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If something is absolutely dependent upon the PCs taking a quest hook- I'll start in media res. But I do this rarely, part of the fun of rpgs is making decisions. I will circle back, but not to that quest hook itself. The world happens; if PCs don't tackle the goblin tribe threatening a little...

I like the idea. I've mucked around with a setting idea of floating motes of land and flying ships and creatures as transport. But the world is in flux. Luckily, most of it is predictable civilized parts) so a good guide/rutter will get you around. But the more dangerous and less civilized...

How do your players like this? I've seen house rules like this before, but I don't recall seeing how the players found the experience.

For powers, I would just look up some crystal beliefs about each stone. Then make some powers based on that. They're all birthstones, so you could easily look them up that way. But are you asking for someone(s) to give you the powers, stats, and background for your seven dwarf rings for your...

I haven't used this house rule in a while because it was from a group in college. Any donkey/mule named Mark has a limited Dimension Door type effect. Whenever the donkey is faced with some daunting task like crossing a chasm, scaling a sheer cliff, or some other pretty much donkey impossible...

Favorite house rule: retraining allowed at low levels to adjust a PC to be something more fun for the player. If someone didn't realize how a skill or feat or something would play out during the game, I let them adjust it during the first adventure. Most common: adjusting races and classes to...

I never played low intelligence, I did have a low wisdom halfling sorcerer who specialized in loads of battlefield control effects. In room, calculates that stinking cloud would devastate the enemies. Didn't calculate that we were all in the range too. But he wasn't dumb, so he learned to stop...

I really enjoy including stuff like food into the game. However, most players aren't really interested, they want grand adventures. It isn't that hard to combine them, especially in fantasy settings. Making the adventures about food and the logistics of feeding villages, cities, or armies can...

I don't use screens now. I did, but I would get greedy with space and since I had all the space the screen provided, I started using things I didn't need. It was like having a large room for the space but then filling it with stuff and not having enough space. I find that I pay more attention...

There is a Burning Thac0 pdf which helps. Link The easiest thing is set up clear goals for the beliefs. You borrow from Mouse Guard and have a "mission" belief, a belief related to a party member, and then a goal that the PC wants. For example the human fighter: I will cleanse the river, the...

If you want to stick with 3.5/PF style; I'd suggest you go with NPC classes for a level or two and then have the PCs take class levels. But it would need to be part of the pitch, people aren't always a fan of this approach. Shadows of the Demon Lord defaults this way. You begin as a character...

Lanefan makes a good point about maps. You can prep better encounters if you know the map beforehand. Sometimes you can have an encounter ready and just throw together a map at the table. But to make the best use of the monsters and PC abilities, you should have maps as you build the encounter...

For prep: GM Blogs. The Angry GM is probably the one I find most useful. Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots Masks Never Unprepared Wikipedia Dungeonscape for any dungeony game, even non-D&D Gameplay: Note Pad- scratch notes are way easier for me. Index cards- organize and hand out stuff Poker...

This is really cool. Thanks for sharing it.

In a hard sci-fi setting, conflicts occur for all the same reasons they occur now. Why aren't all conflicts solved over emails and diplomats? Resources are the biggest. Could be for mining, colonization, establishing bases, jump gates for your ftl, food. Things are scarce, multiple peoples...

For bards, Kvothe in The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss are great for inspiration. Fighters and rogues can find a lot in The Black Company series by Glen Cook. Or an entire campaign. Whatever. :D I love the Conan books for a barbarian. Not the image most people...

You'll need to let them know about this as part of the campaign concept to avoid a bait and switch game. I would skip the surprise. Instead, let them know what is going to happen. I would also run both sides of things. For partial inspiration check out the Everworld books. Normal humans are...

Sonic damage is handy for getting around resistances. When I played a PF game we used mythic tiers. The mages could blast through resistances; but I don't know which powers and abilities allowed them to do that.

I'm glad to see it went well. I love seeing the party use solid tactics like a silence effect and melee guys forcing the enemy to stay in that zone. (I keep trying to get my group to see the value in tactics like this. Instead we're a dysfunctional group of adventurers.) But I have a question-...

Dungeon World is fantastic. Apocalypse world too, whichever setting calls to you more. I recently got Shadow of the Demon Lord. Haven't played it yet, but it seems good from reading through. If the game plays well enough, it might become my default D&D-ish game. I really enjoy FATE and...