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I'm curious about these cast-anything wizards. It sounds horribly dangerous. I can see kingdoms tolerating and/or employing spell-based wizards when 1) they can use magic, but 2) at least the capabilities of this magic are known, because the wizard maintains a book of the spells she knows...

As we all know (/snark), Gandalf knew only three spells: speak with moths, continual light, and force charm (or was that Obi Wan?). The rest of his magic required his epic-level staff (just ask Wormtongue). So why do some wizards need 10-pound spellbooks? Isn't three spells, plus a staff...

The monk's a fighter who eschews armor. And weapons. I'd define the bard as the persuader who is very likely to carry a musical instrument. The official bard might be the gal-who's-almost-good-at-everything, but that's a boring concept for a class. This is nice support for three classes...

Medieval zombies weren't typically into brains-consumption; that's more of a 20th-century zombie issue, due to the invention of the brains-depleting television. Due to the majority of medieval zombies formerly being peasants, they were a much more eat-the-rich-type of crowd, which is a nuance...

Look, Neon, we don't say the B-word, or else one shows up... And here he is. I was thinking four is the right number of classes for a streamlined version of 3e (plus 4e healing and recharges): the sacred fighter, cleric, wizard, and thief. But the cleric is already a multiclass, so we whittle...

It's not a book, but it's totally worth a donation: https://donjon.bin.sh/d20/treasure/index.cgi

I wrote 13 essential rules for a DRPG. In the form of mechanisms, these are: A game master (GM) presents a setting and leads a discussion that the group forms into a story. The GM rolls a d20 against a player's d20 to determine if some situations go well or poorly. These results can receive...

The nation used to be the best, ever. America (USA?) and Australia have some special conditions going for them. Is this why I have to suffer through horrible renditions of '90s songs whenever I watch a new movie trailer?

Clarice: "Because: magic." Clarice: "Better question: does the wizard want to walk up to the potentially trapped and overwatched door, and close her eyes for a moment while she casts a spell on it? Maybe the nimble, lightly armored thief should do it." Thanks for this; my head was starting to...

Good question, which, I think, ties in with this suggestion: The Familiar Spirit perk is what creates the metaphysical bond - the difference between a faithful pet dog and a dog that goes to bark at the forest ranger until he follows the dog to his wounded owner's location. The faithful pet...

That's a high bar. It's like asking Led Zeppelin to put out an album better than Led Zeppelin II. Nice, thorough review. I liked the funfact(s) about G. Gygax. It leaves me wondering: do the epic fights look like HP-slugfests? Are there elements included to make/keep them interesting? if...

I GM a game that includes a PC who plays a gnome with a furry woodland friend: a giant badger. I also GM a rules-light game that has no rules for animal companions: they're not required to act on your turn, they don't have power progression tables, and you don't lose a point of Constitution...

First thought: "classic feel with modern design" is just something the marketers put in there. There's a big dollar for that. Classic to me means lots of tables, character mortality, blue-grid maps, hexes, and four whole classes to choose from. Modern design means fewer tables, character...

Well, our friend the 20th level fighter (who's having a bad day if his party is fighting a gargantuan red dragon) has, what, 20d10 hit points, plus 20x5 Con bonus points? About 210 HP? A damage boost like you're proposing is a first-round kill on the fighter who gets hit by a good multiattack...

It can. The 5RD neatly cuts 1000 pages down to, um, 403 pages. I might like "long form" games if I were a teenager with nothing better to do than learn/memorize that much material. But as a non-teenager GM, I'm not about to memorize hundreds of pages of info, and it's hard to imagine a...

That depends on how you define powerful and important. But Modos 2 does it all anyway, so... :geek:

I'm not super-excited about running a 2077 druid, but... ...I did call on druids to start subverting science. A "gene-altering company" sounds like something an oil company stockholder would get into. But it sounds like the antithesis of natural order, so I don't see druids getting involved...

That sounds incredibly boring. I hope he can hire a manager. Negotiating contracts could be interesting if terms other than gold are involved. And there's the problem of suppliers 1) not fully meeting orders, and 2) causing problems with what they actually deliver. Of course, there's always...

Each unused setting element is one that you don't have to write in the future. Each adventure created is one that can be reskinned/revised for your current group, or reused for your next group.

Agreed, that's a lot to keep up with. But is it "exception-based design?" I don't know the ins and outs of the above games, so I can't tell that there are exceptions being made. What I can easily see is that each of the above is a combat maneuver with requirements and special outcomes, which...