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  1. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D 5E (2024) Ditching the Treasure Treadmill

    Magic item shops can server as means to give PCs something to spend their gold on, bur I positively hate those. To my mind, a magic item you buy from a store will never be as exciting and, well, magical as one you earn through daring deeds or craft yourself. Also, it makes no sense in the...
  2. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    As much as I love 1e, it doesn't always make running it easy. 2e mechanics still live rent-free in my head. Before 5e came along, it was the edition I played the most and the longest. If I had to pick up an edition to run with the least amount of prep, it would be 2e or Basic.
  3. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    My first 1e character was an Assassin. I played some Thieves, but they were a class that really took a lot of leveling for their abilities to be viable until 2e's kits came along.
  4. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    Whoops, temporary brain jam-up there! Thanks for correcting.
  5. Ralif Redhammer

    You're Top-10 Movies/Shows based on Games

    True, there's no easy way outside of turn-based-combat, to do what speedware does in the TTRPG in an action RPG.
  6. Ralif Redhammer

    You're Top-10 Movies/Shows based on Games

    Technically, it counts as both, since a huge part of Cyberpunk Edgerunners' DNA comes from 2077. And also got everyone thinking that the Sandevistan stopped time. Sigh...
  7. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    I think my highest legit AD&D character made it to 14th level or so. But my highest level character was a 30th+ level Magic-User from BECMI. I still have his character sheet, too. I was 9 or 10 and there's no way that was on the level. The Complete Book of Thieves was probably my favorite of...
  8. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    No arguments on that from me, either! In all the years I've run D&D, I can say that my enjoyment has often slid in direct proportion to how far past 10th level the PCs have gotten.
  9. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    I think the case could be made that every time D&D has tried to go above 20th level, it's had diminishing returns.
  10. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    Heh, yeah, even then Morris was evoking the past. Lord Dunsany is so good in my book. Eminently readable, painting fantastical views with a most magical brush. George MacDonald is hit or miss for me. I didn't care for Phantastes (though I do keep meaning to give it another read), but "The Day...
  11. Ralif Redhammer

    TSR On the Relative Merits of the TSR Editions

    At this point, you could sell me on playing just about any TSR edition of D&D. To my mind, they all have their charms. OD&D - I never really encountered it until the deluxe reprint boxed set came out some years ago). Even it is fun to play in an ultra-retro, rough and free-wheeling fashion...
  12. Ralif Redhammer

    You're Top-10 Movies/Shows based on Games

    Hmm, in no particular order: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners D&D (original cartoon) D&D (Honor Among Thieves) Silent Hill The Last of Us Fallout The Gamers series Record of Lodoss War Rocky is a great movie. Everyone remembers Gonna Fly Now playing as Rocky triumphantly runs up the steps, but they...
  13. Ralif Redhammer

    D&D General Living Greyhawk - tell me about your games?

    The Unofficial Living Greyhawk Bandit Kingdoms Summary is a great window into the past. I regret not giving Living Greyhawk a shot. Back then I was just getting back into gaming and wasn't ready to rejoin the larger community like that yet.
  14. Ralif Redhammer

    Want to play a Duck?

    It's funny, in all these years, I never got the throughline from Hobbits to Ducks. But I can see the case for it. Characters that are outside their element, out of their depth, have been with fantasy since the beginning. I remember the ad for Runequest that ran in Dragon magazine that was a...
  15. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    I finished Diamond's Josephine Baker's Secret War. While I knew about Baker's activities as an Allied spy in WW2, I didn't know the specifics. Really fascinating stuff. Also shows just how Americentric what we get taught about WW2 in the states is, how much it leaves out. Now I'm re-reading...
  16. Ralif Redhammer

    AD&D 1E What was so bad about unearthed arcana 1e?

    In my experience all those added advantages helped, but not significantly. In my last 1e campaign, the Barbarian was the first to die.
  17. Ralif Redhammer

    OSR Modules with the best layout & presentation

    I think the DCC RPG module house format works really well for their shorter adventures. For the longer works, it breaks down somewhat in my opinion. If someone said I had to run a sight unseen module with only 10 minutes to read and prepare, I'd grab one of those. Would co-sign. Those isometric...
  18. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    I finished re-reading Williams' Voice of the Whirlwind. Ten years ago, I think I was disappointed that it wasn't more like Hardwired. On re-read, I enjoyed the introspective narration, all the little details of the worldbuilding that shine through with a slower pace. I'm still not sold on aliens...
  19. Ralif Redhammer

    What was your 2nd RPG?

    My memory is a bit fuzzy there. It was probably Traveller, Gamma World, or Call of Cthulhu.
  20. Ralif Redhammer

    What are you reading in 2025?

    Interesting. I think about a re-read of Wheel of Time now and then. But it's an intimidating commitment. Like, I'm a pretty fast reader and all, but that's the better part of a year's worth of reading.
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