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When I played in High School, joke names was quite common. In college it was all about cool sounding fantasy names. Post college I mandated historical names and provided several lists. But there is one historical name that still cracks me up. The name of a Central Asian general from the...

Yes I do. I think adjusting Hit and Damage bonuses for Dex and Str is independent of whether or not armor is used for AC or DR. This is just one of the steps to move D&D towards combat simulation. Implementing ½ Dex bonus and ½ Str bonus for swords is going to be a pain in the butt without...

Thanks for your kind words Levitator. I've been blessed with having had a couple of martial artists play in my campaign over the years who've given me some ideas, I used to play in the SCA for awhile, and my wife is a physicist who was gracious enough to put into layman's terms some of the...

I really dislike casting defensively and won't allow it in my next campaign. Instead, I think that spellcasters should use scrolls, wands, staves, and rods. Or quickened spells for that matter. In my 2nd Ed. campaign I used the Historical Campaign rules. This meant that all spellcasting had...

My post above this one provides the detail, but in answer to your question it is Strength that provides one with the ability to swing a sword fast and not Dexterity. It is Dexterity that controls accuracy.

From a balance perspective, I should think that using Dex for all attacks would be OK in a DR system provided that Str damage bonuses are doubled. Rogues would have an easier time hitting dextrous opponents (other Rogues) and Fighters would have an easier time overcoming DR (other Fighters)...

Grymwurld™ owes a great deal to REH and the Germanic & Celtic stories that inspired him. I'm not running a game now but if I can manage it, my next campaign (GM or player) will be the CONAN RPG. On a related note, I really enjoy how REH vividly describes combats. I've tried to get that same...

I prefer historical and SCA names, e.g. Clerics - Casticus, Dentatus, Vindictus Fighters - Nicholass von Sarck™ Paladins - Colin Whytecliffe,™ Syr Griffith Duc de Dragonlake,™ Syr Stephen d’Essexe Rangers - Cedric Trollsbane Rogues - Konrad Darkheart™ Elves - Cynan, Dyvanarth

I recently did some research on the etymology and usage of typical D&D terms like witch, wizard, dweomer, etc. in the Oxford English Dictionary, unabridged edition. My findings are a little different. It is true that witch could refer to either gender in the Middle Ages albeit far more...

Norse of course! I like the Old Norse dichotomy on magic, vis a vis masculine and femminine. Basically two types of spellcasting, masculine and feminine. Male spellcasters practiced a masculine style and Female a feminine. In one of the sagas, Odin is accused by Loki of being the passive...

Acutally there is one change which we should all seriously consider. Why would magical weapons have bonus To Hit if all armor = DR? Maybe the damage bonus should be doubled instead? And what about Str bonus? If there's no AC to overcome, doesn't that shortchange Str? Maybe that should be...

When I ran a 3.0 campaign, I converted armour AC to DR/—. All other forms of defence including shields improved AC. — Daggers and missle weapons were ineffective against high DR unless they scored a critical hit. — Power Attack and improved critical became popular. — Poison became less popular...

Klingon Half-Ogres I ran a 2nd ed. game in which some players had half-ogre characters which they used Klingon voices and threw in bits and pieces of Klingon vocabulary. To make matters worse, they blatantly used names like Duras and Garon. At least there wasn't a Worf… :lol: While it was...

For inspiration, I like Chivalry & Sorcery, Pendragon, and World of Darkness: The Dark Ages (Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, etc.). Ars Magica and Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade are good as well. There was also a very good book on Robin Hood that is OOP by Iron Crown IIRC. In terms of ideas...

Yepper. This is basically what I've used for the last 27 years.

Xyanthon, where did you buy your DVD set? I'm eager to get one as well here in the US.

How about armor providing damage reduction? In the UA you presented field and full plate offering -1 and -2 DR over and above the AC. In my own campaign, I tried out a full AC to DR swap and it led to interesting results. Archers had a difficult time with knights and the knights would...

Critical hits happen more often as well since AC no longer includes armor. This is actually good news for arrows, bolts, darts, rapiers, et cetera since a normal hit will not overcome the DR of full plate. IMC I just convert armor worn to DR unlike the UA's method of splitting the AC to 50/50...

Hi Gary — like so many before me, it is impossible to express my gratitude for creating OD&D and AD&D. Having said that, I want to share with the board a time that I met you at the 1983 WorldCon in Chicago. I asked why broadswords do less damage versus Large opponents then medium-sized...

:lol: Heh heh. In my case, I've lost more fights to other polearm fighters than S&S. :p It may well be perfectly legal by today's standards. Last time I fought (1992) there was a lot more padding required which frankly made it difficult to defeat the 'rhinohides.' I think eliminating the...