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We typically play 3+GM or 4+GM. But it's not the same group every time - different sets of players for different games. I often GM, but I'm not the only GM in the group. Currently I play in a campaign my wife runs. Most of the people in our group run games sometimes. I think my wife and me are...

Some people just get a lot of fun from playing with numbers and ability combos. This kind of players often take strange, sub-optimal character concepts and make them surprisingly viable. They also often take support roles where they can have enormous effect on party effectiveness without...

We don't have any distinction between GM and the rest of the players. We are all friends having fun together; it's not like somebody's an entertainer and somebody pays them for that. Typically, everybody brings some drinks or snacks and we order a pizza together. Sometimes the host prepares...

System before setting, for me. A game based on Fate or PbtA has more chance to catch my interest than something else. But I'm far from checking every such game - there is too many of them currently and some of the settings are of no interest for me to the point of being able to tell that just...

The definitions are not clear enough for me to call my preferred style either CaW or CaS. I dislike extensive planning. I like choices (both tactical and moral) made here and now, under the pressure of the situation. I definitely don't want to replace it with boring planning and then trivial...

There are many kinds of player input in creating the setting. The most basic one is through backstories. Players create characters with background events, relations, values and goals. The GM makes sure that they are not only true in the fiction, but also important. That is, play centers on the...

There are many game systems available now. If someone is not happy with D&D, they can just choose a different game that fits their tastes; they don't have to patch the system themselves. With many games available for $10-15 and some good games for free, there's no reason not to switch games for...

Observing that Earth is round is simpler. Choose two points, preferably on the same meridian (for ease of calculations). Measure how high above the horizon the Sun is at noon in each od them. From the difference between the angles and the distance between measurement points you can calculate the...

There are two important things about twists to be taken into account. One of them is foreshadowing. Events that seem meaningful but their full meaning in unclear until the twist is revealed - and then everything falls into place. Foreshadowing ensures that the twist does not come out of the...

On the other hand, a world that runs on "realistic" logic makes it easier for players to make predictions and exploit the way the setting works. While it's possible in fairy-tale logic too, the world behaving like our one (plus magic, monsters etc. and their implications) allows players to use...

"Fairy-tale" logic definitely comes into conflict with "realistic"/"physical" logic. But that is not the same as causal logic. Things can have causes and effects and can still be reasoned about within a framework that is definitely not "realistic" - as long as it is consistent and one gets an...

I ran a few campaigns in homebrew settings. Instead of giving players a lot of setting description before the campaign (not everybody reads it and even those who do forget 90%), I ran a few one-shots first. Each of them introduced players to some aspects of the campaign world and after 3 or 4...

I run campaigns for PCs that are idealistic. They may have bad tempers, they may use questionable methods sometimes, but they can't be focused on selfish motivations (eg. money). This implies but is not equivalent to limiting PCs to good and neutral alignments. One-shots are a different kind of...

There's a lot of possibilities. You can have a kobold surrender and negotiate. You can have kobolds try tricking the party to make them leave (eg. describe a powerful demon that lives deep within their caves - in hope that the PCs will either get scared or go down there and get lost). You can...

I'm not dco, but I share his viewpoint, so I think I may try to explain it. Why have classes instead of a freeform system? There are a few good reasons: Classes allow for easy character creation with no system mastery necessary. All choices that need to be made are described in the class and...

I haven't had a TPK in a long time, due to the play style our group prefers. Single deaths, yes - typically heroic last stands, letting others get to safety. But not TPKs. But there have been some in the earlier phase of my gaming. Most of them in situations that didn't seem dangerous but the...

For many, it isn't. A lot of people intentionally build powerful characters and get their fun from it ("powergame"), while staying within the rules. For me, it has always been the difference between "theoretical optimization" (as in: see how much I can get with literal reading of RaW) and...

I think you should specify what kind/genre of game are you thinking about and what does an "element" mean to you. Otherwise, it's hard to understand why you lump things together in some cases and separate them in others. For example, your "Exploration" and "Interaction with NPCs" categories...

This question may be reversed: If the mechanics are not there to be played with, why they are a part of this game? Why not just get rid of the rules instead of wasting paper in the books and time at the tables? And if the rules are there to be played with then playing with them should increase...

In my experience, players knowing the rules improve the fun for everybody at the table. It helps in compensating for the lack of in-setting information (no matter how the GM tries, it's impossible to give players all information about the world their characters would have and describe...