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I suspect it is because people have different meanings of "game"and "recreation" and "pasttime".

I should have included my references. :-) "The Book of the Long Sun" by Gene Wolfe. The various Ringworld books by Larry Niven. The movie "Pandorum" (2009). I also did a lot of thinking about how you could support large flyers and giant insects and other creatures that the square-cube laws...

The world is a spinning cylindrical spaceship, with a sun down the middle. Gravity is by centripetal force. Airships ply the low grav heights, unable to ever land because of the gravity gradient. The fastest way to the other side of the world is striaght up (flying around the sun, of course)...

The game needs to support both. Sometimes you want to have an ultracompetitive battle on the field. Sometimes you just want to chuck around a ball with friends. Rugby (or football or league or whatever) can support both styles of play.

Player agency to me means two things. First, the players decide what their characters think and do (with exceptions, like mind control magic). Second, the GM decides logical consequences of the characters' actions in the game world. Both are required. If a character's actions don't have...

That is a cunning idea. I wish I'd used that in my last game. GM: You feel that concentration on the banishment spell is no longer needed. Player: What? GM: The spell's effect has ended, so there is nothing to concentrate on. Player: Wait, what does that mean? GM: It means the creature is no...

The person looks at the character and demands, "What are you doing? Didn't anyone tell you staring is rude?" In my games, WIS (Insight) is an active skill — that is, it requires the character to ask questions and to lead the conversation. You can't tell if someone is lying until you know what...

I would add an additional item: Players describe action, intention and resources. In the early days(tm) of my gaming, a situation like the following was common. Player: I check for traps. GM: As you are checking the trap, a contact poison enters your skin. Player: But I never said I was...

Also https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=foxtail+hills&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto= https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?keywords=foxtail+moor++&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto= And https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/18484/OneDayGM

It seems that all the common house rules here are about ignoring rules and allowing characters to do things the rules say they can't (like cast spells with weapons and shield and read in darkness). Are there any common house rules that go the other way?

The rule about a line of effect implies that there is something physically travelling from caster to target. The rules don't say exactly what it is, just that there is something making a connection (using Crafword's phrasing) from the spellcaster to their target, something which total cover...

That's how I rule it. If something between you and the target would block an arrow, it blocks a spell. Magic attacks involve something physically travelling from caster to target. Pane of glass? Blocks a spell. Sheet of rice paper? Doesn't block a spell. I prefer to use the word "block" instead...

You will quickly learn that players don't want "what's in Xanathars" or "what's in Tasha's" - they want 'Whatever you've disallowed." No-one will want to play genasi, right up to the point where you remove them from the allowed list, and then three players will complain, 'But I wanted to be a...

Given the qualities "light" and "finesse", I think the weapon that 5E calls a scimitar is more likely a parang or machete.

Many years ago I conversed with a horse cop in NYC. He said that horses were great for crowd control because they terrified city folk. Hardened criminals who would come at an on-foot officer would shy away from an 800kg iron-shoe-wearing animal. And even if they didn't, all the horse had to do...

What I would do is end the game. I'd tell the players, "I'm not interested in having you be mass murderers and sociopaths. I play games to get away from all that sort of crap in the world. Simply put, this is my hobby as well as yours and I don't want this stuff in my hobby." As a GM, I don't...

Possibly-controversial opinion: Side initiative dramatically slows down play. It's not the worst method, but it's close. Side initiative starts with two minutes of blank stares as no-one wants to go first, then ten or more minutes of discussion as everyone argues why they shouldn't go first...

hangs head Guilty as charged m'lud.

The nostalgia is strong in this thread! I never played in or GMed Dark Tower, only a few other Judges Guild material, and even I am feeling it. :)

"Yes, and…" Always saying "yes and" is terrible advice for a game. RPGs are about choices and consequences. If there are no consequences, the choices become meaningless. Most of the time, GMs should be using "No, but…" Player: Can my character climb that wall? GM: Not right now, but if you...