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Squeaky wheel gets the grease. In this case, the squeaky wheel (only 2% of wheels) also accounts for 80% of all movement. In other words, even a broken squeaky wheel means the entire wagon cannot move. So it really doesn't matter if the squeaky wheel represents the industry or not, it is...

An award is an indication that enough folks cared enough to promote it. That encourages me to give it a look. I think the real value of gaming awards is for people already in the in-circle. They can pat each other on the back and for folks who spent months or years working on a product, a...

To complete the ranger preview, animal companions. The aim was to embrace the *feel* of animal companions but minimize the bookkeeping and ensure those ever present meaningful tradeoffs across levels.

Another new class. This time it's the ranger.

This argument could be reworded as, "Monster: How much space are they worth?" and the response would vary, but ultimately the answer is that monsters are worth as much complexity as it takes to make them feel unique and fun to battle. The stat block, then, should take up as much space as it...

A cycling back through all of the articles and theories that got us to classes.

I think this is important because while it is a minor part of your rant, I think the heart of your rant gets to an issue of time and space. This portion of the rant is all about time. Even people who are fast at arithmetic still slow down when faced with more or harder arithmetic. When you...

The third class, the bard.

For sure. Hell, I've been arguing a lot of these same notions on my site and the ideas aren't truly my own as I've been hearing them in different iterations for nigh on a decade. The unique thing about this series is that they are coming from the source, from WotC, and they basically acknowledge...

My take from all of these articles is that I, like many people, want the elements Mearls is describing to take shape into a game. But this is because I interpret the words to my own angle, hearing what I want and agree with. Everyone does this and it is easy to do so because the articles are...

A follow up on skills that shows all of the math and the why/how side of the game.

What this really shows me is that I should never use the term PEACH in a headline on a board with opinionated mods (look at the address). ;)

I think people oppose frequent new editions for two reasons: (1) D&D promotes itself as a cheap hobby. It doesn't seem to dominate as much of the discourse these days, but for years all I heard were breakdowns of the cost of D&D per hour compared to a movie theater or remote control cars or...

For sure. This update on skills started as something very different. It ended up where it is from the confluence of two different conversations--one to help someone with their homebrew system and another about what a commenter on my site didn't like about my skill system. Neither of their...

My two dice superstition stories: First story A good aligned cleric decides to wield the (clearly) evil mace of a villain they felled. He argued that using the weapon of the enemy against them was in the service of Pelor. The rolls were not in succession, but they were all preceded by the...

A second class posted: the fighter. With two classes it should start to become more apparent how they could multiclass together and the tradeoffs that entails, but also the ways in which they can cooperate and build a tactical team.

Still a mix of both. Ultimately if I'm not happy and excited about it no one will have a great time because my heart won't be in it. But I also take into consideration the desires of players because their excitement creates a feedback loop. If my dream setting is their nightmare, it still won't...

The difference between 10 and 11 probably won't rock your game. To be sure, it'll come up from time to time but I imagine it will be largely the same play experience. If the 10 bothered you and you don't mind 11, go with 11. Personally, I'd stick with 10 as a player and DM for the both of the...

My bad. I see it now. I think on my first pass I made an assumption you hadn't said and it took me in a different direction with the rest of my reading. It happens. I can see where you are headed then and I very much agree with the goal. I don't think of it as "modular" so much as "rally point"...

The 'simple, then complex' idea is what I've been referring to as favorable system assumptions (which, the more I reference it, the more I realize it is sort of a crappy name). I think I agree with you as well. I'd love to see an example in play because, in my head, it has a very distinct feel...