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Hi Morrus! I had a an afternoon spare and so jotted down some random thoughts. I hope these are of some use but I had fun thinking them up whatever you decide. Sorry about the cheesyness of the "maze of pain" but I couldn't resist. Mercian’s Walk. One of the capitol’s canal-side streets, in...

No offense taken; I have had similar arguments many times, with friends who study animal behavior, and we always learn something. D&D really is fascinating on many levels. I thank you for allowing me to see the game through other eyes for a few hours. I think I understand the game, as it was...

I am not sure that the only object of the game is to gain XP; surely we play the game to have fun and enjoy ourselves since XP don't really exist? I totally agree with your sentiments about the futility of legislating what is "fun" for any particular group, which is why it surprises me that...

Sinecure; now I don't agree with you. If your character sheet says lawful good and you kill any monsters that don't actively threaten you or someone else, you are not roleplaying; you are just acting like a machine and ignoring what your character would do. D&D has always had alignment and...

I think the term passport came from papers that people had to have to enter or leave a port during time of war. They were certainly in use in the 1400s as there is a reference to "letters of safe conduct" in a document from the time of Henry V in 1414 and in also in the play "Henry V"; "He that...

I actually agree with Sinecure here; roleplaying, as most people understand it, was NOT invented by Gary Gygax. The more I read his writings, the more I become convinced that his idea of roleplaying was closer to Raven Crowking's idea of "Smart-Play" than my idea of roleplaying. However, I...

Oh I absolutely agree; there is NO one DMing or playing style that fits all groups (or even the same group all the time for that matter). I just think that everyone would benefit from experimenting and trying out different styles as there is alot to learn from old and new approaches. I would...

Ironfang and others on this thread; if I read him right JimlotFP is coming from a completely different viewpoint to you. He is saying that, actually, the PLAYERS should contribute as much to the fun of the game and the adventure as the DM. He is saying that bad players (who can't be bothered...

When people say that D&D is medieval, I can never work out what they mean. D&D is a pastiche of elements of pulp fantasy and someones ill informed or very eclectic vision of the middle ages and is a LONG way from anything even remotely historical. With this mish-mash as its roots, it is not...

James Wallis is the guy releasing it through the Flaming Cobra imprint of Mongoose trading as Magum Opus Press. He is formerly of Hogshead Games; once publishers of Warhammer FRP and is an all around great guy and seems to really know game design. This is indeed just a re-publication of the...

NewJeffCT; the tactics I suggest are really designed just to challenge the players and get them panicking. The problem with most "climatic battles" is that they so often can fall flat. But a little bit of forethought and it can be a very different story.

Rounser, I guess you are right. Call me old fashioned, but I feel that if the designers stop trying to design games that will sell us all these add-ons and just make good games then they will make more money in the end, but maybe that is just naive. I would just really love to see set of rules...

You and I were born EVIL Blargney.

JimLoTFP; Thanks for this. A total breath of fresh air after all the mollycoddling advice we have had since 3E was published. Makes me want to break out the Megadungeon again after all these years.

I love using low level spells to bugger high level parties. My favourite ploys are to have low level spell casters hidden above the battlefield (invisible/levitating via potions). These wizards have the practised spellcaster feat (+5 to caster level) and a hoard of scrolls (if the PCs can do...

I would do two things if you intend the PCs to get land and run it for profit. 1) Do not give them lots of people who owe them service at the beginning. The PCs should have to work to attract people to their lands (unless there is no source of free humans anywhere; i.e. all humans in your game...

The needs of any self sufficient community are always the same; water, food, shelter, cooking materials, metal and food storage. With this in mind you would need the professions/crafts mining, woodcutting, hunting, smelting, charcoal burning, metalworking, building, carpentry, stone-masonry...

I have used the reveal technique in PnP gaming by having a flat screen TV as the tabletop and creating a map in photoshop with a layer of black that gets peeled back in stages. It works very well if you have the time to set the map up properly.

I would steal the fairly simple rules from the Companion (BECMI) set if your players insist on running a dominion/town in this way. You might have to put some multipliers in to account for the differences in gp values between 3,5E and Companion but it is well worth it. Companion rules can be...

Check out WoTCs statements about how the game is played and look at the removal of campaign specific fluff from almost all of their products; they all point to the idea that D&D is used as a toolkit for making homebrews. Since most people play D&D and nothing else, I would suspect that D&D is...