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I ran the Eberron conversion of H1 to start my first ongoing campaign (in any edition). My players had voiced an interest in story over hack-and-slash, so I knew from the outset that I wouldn't run it as written. They managed to stumble upon Splug in their second encounter in the keep, so he...

I just looked again at the three-page introduction in the ECS, which describes what Eberron's all about. Nowhere does it mention cosmology. It lists Ten Things You Need to Know, and to my knowledge WotC isn't planning to change any of them. Many of those ten things will still Eberron apart...

I sympathize with your frustration. It would suck if the beguiler's vulnerabilities became a significant liability for your party. But you need to understand that this other player has different priorities than you. You use the term "optimized" and "well-built character," but such language...

I've given this question considerable thought in my solo campaign with my fiancée, and my current decision is to give the DMPC the normal allotment of healing surges per day but only one healing surge during an encounter. I think this rule fits the spirit if not the letter of the DMG, which...

I agree that characterizing the challenge in terms of rounds instead of failures might encourage players to participate. Psychologically, they will perceive themselves as working against time, instead of fearing failure. But you should know that your mechanic is mathematically identical to a...

I think it's important to draw the line more precisely than you did in your original post. It's easy to say that you won't respond to personal insults. It's harder to say that you won't respond directly to somebody spreading what you perceive to be misinformation about your favorite edition...

Odd, iTunes picked up the new podcast for me as usual. I found this mailbag particularly enjoyable, with plenty of nice tidbits. In fact, I think some of the information deserves to be published in a more visible spot. The first two questions re skill challenges and skill DCs were...

I too left in all my money as a 4E patron. Everything I've seen so far indicates that Wolfgang is working hard to give all his patrons plenty of value for their money. At this point, I'm most worried about the patrons getting along with one another. I don't envy Wolfgang, who is already...

It depends. What feels heroic? Increasing the percentage of your attack rolls that hit, or managing to obtain the same percentage against increasingly powerful enemies? YMMV. Personally, I don't think adventurers should need to beat up lower level monsters, but if they do, it helps to have...

I had the same problem, but it seems to occur with only one of the two Halls of the Mountain King links. On wolfgangbaur.com, under "Open Design Blog News", there are two entries for Halls of the Mountain King. The first (newer) one leads to a page still on wolfgangbaur.com, but this page gave...

I would say that WotC changed the route on you. Mearls designed a route that he thought would serve more people better. Scott's job is to show existing passengers how the new route can still get them where they want to go, along with promoting the route to new passengers. Of course, depending...

I'd say your observations are largely on target. Thanks for sharing your perspective in an objective manner. For my part, I've realized that 4e is not the magic bullet for which I once hoped. So far, the biggest problem I'm having is that it's more like a well-oiled machine than a mystical...

You do yourself a disservice. You're offering an opportunity directly to influence the design of a professionally crafted adventure. This opportunity is novel and has value for both the 3E and 4E markets. Also, to be frank, your patronage system doesn't serve "3E" or "4E", and it doesn't care...

I agree with the OP's point that edition wars stem from a normal human reaction to change, but my question is precisely what change is the cause? Many of the posts in the thread assumed a proposed change to "what game I play." I submit that the change causing the edition wars is a change to...

I agree. I chose Eberron for my first ongoing campaign, and I now regret choosing such a cosmopolitan setting with so many proper names to learn that should already be known by most of its inhabitants. I wish I had begun with a points-of-light setting, and the default one seems fine.

I'm a proponent of 4E, and I agree that those "broken" examples are just demonstrations of how awesome 9th-level characters are. At this level, 3E wizards are teleporting around the world and clerics are raising the dead. The barbarian can climb 40 feet in six seconds? Oh nos! Also, I think...

I believe the problem with page 42 really is its ambiguity. Clearly, different readers have taken wildly different interpretations of its contents. Literally, it says to first decide whether the given task is easy, medium, or hard for a character of a given level. Then it gives you the DC to...

Disclaimer: I am here to discuss ideas, not to "win" anybody over. This post is not in response to any person in particular. First, it's possible to overstate the mechanical differences between the 3E treatment of skills and the 4E treatment of skills. Suppose I'm a DM, and my story involves...

This. This community differs in distribution from gamers in general because of its level of investment in gaming, not (directly) because it skews towards DMs. It just so happens that DMing and level of investment are correlated.

Yes, I had assumed from the beginning that the purpose of this poll was to gauge the preferences of EN World members (who participate in the general forum). Clearly, any attempt to generalize the results to the population of gamers across the world is dubious at best. I'm actually more...