D&D General War- What's it Good For? How to Handle Rules Conflicts

[Silam]

I was a deep-dyed elf lover who couldn't stand the Complete Book of Elves and what it did to them, and has thus never played a Bladesinger despite the concept practically having been written for me. :/

But why? Because it was overpowered?

 

[Maxperson]

I was a deep-dyed elf lover who couldn't stand the Complete Book of Elves and what it did to them, and has thus never played a Bladesinger despite the concept practically having been written for me. :/

I've loved the Bladesinger concept since 2e, but was never able to play one until 5e

 

[Umbran]

But why? Because it was overpowered?

Oh, dear, yes, it was overpowered.

 

[Mannahnin]

But why? Because it was overpowered?

Yeah. The whole book exacerbated the stink of overpowered wish fulfillment that they already had to excessive levels.

 

[VashVet]

Yeah. The whole book exacerbated the stink of overpowered wish fulfillment that they already had to excessive levels.

Wait until you see my 2e Bladesinger mashed together with rules for Drow PCs from Drow of the Underdark!

 

[Remathilis]

Snarf's Read the Rules threads is why I have such a hard time believing people when they talk about OS play like it was a monolith of known Best Practices everyone followed. D&D rules were a hodgepodge of disassociated collection of systems and expectations that were held together by the DM via amateur rule design and gumption. It wasn't even the level of IKEA build a bookshelf as much as a pile of 2x4s and instructions written in Swahili (you provide your own screws). Everyone played whatever game they liked cobbled together from AD&D, Basic, house rules, and something from a fantasy heartbreaker they read four years ago.

 

[Silam]

Yeah. The whole book exacerbated the stink of overpowered wish fulfillment that they already had to excessive levels.

I think you’re right that it raised the power level, though it didn’t bother me. Dwarves could hold their breaths longer or whatever! That has to count for something

 

[haakon1]

Everyone played whatever game they liked cobbled together from AD&D, Basic, house rules, and something from a fantasy heartbreaker they read four years ago.

What I saw in AD&D 1e when I played or DM’d it (1982-1988, 1996-2000) was:

• “pure” AD&D 1e
• minus “optional cupholder on the stick shift features” like Weapon Speed Factor and Weapon versus specific armor, and many other obscure rules that just never came up in play (e.g., harlot table)
• plus every single campaign had natch 20 critical hits, with a house rule for what it meant, from simple double damage (essentially similar to what WotC copied as official rules in 3e) to elaborate homemade tables.

I only played the early days of 2e (1988-1989), pre splatbook and setting palooza, but in the early days were tried to play RAW and appreciated the many sidebars about optionality.

In DMing Oriental Adventures (1987-1991), I did run RAW. minus steering wheel drink holder rules like WSF if it was even in it.

What I never saw (or did as a DM) is adding rules from Basic or other non-AD&D sources. We did routinely run Basic adventures in AD&D 1e rules.

How big was my sample set? As a player, at least 4 DMs who had learned to play in 4 different states, and 4 DMs who played in my games, and I dunno how many more I yapped with about in person on two continents and on good old AOL. Not the whole world of AD&D 1e, but not “just our group in one town” either.

 

[jasper]

You really hurt GURPS' feelings with this gratuitous attack. (Star Fleet Battles is waiting in line too.)


There's a board game called Carcassonne that I used to love playing. It's a relatively simple game that's quick and fun to play and I started snapping up every expansion for it. The first two expansions made the game fun to play, but the ones after that made the game play too clunky and it just wasn't fun any more. So I stopped buying expansions and just stuck to the first two they released.

"Boardgames aren't RPGs" you say? Darn it! I'm using some poetic license here. It's true, the more rules you add the more likely you are to have unintended consequences. No doubt the 2nd edition folks didn't mean for the Book of Complete Elves to introduce the terrible Bladesinger Kit. I wonder if D&D has another problem these days. Some of us are so entrenched with our idea of what D&D is that we might fail to take into account what the rules actually are.

Replace Battles with LAWYERS. Especially the Captain Edition.

 

[jasper]

Snarf's Read the Rules threads is why I have such a hard time believing people when they talk about OS play like it was a monolith of known Best Practices everyone followed. D&D rules were a hodgepodge of disassociated collection of systems and expectations that were held together by the DM via amateur rule design and gumption. It wasn't even the level of IKEA build a bookshelf as much as a pile of 2x4s and instructions written in Swahili (you provide your own screws). Everyone played whatever game they liked cobbled together from AD&D, Basic, house rules, and something from a fantasy heartbreaker they read four years ago.

hmmm
Kipande cha Snarf cha Kusoma Sheria ndiyo sababu ninaona ni vigumu sana kuamini watu wanapozungumza kuhusu kucheza OS kana kwamba ilikuwa ni kikundi kimoja cha Best Practices kilichofuatwa na kila mtu. Sheria za D&D zilikuwa mchanganyiko wa mifumo na matarajio yasiyo na uhusiano yaliyoshikiliwa pamoja na DM kupitia muundo wa sheria wa wavulana na uwazi. Hakuwa hata kwenye kiwango cha kuunda rafu ya vitabu ya IKEA bali kama stakabadhi ya mbao za 2x4 na maelekezo yaliyoandikwa kwa Kiswahili (wewe unahakikisha screw zako mwenyewe). Kila mtu alicheza mchezo wowote aliyependa uliokusanywa kutoka AD&D, Basic, sheria za nyumbani, na kitu kutoka kwenye riwaya ya fantasy waliyosoma miaka minne iliyopita.