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<blockquote data-quote="Orius" data-source="post: 4554542" data-attributes="member: 8863">Yup standard Dragon letter #5.&nbsp; There's something like a half a dozen of these each year it seems.Yeah, the Bohemian earspoon just isn't enough.&nbsp; I don't mind a variety of weapons in D&amp;D, and I don't mind the nods to realism, but the Gygaxian polearms did get a bit overboard really.&nbsp; There's really not enough mecanical differences between them to make a difference, and they're often sub-par anyway, so players rarely pick them except for stuff like halberds.&nbsp; Besides, even if polearms were commonly used in the Middle Ages, they're generally peasant weapons, so they're not sexy to players.&nbsp; And it also reflects the game's evolution.&nbsp; When you've got parties with a dozen PCs going through narrow dungeons, it helps to have a second rank who need weapons with a longer reach.&nbsp; As the D&amp;D party shrank to the norm of 4-6 players, the second rank is eliminated, and the front line fighters aren't going to be using slow, weak polearms.Greenwood's articles have always been pretty good.&nbsp; Even in the later stuff, he provides a great deal of flavor and detail, and though I don't play the Realms, there's still ideas there that can be yoinked.Sounds like something that would still be useful even today.&nbsp; Ruined cities are a must for a campaign that's favored by sword &amp; sorcery, since they tend to pop up a lot.&nbsp; You've got to set up different areas of the cities where the various classes live, and there's going to be things like houses, temples, workshops and so on, so they're not going to look like a dungeon.&nbsp; And random tables are always useful for a DM trying to create something from scratch.Sounds like another nerf to me.&nbsp; I think it's the whole family-friendly attitude of 2e that hurt things, get rid of the really nasty evil gods and replace them with a bumbling clown, put idiotic villains in the metaplot, and so on.Yeah, but incubi just never seem to catch on.&nbsp; And I think that's for one reason: the predominantly male player base of D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Orius, post: 4554542, member: 8863"] Yup standard Dragon letter #5. There's something like a half a dozen of these each year it seems. Yeah, the Bohemian earspoon just isn't enough. I don't mind a variety of weapons in D&D, and I don't mind the nods to realism, but the Gygaxian polearms did get a bit overboard really. There's really not enough mecanical differences between them to make a difference, and they're often sub-par anyway, so players rarely pick them except for stuff like halberds. Besides, even if polearms were commonly used in the Middle Ages, they're generally peasant weapons, so they're not sexy to players. And it also reflects the game's evolution. When you've got parties with a dozen PCs going through narrow dungeons, it helps to have a second rank who need weapons with a longer reach. As the D&D party shrank to the norm of 4-6 players, the second rank is eliminated, and the front line fighters aren't going to be using slow, weak polearms. Greenwood's articles have always been pretty good. Even in the later stuff, he provides a great deal of flavor and detail, and though I don't play the Realms, there's still ideas there that can be yoinked. Sounds like something that would still be useful even today. Ruined cities are a must for a campaign that's favored by sword & sorcery, since they tend to pop up a lot. You've got to set up different areas of the cities where the various classes live, and there's going to be things like houses, temples, workshops and so on, so they're not going to look like a dungeon. And random tables are always useful for a DM trying to create something from scratch. Sounds like another nerf to me. I think it's the whole family-friendly attitude of 2e that hurt things, get rid of the really nasty evil gods and replace them with a bumbling clown, put idiotic villains in the metaplot, and so on. Yeah, but incubi just never seem to catch on. And I think that's for one reason: the predominantly male player base of D&D. [/QUOTE]

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