For Return... I wish WotC had simply published T2 based on EGG's notes instead of retconning a mess TSR had made (the mice play while the cat is away sort of situation)

Excellent vid! Nitpick- 1:43 "The western portion of Faerûn. From the border of the Hordelands, to the Sea of Swords." That description & the map on the screen (from TM4) is the entirety of Faerûn, not the western portion of it.

Speaking as a Grognard who first picked up CT in 1984 - I approve of this overview....I can and have adapted alien species from more sci-fi properties than I can count, and have a bevy of _IMTU House Rules_ to go along with it. As you point out, unless I am gaming in a _very_ specific IP universe, you can do pretty much whatever you like in Trav (I once ran "Lord of the Rings" in CT...it does work), and especially in CT: _Go where you want. Do what you want. Try not to end up as lunch._ I do buy material from editions other than CT, but I only use those for campaign ideas, deck plans and flavor text....One thing I did not change from the OG version, though, is its lethality: Avoid combat in my games where you can, or have _VERY_ high combat skills and physical stats, or you will find yourself rolling up characters *_very_* frequently.

Quite in impressive but again try CataclysmDDA

Thks & you should really try CataclymDDA

Fun video. You raise a lot of good points about Dungeons and Dragons. I often find myself shaking my head when told about the various homebrew complexities people add into their games. It, more often than not, is not the right sort of game for them. I wholeheartedly agree with Gary Gygax's original sentiment (Runequest bashing aside). However, this said, there is a fairly simple fix to the critical systen used by 5e, as presented by Pathfinder. (I'm not a pathfinder player, this is one of the few rules I'm familiar with.) In Pathfinder, rolling ten above the target number nets you a critical hit. It overcomes the DnD problem of a constant five percent chance to critically hit. It also means that classes will more often score critical hits in areas they're already skilled in. I believe that spells have enhanced effects should you score a critical hit, beyond rolling more damage, but I couldn't tell you any specific examples.

I like dice pool systems - but not with this many dice.

23:26 - You're EXACTLY right. I'm currently running a campaign for my group, in which I'm using the "Scourge of the Slave Lords" (A1-A4's omibus), and having the adventure set around the Pirate Isles in the Sea of Fallen Stars.

This video brought back wonderful memories. Thank you SO very much. I started running my campaigns in the Forgotten Realms setting immediately after 2nd Edition D&D was released, and I never looked back. The setting is so vast, that it's remarkably easy to just insert generic regions and adventures into the setting. I for one LOVED Dungeon Magazine, and would often insert adventures from that publication into the Forgotten Realms. 🤗

'Rolemaster', more like 'Roll-master' am I right! #TTRPGDADJOKES

Forget keeping up with the canon. Freeze your history at a chosen point, and play in that period. Stop letting the blue-haired sensitivity readers tell you the history of the Realms, and play it as it was meant to be played.

Excellent summary as always Willy, really enjoying these overview type pieces. I played in FR for many years and didnt realise where the forgotton refrence came from so thank you for that. I'm running a long term GH campaign atm, but this make me hanker for those forgotton days :D

I enjoy all of Willy Muffin videos

Excellent video for Rolemaster!! Pls do additional videos for Spell Law. 🙂

Great video as usual! I like your histories in particular. As you touch upon, I think the FR hatred comes from the TSR power struggle back in the mid 80s. Gygax lost, and the most conspicuous result was the publication of Forgotten Realms. Thus the company civil war spilled into the community with younger players embracing the new world while the old school (consisting mainly of Greyhawkers and those who created their own worlds) resented having the Realms shoved down their throats. It's nowhere near the intensity it once was but, decades later, that resentment still smolders.

great job thank you for such a great video

A wizard is neither late nor early, he arrives precisely when he means to. Just in time for my first 3.5 campaign

I mostly grew up with D&D exclusively in videogames, so I used to think forgotten realms were D&D. Honestly, I figured D&D and the sword coast were pretty much the same deal.

I've loved the realms for along time, having devoured R.A. Salvatore and Elaine Cunningham novels. Glad to see you give it your touch. Your videos are gems, and I hope more people find them.

good stuff, played a fairly long running campaign on the sea of falling stars and a few smaller ones on the sword coast when it first came out, always liked the realms

The world with no soul. For all of its limitations I would rather ride across The Land with Kevin Landwaster.

I personally took the timeline back to the 1E classic boxset. I ignore the novels but like the informational materials on religion, culture, etc. The novels are good, for the most part, but it gets very top heavy very quickly if one tries to incorporate them into gameplay.

I never played a proper FR campaign, but I didn't mind some of the novels, pcgames and I liked taking ideas from the setting to enhance my own. I also have met my fellow Canadian, Ed Greenwood, he's a great guy and a fun conversationalist!

Another great video Willy, only watched today. How do you say that BRP compare to Savage Worlds?

Rolemaster 2nd edition was actually translated in Finnish, and that added to the appeal to the system as a teenager

Great video. Really useful resources.

This is Rocket Science….. cool.

Great Video, though the spinning is a bit annoying ... I was looking at Basic Roleplaying SRD to use for a game idea I have... "I may not use similar systems to those in their games" I have not played their games, do I need to buy them all to be sure I do not accidentally infringe on them?

I like you doing this sort of content , my dad ended up doing everything when I was in cub scouts I wish I had videos like this so I could have done more.

"If the players complain" -- wait, now I think I need to get a copy off drivethrurpg to see this!

Good stuff. It's got a driving baseline and a catchy tune.

What a great video! Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Do you have any Call of Cthulhu reviews coming up?

