Joseph Bulock

I use miniatures in any of the games I run, simply because I like to run tactics oriented games, and a clear view of the battlefield is necessary for getting that right. What I did was get the starter set for the star wars d20 game, and then laminate the blank side of the map. As far as minis, there are a lot of options. You can go the route you are thinking and have official minis, or go with any number of 3rd party figures. Hobby stores (at least the ones around here) carry a few different brands of miniatures made by companies other than WotC built to the same scale as the D&D minis. Some look ok, some don't. I tend to run campaigns in my homebrew worlds and have to proxy pretty much everything, so I just use some Star Wars D&D figures. So basically, I love having figures and maps, especially ones I can use dry erase markers on, but I'm not too picky with the figures.

Earth Defense Force 2017

It does seem that most of the complains I've heard are either A) They are making it too gamey/too easy, or B) they are changing my beloved , where is a monster or setting change.

I don't think that D&D has ever been too strong in simulation game play. I mean, we are talking multiple forms of instant healing, over half the classes empowered by some form of magic, and people talking to animals, ghosts, gods, etc. on a fairly regular basis. Sim gaming seems to have better chances with almost any other system, especially GURPS or Shadowrun (Though a lot of house rules would need to go in place for SR).

This is a really oblivious post. You don't have to like it, but to say that they aren't making significatn changes is silly. On whether or not 3.5 is broken, I'm not gonig to start on that one, mainly becuase I don't have a thick enough fire proof suit for that one. All I'll say is that 4th edition seems very much due to me, and I can't wait to give it a shot.

Give the goblin an axe and you're back to square one. Even your example has you out of the battle, which doesn't really add any fun to the situation. I'm not going to pretend that I'll convince you of anything. I understand that the threat of death is really important to you. My point is that I'd rather only have my players threatened when I want them threatened, and have encounters that can only go horribly wrong over a few turns, not on a single action. That's just my deal.

Just for the record, I do think goblins should get lucky. I just don't think it should have a chance to be an instant death when they do.

Oh god, can you imagine the number of deaths the would occur? Hahahaha. I was thinking they might actually be safer for the rider. Might give motorists a bit more pause before they merge into that lane that oops had a motorcyclist in it.

Now if they could only finish the hydrogen powered motorcycles...

I don't think the threat of death is gone. It still sounds very easy to pose a threat to the players that is just too big for them. It does however decrease the occurance of single unlucky roles ending either really cool encounters or killing player characters. Both of those are things that, as a DM, I do not like, and as a player, I hate. If a DM wants to give the player a challenge that's a sure death, that shouldn't be too hard, but having a goblin get lucky and murder my second level character shouldn't happen unless I've already made a few mistakes. I'm all for having a mob of goblins kill off a character. Also, I think a lot of the "death" concerns can't really be fully rationalized until we find out how death works, if it's at 0 hp, -10 hp, and if its the latter, if and how stabilization and healing work.

Did they tame the bear fight? I will pay 10 bucks to see the polar bear fight as it exists in the book.

Another smart step towards eliminating the "the bad buy scored a crit, time to build a new character" effect. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20080104 Also, the death of confirmation roles is way overdue.

Traps have been redesigned, and players no longer have to role a search check every 10 feet to avoid a terrible spiky, burning, acid-coated, suffocating death. Traps now have an encounter value, and while theives are no longer the only people who can deal with a trap, they are still the best.

Digital "products" are not products. They are just zeroes and ones. A product is something you can hold and touch. It is tangible. Also D&D Insider isn't going to stay free. Its like dealers get you hooked on drugs. Its free to a point but once you are hooked it starts costing money. Wait til 4e comes out. It won't be free. CD's, DVD's, Software and all digital documents are the same ones and zeroes embedded on peice of plastic. Are you really that into plastic? Unless you want to get into a discussion on the "soul" of an object created by work (and bury me in some film school flashbacks) then there really is no point here other than the fact that you don't have a junk email address to register, or you're afraid that you won't be able to resist the subscription email later.

Digital products are still products. A person puts work into an idea. Work always creates either a product or service. Plus, they have none of my money. It's free. I really don't see what you're protesting.

It's free til fourth edition launches. Do you also not pay for services rendered to you, as they have no end products?

To bring this thread back from the dead.... Traps in 4th Edition This makes me happy. While certain specifics are still very mysterious, I have to say that the general philosophy of the new edition makes me very hopeful. This could be because I'm a lazy DM, but whatever.

Sweeny Todd was beautiful. AVP-R was exactly what I had hoped it to be. No Country For Old Men was the best film of the year for me. DVDs: MPD Psycho was weird, even for a Miike film. The Interrogator (Mike) was pretty normal for a Miike film, but impressive that he could shift gears so dramatically. Kickboxer was even worse than I remembered. The Seventh Seal made me ashamed I hadn't seen it earlier. Going through my Neon Genesis Evangelion box set has been a weird bit of time travel (I watched the series last during my senior year of high school). Planet Terror made me very excited for Machete. Deathproof made my wonder why everyone had hated on it so much when it was out in theaters. Watching the two films back to back really made me wonder why Grindhouse didn't do better in the box office.

But her acting was great in Planet Terror.

I'm really looking forward to it. I skated for a very long time in real life, and I am excited about a game that emulates the real experience of skating, and not the xgames on crack.

I have an Xbox 360 now! I have so many games to get. I'm going out today to pick up Skate, and whatever else I can get on the cheap...

Dragon Force 2 Altered Beast 2 Metal Warriors 2 Fighting Vipers 3 Bushido Blade 3

I think it's more that D&D core rules are something close to peoples hearts and they don't want to see them bastardised. If you were actually discussing some part of Aliens you were working on I highly doubt they'd act rude towards you. So you should totally start discussing Aliens. If only I was working on Aliens...

And you all wonder why so few devs post on these boards The worst part is that you missed as many errors as you found.