The Fantasy Trip

It's happening again...

That bizarre flood of ideas that occurs in my brain when a series of vaguely related elements collide and combine to create something new.

In this case, an RPG recommendation from blog friend Jonathan Linneman, a commemt from the ever-inspiring Tim Knight, and a Fantasy TRPG from Japan that I came across have collided together with thoughts that have been rolling around in my head and the result might just be my next big RPG project and campaign.

Let's start with Fie, I Say!, the Comedy-Fantasy-Parody RPG recommended to me by Jonathan. Essentially built upon a version of West End Games' D6 System seen in the original, officially licensed Ghostbusters RPG, it diverges in a few ways that had me thinking, 'hmm, maybe it shouldn't have?'. Don't get me wrong, I think Fie! is pretty great. It sets out to be a humorous take on the classic quasi-Medieval Magic games of yore and it absolutely works [and well].

I'm just thinking that a couple of the small changes they made to Player Characters might have worked even better as they were in Ghostbusters or even Ghostbusters International, the 2nd Edition of the game that coincided with the release of Ghostbusters II. I concede that this is merely my personal opinion and the game doesn't suffer in any way from the changes. It's more a matter of my own preferences.

The thing is, what Jonathan noted that really got me excited about Fie! was when he wrote, "...and your experience tweaking GB to the style of you and your group may prove to have similar success here". Indeed! The Ghostbusters variant of the D6 system has proven quite adaptable and easy to kitbash with other similar systems and you know how I love to kitbash! 

Which brings me to a discussion Tim Knight and I had in the comments of my post about the Anime/Manga/JRPG-inspired Fantasy game BREAK!!. We observed the heavy crunch in many Fantasy games designed to emulate Japan-Does-Western-Fantasy on from both sides of the Ocean. BREAK!! is fun but in my view a little too complicated for what you gain. The latest edition of Japan's seminal Sword World RPG is even crunchier. While I've not been certain about what I want in a Fantasy TRPG, I know I don't want that. Definitely leaning in the opposite direction these days.

From there we slide seamlessly towards my recent deep dive into a bunch of Japanese TRPGs that are much more in the vein of what I have in mind. Most notably 'We Met in a Dungeon...',  a Dice Fiction system TRPG that while focused on the interpersonal relationships between the PCs, is nonetheless a functioning Fantasy Adventure game at the same time. 

What I like about it is the way it handles Classes or 'Jobs' as they are referred to in the rulebook. Each is built more like a Star Wars D6 Template and comes with a Special Skill, a near-magical Talent, a Weapon or key piece of Equipment, Armor and [in some cases] a Shield.

The player then customizes the character with additional general skills available to everyone and whatever extra gear they wish to buy. It's simple, fast, and makes each character feel a little different without having to reinvent the wheel for every Job.

Another part I like [a lot] is that each player chooses a Motivation for their character to explain why they are delving into the dungeon. It might be for Treasure and Wealth but it could just as well be Fame, Glory, Discovery/Exploration Revenge, or any of several other driving forces.

While it doesn't have a direct mechanical effect, it indirectly influences the characters' attitudes towards each other and that is the real crux of the game. Matching or closely aligned goals keep the party together, while conflicting goals can threaten to tear it apart. 

All of these thoughts and more ideas are brewing in the cauldron of my brain and the concoction is starting to bubble nicely. I think I may have something soon...

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Barking Alien

Hey, before you go...

I'm still looking for questions for next month's 31 Questions for Barking Alien. Please through some queries my way! What's my favorite food to eat while gaming? How did my experience with Solo RPGs turn out? What's a genre I don't care for that I'd still love to run as a campaign? 

Don't make me do all the work! Ask away!

Thanks in advance!

Saving Throw Versus Magic

Fantasy RPGs. Man, people just love these things don't they?

The majority of people in our hobby have fallen under their spell but it seems I have some sort of innate magic resistance. The [D&D-esque] Fantasy genre often falls flat for me and RPGs that facilitate play in that genre are games I generally find unappealing. That doesn't mean I never enjoy playing Fantasy games. It's simply rare and often the result of an excellent GM and/or a game that provides a very different experience from the more classic and typical approaches. 

As I read JB's 'Dear JB' series over at B/X Blackrazor for example, I am ever so thankful to the Great Nonexisto that I don't play D&D in any of its forms. The angst! The drama! The complete waste of time that could be filled with people trying to entertain each other and run something, anything, a lot more fun and a lot less stressful. 

