When I first began playing D&D and reading other Fantasy game books, they all seemed to share a similar type of setting. All vaguely medieval in a Tolkienish sort of way, except with a lot more monsters thrown into the mix. I just thought of them as being set in “the middle ages”.

I’ve been thinking about the roll of luck in tabletop RPGs like D&D. I definitely like the element of chance in the game, and it’s not something I’d want to remove. At the same time having a run of bad luck end a character or entire game is something that’s anti-climactic, and can spoil some people’s fun.

The mechanics of armor class, rolling to hit, and hit points have been part of Dungeons and Dragons and RPGs from the very beginning of the hobby. They were adapted to the game from rules for naval wargames, which might explain the terminology. It makes sense to think of hitting ships, their being able to sustain multiple hits before sinking, and the quality of their armour affecting how much they can withstand a barrage of hits before sinking.

Since I first started playing D&D I was never fully happy with the way that spells were divided between “Magic-Users” and “Clerics”. Why couldn’t a wizard cast many of the sorts of spells I’d expect they could from various books and movies? Over the years I came to accept the D&Dism of the Cleric, and now understand the reasons for why the Cleric was introduced to the game and the niche that it fit. Despite that, as I move further away from the standard D&D rules and add …

Earlier editions of Roleplaying Games like Dungeons & Dragons are sometimes referred to as Old School, Retro, or Original. These are fine terms, but things become a bit confused when more recent supplements or “Retro-Clones” are produced. Are these also “Retro” or “Old School” even if they were published last week?