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Hah! I was about halfway through writing a retro-clone like this - red box D&D with a "monster mash" party a couple of weeks back. Unfortunately I had my heart set on a box set and couldn't find a convenient PoD solution. I think this is a fine idea myself. Monte Cook's WoD is terrific and I...

I think it really depends on the social role of classes in your campaign. If a class is just a set of abilities you can have a ton of them. If every class has a social role, like a society of Paladins, it gets onerous to try and sketch this out for a constantly expanding set of classes.

Pretty much the most important thing to keep in mind is that in most cases one success is sufficient to accomplish a task - multiple successes should be better performance, not required. There are exceptions here and there in the rules (extended actions, teamwork and a few others) but for the...

1) If I was restricted to the cliched story about beating the evil baron, I sure as hell *would* liven it up to keep it from being dull in both colour *and* plotting. Ugh. 2) Many RPG fiction books have been discreetly written by "serious" speculative fiction writers (using pseudonyms) who...

I know, working on the line now, that discussion about the WoD is much more focused on situations in play than it used to be: questions about how to rule on a certain spell, for example, or discussions about how to work collectively in a specific chronicle. I do think The WoD could do to have a...

This would be a function of you not being in the homes of people you don't know.

Good questions! 1) I think many of the inspirations kind of suffer from being too tied to chance elements, elimination and a straight up dungeon crawl (there should be a dungeon crawl, but it needs new elements). The game needs to be one where everyone has fun all the time, and they create...

Those "miscellanea" were referred to in supplements *and* they are not that small -- they're as integral to GURPS as class design in D&D. Applying an errata =/= over a dozen pages of new content. The GURPS books became required to get full use out of later supplements. It's why I got rid of...

I think these protests kind of miss the point that marketing a boardgame to teach D&D would just make it a bad boardgame. I'd rather have a good boardgame with physical and new rules elements I can port to D&D.

I stand corrected -- but not for the purposes of contrasting AD&D. There were *two* Third Editions of GURPS. A Revised 3rd came out in 1996. Plus of course, GURPS had the Compendiums, which were treated as core rules in a way AD&D2's Option books weren't.

Not "Euro" enough -- you need to be able to win without the dice on your side. Really, the game needs to define itself as a thing worth playing on its own, not as an intro to D&D or a GW Heroquest clone. Plus, it needs to support a lot of different miniatures.

Heroscape is not really what I'm thinking of, because it's not D&D. What would make a D&D collectible board game neat? 1) Boards that double as RPG battlemats. 2) Constructable three dimensional elements. 3) Some "Euro" qualities, including a way to play with purer strategic focus (even if...

The last fantasy authors I read were Roger Zelazny and Gene Wolfe (who you should all read, but be warned -- Wolfe is difficult). These were rereads of favorites. Haven't read licensed fantasy RPG fiction in ages, but I don't regret doing it. One of my friends speaks quite highly of Robin Hobb.

Keep in mind that this is an economic climate where *Wizkids* has ceased operations until someone with more modest expectations can take over their properties. The fact that DDM ended at the same time does not mean it bombed anymore than the Clix games. CMGs are aimed at a young demographic...

Well, consider that 12 years is a hell of a long time for a single edition of a line to exist. 1e and 2e both lasted for roughly the same length of time, and that was a very, very long time by RPG design and development standards. By contrast, consider that Vampire and Shadowrun each went...

You know, if I was a famous creator my plan for my work after death would probably involve compiling a few definitive works *and* helping my wife make lots of money. WRT Castle Zagyg, I think it would be great to explicitly incorporate the experiences of people who went through it. I'd love to...

I recall a number of uncomplimentary things said by brand management at the time, and most of all the suggestion that AD&D had alienated/lost players. In fact, AD&D 2nd lasted for over a decade -- about as long as 1e -- and was the top selling RPG for the entire time, with the exception of a...

There was never really a coherent anti-2e movement. There was a rather strenuous marketing effort coinciding with the release of 3e to create antipathy for it, to sell 3e books. 2e was overwhelmingly welcomed by groups that were playing AD&D and keeping up with news and events around the game...

This would assume the notes are comprehensible to anyone or clearly marked for their purpose, and even then, if they end up composing a significant product. It's certainly a myth that he only wrote for himself; he said in discussions here that there were serious differences between what he...

Honestly, I suspect part of the issue is that Castle Greyhawk (and pseudonyms) and other projects might not be as coherently set down as people would like to hope. certainly, Gygax's private use of game systems was far more off the cuff than what he published, and it seems likely to me that his...