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While Drizzt may be the ironic D&D Ranger, the problem is that the class has been and continues to be designed with Aragorn of the Dunedain as the iconic Ranger. The whole reason the class got spells back in its first appearance in the Strategic Review was to mimic Aragorn's abilities in Lord of...

The one where I share free to download booklets about Faeries, and Demons. Compatible with my Majestic Fantasy RPG and other rules based on the classic editions like Swords & Wizardry. https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2022/09/stuff-in-attic-updated-with-faeries-and.html Direct links Stuff in...

I write about the future of Bat in the Attic Games along with links to free stuff that should be useful for your classic edition campaign like Merchant Adventures, Magic Item Creation, Bandits & Brigands, Randomized Magic User Spells, etc...

I appreciate the outpouring of support and patronage. As of 7:00pm eastern time, the amount of deferred royalties is enough to pay off the outstanding balance Judges Guild owes on the Wilderlands maps done by myself for the City-State Kickstarter. Accordingly, I have ceased sales of all Judges...

Something I had to wrestle with when I dragged my Majestic Wilderlands setting from AD&D 1e to Fantasy Hero then to GURPS and then in the past decade my classic D&D based Majestic Fantasy rules and 5e. The key trick is to figure out what players like to do in the setting, and what level of...

Announcing the end of selling Judges Guild licensed products. https://batintheattic.blogspot.com/2022/08/concerning-judges-guild-to-all-things.html

The difference is that I can choose to place my character under orders or in circumstances that limit my future reasonable actions to essentially a linear sequence of events. Note the reasonable. There is always a choice. Many linear situations in reality that the alternative is so unpleasant or...

I disagree that back in the 1980s sandbox was used to describe a distinct type of campaign or a synonym for free play. By the mid-80s I was in college and involved in organized gaming clubs and conventions. A lot of the terms used in this and earlier terms, I remember being used back in the day...

I think the issue is folks not stating clearly what they want out of a running tabletop campaign and explaining how their points tie back to that idea. For example for me, I find it fun to see players how "trash' my setting regardless of genre and specifics. Everything I share about running a...

The term railroad is overloaded in this context. What makes a railroad a railroad is the unwillingness to allow players to make other choices even when it is plausible to do so. Whether this is a "bad" thing or not depends on what the group wants to do. Traditionally it has been viewed as...

I didn't do miniature wargaming until much later. I lived in a small rural town in Northwest Pennsylvania. The D&D fad and wargame boom reached us, we didn't get everything that was out there.

Sandbox as a type of RPG campaign wasn't in use in the hobby or industry prior to the early 2000s. It was used as a synonym for settings or campaigns. For example, in Dragon magazine, the author would say "I welcome all players to my sandbox." And from the context of the article, it was clear...

It boils down to are you as the referee willing to let players "trash" your setting. If the answer is yes then you are probably running some sort of sandbox. If not then likely you are railroading the players in some way. I use the word trash deliberately as it has a negative connotation when it...

I started out with hex and counter wargames in the late 70s and then started playing D&D off and on starting in 1978. But it didn't become my main source of gaming until the release of the DMG in the summer of 1979. What leaped out at me compared to the wargames I played was D&D's flexibility...

It been my experience is that the circumstances of the situation govern how it could be dealt with. If the group decides to help Meezap by rescuing his apprentices there is likely no other plausible way to dealing with other than the way you describe. It just make sense as that being the way to...

Yes but there are nuances . Understood. And before we get too deep into this, PM me and I will comp you a PDF of my Scourge of Demon Wolf. I found that people understand me better when they have a fully worked out example to look at afterwards. First off a heads up I am be writing this from a...

And your thesis in the post I replied to was that a non story adventure is pointless. That it can’t be fun. The goal of a sandbox campaign is to experience the setting as a character who could exist within the setting. It fun because because the players find playing characters in that setting...

You can only tell a story about your trip to Greece after the trip is concluded. You can plan an itinerary with some goal in mind like visiting all the sites of the Persian Wars but there is no story until you have actually done the trip. It the same way with a sandbox campaign in a fantasy...

My view is that it boils down what is in-game and what is out-of-game. The Railroad is what it is because the referee decided that there is only one way for the campaign to unfold for reasons other than that how the setting works. But a railroad as most define it is only one example of this...

I have run my Blackmarsh setting with 5e numerous times. And the PDF is free. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89944/Blackmarsh Through playing campaigns with Swords & Wizardry (a OD&D variant) and 5e I found the power curves of both to be compatible. So when I am using Blackmarsh and my...