5E goodness and random thoughts...

I recently got the 5th edition D&D handbook.  It is a great handbook.  I love the art, the rules are pretty easy to understand and the group I play with have taken a shine to it.

Yet, because I like to tinker with the rules, I want to change things.

Let me start by saying awhile back, I got the reprinted Original White Box of D&D.  Though I was pissed because it took so long to get it in my hot little hands, I did love it when I finally got it.  One thing from the original texts I started to like was the idea of race-as-class.  Dwarves being tough fighters, elves being fighters that can cast magic, though in some rule variants the PC elf had to choose one class and stick with it for a day, and halfllings being sneaky fighters with a chance to hide away in forests and surprise people.

Now, combining that with some of the things I love about 2E, weapon and non-weapon prof. and how they are given out and then add on the 5E rules sets and I that is the basics of what is going on in my head.

Yet, what to do with some of these races that have come out since the white box?  Would they have to be pushed aside?  I don't think so.  I could see the gnome, the half-elf, half-orc, even the tiefling being allowed in as race-as-class.  I have some doubts about the dragonborn, yet I cold also bring in something from Dragonlance and the draconians.  Maybe...

Just some random thoughts I am throwing down here.  And, I seriously doubt I am ever going to try and make a campaign book or some type of game out of this, to publish at least.

Why weapon prof?  To me, I have always felt that this 3x stuff about "knowing all simple and martial" or "knowing all simple" weapons is kinda silly.  You might know how to use it, but to be proficient with it means you have had some training, you aren't going to cut your foot off, smack yourself in the head with your hand when you pull back the bowstring or know how to hold a flail and how to slow it down...FYI, I have one and those things are NO JOKE!  Hence, in 2E, you had to select which weapons you knew how to use.  For a fighter, that was up to four different weapons.  For a wizard, one.  It just fits better in my mind that characters can't pick up a short sword and know how to use it as well as a long sword.  Very different fighting styles, I have found.

But say the PC wants to pick up the glowing blue short sword of +2 glowing, if he commits to learning it, using it and maybe some instruction from someone who knows how to use it, in a level or three, that PC could mark it as a proficient weapon.

There is more, but I must go to bed, since I need to take a friend to the airport early tomorrow...technically today.

Been awhile...

Many things have happened, I did not expect that hiatus to hit me.  I apologize, I was working on a novel and then things sort of slipped away from me.  Yet, it happens.  This is just going to be a shotgun kind of update.

I have still been gaming, yet not as much.  I have run two sessions of my 1st ed. Sydell game for my Sunday group and that first session was great because I had more than one player finally.  We had a full group delve back into Stonehell.  Then, just last Sunday I took up the DM mantle again and only two people were able to show.  We soldiered on for awhile, then called a end of session when they had cleared out a nice chunk of a section.  I must say that Michael Curtis and his Stonehell project are amazing.  (I know I have been a little coy about what I was using for a bit.  Don't care.  I trust my players to not rush out and buy it or download the thing.  Plus, if they did, it wouldn't help.  I change a few things here and there to either make things more fun for me or to blend in more story to the game itself.)

The other game I have played a session or two of since I last wrote this blog was a steam punk sci-fi game my friend created called Into the Black.  Starting to really get into the meat of the game now, which I have been hoping would come a little sooner.  But, it hit with the force of a dump truck and sent us reeling.  I am more on board now than before.

Finally got back to reading the blog list, though I know I will never read all the ones I missed.  One that I saw recently grabbed me.  GROGNARDIA had an interesting idea.  The idea has some merit to it and I know that some of my players would love to give it a shot for the challenge.  Others would say I like "hard mode" to much.

Also, been playing some Diablo III and until recently, I wasn't impressed.  I have it on normal difficulty, plus I am a very casual gamer when it comes to video games of all kinds.  Yes, exploring the land of Sanctuary is fun and hearing the lore of the different creatures has a benefit.  But ultimately, it is a hack-n-slash and that never appealed much to me.  I am sure I will go back and play more of it, though there is no great NEED to finish it or keep playing.

Last Monday, Mike Mearls wrote up another column for Legends & Lore, talking about hit points.  It is an interesting read and I know many on the OSR blogshpere have already ripped into it.  I am going to focus on the survey option that he had at the end of the article.  It was short, and at one point there was a chance for me to give feedback.  Below is what I wrote verbatim:

I feel that there is a trend to get "back" those lost when the game went from 3.5 to 4.  Yet not enough is done to get back the older edition players.  To many of the "old guard" gamers are told we hear you, yet the feel of the column trends towards those lost recently.  I could be wrong, yet this is my opinion, and I have ever hope to swallow my words along with a big piece of crow pie.

Every word of it I feel is true.  So much of the D&D Next sounds like it is geared towards those who played 3.5 before the change over.  And, to many of us who stopped keeping up with the newer editions, though didn't stop playing the game, there is a sense that we were left in the cold.  I keep hearing the rumors that this game will allow for any edition lover to come to, play their favorite version and allow others to play their own without any problems.  And, if true, the last sentence I wrote will be just as true.

I LOOK FORWARD to being proved wrong by WotC.  I am LOOKING FORWARD to this new edition, for many reasons.

Because, if nothing else, I am sure I will find something that I can cherry pick out of upcoming play test or the rules whenever they come out, and incorporate them into my games.

And, I think I can add another writing project to my ever expanding list.  To write down my own house rules.  COMPLETE LIST, not hey that is a neat rule, hey that is cool.  Then, forget them six months down the line.  I know that is going to take a great deal of time because of all of the different games that I play.  It is something to think about.

Thank you for reading the post, I will be back, hopefully before next month.