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Is this really about "inclusiveness"? Do you feel "excluded" if you go see a samurai movie and all the actors are Japanese? (assuming you're not) If the core rulebook wants to cover all cultures (knights, samurai, tribal warriors, etc.) then go for it. If it wants to avoid historical cultures...

D&D traditionally was based primarily on the western world (Europe / Middle East / North Africa) circa the late middle ages/early renaissance. Monks were the "oddball" class that were introduced in Supplement II: Blackmoor during the chaotic, freewheeling days of OD&D, then grandfathered into...

If the PHB is for a game that about female pirates adventuring in the South China Sea, then sure, go for it. :) However, I think you either missed my point or were just making a pathetic attempt a witty comment. :p

Just don't hold good art hostage to some kind of politically correct quota. The "inclusiveness quota" should be a minor concern, if it's a concern at all.

That "Open Letter" by Kris Hansen made me roll my eyes. I want good art, not over-sensitivity to political correctness. I really don't care what the male/female ratio is, the skin-tone ratio is, the disability ratio is, etc. Just give me good art. Leave the politics and the political...

I pretty much want the opposite of all of this. Make spells work they way they did from OD&D to 3e.

AD&D had four classes: cleric, fighter, magic-user, and thief. It also had 5 subclasses: druid (cleric), paladin (fighter), ranger (fighter), illusionist (magic-user), assassin (thief). A subclass in 1e essentially fills the same role as the class that it's based off of. That makes...

If you don't need roles or if they don't exist, then what is the purpose of class other than for descriptive variation? If there are no roles, then there's no need for variation. Your assertion is a logic tautology. It's like saying that you don't need different players on a team to play...

If every character can fill any role, regardless of class, then that makes it much more difficult to significantly differentiate between classes - except, perhaps, by giving different descriptive flavor to similar mechanical functions, which ends up being only a veneer of differentiation.

Allowing players to "play what they want" means that all character classes need to be able to handle every role possible. You end up with all the character classes generally feeling the same.

It's never been perfect, but it has come pretty close on occasion. The important thing to remember is that there's more to balance than just combat. The hardest part is balancing two classes that play the same role against each other - fighter vs barbarian, cleric vs druid, magic-user vs...

Were you tracking time and using wandering monsters? Using "detect mode" should result in the party getting worn out from having to fight low treasure/XP wandering monsters. There needs to be some sort of trade-off. A smart party should be able to figure out when it's worth taking time to...

We shouldn't need a mechanic for this. If the DM thinks you can't fail or can't succeed, then he shouldn't ask you to roll for it. If he thinks failure is a possibility, then he asks for a roll.

As long as all of the classes play a useful role on the adventuring team, then the game is balanced. Arguing about balance between classes is like arguing balance between positions on a football team. Are quarterbacks and running backs balanced? How about wide receivers and defensive linemen...

Save-or-die doesn't automatically mean super-lethal. Save-or-die worked fairly well in the classic editions because saving throws were static numbers. Save-or-die most often occurred with high level spells. High level spells are found in high level games. High level PCs rarely failed their...

This. It's more annoying to get hit with something nasty with no chance to roll against it than it is to cast a spell and have your opponent save. Opposed rolls slow down the game. They also add randomness, which usually favors the PCs adversaries. Also, saving throws worked much better when...

I think of exploration as the "what do you do?" part of D&D. "You're in a large room, about 30'x30'. You have entered from the south and there is a passageway in the western wall. There is a large, cylindrical, stonework object rising out of the floor in the northern end of the room. In the...

I've seen Beyond the Lighted Stage. It's a great documentary.

If D&D gets made into a 70s prog rock band, let's hope it's Rush. If it gets made into any 70s band, then let's throw Black Sabbath and Led Zepplin in the mix.

Actually, I didn't have a specific band in mind when I made that analogy. I can't think of a band that's been around since the 70s that hasn't changed members or experimented with a new sound. The fact that everyone came up with different examples just proves the point. Just about any rock...