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This is the fourth in my "Three Pilasters" series of articles.  In this article, I plan on talk about the third Pilaster of D&D: 'Port. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Three Pilasters of D&D
'Ludes, the First Pilaster
'Sage, the Second Pilaster
'Port, the Third Pilaster

'Ludes describe the action that a player takes without the participation of the rest of the gaming group.  'Sage described the information that the DM imparts to the players so that the adventures can proceed.  'Port, the third pilaster, describes a part of the adventure that combines Combat, Exploration, and Socilaization (the three Pillars of D&D) in a way that presents unique problems for the game.

'Port is my term for travel.  Adventures (socialization, exploration, and combat) tend to occur in discrete...

This is the third in my "Three Pilasters" series of articles.  In this article, I plan on talk about the second Pilaster of D&D: 'Sage. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Three Pilasters of D&D
'Ludes, the First Pilaster
'Sage, the Second Pilaster
'Port, the Third Pilaster

While 'ludes describe the things that happen when an adventuring companion is unaccompanied -- the space between the pillars -- 'sage is the stuff that makes the pillars possible: information.

D&D, like all role-playing games, is a game of the imagination.  And since imagination has no form, not physicality, it is essentially a game of information.  So how the game doles out information is crucial to its success.

This is has been an area that has been handled haphazardly, at best.  I've divided information into...

This is the second in my "Three Pilasters" series of articles.  In this article, I plan on talk about the first Pilaster of D&D: 'Ludes. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
:r1: The Three Pilasters of D&D
:r2: 'Ludes, the First Pilaster
:r3: 'Sage, the Second Pilaster
:r4: 'Port, the Third Pilaster

"-lude" is a suffix that means "play", and is appended to three prefixes which correspond to a different type of 'lude: the prelude (before play), interlude (between play), postlude (after play). 

Do not confuse 'lude with noncombat.  Play happens whenever the adventuring party has gathered and tries to accomplish a task, even if that task is as passive as "resting for the night", or as esoteric as "wandering around looking for your next adventure". 

A 'lude, for purposes of this article, ...