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I'd say torches have been irrelevant since 1E. Sure, you used torches and lanterns for a couple of levels -- and then the party cleric got to 3rd level and could create as many rocks, sticks, coins, etc., with continual light on them as needed.

Sure, but that's easier to do if you don't hand out magic items as lavishly as the 1E treasure tables do, and if you don't expect the fighter to go through multiple magic weapons and suits of armor over the course of their career.

Magic gear as a power add is fine. Magic everything is silly, and a major contributor to making magic feel uninteresting (especially if most of your magic gear is boring, flavorless +whatever items). I remember one of the characters from Gygax's home campaign that was reprinted in one of the...

I've always thought "Fighters can use ANY weapon and ANY armor" was overrated because, let's be honest, in most 1E games you'd be wearing the heaviest armor you can afford, and if you're proficient in a sword, a bow (not a crossbow, because 1E/2E crossbows were worthless), and a dagger you're...

The Pathfinder 2e playtest PDFs were free. They did print and sell a physical copy as well, but that was aimed more at collectors and completists -- you didn't need it to playtest the game.

And anyway, if we're playing by old school rules, all those humanoids in the Caves are inherently, irredeemably, monstrously evil. Why on earth would you try to negotiate with them and expect anything other than a knife in the back? No one ever tried it any of the times I've played or run B2.

In my experience, it's more that allowing enemies to retreat invariably leads to them alerting the entire dungeon/castle/whatever and returning with massive reinforcements. It doesn't take many experiences like that to teach that allowing retreats is bad. Likewise, if allowing enemies to...

Polaris (the one by Ben Lehman, not the French submarine game).

Flying Circus has quite detailed rules for World War I-esque planes. Tachyon Squadron is pretty good for X-Wing/Viper type space fighters. I've also heard good things about Warbirds but haven't read it.

The whole "power to cloud men's minds" business was a creation of the radio program. The original pulp Shadow had no superpowers unless you count being able to hypnotize people with his fire-opal ring, but he was easily on Batman's level of strength and stealthiness, and deadly accurate with...

It's a shame the idea of exceptional fantasy PCs automatically brings cries of "if you want superheroes, play a superhero game!", yes.

And even superheroes fail as well. Doesn't mean they're not exceptional. Is Spider-Man less super because he failed to save Gwen Stacy and has been repeatedly beaten bloody by villains? I have no interest in running a game for peasants who barely know which end of the sword to hold and who...

I've never understood this distinction. Sword and sorcery characters are, by and large, exceptional people. Conan, Elric, Imaro, Kane, Jirel, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Morgaine -- none of them are just ordinary sellswords. It's exactly because I like sword and sorcery that I like my fantasy...

The '90s Buck Rogers XXVc game was mostly set in the inner solar system.

Or humans devolving into giant salamanders after going above a certain faster-than-light speed.

ASL is much more derived from French Sign Language than BSL, thanks to Laurent Clerc's influence in American deaf education in the 19th century. And of course it's not just a deaf thing. Many Native tribes have their own forms of sign language.

If you think they'd be comfortable with the PBTA style, and with contributing to the worldbuilding, how about Fellowship? Or Fabula Ultima, if you like the JRPG style. If you prefer something more trad, there's 13th Age or Godbound.

Likewise, if I run anything D&D-like, it'll probably be 13th Age, or maybe Beyond the Wall or PF2e. I have had zero contact with 5E over the last decade and I hope to continue.

Don't forget "well, that stuff will be in the tactical combat module."

Yeah, when 13th Age was being developed, a lot of people claimed it would be the "Pathfinder of 4E," mostly because of Rob Heinsoo's involvement. Although it does have a lot of 4E in its DNA, it's definitely its own thing. The power level is partly because of compressing the game into 10...