On the flip side, acting as my own devil's advocate, I am absolutely and honestly in love with some of the Fantasy Anime we've gotten from Japan of late. Delicious in Dungeon/Dungeon Meshi, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and Goblin Slayer are some of my favorite Anime/Manga/Light Novels of all time. Yes, Of All Time! 

But...but...aren't they just D&D?

They are...and they very much are not. At least they aren't D&D or its ilk as I've usually experienced them.

Now then...

In the past month or so I have had the chance to sample two very different Fantasy TRPGs, Daggerheart and Mythic Bastionland. I am in a short campaign of the former, having played the third or fourth session this past weekend, while I played in a one-shot of the latter last week. I want to discuss these games but let me be clear, this isn't a review per se. I am not going to go into great detail regarding the rule mechanics of these games but rather I've going to give you an overview of my feelings/opinions on each. There will be a little discussion of system but not much. There are a lot of other blogs and Youtube videos that can explain the rules much better than I can and I highly recommend taking a lot if you're interested. 

I'm going to start with Mythic Bastionland as my feelings on it are less complicated. It's a very interesting game, clearly inspired by Pendragon far more than anything with a traditional dungeon or dragon. That doesn't mean there aren't dragons, quite the opposite. Our GM ran it as a hexcrawl, with the PCs learning something in each hex that lead us towards a confrontation with a 'Myth', a terrible chimerical beast terrorizing the countryside. The approach created a narrative [or the impression of a narrative actually] which made the monster feel like more than mere combat encounter. 

The PCs are Knights with low level high fantasy magical power and a fantastical theme. I was the Halo Knight, able to cause a light I am carrying (such as a torch or a lantern) to flare so brightly that it illuminates the entire hex and causes damage to 'those that live in darkness'. The heavily thematic name and ability gives the character a distinctive feel and immerses one in the 'setting' fairly quickly. 

It's one drawback is its Combat System. It's interesting, it works, but wow it takes some getting used to. My group found it to be a tad counter-intuitive.

You don't roll to hit as you are assumed to hit automatically. You roll damage, actually everyone attacking the same target rolls damage against said target but if someone is attacking a different opponent then they roll damage against that enemy. The highest damage rolled becomes the true damage while the other rolls allow the attackers to use Gambits. These are effects such as Impairing a weapon, Dismounting a rider, or even adding +1 to the overall damage done.

Ah, yeah its a little strange. Not too hard to get used to it after a while but definitely takes some time for it to stop feeling peculiar.

I liked our session but I'm not sure I would want to run or play in a campaign of it. Maybe if I got a deeper feel for the setting and with expanded world-building applied I'd feel differently. I would definitely try it again. 

Now on to Daggerheart...

This is going to be filled with contradictions so please bare with me. I like Daggerheart. I find it a better D&D. It moves faster, is a bit less complex, has a lot of cool things PCs can do right from the start, and is generally pretty intuitive. Generally. 

At the same time, the game can seem kind of bland at times, combat feels same-y after a while, and some mechanics rarely come into play. This maybe because of the particular campaign we're in but my Slyborn Goblin Wizard is basically a Wizard. Being a Goblin and Slyborn (born among the criminal underbelly of a city) doesn't really come up much. 

Also, the narrative approach taken here (as in a number of other modern games) gets a little tiresome. Whether you succeed or fail you are asked, 'what did that look like' or 'tell me how you hit/missed the target'. If I go into a game of this on the sleepy side I'm fighting to stay awake by the end of a session [and I have insomnia!]. Oddly, the game has a binary pass/fail situation unlike many of current generation RPGs. 

The thing that makes the game stand out is the Hope and Fear mechanic. You roll 2D12 and look at the two dice as distinct entities; one is your Hope Die and one your Fear die. Whichever rolled the higher number determines whether you rolled with Fear or with Hope. Hope is an in-game currency you can use to improve your roll, activate certain abilities, and the like. Fear goes to the GM, enabling them to steal the spotlight for the villains and activate special villain powers or whathaveyou.

It's a neat system and it works well but again, not sure how a long term campaign would play. Do I like it? Yes. Does it WOW me? Not really. It's a mighty fine Mulligan Stew but IMHO it isn't some Michelin Star winning dish. It's a very, very well done version of a thing I usually don't care for. 

While we're on the subject of Fantasy RPGs...

