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Howard was must certainly a great writer and, like his contemporary Lovecraft, he's finally being recognized as such by literary scholars, who'd previously turned their noses up at him and dismissed his work solely on the basis of where it appeared. FWIW, I'd argue that Leiber was also a great...

That's the crux of it -- and it's also the reason why I'll probably get off the D&D train at Station 3.5. I cannot (and indeed do not) fault WotC for trying to make the game more appealing to people whose understanding of "fantasy" does not include Howard and Leiber and De Camp (or even...

These are the things that most worry me as well. When all is said and done, the fluff and chrome, however much I dislike it and see it as an abandonment of 30 years of shared story, can be easily fixed. But the rules and the playstyle they encourage, that's not so easily changed. 4E, from what...

And a very good thought it is. Many traditions and customs may seem purely arbitrary or whimsical or just plain stupid when you don't consider the circumstances under which they arose. Unfortunately, most people have short memories and even worse knowledge of history, so, when confronted with...

It's pretty much a no-brainer for WotC. Making sure Ed is involved guarantees you not only a very talented and imaginative writer, but also gives you a bit more credibility with people who've been following the Realms since issue 30 of Dragon. What it does not do, however, is overturn WotC's...

To lose me, 4E would have to have had me and I don't think it ever did. Well, there was a chance that it could have won me over. Heck, there may still be a chance, but, so far, from the little we've seen and the general attitude evinced from the developers' blogs and the Design & Development...

The problem with answering a question like this is twofold. 1. At this stage, we know neither the full scope of all the rules changes in 4E nor what motivated the designers to make the changes they did. 2. More importantly, any time someone might reasonably say, "Rule X or concept Y was...

To be fair, often when so-called grognards say this, their complaint is not that 3E's use of "Greyhawk" isn't of sufficient depth that you could play in the World of Greyhawk with only the core books. Rather, it's that 3E's use of it is superficial at best and outright contrary to the actual...

These are excellent and very useful distinctions. It'd be helpful if future discussions of this topic kept them in mind, because I think it'd clear up a lot of misconceptions all around.

That about sums it up.

Both an_idol_mind and delricho nicely sum up my feelings better than I'd done in my previous posts. Not much more to add than to say that I largely agree with how both of them phrased their concerns about 4E.

I can certainly see how someone might say that and say it with plausibility. I don't agree, of course, but that's because I see most 3E rules "innovations" as primarily extensions and regularizing of design principles already laid down in 1E and (especially) 2E. What had previously been special...

Very much agreed. I hope that statements like that, as well as the general vibe I'm getting from the 4E design and development articles, are just typical marketing hyperbole rather than a foundational principle of the new edition. While I certainly don't want to retain confusing or just plain...

Thousand Suns is a complete OGL game, which means it's based on D20 but has some significant diversions from the baseline D20 assumptions. It's classless and point-buy for one, although it does have levels, feats, and skills. A preview of the game will be ready in a few weeks and we'll reveal...

Very much so. To be fair, Thousand Suns is an idea I've had kicking around in my head for a long time. There's been a lack of non-licensed, space operatic science fiction in the RPG field for a while now and I've had the basics of an open-ended setting percolating alongside my thoughts for...

1776 is not D20-based, but Thousand Suns is. It's being released as an OGL game, however, so it'll include all the rules needed for play. This means not only character creation, but also alien creation, starship construction and combat, star system/planetary generation, and rules for robots, as...

Yes, the Piper in question is the late, great H. Beam Piper. It's a shame he isn't much read nowadays, since his stories still hold up very well, even if the technology and social theory are a bit dated. Which brings me to Thousand Suns. While taking a great deal of inspiration from all of the...

Thanks for the kind words, although I never actually wrote a word for Northern Crown ; I simply encouraged Doug Anderson to publish his work, since I thought it was amazing stuff. :) As for freelance work, I don't really have the time and haven't for a long while, owing to a variety of things...

I'm not sure who Melan is, so I couldn't say with certainty.

A few quick responses to the various questions posed here: 1. Clock & Steam will indeed have new prestige classes. It's going to be a very good book and one that finally takes Blackmoor down a path that has only been hinted at in the past. I don't want to say too much just yet, but I think fans...