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In 5e, maybe. In 1e-likes I've done party-vs-party numerous times and at different levels; it rarely turns into either side focus-firing as things get too spread out and chaotic too fast. The exception is if-when one group gets surprise on the other; those tend to end real fast, with the...

CR is easy and simple (if still not always accurate) if you just happen to be running a party of the size and capabilities the designers expect. If you're not, e.g. you've got a party of 7 plus a retainer or two instead of the expected 4, you're way better off going by the actual numbers plus...

Casting times spilling over into the following round sometimes serves as a bit of a brake on casters. If they go right from one spell to the next without doing anything else we do let them start the next spell the segment after the first one finished.

Given that a common complaint I hear is that 5e combats tend to go on too long, this all sounds like a solution rather than a problem. That said, I've run PC party vs NPC party battles in the past (though not in 5e) and my experience is that those tend to be the longest combats of all.

By looking at and comparing the actual numbers in the statblock, along with the various extra abilities. If I'm running an NPC as a foe for the party I want and need to know what it can do, what it can't do, and what its numbers are; and the more detail I have on such things, the better...

You blew your own cover, then. Should have come in as a "light-armoured Fighter-Thief". I've pulled that one before. Also brought in a Nature Cleric-Thief once, had the party convinced for his whole career that he was an unusually spindly Ranger.

In fact the segmented round is a very good idea, except it needs to be six segments (to line up with the d6 initiative roll) rather than ten. It's an easy conversion to make, but tedious, as all the spell casting times have to be rejigged to suits a 6-segment round. Agreed on these, though I...

Not knowing the comic, I thought you'd taken that illustration from some 1e-era Judges Guild module or other as there's several very similar illustrations in those - same subject matter, identical style and colouring, etc.

Indeed, but such armour should carry a heavy financial cost, thus forcing tradeoffs - do I buy the arcane-aid armour or do I load up on more spells for my book?

I don't. Absolutes keep things nice and simple on both sides of the screen. As soon as you put it on any sort of sliding scale of penalties, though, players will gradually find ways of expanding the borders and-or reducing the effects of those penalties over the years. Picking locks is not...

The first and most important thing a city (or any settlement, for that matter) needs is a reliable source of fresh water, usually a river.

Except aren't the game mechanics there to abstract and reflect that universe as best they can? Isn't that their job? If so, then if in-universe there's no difference that should be reflected by there being no game-mechanical difference.

Correct. I also don't support kickstarters or the like.

I always read it that a 16th-level Illusionist casts these as if a 1st-level MU, with the caster level increasing as the Illusionist's level increases (1.e. 17 = 2, 18 = 3, etc.).

Illusionists rock! Unless you're in a dungeon where the foes are all undead, in which case you brought the wrong character. :) What can work really well is, in tandem with a Magic User, doubling up on the damage spells: you cast a real fireball, then I'll follow up with a fake, then you do...

We converted Druids to Nature Clerics in about 1983 to save having to design a whole other class that would be the same as Druid but pray for spells etc. like a Cleric. "Druid" as a name is also very much tied to one specific culture, which doesn't make sense when many different cultures can...

By RAW they could. I've never seen it played that way, though; IME usually the most restrictive armour option takes precedence (in contrast with weapons, where the most permissive takes precedence). Same rationale as Fighter-Thieves not being able to do any useful Thieving while in heavy armour.

Great song, but I don't buy things until I've seen them in person. I also prefer to support local businesses when there's a choice.

Exactly. My whole outlook is predicated on this very point. And this contradicts your sentence above. If there's no such thing as PC or NPC then NPCs shouldn't have things PCs don't/can't have and vice versa, when the access to those things is solely based on their status as PC or NPC...

We added in an armour enchantment - I call it "Arcane Aid" - that allows mages to cast while wearing it. Mithril armour (a.k.a. Elven Chain, Drow Chain) comes with this feature built in, but such armour is extremely rare. Needless to say, even the most basic armour with Arcane Aid is...