After three decades and two and half editions, the Japanese Tabletop RPG Sword World is coming to the US translated into English. No, really! I'm serious. It seems legit this time. A company called Mugen Gaming is bringing it over. This was only announced recently so I don't have much more info than the fact that its in the works. I have heard from sources on the Japanese side that the English version will be Sword World 2.5 Deluxe, the most recently updated edition Group SNE has released. Stay tuned. 

Free League Publishing, who won 'Fan Favorite Publisher' at the 2025 Ennie Awards at Gen Con this past week, is translating and putting out an Italian TRPG called Twilight Sword, strongly influenced and inspired by video games such as Legend of Zelda and Ni no Kuni. I'm curious, I do like Free League quite a lot but I am not holding my breath that it'll be all that different from other Fantasy RPG options. I'm intrigued but not 'chomping at the bit' as it were.

Oh woe is me! If only there were one Fantasy RPG that I truly loved! A game with simple, flexible, fun mechanics, a humorous and magical setting that nonetheless handles action well, and inspires in me one adventure idea after another. 

If only...wait...

Just got smurfed the digital copy of the complete Smurfs RPG core rulebook.

*Happy Sigh*

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Barking Alien

31 Days / 31 Characters - BOON BRUSHBORN

Sword World is indeed a fantastical beast. It is surrounded by myths and stories. It is a game both beautiful and terrible. It is legend.

The story goes that a group of Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers, artists, gamers, and game designers had a Dungeons & Dragons campaign going that they were able to serialize in a magazine called Comptiq thanks to their collective talents. In September of 1986 the periodical began publishing monthly installments of 'Record of the Lodoss War' with a combination of short stories and comics.

These 'Replays' of the campaign's events gave birth to the massively popular 'Replay Manga' phenomenon, which serves as most Japanese gamers introduction to Tabletop RPGs. It is currently estimated that the widespread and lucrative Replays are more popular than Tabletop RPGs themselves. 

A rumor persisted for years that this campaign wasn't actually D&D but Runequest. It has also been said that while the game started out in D&D, the group switched to Runequest before eventually creating their own game. There is likely some truth to this as the influence of Runequest on the system and setting can be seen quite clearly.

The game they created themselves became Sword World and the creators became Group SNE. Initially, Sword World was published in order for Japanese TRPG fans to run adventures in the setting of the increasingly popular Record of the Lodoss War Replays but the game itself soon took off and for many years Sword World was considered Japan's top selling dice and paper game. 

I watched the first episodes of the Record of the Lodoss War Original Video Animation soon after they came out in Japan in 1990. Not long after that, a customer at my job whom I considered a friend was discussing the Anime with me when he mentioned having a copy of the game. I'm sure my eyes bugged out and my jaw dropped. He mentioned picking it up the last time he visited relatives in Japan. I'm sure I replied with something akin to, "So when are we giving it go?". The answer was a week or two later...

Character: Boon Brushborn

If I recall correctly, the character was simply named Boon during the game. I didn't give him a last name. That's rare for me but I just couldn't think of one.

In a one-shot I ran a couple years later Boon (as an NPC) introduces himself to the PCs of that game as 'Boon of Brushborn'.

AKA: Green Top, Little Man.

Player: Adam Dickstein

System: Sword World, 1st Edition by Group SNE, Published by Fujimi Shobo. 

 

Nature: Short Campaign/Adventure Arc: Ruins of The Fool Lord's Folly

Gamemaster: Ben K.

Circa: 1990-1991

Origins: As noted in the introductory section above, a fellow I knew told me he had picked up the Sword World RPG during his last trip to Japan to visit family there. He not only had the main rulebook but a couple other supplements and gaming magazines with additional material. Excited to try a Japanese made TRPG for the very first time, the two of us each asked some friends to join in and we assembled a party of 5 or 6 players pretty quickly. 

Curiously, this was during the period of my 'gaming career' where I had pretty much sworn off D&D and games like it (both mechanically and in terms of genre). I also rarely played around this time. This was a special occasion in my mind. An exception to my self imposed rules. 

Sword World, 1st Edition

Full Disclosure: What follows is my best recollection of this character and the game but generously embelished to cover the gaps in my notes and memory. The map, place names, and other specifics about the setting come from the sourcebook 'Ten Children: World Guide to the Western Countries'.

