Comic - First Base

***I dig me some Fairy Tales. Or Faerie Tales as the cool kids say. These were always a little tricky to pull off in D&D. The heroes are seldom pre-pubescent children who rely on their wits to survive, and cunning plans usually get dismissed in favour of sudden violence. There's just less wonder in D&D and fantasy in general.The monsters also tend to be a little less subtle and a little more overt threats. If a dire wolf wants to kill Little Redshirt Riding Hood it won't dash over to grandma's house first and engage in a little non-judgemental cross-dressing. Instead, B.B. Wolf will eat the little nameless NPC then pop over to grandmas for a dessert. Then kill the woodsman because he's just a minion with Expert levels. 

Comic - Racist

***D&D has always had sub-races. They went away for a short time during 4th Edition but seem to be making a comeback. Many people don't like subraces as they clutter the game with multiple confusing different types of elves and dwarves. I ran a group through the original Dragonlance modules once and after a year of play no one at the table could keep the Qualinesti and Kagonesti straight or remember what was different about the Silvanesti. Personally, as I was introduced to D&D through the Dragonlance novels and Lord of the Rings, I have a fondness for different types of elves. Legolas is just a different type of elf from Elrond. They do very different things.That said... in editions with subraces there tended to be a heck of a lot of them. Just because the game has design space for different types of elves doesn't mean we need winged elves or snow elves or freshwater  & saltwater sea elves or desert elves or jungle elves. Let's just stick with the basics: high and grey. Oh, and wood. And maybe drow.And sea elves. Did I already say grey elves?

Comic - Rogue Skills

***I think everyone accepts the D&D skill system is a little funky. You go into a dungeon and live off of bag lunches and cave slime and inexplicably manage to get better at cooking. The entire dungeon might be some foul natural cavern crawling with mundane rats but somehow your knowledge of arcane lore increases. Practice, somewhere to train, and natural talent is irrelevant as long as you keep stabbing things. "I need to brush up on my algebra. Better go beat something to death."

Comic - Trust

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One of the interesting things about 1st Edition and 2nd Edition was running around with someone in your party whose entire job description was "thief". It didn't engender trust. Not that "rogue" is all that much better. 

Comic - A Beneficial Relationship

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As a world builder at heart I wonder about adventuring some times. If there's any money in it from a business standpoint. If supporting an adventurer is a good investment. After all, if your town is threatened by orcs its nice to have paid a group of adventurers way while they learned the ropes and hunted goblins and kobolds. The party that TPKs was a bad investment but that group that makes it to epic levels really pays dividends. It's an interesting idea for a campaign hook: trying to win sponsorship and get that starting gold needed to buy that expensive armour and that masterwork sword.