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In general, I would say, yes, using player banter against PCs is a dick move. For this not to be a dick move, you would have to justify it. (Specific beats general, after all.) Certainly, I would not use knowing how many spell slots a character has left or exactly how many hp against them...

As others have said, don't sweat it. DM'ing is a constant learning experience. Iserith's recommendation about trying to bite off small chunks of description and then roll out details in conversation with the players is a good one. It's not that you left the people out, you just haven't gotten...

Ha, fair. Well, moving away from the, "My character does something impulsive," scenario, what happens in a situation where a player suggests a course of action for the group, that is clearly the first idea, but not the best idea, and suggestions from other players illuminate this? Do you find...

Do you often find that the player who initially suggested an idea will choose to abandon their suggestion as some of the "refinements" supersede it? PLAYER 1: Let's rush up and kick down the door! PLAYER 2: Yeah! Let's sneak up quietly, listen at the door, and then rush up and kick down the...

As a kid, we could have all-day arguments about anything. I can't imagine putting up with that as an adult. I'd either ask the players to make up their minds already, or introduce an external force to move the table along. If the argument was with me about rules or similar and a player refused...

I appreciate a post that calls "the kids these days" stupid by misspelling the word "grey." Don't come at "the kids these days," bro. The millennials are doing quite fine, thanks.

Guilty as charged. When talking to people who don't play roleplaying games, I will sometimes just say, "I'm playing D&D tonight." It's easier than saying, "I'm playing Trail of Cthulhu tonight."

The D&D brand is synonymous with role-playing for newcomers. It's not, "I want to try a table-top RPG," it's, "I want to try D&D." We host D&D and Powered-by-the-Apocalypse games at a comic book store in my neighborhood, and the owner will sometimes advertise the PbtA games by telling people...

Yes, the other half of the hypothetical experiment was that PCs routinely faced opponents with access to comparable healing options to player characters. The point is simply to see what kind of tactics the players would use against PCs if they weren't bound by the restrictions the DM is bound...

To be clear, I would never actually bother to run a campaign where NPCs all had death saves. The point of the experiment would simply be to (hopefully) demonstrate my hypothesis that monsters under GM control choosing not to attack downed PCs while there are other PCs still conscious is almost...

It would be interesting to try an experiment. Give most monsters the same death save mechanics and access to healing that PC parties have. Remind players of the "gentleman's agreement" about not killing unconscious characters. See how long the players keep that up. I've only run one truly...

Monsters who are not finishing off unconscious PCs are not playing to win. End of story. That being said, it is perfectly reasonable for a DM to run a campaign where monsters are not playing to win. I don't really know why you would go for a TPK in such a campaign, though. My experience is...

I wouldn't consider ignoring encounter guidelines to be a houserule. It's the DM's prerogative to design encounters however they see fit and there's no need to put that in a houserules document. The only thing I'd bother to discuss with players ahead of time is the goals of encounter design...

The definitive list has spoken.

George R.R. Martin is said to have sold 60 million books. In 2012, R.A. Salvatore had sold 17 million. (Yes, that's 6 years ago, but most of Salvatore's notable works were published before then.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire https://www.wired.com/2012/08/r-a-salvatore/

I started a Traveller campaign for a small group last night. This is my first introduction to science fiction gaming — we usually play fantasy or Cthulhu — but my wife has been very excited to give the system a try and put together the group. Not knowing much about what "a Traveller adventure"...

It's an odd list. That being said, for better or worse, Gygax is definitely a "geek god." Not only did he co-create the first major rpg which enjoys significant popularity and cachet (in geek circles) to this day, but he is also cited to win all manner of arguments. No cogent RPG argument is...

Never, since you've excluded optional systems in the DMG. I've run sessions and campaigns that experimented with slower healing mechanics, variant initiatives, lingering injuries and things like that. Sometimes these have been tweaked to my specific desires, but that's part of the point of the...

A big difference is that Tolkien is no longer writing material. Rowling, in keeping the setting to herself, is not only protecting the works she has already published, but also protecting the works she has yet to write or publish. It gives her free reign to develop the setting exactly as she...

5 out of 5 rating for Harlem Unbound I picked this up from my game store over the weekend, and while I will revisit this review once I've had the opportunity to read the book in its entirety, I want to say now that I have not been this excited or impressed by an RPG book since my childhood. The...