Recent content by Willie the Duck

Mental differences: We know there are certain types of mental acuities where one can have a deficit*, yet be wholly capable in most other ways. Particularly surrounding language and ability to form abstract constructs. *because of the IRL minefield of discussing individuals, I'm mostly going to...

Worth noting that oD&D didn't have sickles --or other non-battlefield weapons taken mostly straight from Chainmail, which seems to be the reason that magic users used daggers instead of (the non-existant staves).

From what I can gather*, the logic was thus: If you wanted to recover mid-dungeon, you used clerical healing or potions. Once you were done with the dungeon, you hoofed it back to town, got your XP, and generally resolved the adventure. Since BECMI wasn't intended for the style where you might...

I think this highlights the dichotomy I see. For me, the question is -- should dragons (particularly since they are in the game title*) 1) be iconic monsters to be feared above all else, or 2) be something you see a lot of in your game**? *and should that matter **or 3) both, but that becomes...

And thus* the meme of Charisma being a dump stat is born. :-D *Actually no, since it still governs henchmen and follower loyalty. It took people not playing those parts of the game before the idea really took hold. Constantly. I remember right around when people started really coming to terms...

Although this runs into the issue of DM adjudication. The spell description states that it creates a globe of light. whether it has a specific source and/or can be blocked by physical barriers (like said scroll tube) isn't clear. IIRC, one of the Gygax adjacent folks (Mentzer, I think, or maybe...

In oD&D, it was 1HD or less, but HD was defined as D6 (with fighters having 1d6+1 HD at level one instead of the 1d8 and later 1d10 it would eventually become).

I think even more than that, having 40%* of all magic weapons be swords and 70% of those be longswords** -- in a game where the magic also adds to the effectiveness of combat and is necessary to even fight certain opponents -- makes switch-hitting to maximize against the WvsAC charts just not...

Honestly, I think this last bit is where D&D really started to have trouble with magic vs. mundane. I recall (back in pre-3E* vancian casting days) when a second level spell expenditure didn't feel minor. Not sure if that was because we spent more time in levels ~1-6 or because there was more...

Also so you had to walk around with Read Magic memorized, so you could immediately read the magic scrolls (lest they fade away).

I also found that a few +s and -s with specific weapon-armor pairings* usually got drowned out by magic weapon pluses or (in AD&D) the really playing-favorites weapon damage. *that honestly still favored a bunch of the otherwise-optimal weapons like 2h swords and lances anyways Perhaps this is...

Kind of the counter to the line "Don't call it a comeback, I been here for years," my response to the OP question would be something like 'don't call it leaving, I was never beholden to begin with' (or maybe 'I'm not leaving you, we were never a couple' but I don't like that imagery). D&D is my...

There's a problem there because people keep complaining that there is a problem. We all know 'the 5/15 minute workday,' and 'you can always go out and rest,' and 'who actually plays dungeon-crawls these days?' and 'did anyone ever actually play name-level keep & follower game?' and any number of...

I think this is the fundamental problem in a nutshell. Some basic gameplay assumptions about things like how hard is it to recharge expended resources or even what basic gameplay patterns are normal have become (or honestly always were) quite varied. In that situation, having multiple avenues to...

1. To start with the obvious, OSR Gamma World and it's related retroclones and direct homages (Mutant Future, Mutant Epoch) are there for the using, and each closest to various forms of D&D. GW 1&2 are similar-but-different from the A/D&Ds of the time, Mutant Future solidly ties the same thing...