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I think an interesting alternative is: A Clear And Terrible Consequence if x is not stopped from happening, rather than a goal. It's allllllmost the same thing, but frames the question in a way that allows the players the most agency. And it even allows for the Terrible Consequence to take...

I broke it down to every single thing from railroad to sandbox and everything between once. http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2010/05/chokers-and-chandlers.html TL;DR: a railroad is just an overuse of tools that appear once there is any kind of structure, but there are clear lines to...

Here's a way to do it--basically nest the tables so they overlap--with creatures that appear even in the safest environment in 1-4 and ones that appear only in the most dangerous and varied environment in 13-20. You can then roll the appropriate die for the terrain type to get an encounter OR...

Cleverness is rewarded in all the editions or can be. The thing about 1e was that it introduced the concept of a game where you could, y'know, flood the dungeon if you got sick of it--so it was less "it includes cleverness and your fav doesn't" as much as the writing in the early books and...

1. We like a challenge. Hard stuff is fun for people like that. 2. D&D art in 1st ed was weird and sometimes amateurish--but it was definitely its own thing--nothing else looks like early D&D art. There's a lot of great new D&D art but it looks more like other fantasy things (book covers...

I don't know ANYTHING about his wider views, but in his dealings with us when we were working on I Hit It With My Axe Greg was very decent and definitely into RPGs. And, for the record, he WASN'T part of the culture I describe here...

If it's easy to have a rest, then the journey isn't much of a journey. The territory should be perilous enough that any mechanically significant rest risks triggering an encounter or other hazard.

The only thing I'd add is to put in some elements of choice about route or method that has mechanical consequence. If it's just Roll On Somebody's Skill then I think it can get monotonous faster. Not immediately, but faster. Good choices are like: This route has worse weather and sheer drops...

From here: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2013/03/more-hexenbracken-how-hell-do-you-run.html?zx=fa2a057717b2454d This is specifically about moving over areas with hexes ("hexcrawls") but the principles can be applied to lots of games: -The players will be either traveling overland from...

That's why I wrote this: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.com/2011/03/arrows-and-boxes-and-columns-and-bullet.html RPGs are a whole undiscovered continent for real graphic and information design. The top-dollar product still just defaults to hiring a designer who has never played or GMed and...

Thanks! I mean something slightly different--and advice I think is more generally useful: Make something that is, at least, the best you can do. Make something that you yourself would actually use. Do not assume the way thing are usually done is the way you need to do it. I think this is...

That may well be, but Red & Pleasant Land is definitely not one of those products. James spent more money putting out that book than my artbook publishers spent putting out my art books--and it paid off. I made off RPL in a month to pay rent in downtown LA for like two years. The trick? Make...

Please ignore what you think I'm implying and stick to what I actually say. 1. You're assuming bad faith--and that's a bad thing to do. 2. There's no possible trap. I'm not a psychopath--I learn nothing by "trapping" you. I gain nothing by going "HAHA I'M RIGHT!" There are literally no rewards...

If you don't understand the reason for the question, you can just ask, rather than assume (bizarrely) that there is no reason for the question. The reason for the question is: If you believe there is no value at all in closing the loophole, then that is one conversation. It requires...

I've already answered this: You don't answer "Would you want this if it's free?" with "But it isn't!" That's something you say after first establishing whether you want it. Which we still don't know because you still refuse to answer. Again, I am not asking any of these questions yet... Not...

Incorrect. Fudging a die logically means: you rolled a die. Rolling a die usually implies: there was a rule. For example "Roll d8 for damage from a longsword". Now you may argue that any deviation from the RAW is hard for you to remember, in which case you're essentially saying "I would not...

If you don't fudge, then you are not a person to whom the question is directed

Whether or not there are, the discussion will go faster if you can answer whether or not you see closing the loopholes as desirable in itself and then we can go on to talking about what the costs are and whether they can be ameliorated. A rule that's harder to remember than the current rule...

Incorrect: I never said you need to do anything. I have said that, given x set of circumstances, it is best to do y. Need doesn't come into it. You need dice or something that does their job. You need players. Given most conditions, it is _best_ if you have something available for them to...