11 August 26: DM's Guide pgs 80-93 Saving Throws, Hit Points, Insanity, Experience, and the Campaign

     This is, literally, the most insanely organized RPG book I have ever read. Gygax starts to write about the mechanics of saving throws, then goes into a deep and moving discussion of heroic fantasy adventuring. I have never liked saving throws, but this section has given me a look behind the curtain at Gygax's thinking, which is helpful. There are five saving throws in AD&D (vs. 13 in Castles&Crusades). Personally, I think Dungeon Crawl Classics does it best with just three: Will, Fortitude, and Reflex vs. a DC, like "Make a DC 12 Will saving throw." Roll, add mods, beat the target. Easy-peasey. 

    On that note: generally speaking, I like a unified d20 mechanic. Everything is roll-high with modifiers added on to boost your number upward. Saving throws in more classically based systems are roll on a table. In C&C, saves are linked to an attribute, plus possible class and race benefits, but the SIEGE Engine needs to know if your attribute is primary or secondary, and you get to add your level..mostly. Needlessly complex. 

    His description of what hit point are is something I wish I had read as a teenager, or in my early 20s when I was running AD&D. I thought--incorrectly--that hit points were merely a measure of physical well being, and physical damage, but no: they are an abstraction of fatigue, wear and tear, and death by a thousand cuts, both physical and mental. I remember being frustrated by AD&D combat feeling like a treen that was being chopped down; hit, miss, hit, miss, hit, miss, but now I see that my understanding was incomplete. 

    Then instantly we are transported into the impacts of intoxicants, descriptions of various insanities, and how experience points work, followed by how to create a campaign world with a long discussion of social ranking, types of government, economic systems, monster and treasure placement/densities, and how many magic items should be left laying around. Somebody. Edit. This. Book. 

    Note: Gygax loves the world 'milieu,' and uses it no less than 72 times in the Dungeon Master's Guide. My computer counted for me: 72!