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This is one of the more insightful things I've read on ENWorld, thanks. It set me to thinking about how my simple RPG rules fit the newer zeitgeist. My characters don't have ability numbers, only skills, so that takes the STR-DEX competition out of the equation.

The advantages of heavy armor in AD&D compensated a fighter (some) when he saw the MU doing scads of damage quite beyond what a fighter can (the artillery spells). But 5e's take on fighters may compensate for the loss of armor efficacy. Or does it?

I've not seen an example from real-world use, but for ordinary people a connectivity map might be more useful than a distance map. Connectivity map: circles for locations, connecting lines with travel time listed. If by river, the line would follow the river, if by sea, the sea, if significant...

I wonder how many GMs have made an adventure out of hiring the adventurers to make maps (based on distance, not time?)?

Travel times instead of distances are a common mode of expression today. I always talk in road mileage, my sister (who travels with her husband far more than I do) always quotes time, and rarely knows the actual distance (her husband does the driving, I do most of the driving for my wife and I)...

We previously established the fundamentals of world-building; with a world’s basic rules down, it’s important to consider how you get around in that world. And travel was very different (read: slower) in a medieval setting. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. It’s Not That Far… As explained by Rick...

I think of this in game designer's terms, of course. Alignment was a way to reflect religion without specifying real-world gods, but more a way to steer people away from the default of "Chaotic Neutral hoodlum who can do whatever he/she wants". Neutering alignment removes a useful GM tool. Lew...

There are two definitions of "racist". One is, saying something about an entire race that is untrue (is racism). The other is, saying anything that implies that every race isn't exactly the same ("equal") is racism. For the latter, a simple description like "exotic" is a racist description...

Good question. I think the basic answer is, simplicity of design. But GMs can certainly create states in between death and OK. The only period when I used critical hits, I made up a table of temporary (until well-healed, sometimes) injuries. What do you do with a one-legged fighter, though. It...

When I first saw D&D I said “I hate dice games.” But I discovered that it wasn’t a “dice game,” played properly. It is a microcosm of Life: do everything you practically can to avoid having to rely on a die roll to save your bacon. You won’t always be able to, but you can minimize the number...

Most skills that happen mostly in the mind are undervalued these days, because people don't see it happen the way they can see an artist draw or paint, a sculptor sculpt, etc. - not that people with those skills have it easy. There's also the Dunning-Kruger effect, people think they could write...

Spot on. I bailed out of the game industry in the early 80s because I had to make a living (in computers and teaching, ultimately). I especially remember having to stop writing for the RPG magazines because switched to buying all rights, which I refused to sell. But as a result I control the...

Thanks for the reference. Interesting article.

We continue our “beginners notes” for world building, answering questions ranging from the gods to magic to transportation and communication. Picture courtesy of Pixabay. These are the questions we were discussing last time: What are the players going to DO? Who are the...

Sigh. My title was "Getting Started with World Building". As sometimes happens, the editor changed the title, and as sometimes happens, his title may have been misleading. I did not say worldbuilding is bad and useless and should not be done. I said the game is much more important than the...

For 45 years I've thought that the game breaks down when you get into double figure levels, because the offense becomes too strong. Whoever shoots first gets a big advantage (just as in WW II tank battles, I understand). Cut down the offense by eliminating ALL the high level spells, or at least...

About retcons: historians in effect do this with some frequency, simply because of disagreements in interpretation, or discovery of new evidence, or even new political agendas. Yes, what happened, happened, but often we don't know exactly, so different historians have different versions of what...