Backstory: Like most Grassrunners, Boon was a wanderer who called no set location 'home', though he was birthed in Brushborn, a trading outpost not far from Lake Nomad (referred to as Lake Nomiol by the Human Kingdoms). Boon is a Ranger by skill and trade and was hired by the rest of the party to guide them through the region between the Kingdom of Remrier and the Cross No Mountains (also known as 'The Ladder to the Sky') in hopes of finding the cursed Ruins of The Fool Lord's Folly...

Overview: A party of adventurers consisting of a Half-Elven Fighter, a Female Elven Sorcerer, a Human Bard, and a Human Priest set off from the Kingdom of Remrier to locate the ruins of an old Fortress said to have been build on the Eastern edge of the Cross No Mountains long, long ago.

According to legend the Lord of this Keep, otherwise a man of wisdom and cunning, had a weakness; he loved to laugh. He would often invite Jesters to perform and entertain himself and his troops. One day he let in a man who claimed to be so humorous that indeed one might die laughing. True to his word all who listened that night perished, unable to breathe through their guffaws.

Recently, hideous laughter had been heard on the street of Remrier in the evenings as the sun was setting. Several people reported nightmares, all featuring a man in garb of a Jester. The Sages advised the Lord of Remrier to hire adventurers to investigate the old Fortress and discover why the ghost of the Fool Lord's Folly was haunting the people of this fine City-State. 

Enter Boon of Brushborn, Grassrunner Ranger, hired by the group to lead them through the areas between along the quickest and safest path. Not an easy task as Youma, a darkness that causes strange creatures to appear and act wickedly, had been particularly strong lately the nearly one was to the Cross No Mountains. Luckily, Boon knew a short cut (no pun intended - not on THIS quest for sure!). He got the party there with little difficulty...alright so they did have a run in with some Goblins but they made swift work of that lot.

As he was getting paid and preparing to part ways with the others, Boon saw a shadow in the dying light and shouted for the Priest to move. With the through of a long dagger he pierced a horrible flying creature, giving the rest of the party time to ready themselves. Once the beast was vanquished, the Half-Elf invited Boon to join the group for a cut of the findings and reward. The Grassrunner agreed. 

The Highlights:

Boon was fun to play largely because of his attitude. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder, with most of the party thinking he was younger than he was and treating him a bit like a kid (which funny enough happens to Chilchuck in Delicious in Dungeon, who is also of a Halfling/Hobbit like species). He proved himself a few times and they had a talk about. Boon said, "If I'm going to be a fellow member of the party in this quest, you have to treat me like one. Not like a sidekick." The others agreed. It was a nice role-play sequence. 

Where was a battle against some bizarre monster I think the GM made up, a kind of 'Joker Manticore' (though come to think of it, a creature that could be described that way exists in the Five Star Stories Manga series. Hmmm). My character had light weapons and armor and I recall using a short sword or dagger in each hand. I jumped around a lot in that fight, reminiscent of the fighting style you often see short characters use in Anime. I didn't do a lot of damage but hit with almost every attack. One of the other players dubbed it 'death by a thousand paper cuts'. 

Game Info:

Sword World is a game that spawned out of one groups' interest in the RPGs of the hobby's Golden Age - specifically Dungeons & Dragons, Runequest, and very likely Rolemaster. It shows. It's a little more complicated than it needs to be and consists of way too many charts.

Back then I was already losing patience for such things but as a fan of RPGs and Anime/Manga, how could I say no to playing one of Japan's earliest and most popular stabs at tabletop gaming? I remember having a great time but certainly wasn't about to drop my favorite games of the era (FASA Star Trek, Star Wars D6, Mekton, and Teenagers from Outer Space) for this cumbersome Fantasy game. 

Still and all, there are definitely things I think Sword World does better than D&D and its ilk. I like the way you can mix and match Classes to create interesting combinations resulting in characters feeling more distinct and different from each other mechanically. I like the different types and styles of magic, another feature that makes character stand out from one another. It also adds flavor and texture to the Classes so that a Priest doesn't just feel like a Mage who can heal and wear armor. There are just a large number of little ideas and systems that make for a cool game even if it isn't my style of game. 

Notes: 

I wish I could recall more details. I remember playing this character in the game clearly but as I get down to finer and finer details my memory gets fuzzier and fuzzier. I don't seem to have many notes written down about either and my gaming buddies from that period [who I am still in touch with] only vaguely recall it as well. Frustrating.

Legacy:

Boon appeared as an NPC in a Sword World one-shot I ran two years or so after Ben's game ended. It basically used the previous adventure as canon history but I added elements based on additional information I had since learned about the Alecrast setting. 