Hey, lead writer of Eureka here, first of all I wanna say how good and professional this review is, it’s almost indescribable how it feels to see our project taken so seriously and given real analysis, complete with visuals and everything! We would be super impressed and happy with it even if you didn’t like the game-but luckily it sounds like you loved it hahaha I’d also like to address a few things throughout the video, not as arguments or rebuttals, just further developer insight for everyone Re: “Urban Fantasy.” “Urban Fantasy” is basically just another term for “modern fantasy”, just a fantasy story that takes place in the 20th or 21st century and deals with the intersection of contemporary life with the supernatural, and it *might* be an Americanism, or even a Southern-ism, since it has a lot of connections and origins in the living folklore of New Orleans, so I shouldn’t be surprised it isn’t a term everyone is familiar with. Just think of it as the kind of genre where instead of the vampire living in a secluded scary castle, his name is Phil and he’s your roommate haha. What We Do in the Shadows, Shadowrun, and the World of Darkness games are all some other good examples of “urban fantasy.” Re: Scooby-Doo. Oh we would LOVE for you to run a Scooby-Doo-like wacky mystery with Eureka. Even though the main tone is dark and gritty and noir, we did intentionally build it so that it could run more lighthearted stuff as well! There’s even a few Scooby-Doo references to be found throughout the text, and if we hit a certain stretch goal on the Kickstarter, we’re going to be adding a bunch of Scooby-gang-inspired traits, including the option to play a Talking Dog! Re: Combat being the largest section, even larger than Investigation. First of all, that’s kind of an illusion that is the result of the game being unfinished. I have a tendency when I write rules to use really long sentences, overexplain things, repeat myself, etc, and that dramatically bloats the rules text and page count, but that’s why we have an editor! She goes through after the fact and trims most of the fat off my bloated writing style to make it flow smoother and read faster, and take up less space. The PDF that was read for this review has had the Investigation chapter copy-edited (and cut down in size by about 25%!), but the editor hasn’t gotten to the combat chapters yet, so they still have a hugely inflated page count. When she’s done with them, you can expect each combat chapter to also be cut down in size by about 25%, so they won’t be nearly so large a chunk of the book. Secondly, I’ll explain our reasoning for why the combat chapters and advanced combat rules are such a big chunk of the rules text, it’s intentional design which I will now explain. If anyone still doesn’t agree with that design, that’s fair, and that’s why we made the Basic Combat Rules an option. The reason that the advanced combat rules are the default, and the reason they exist at all, is because it incentivizes and rewards Investigation. If combat is super deadly, it makes Investigation, snooping, and spying more appealing than kicking down the door and getting your head blown off. But of combat is super deadly, it also needs to be very deep and tactical, because if it’s deadly but shallow, then there’s no player agency. “Combat starts, roll some dice, okay your guy is dead.” That’s no fun. So by adding rules and modifiers for cover/elevation, distance, the difference between a pistol and an assault rifle, etc. we make it so that not only is combat its own high-stakes puzzle, but make it so that when the PCs HAVE to engage in combat, all their investigation can really pay off and save their lives. Spying on a building to find out the number of goons stationed there and how they are armed helps you plan and assess risk, stealing the blueprints to the building helps you know how to get the drop on the goons, and know the best places to attack from so that they are stuck out in the open and you are not, etc. and having rules for those things means that all the PCs’ snooping and planning makes a real mechanical difference in whether they live or die. That’s just my opinion though, and one of the biggest reasons WHY we decided to write the combat with as much depth as we did. Anyway, thank you again for this review and analysis of our project, our Kickstarter jumped up by about ten more backers in the evening when this video went up after several days of no new backers, and we have to assume we have this video, and all of you watching and reading this, to thank. You’re really making our dreams come true. :)

Interesting game. What's your opinion on Gumshoe?

I love this channel. There are so many games I'd never hear about if I hadn't found this channel.

Interesting take on an investigation game. I often think that an investigation scenario is fun but many games that aren't designed for it don't really do it all the well. Like I like the Traveller scenario Murder on Arcturus Station but traveller isn't really designed around investigative SciFi

Thanks for this. 👍

Wonderfully presented, thank you!

Excellent video, as was the previous part. And if you want to hedge your bets about getting a permanent place in Old Scratch's cabinet, you're always invited to Christ! We'd be happy to have you!

Very good work, amazing channel. I have no idea how I missed it for so many years. I am. In the M2 side since I prefer my rules in the lighter side.

I had the long boxed game. I think I was 11 or 12? Even had a bunch of the lead figures. Playing with lead and eating Cheetos...good times!

Monte C(r)ook liked it so much that he based Numenera on it, haha.

Much Blood and Souls were used in the creation of this video…😂

It makes you glad you are Lawful Evil…….👹

I think overall the I series is the best overall letter group of the AD&D modules . Desert of Desolation is great, especially Pharoah. We will see what wizards of the coast does with the about to be released 5th edition remake of Pharoah. Ravenloft, I think, is one of my all time favorites, same with the 5e Curse of Strahd as long as the DM truly knows the content and how to properly play Strahd. And Tome of the Lizard King is an under vauled and challenging module. As with any module, a lot of its success or failure comes down to the DM. Tracy Hickman was one of the best module creators, and the Dragon Lance noveks were great for their time, although the modules themselves were everything Hickma stood against. They are the worst example of railroading possible. The players are not allowed any choices, and the DM is given instructions on how to stop the players from making choices that might not follow the storyline exactly. They were absolutely horrible.

Deus Pater is not equivalent to Hades. He is equivalent to Jupiter/Zeus, the latter being also called Zeus Pater. The term literally means "Sky Father". If you think of the J letter as sounding like an "I" in Jupiter, you`ll see the connection.

Welcome to Hell!

Encountered in RPG, devils with mild-mannered characteristics are both fun and scary.

I have run Paladin in Hell twice once in second edition AD&D and once converted to 3rd