules do not mean there is a rule for everything. Actually, it means that there is a general mechanic to cover all situations, except for the ones that have a different rule. Having...

The badwrongfun suggestion was yours. I merely pointed out two other alternatives for a starting point (whereas you referenced OD&D). My personal preference is to use something BECMI as a starting point, by the way. Like so many of these threads, I have suggested alternatives, rather than...