Variant Player's Handbooks -- Who do you want to write one?

[JVisgaitis]

Sean K Reynolds. I love his style and he has a very good grasp on balanced game design. He would be my first choice. Second choice just for craziness, Gary Gygax. I'd love to see what other insanity brews within his crazy head.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

Frank Mentzer or Aaron Allston

 

[D+1]

Believe it or not my first choice (or at least the first one I thought of) would be Gary Gygax. Gary seems to have either been kept or has kept himself at arms length from D&D since at least 3E if not before. I know there are things about 3E that he isn't particularly fond of, but I would be interested to see what he would do/not do with his own variant PHB.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Here's radical for you:

I give you a stick and a d6

If you get a 1, 2, or 3, you get to beat me up.

4, 5, 6 I beat you up.

Simple, realistical AND no complaining afterwards.

So, basically, just an ordinary Saturday night with the wife, in other words?

 

[philreed]

So what about a Varient Player's Pipeline?
Shorter Time limit than a year and see if there really is interest.

I always thought you were sort of doing the VPHB anyway.

101 Spell Components, Forbidden Arcana, and Fantasy Player Companions all have things that are varient on the existing rules its just not in one book.

Possibly. It's not a bad idea.

In my eyes a variant PHB is more than just a replacement for various subsystems but, rather, a complete overhaul of the system from the ground up. Plug-in variants are one thing but an entire PHB would be a larger, more involved project.

 

[Ghostwind]

I've been seriously pondering doing something like this. There is a lot in 3.X that is in need of an overhaul (such as epic magic). I just need more hours in the day and to be able to type faster.

 

[TerraDave]

Sean K Reynolds. I love his style and he has a very good grasp on balanced game design. He would be my first choice. Second choice just for craziness, Gary Gygax. I'd love to see what other insanity brews within his crazy head.

On the various "Col Pladoh" Q&A threads, there is always probing to try to figure out what Gygax's 2nd edition would have been, and he never gives up too much info.

Of course, there is Legendary Adventures...which is a whole new game. And he currently likes Castles and Crusaders, the players book for which is also really another alternate PHB.

 

[Nebulous]

I like this thread. Maybe if we brainstorm a few ideas a respective author mentioned above will catch wind and be inspired to write, write, write.

I'd like to see a more skill focused PHB that ties skills directly into combat. I would like to see classes as templates with completely interchangeable feats, but not 10,000 feats. I'd like to see several variable magic systems that are tied to races, or a certain class (or profession) and i'd like to see detailed spell tables listing available spells (yeah, i know this is already done, but i could use even more examples, such as a shamanic spell list, or spells only fey know, or exhaustive spells linked to sphere/domain)

Oh, and i think Bruce Cordell is a good choice too, although a teamup between Gygax and Cordell would be slayer. I also like Tweet and Owen KC though. Maybe they could all contribute!

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

I'd like to see a more skill focused PHB that ties skills directly into combat.

But would that be worth a whole VPHB? I've been toying with house rules that replace base attack bonuses, armor classes, saving throws, and spell casting with ranks in skills. While I'm totally in love with my idea, I don't think it'd be enough to rebuild a PHB with, just an interesting variant.

 

[Henry]

Believe it or not my first choice (or at least the first one I thought of) would be Gary Gygax. Gary seems to have either been kept or has kept himself at arms length from D&D since at least 3E if not before. I know there are things about 3E that he isn't particularly fond of, but I would be interested to see what he would do/not do with his own variant PHB.

It's called Lejendary Adventures and it fixes many of the issues he has with both AD&D and 3E.