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I'll mention Torchbearer 2e. It has skill-based PC build, where the PCs have long skill lists (a bit like the classic sim games such as RM, albeit a little more streamlined in some respects). Conflict resolution is a bit more abstract than a classic sim game - although it still has armour as...

Burning Wheel + Torchbearer 2e (I'm gonna count these as one!) Prince Valiant Classic Traveller

Torchbearer 2e: Bats, explosion, temples, iron mask.

5e D&D doesn't, by default, have techniques like applying a penalty to all rolls to reflect the fact that the passage of time has set back the PCs (because it doesn't use that sort of abstract approach to setting difficulties). It relies on the GM manipulating the fiction - the "narrative...

I don't have a strong intuition about the timeline. But I've got no reason to think that those saying "tomorrow" or "2031" are any better placed. And frankly, a product that sells strongly for the next 5 years looks to me like a win for WotC! In addition to this, I find the idea that there is...

My favourite version of D&D is 4e D&D. It's maths is tight, it's game play is pretty intense, and it does not require the GM to "balance" the "adventuring day", because all classes are (more or less, and setting aside some Essentials classes) on the same recovery schedule. I also find it very...

Upthread you've called for statistically valid surveys. Are these observations of yours statistically grounded? I'm not seeing what your evidence is. I mean, given that 5e has been around for 10 years, I assume that most 5e players are not fans of any of the earlier editions that you mention...

At a lot of tables, the GM doesn't control things by anticipating the maths. The GM controls things by intervening directly, fudging dice rolls or manipulating the fictional situation.

To add to Parmandur's post: Looser design and looser maths makes it easier for the system to drift, and creates more room for GM injection of control over the direction of play. Both these things seem fairly central to a lot of mainstream D&D play. Another effect of tighter maths is to make...

I didn't say anything about design being good or bad. I talked about WotC's reasons for doing this or that. I don't see why WotC has any reason to release what you would consider a better product. It's a game, played by millions of people mostly (I suspect) in a pretty light-hearted way. I think...

This sounds similar to 4e D&D, where the maths relative to a given level of play is pretty flat. The rationale for level-based escalation in 4e D&D is to ensure a type of "story progression" as the game goes on, from Kobolds up to Orcus. It doesn't affect the difficulty at any given level. The...

Yes. This isn't controversial, is it?

I think I'm failing to see what reason WotC has to do all this. What's the evidence that the current 5e rules are causing any commercial detriment to WotC? You don't need statistical testing to tell you that at-will paralysis on any attack, in a game where save success is in the neighbourhood of...

I think it's a pretty natural upshot of combining resource-based play with GM authority over pacing. Originally, D&D was not designed around GM authority over pacing. You can see this, for instance, in Gygax's advice on Successful Adventures in his PHB; and in Lewis Pulsipher's essays in White...

This is interesting. Over the past few years, I've had exchanges on these board where some posters talk about verisimilitude not by reference to the fiction, but rather in terms of mechanics. That is, some mechanics are described as unrealistic or as lacking verisimilitude in themselves rather...

The last time I used a front door trap, the PCs got caught by it:

When the PCs entered the Forgotten Temple Complex, I rolled a 13 for the town event: Dimly lit portal. You pass an open shrine and see the Immortal within looking down upon you with impassive eyes. Leave a humble offering and ask the Immortal to forgive your transgressions. Appropriate...

The adventure site that I had written up, posted in my previous post upthread, turned out to be a bit of a disaster for the PCs. (Which is, perhaps, the way of Torchbearer.) Fea-bella filled two waterskins from the rivulet, and noticed the lint in the water. Then, the Ob 4 Dungeoneering check...

It took about eight months longer than anticipated to play our next session of Torchbearer 2e, but we finally got a session in yesterday. I thought we might have a staggered arrival of players to the session, and so yesterday morning I wrote up a little adventure site that I thought might be...