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I'm a fairly "normal" millennial, and I actually unequivocally love Episode III. I have a soft spot in my heart for Episode I, but I don't find much redeemable about Episode II.

I did a Reroll (see: Film Reroll) of LOTR in Savage Worlds, and it fit the bill better than 5E would've, I imagine. Aside from being more cinematic, SW let me turn the dials on the level of magic in the world, which is the biggest problem (IMO) with 5E feeling like LOTR. The player playing...

I've had people get into D&D expressly in the desire that, "it'll feel like LOTR!" only to come away disgruntled because it's designed more like World of Warcraft than anything Tolkien wrote (and I'm talking 5E, not 4E). So I mean, I still feel like outside of the flavor text WOTC writes at the...

That might have been the case in the 70s, but near 50 years later, 5E's ranger is not even in the same ballpark as Aragorn. The only similarity is the title "ranger".

I like the Ranger fine, so I don't really have a dog in this fight, but I gotta mention: LOTR Aragorn is not a Ranger. In fact, basically every character in LOTR is a fighter (Gandalf would be like a Fighter 5/Wizard 3. LOTR is a bad example to use for D&D classes; LOTR = low fantasy, D&D =...

You discuss it in Session 0? The way we do it, everybody sits down and talks about the "big picture" idea for their character. If something doesn't jive, you talk about it. Compromise. Come to a solution. When I DM, I don't do fantastical races (yes, I'm a tyrant). So that means no...

Honestly, just take the Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion "Stronghold" system, and make it 5E. The Bastion system, as/is has many problems, but also it is so needlessly complex. Instead, just do: Everytime you level up, your stronghold levels up as well When your stronghold levels up, you can...

Yeah, I have zero interest in the Bastion mechanic as we saw in the UA. It needs a total redesign for me to get interested. I was pretty excited about a Bastion mechanic when I first heard about it, but the UA was a total misfire.

75 Feats, most of which you've already seen, some of which have even been slightly tweaked! WOTC'll take your $60, now.

Savage Worlds really changed my perception of this. So much game in just 200 pages. I feel like I've gotten more out of the 200 pages in Savage Worlds Adventure Edition than the near 1,000 pages of the PHB, DMG, and MM combined. Hell, the 40 pages of the "Adventure Toolkit" from SWADE has given...

On the DM-side, unless you want to get bullied by spellcasters, you've gotta embrace the Adventuring Day. I said this in an earlier thread, but you can't just make an encounter to fight the Elder Brain; you've gotta first have a mindflayer fight in the creepy-brain laboratory, which leads to...

I kinda-sorta-but-not-really did something similar with SWADE. When I first started with this new group, I tried to incentivize the players by making a "chart" for how many sessions you needed to attend before you got an Advance. So, Novice characters only needed one session, Seasoned needed...

I run two groups, and I've got 2.5 players (one is 50/50) that are just there for the socials. One of them straight up told me, "I don't really like D&D, but I'm here to hang out with friends because this is the only consistent social outing I have." I don't love it, but from my perspective...

This is the answer. Like it or not, 5E is a resource management game. You're going to have problems if you only do one fight per Long Rest, and any "solutions" in that framework will either be half-measures, or the player will feel targeted (because let's be honest, they will be). The best...

Sure - I guess my point though is that there are thousands of combinations of spells, abilities, features, classes, subclasses, that I like to be at least somewhat prepared for each. I don't have time to vet, let alone read (or even know the existence of) the latest 5E flavor-of-the-month. If...

As someone who runs two six-person tables who are both currently at high-level - I care. If only for my sanity and fun at the table. At session zero, I explain what sources the players can pull from, and what classes/subclasses/spells/features I ban. I explain why, and they get it. My tables...

Yeah, we just had different experiences. We found it simple, intuitive, and it disappeared at the table - which, to me, is the most important thing a system can do. We're a pretty beers-and-pretzels table, so we had none of the issues you described. Instead, that system led to stories that we...

I just have foundational design issues. I don't like the spellcasting system (too many spells, too many "I win" buttons, martials don't have an equivalent, monsters use the same spells that players do) Little-to-no DM support outside of the Combat Engine, and what support remains is obtuse and...

I have three "regular rulesets" that I cycle through: 5E, Savage Worlds, and Call of Cthulhu. I'm Unsatisfied with 5E, Very Satisfied with Call of Cthulhu, and Satisfied with Savage Worlds. I've gone on length about my problems with 5E, so I don't feel the need to repeat any of it, suffice to...

This boils down to one of those gameplay vs realism debates. I’m generally on the side of “whatever makes for better gameplay”, and this idea fits that. If you have a trap as it would likely be in reality (single use, simple, “you see it or you don’t”) that deals damage or casts a spell, the...