Search results

  1. The Heretic

    So Much Bad Design...

    How much of that did you see as a player? Did your group end up talking to the various villagers at their homes? The Heretic
  2. The Heretic

    So Much Bad Design...

    That's a fascinating way to do it. Did you try to integrate all of the excess information from the location key into this? That's what always got me. We have descriptions of each and every house, with all these little interrelationships, but how do you use that as a DM? Get the the PCs to...
  3. The Heretic

    So Much Bad Design...

    I am curious, how would you run Hommlet? I ran T1-4 for my nephew and nieces close to 20 years ago, and I remember ignoring most of the in town stuff. Were you able to get any traction out of the village itself? The Heretic
  4. The Heretic

    So Much Bad Design...

    I am not sure that this is the appropriate forum for this kind of discussion. This, after all, is a board about game design.
  5. The Heretic

    So Much Bad Design...

    I found Bryce completely by accident. I was trying to find a PDF copy of a Dungeon magazine I was running an adventure from when I found his review (and skewering) of the adventure I was running. "Psh, what's this?" After reading a few more reviews I got hooked. Bryce put into words what I...
  6. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    I made a LotR reference at work yesterday and one of my newer co-workers gave me a blank look. "It's from Lord of the Rings." "Oh, I tried to watch it because it seemed like it was something I would like, but I couldn't get into it. I tried reading the Hobbit and it was boring." She should've...
  7. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    Well there you go! It's been a few decades, I should go read the Hobbit again. The Heretic
  8. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    I wish I could be as sanguine about this as you are, but there have been precedents. Look at the blacklisting of Courtney Campbell or the whole Zak S saga. These things can turn south very quickly. Mind you, I've been doing some of the things they're talking about with 6e for years. The...
  9. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    Oh! I see where you're coming from. I'm thinking more of the 'goblins'/'orcs' (that's another debate) in the Hobbit. Left to their own devices they tend to be marauders (like the Norse), but get them united under a "Dark Lord" and they do get into all sorts of nasty things like war machines...
  10. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    Exactly! There's been a big shift away from the 'live and let live' philosophy that was dominant with Gen X. I'm sad to see it go. I mean, I suppose there is room to explore real world issues in game, but that depends on your group. AND that probably works better for story games, not OSR...
  11. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    Or fantasy Norse, for that matter. Raping, pillaging, conquering, enslaving, it's all there. That sucks. The paradigm shifted, alas. Originally the goal was to create a colorblind society, but then people started to notice that racists were exploiting this paradigm for their own uses. So...
  12. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    Agreed. If you don't like it, don't play it. Live and let live. Oof, to discuss this would go into tl:dr territory. Part of it is the resistance to change. The other part is not liking getting lumped in with Fascists. The big one is that people don't like their worldviews challenged...
  13. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    Wow. Some of those are pretty nasty. To me, your last statement rings the most true. I don't see anything Japanese in the 3e MM goblin. To me the similarities boil down to the fact that both sets of illustrators wanted to apply the same monstrous qualities to their subjects. As to the old...
  14. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    This is a very interesting discussion.. Good thing he-who-shall-not-be-named is too busy to intervene. I don't see this thread devolving into flame war, as he fears. Random observations: Gary did just this with World of Greyhawk, with the Suel cannibals in the Amedio Jungle and Hepmonaland...
  15. The Heretic

    So I was reading the Monster Manual...

    Shouldn't NPCs that high level be pretty rare? Isn't that one level away from being able to cast seventh level spells? Also, if you follow the PHB to the letter, and assume that ALL buccaneers are alignment Neutral, you have a problem, because clerics cannot be true neutral. 15th level...
  16. The Heretic

    So I was reading the Monster Manual...

    ...and came upon this interesting tidbit under the Men - Buccaneer entry: For every 50 buccaneers there is a 15% chance for a cleric of 12th. 13th. 14th. or 15th level and a 10% chance for a magic-user of 6th. 7th, or 8th level. Wait, what? If you encounter 300 buccaneers there's a...
  17. The Heretic

    Advise on Running G1

    Also, don't forget that the chief has a pet cave bear that will be in his room with him. That should complicate things a bit. Look at room 7 (the room of the chief's wife), according to Gary the cave bears can smell the PCs and will attack immediately.
  18. The Heretic

    Advise on Running G1

    Interesting. Every group I've run through the module decides to go in through one of the chimneys. I say let them do the assassination, if they are lucky enough. They'll think the threat is gone but you can keep the threat active, especially if you intend to use it as part of the GDQ series...
  19. The Heretic

    5e - why you think it sucks, and why you're wrong

    FYI Bryce's most recent review (The Pallid Fields) looks like it's meant for a Kingmaker style game, using OSE rules. I have no idea if it's any good. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/285992/Domain-Building?manufacturers_id=7216 On the plus side it's PWYW.
  20. The Heretic

    Introductory Adventure Covers

    Four. I pronounce it as if it's Spanish.
Top