Sadly, one of my groups tried to create characters and run a game of Sword World 2.5, the latest version of the game and damn if it wasn't the complicated thing I've read in a while. It's not unplayable by any means, quite the opposite. It seems very well thought out mechanically. It's just very crunchy and rule heavy and that isn't my jam. Furthermore, while that is a factor of many Japanese Tabletop RPGs (system complexity is often high), it's not something favorable to me personally. It's also why many of my favorite Japanese games are that ones that aren't so mechanically dense.

The winds of justice are blowing and when they strike, it's like a tornado has landed! Villains beware! CRIMSON CYCLONE CYBERO is up next!

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Barking Alien

More Than Not Half Bad

With the plethora of Fantasy Role Playing Games that have been and currently are on the market, surely I can't dislike them all.

No, of course not. But I can try.

Kidding.

***

Ladies and Gentlemen, Barking Alien proudly presents...

Fantasy Games I Don't Hate!

Ars Magica

If there is any one dedicated Fantasy Game I can actually say I like, I mean really and truly like, it's Ars Magica.

While I probably play the game largely badwrong from a traditional standpoint, there is a lot to like in this game even in it's original Before-Adam-Screws-With-It form.

For those unfamiliar with it (and what a travesty that would be), Ars Magica is a fantasy-historical game set in 'Mythic Europe', a medieval Europe where magic, myth, legend and folklore are all very real.

Originally published in 1987 by Lion Rampant (cover shown above left), the game has been updated several times with the 5th Edition (above right) having been released in 2004. The game uses an unusual system (in that there are not many other games exactly like it) in which, when a common action is performed, one of the character's attributes is added to their rating in an appropriate skill and a d10 is rolled. The total achieved is  then compared to a target difficulty number. The action succeeds if the total is equal to or greater than the difficulty.

Now, in some cases, instead of a common or 'Simple Roll', the Player may need to make a 'Stress Roll'. A Stress Roll is called for when there is a likely chance of exceptional success or failure. In that case, results of '1' and '0' follow special rulings. A One is rerolled, and the result doubled (additional '1's lead to successive doubling: x2, x4, x8, etc; the final non-One rolled being enlarged by the multiplier. A Zero on the other hand is treated as a zero (instead of a ten) and one or more additional d10 'Botch Dice' are rolled. If any of these Botch Dice come up a zero, the character has suffered some kind of critical failure. If no zeroes come up, simply treat the original zero as the roll, i.e.: don't add anything to attribute + skill.

It is really the Magic System of Ars Magica where the game shines and while I don't want to go into it here (as that would take a while) I highly recommend reading up on it. It allows for both flexibility and practicality and overall has some of the best atmosphere I've seen in a (semi-traditional) fantasy role playing game.

I have simplified some parts and tweaked others and the end result has been a game that past players and I have really loved. I ran a campaign of it not long ago and while a lot of fun, it wasn't really what I had in mind. Aside from being very political and touching on a number of historical events, it was really just a game of Dungeons & Dragons with a cooler rule system. It didn't have the feel or genre elements I wanted it to have and intended to add in. I am not sure why exactly. Somewhere along the line I think I let the players dictate the style of play too much which caused me to shift my attention toward intrigue and warfare and away from folklore and legend.

***

Pendragon

Another quasi-historical, mythic European game, this one based, nay embodying, the majesty and beauty of the Arthurian legends.

I could hardly do justice to an explanation or review of this game that is better than that which James Maliszewski of GROGNARDIA gave on the 5th of May in 2010. I whole heartedly share his enthusiasm for this game.

Now the truth of the matter is that this is one of the few games in my 36 years of gaming that I have played and never run. That's unfortunate but perhaps a blessing in disguise. While very familiar with the story of King Arthur, his Knights of the Round Table and the Kingdom of Camelot, I am by no means an authority or even a fanatic. I forget names. I get some of the Knights mixed up on occasion. I am certain the 'timeline' of the story events in my head is quite off.

I wonder how hard it would be to port this game over to an original world or a world of vaguely Western European themes and style but one which would never pinpoint or identify the nation, ruler or era. More about this idea in an upcoming post.

