I think the cleric is "undroppable" because it is the original gish: fighting man and magic-user combined. Multiclassing is evil (chaotic evil at that), thus the cleric is required for the martial+magic combo.
Other than that quibble, I agree. The Core 4 are all that are really necessary due to...
Your last point about the focus of the game being on exploration is the single thing I have missed most in WotC versions of D&D. The appeal of fantasy gaming for me has always been about finding out what is over that hill, behind that giant brass door or just what the heck will happen when I pry...
Same here.
Holloway was my favorite D&D artist due to his realistic imagery with a touch of macabre humor while Erol Otus and his crazy fever-dream gonzo style was a very close second.
The Prestige is still the only movie I have watched and then immediately re-watched after the credits rolled. It is also the greatest example of a movie being better than the novel IMO.
Based on what I have read in various outlets, my conclusion about Dave is that his primary preoccupation was with cashing royalty checks.
I am grateful that he had the spark of the idea which led to the development of the Dungeons & Dragons game but (again based on everything I have read) he...
Magic in the game is just...wrong...in SO many ways. (spammable cantrips, concentration for everything, saves every round to end effects).
Character death is pretty much off the table.
Related to above, healing ALL hit points lost after a single night of rest.
So many "goofy" races (tabaxi...
This is fantastic. It is exactly the kind of magic system I have been thinking about myself.
I had heard of Beyond the Wall and Through Sunken Lands but had not yet looked at the systems very closely. Your post has convinced me to pick up a copy of Through Sunken Lands (which is a more Swords...
True but IIRC Dragonlance Advnentures was also a source book with a lot of new rules (I think I had that product). Personally, I attribute OA's popularity (I did NOT own OA) to the fact that it seemed like Kung Fu and Ninjas were very much a "thing" at that time.
This was my first issue as well.
Due to my lousy memory, I have little recall of anything from this issue but I think there was a drawing of Belit in the Giants in the Earth article that I enjoyed.
Zeus 5 - 2 = 3 He may be the father of the gods but he is also a major a-hole.
Aphrodite 20 + 1 = 21
Apollo 14
Artemis 23
Athena 28
Demeter 19
Dionysus 22
Hades 19
Hecate 23
Hephaestus 24
Hera 20
Hermes 22
Hestia 21
Nike 6
Pan 17
Poseidon 22
Tyche 20
I'm familiar with the World of Greyhawk campaign setting but have never heard of City of Greyhawk. When was the latter released? For which edition of D&D?