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I'd also toss the 7th ed Call of Cthulhu Keepers Guide into that list, if we're crossing game lines - I was impressed that it had a very useful discussion of linear vs. sandbox adventures, and then included two short scenarios as examples - one linear, one sandbox.

I found the original debate on an rpg.net forum post: I personally took it more as defending something he viewed as the purview of the Bard class rather then dunking on Warlords, but you can see where the meme comes from.

I mean - knowing how to craft a survey and 'correctly' interpret the results is a very specific (and genuinely difficult!) skill. I have an old friend who wrote a freaking Masters thesis on the topic. It's incredibly easy to craft a survey that produces incorrect data, and incredibly easy to...

I really think that's the nail on the head. It's hard to have a class who's main sthick is interaction with the Exploration pillar of the game, when that part of the game has so few rules to it. There are several things from the 2014 PHB that strike me as 'threads started that they didn't go...

That's a very fair point - I admittedly stopped watching GoT before season 6 for non-show-related reasons. I do still suspect that specifically the massive success of the MCU has changed what the average audience member expects from a player character.

I've actually had a @Snarf Zagyg style post brewing in my head for some time now about "D&D as oral tradition" vs. the Exploration pillar of play - most new players haven't read (in my experience) much in the way of older fantasy novels. I love Tolkien as much as anyone, but LotR definitely...

It's also insane to me how little-known the Earthsea novels seem to be among the current D&D community, particularly as the Moonshae Isles were more or less explicitly "let's put an Earthsea region into the Forgotten Realms". Though at the same time, I remember Sparrowhawk's best friend (who's...

I suspect the problem is that, at least for me, the core fantasy of the ranger could be described as “fight-y character who excels at the Exploration pillar of play”, and 5e doesn’t have much in the way of mechanics for that pillar of play.

As amusing as I find this as a non sequitor, what is this in reference to?

A touch spell with no saving throw where the target loses all but 1d4 hit points. Man, I can’t believe I forgot about that one.

I actually do. It’s a habit I picked up watching Perkins run Dice, Camera, Action!, but I find it helpful for new players.

In fairness, I played a ranger for two of the three years 3rd Ed was out - which they cite along with 2nd Ed as being the most liked formulation of the class - and I was already reflavoring the spells I got as nonmagical abilities in the late 90s. To refer to someone's example upthread: I don't...

Only one of my current two games is 5e, but in the spirit of a currently-popular thread: Game 1: Candlekeep Mysteries (5e D&D) Therrin Al Rand, Human Fighter 1 / Warlock 3 (Fiend) Nerium, Eladrin Bard 4 (Lore) Gladfor Wifflepebble, Fairy Fighter 4 (Rune Knight) Daphne Dabbleday, Gnome Artificer...

To quote Dan O’Bannon, the writer of the Alien screenplay:

May I interest you in The Black Hack?

I mean, it's all of three paragraphs, but it is in fairness brought up in the current DMG. Personally, I'm on the side of "keep the core three books as setting-neutral / 'generic fantasyland' as possible".

Death Saves.

Dude - if you want to do a game where the players kill Mordenkainen and Gandalf and use their power to steal Conan's girl, no one is stopping you.

...I had no idea we had a minipainting thread. If it makes you feel any better, I still have Rogue Trader era minis that are still unpainted that I bought as a kid in the early 90s. But, a WhizKids displacer beast I did finish fairly recently: