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I think your points on this topic all have merit, but I think you are greatly exagerating a separation that is appproximately never clean. Even games that are more roleplaying games than narrative games, as per your defintions, usually include either explicit narrative conventions or implicit...

That passage irked me as well, and I think the problem is that Wick is employing a False Choice Fallacy. We are not stuck with only the two choices of True Roleplaying or Mere Rollplaying. It is not as if the DM is shackled into only resolving a social interaction by the standard of "if it...

Yup. From the designer's POV, a mediocre nugget that adheres closely to the 1e version is going to earn them less grief than a superb new version that seems completely different. But not changing it up means they will be accused of screwing up on down the line. It is definitely a case of...

That was the way of the original, but it was a bit overboard in 1e IMHO. The way it is used here, it encourages the DM to modify the item slightly. And even if the party finds the best sage in the multiverse to "read the DMG entry", it is possible that even the gods do not know the exact...

Criticism of the art aside, the sketch tale of Vecna and Kas has always appealed to me. This particular version is the best of all at jumpstarting a set of adventures with clear goals. Well done that. One can imagine a campaign world being torn apart by the two wielders of the Hand and Eye...

Not a fan of the dragonorb art either. Eye art looks neither bloodshot nor cat-like.

I think you are spoiling our fun by posting an intelligent answer. ;) But seriously, you are exactly right. These fine details are for play groups who love DMs who say things like "No, no, no. The halfling may not attack the Nazgul with his dagger until his target dismounts. Reach." For...

A quick rough summary of the GUMSHOE philosophy would be: (1) Pedestrian efforts by the players themselves should provide enough clues to get the PCs to the next necessary bus stop in the plot. (2) A moderate degree of inspiration by the players in how to use skills should provide a few bonus...

Exactly. Sitting in a box in my garage is a copy of Chivalry & Sorcery (1st edition), published circa 1977, which predates the publication of AD&D. In that game, you roll stats, you roll social status (yes, you may be a peasant who needs to grovel while near their "betters" in civilized...

Sacrosanct, please meet Sacrosanct. I never said that fun made it not fair, only unimportant. In response, you put words into my mouth, then made a direct personal attack. Game. Set. Match.

I would also bet that many of those players who are so enthusiastic about the "fairness" argument are the very ones who will ditch a PC will bad stats at the first opportunity, in order to get another bite at the apple when the dice go badly. So the fairness argument is just a scam, where the...

The very point of rules and a living breathing referee/DM who plots out a campaign and tweaks the rules is to constrain the scope of "fair" that are in play to the players sitting in front of the screen. Your definition of "fair" is simply so broad as to not have any meaning. And even if it...

That is a very strong argument against rolling. Because the variance within the party adds to the DMs work, if the DM cares to help all the players at the table have fun.

WBL can punish you if your prices are flat out wrong and you are unwilling to admit it. In the case of 3e, more than half the interesting items in the DMG were not priced a little bit wrong, but 3X or 4X or 5X too expensive, thereby making the decision to cash out and pay full price for...

Yes, with bounded accuracy the staying power of a simple lion is likely to be better than in 1e/2e/3e/4e. But a "Rare" item weighs in (I believe) somewhere between a +1 sword and a +3 sword. In a campaign where there a many encounters over the course of a day or a few days, a +1 sword is going...

The figurines are a promising idea with potential for cool, but they never really worked out that way. Usages too stingy. Stats so weak in the context of the power level of the PCs, by the time they can "afford" to own such a Rare item. 5e does not look like it has changed this much.

No, the point is exactly that you are potentially screwed forever. If you could keep drawing on your whim, you have a lot of chances to fix the damage done before, until Donjon finally hits you. You must announce how many cards you want to draw, or you cannot gain any benefit whatsoever. The...

Hijack... I do not know about 4e, but the 3e Deck was crap. While the Deck made a certain kind of sense in 1e/2e, because it gave you rewards that were usable and exotic in return for meaningful risks. In 3e, the internal logic of the thing was translated poorly. For example, if I draw a Sun...

I would recommend "4d6ish without replacement". (1) Take the Ace to 6 from a deck of cards (24 cards) and shuffle. (2) Deal into 6 piles. Assign stat order. (3) Best of three (obviously) (4) [Optional] Swap two stats. The nice thing about this is that having a very high stat correlates with...

7 9 10 11 8 9 10 -- net -4 mod 7 13 10 9 10 11 -- ready to fall asleep now This is definitely not getting my RP juices flowing.