Pimp. Enough said.

Thoughts on Light from KarasDjun

From dragonsfoot:

Has anyone ever gone into a dank, pitch black cave with nothing but a flashlight to guide several people along? I would imagine stairs (especially those in disrepair) would be quite treacherous and any hole would be very dark until the light came closer. Those behind the light would be in almost total darkness and easily picked off by creatures able to see well in the dark or dim light. For these reasons and more, I think continual light "flashlights" are a waste of time.

As for enchanted swords and other weapons with light/continual light cast upon them.... Take a flashlight or two in a dark setting and swing it like a sword. Now have someone without a light poke at you with a stick. I'll bet they hit quite often. I would think that multiple light sources like this would likely cause more confusion than shed illumination good enough to see by. Given the shadows cast by these weapons, whipping about at high speed, you would be virtually sickened or at least nauseous by the end of a long combat. A light spell should be cast upon a stable object (ceiling, torch sconce, etc) otherwise the constant movement would become distracting at best, sickening at worst (like watching a video where someone is running with the camera). Bullseye lanterns are sort of like flashlights (mono-directional beam) and are great for spotlighting a certain area, but I'd take a torch or hooded lantern over any of these. A linkboy serves to keep the light still while combat occurs around him. A clerical sanctuary spell or protection from evil would greatly enhance their survival. Even at higher levels, a linkboy with a magical light source can cloak it and reveal it as the party wishes and still leave them free to fight.

From the Greyhawk Wikipedia Article

Rary was a low-level wizard created by Brian Blume and played only until he reached 3rd-level, at which point Blume retired him, having reached his objective, which was to be able to call his character "Medium Rary"

A Quote to Remember

"most of what is found herein is essential to the campaign, and those sections which are not - such as subclasses of characters, psionics, and similar material - are clearly labeled as optional for inclusion." (AD&D Players Handbook, page 6)

If it ain't broken...

Use of System Shock Roll = Polymorph "fixed"

Really?

According to Ode to Black Dougal:

"B/X doesn't have an Identify spell"

Really? Identify using my ritual rules is a great fit. Back to work on 1.75 and TSR.

So, I've been sick.

From here:

"Look at the first edition of AD&D. It was a relatively complex game, but it has lots of causal players -- because while its rules were complex, you really did not have to know many of them to play. A lot of rules knowledge -- let alone system mastery -- wasn't needed to play. The only person who really needed a good knowledge of the complex rules of first edition AD&D was the GM."

In Search of Awesome

From http://blog.fantasyheartbreaker.com/

Here are some things your really fucking awesome book should have:

Mouth-punching by page three
A completely baffled child
Tongue-kissing by page four
A dated hairdo
A Conan the Destroyer reference
Nice outfits
At least one robot who is both turbo hot and owns their own sexuality
A really awkward phone call

Fun with 4E

"The total of all the modifiers you add to an attack roll is your base attack bonus."

"+The gameworld is defined as the players explore it, and the idea that

+The players need information in order to make meaningful decisions about which way to go

are actually two opposing ideas."