This game does one thing very right for my purposes; The feel of the setting is built into the rules. Perhaps my biggest gripe with Dungeons & Dragons is, as noted in my previous post, the game's mechanics feel technical and almost scientific. There is little if anything in it to reflect the heroic, romantic or epic mood one gets from reading Lord of the Rings or Le Morte D' Arthur. With their system of Traits and Passions, each Knight has a drive and a set of personal elements that help or hinder his personal quests and goals. Add in the idea that you are expected to hold land, wed, have children and perhaps play them later in your tale reinforces that impression of campaign at literary epic. I love that.

***

Um...yeah. That's it. Thanks everyone for coming. See you next time when...

"Wait! Hold on there buddy. That's it?! Two? There are two Fantasy RPGs in the history of Fantasy RPGs that you like?"

OK, yes, maybe there are a few more but really, most of them are...special cases.

"Do tell."

Well, I like Sword World from Japan, the Studio SNE RPG originally based on the Manga and Anime studios own Dungeons & Dragons and Runequest campaigns. They eventually developed their own system, which over the years has become one of the most popular in Japan.

Honestly, Sword World is very D&D like but there are a lot of things about it that I believe Sword World does better than it's American cousin. Classes seems more interesting, they are designed to be mixed and matched if the Player wishes in order to create a much wider range of character options.

I like their magic system better as it has a lot more atmosphere and, quite frankly, D&D's magic system is among my least favorite elements of the game. How can you have a game with Wizards and Magic Items and have your magic system be so, so, bleh. Grrr.

I also like a lot of the ideas in White Wolf's Mage: the Sorceror's Crusade. Granted, I am not a huge fan of the system (though I don't hate what you can do with it with a little modification) and it is somewhat like a stepsister to Ars Magica but still, its got some cool stuff in it.

Lastly, Faery's Tale Deluxe deserves a mention, though it isn't really a Fantasy RPG in the sense of many of the others. Perhaps that is why I like it so much.

***

Well great, I am no closer to figuring out what I want to run. All I know is there is a lot I don't like, a few things I do and unfortunately, I don't own too many Fantasy games to look through for inspiration.

What to do, what to do...

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Barking Alien


Barking Alien notes the passing of Japanese animator, character designer, writer and director Hiroshi Ogawa.

Ogawa is best known for his work on the comedic animated series Crayon Shin-chan (aka 'The Craziest Show on TV') and his animation direction on Grave of the Fireflies, (aka 'The Saddest Film in Cinematic History'.)

An August Preview - Questions of a Random Wizard

So this is going around and I'm afraid I've caught it.

My guess? Not enough Vitamin C.

As I intend to dedicate the month of August to discussing Dungeons & Dragons (Wait? What? Really? I said that?), consider this a coming attraction to the level of quality ideas and entertainment you're in for.

Oh, you're in for it alright...

(1). Race (Elf, Dwarf, Halfling) as a class? Yes or no?

No. I thought that was silly in 1977.

(2). Do demi-humans have souls?

Dwarves have souls but lack spirits.
Elves are fae and do not have souls. They have spirits and can become spirits.
Half-Elves, like Humans, have souls and spirits but sometimes only half of each.
Gnomes, like Humans, have both souls and spirits but only one at a time.
Wilders, also called Halflings, like Humans, have both. One is usually stronger than the other.

(3). Ascending or descending armor class?

Ascending.

(4). Demi-human level limits?

Hahahaha...oh. You're being serious. No. Silly in 79'.

(5). Should thief be a class?

Should anything? Sure, why the hell not.

(6). Do characters get non-weapon skills?

You mean can they learn to cook, sail and weave wicker baskets? Sure.
Knock yourselves out.

(7). Are magic-users more powerful than fighters (and, if yes, what level do they take the lead)?

Wizards are better at using magic.
Warriors are better at fighting.

Apples do no 'take the lead' over oranges at being oranges and vice versa.

(8). Do you use alignment languages?

Yes, I speak good.
No, you speak well.
I do, I speak good well.

Hahahaha...no.

(9). XP for gold, or XP for objectives (thieves disarming traps, etc...)?

XP for making your character seem like a character, discovering things, inventing things, solving problems and the like.

No XP for gold. That's like giving you a penny for finding a penny.

(10). Which is the best edition; ODD, Holmes, Moldvay, Mentzer, Rules Cyclopedia, 1E ADD, 2E ADD, 3E ADD, 4E ADD, Next ?

Mine.

After that, Sworld World.

Bonus Question: Unified XP level tables or individual XP level tables for each class?

 Huh? Oh, unified. The less tables the better.

***

Let the Hate Mail Commence!

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Barking Alien