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That was not my intent. I would personally give each race some options to spend feats and/or levels to enhance their racial traits, as a new rules module. But these new abilities need not be entirely unique. One dwarf PC engages with the new rules, the other does not.

In a class-based RPG, you can't fully separate the available classes from the world-building. There simply aren't enough archetypes that are truly generic--any magic-using class immediately adds enormous specificity if only through its spell list. And I believe this is why we have an...

I think you've already earned enough XP from this exercise to go up a level!

If I'm playing D&D as a GAME, then I prefer XP to come mainly from treasure. This is the method that most closely aligns player incentives with their character's incentives, and it specifically de-incentivizes combat as a sport. If I'm playing D&D as a collaborative STORY then I prefer to do...

I liked the 3e paragon classes and iterations around this idea, permitting a player to spend a level on improving their racial abilities. This was a good innovation but it didn't mesh well with 3e-style multiclassing. Something similar could work in 5e, if taking the racial level doesn't cripple...

I would calculate the XP of the party by reverse-engineering from the intended outcome, not from the flawed foundation of the rules and examples in the DMG. Let me explain: What is the intended reward for the PCs to defeat this formidable group? They are likely the lieutenants of the big...

I think Donaldson is a good writer, and the series under discussion was innovative in a lot of ways. But Thomas Covenant himself is a bitter pill that keeps me from wanting to re-read it. Excellent world-building though. The series was one of the inspirations behind Monte Cook's "Diamond Throne"...

One of the things I'm enjoying about this series is the reminder of certain vintage games and SF that I should be looking to add to my shelves. There was a lot of great stuff in the 80's from less prolific writers.

@Willie the Duck is correct!

I loved Piers Anthony in my teens and I've been picking up a few of his earlier works when I come across them in used bookstores. The quality is irregular but a few are worth rereading as creative pulp. I think even teenage me got sick of Xanth after book number 6 or 7. Fun fact, Anthony would...

All four are great. I especially love the monk's dynamism but I think the dragon rider is my favorite for the striking pose and deep background!

I would add to this, in a simulationist and "skilled play" orientation, the dungeon should react to the players. Inhabitants notice the party and redeploy. Traps can be reset or improvised. The big boss actively strategizes to slow the party down, or divert them. Personally, for me the fun...

If you want your D&D sessions to feel like dramatic storytelling -- smash 'em up video games, pro wrestling, or action movies -- then controlling and nullifying threats is detrimental to that atmosphere. If you want your D&D to sit more on the simulationist end of the spectrum, and keep the...

Color me intrigued by this system. I loved Earthdawn for many reasons, but on the rules front its baroque stepping system stands out. Rolling d20+d8 instead of d20+4 is pretty fun, especially if rolling high gives you something extra and it's not just for passing the success threshold.

I'd say that sums it up nicely. When you have the time and patience to do a deep dive into the books, the rationales for many rules become understandable and you can see how about 70% of the content holds together in a nicely balanced system, while 30% can be jettisoned or modified. But that...

Interesting essay. I can imagine a system where each player has a "react token" that they can spend on a menu of minor actions out of turn, including the opportunity attack but also bonus action, position adjustments, helping an ally, etc. Maybe the main rules change is that players don't have...

I think the effort needed to systemize the XP for monsters ub AD&D is disproportionate to the benefit, and a source of "false accuracy" because the value of most special abilities is context dependent. A swarm of giant centipedes is a deadly encounter even for mid-level party due to the risk of...

Robin Hobb's "Realm of the Elderlings" series that started with Assassin's Apprentice is pure gold (but I haven't read the last trilogy yet). It has 13 hefty novels.

This was one of the biggests shifts in the game experience between 1e/2e and later editions. When spellcasters no longer needed to fear getting disrupted, they had to nerf many iconic spells to keep some kind of parity. So from 3rd edition on, spells gradually weakened and became more like...