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Again, stuff like "present a setting that feels real" is the sort of thing that gets some of our hackles up. This post here suggests that Doskvol can't feel real because of the other framing you've added. I'm not sure that follows at all, considering that Doskvol is a really rich setting that is...

The DM guide also covers player exploits/various examples of poor play when it talks directly to players, as covered on this site and across the internet. We're now hitting directly at the OP of this thread here - 2024 has taken some big steps forward to try and place guidelines and limits for...

I was the one who said IMO that if you take a step back, from a "player decision within a GM authored area POV" a sandbox ran with procedure and integrity and a well-designed classic dungeon don't look all that different. In both, you're setting up problems for the players to engage with...

The 2024 DM guideline’s emphasis on “will this change/ruling make the game more fun for the the table / improve the game? If not yes to both (and get feedback from your players), don’t it.” Is pretty neat. It spends a lot of words on establishing the idea of mutual respect, communication...

The vast preponderance of r/lfg and my are local discord certainly are all looking for D&D, primarily “70% roleplaying 30% combat and to be part of a shared story.” A huuuuge swathe of folks I see showing up as “new player looking for a group!” are coming from a) critical role and b) BG3 (my...

I don't think that AP play = OSR play = WoD play = CoC /DG play = whatever else you want throw out there, without falling into the "all TTRPGs (except those Narrativist people) are just the same" hole.

I’m not talking about whatever you’re doing, I’m talking about the specific treasure hunting / dungeon exploration play you were taking issue with. Often first session stuff in OSR land is a lot of like visiting taverns for rumors and muddling around and such. Because of this, a lot of the...

This is a metaphorical map ("the quest giver's map that got you to this point"). I put them at the start of the dungeon (first exterior map area of the module), and then asked what they did and adjudicated the flow of play per the map & key and procedures of the game from there. Worked great! I...

Right, I think it's kinda the difference between "narrative outcomes on the ending card" vs "we went off and played a different story next" to use vaguely computer game terminology. Like, no matter what you do in Curse of Strahd - you're really there to explore Strahd's story and get to a...

Railroading is also the norm at most tables ;P. If you buy a ticket to ride, get on the train, but the DM calls it a linear adventure and lets you get off at stations along the way to sightsee, does that make it not a railroad? Again: railroad (descriptive), railroaded (pejorative). When I...

Again, "agency" is kinda a hard term to really nail down. Dungeon crawling to get treasure is consequential in that the rules of the game position in as how you get XP to advance, and most other procedural carrots are built around it (domain play, renown, whatever). Some descriptions of...

That's "Railroading (pejorative)" as in "I felt railroaded." Sitting down and agreeing to play an AP/plotted campaign, which goes from plot point and consequential adventure location A-> B -> C -> D (Final boss!) is a railroad in that you're on tracks. I do think the Bioware "Lakes and Rivers"...

A post-Jacquays designed dungeon is a miniature sandbox. The premise of play is "we're playing a game about exploring dungeons to get treasure." Once you're in there, the direction of play is on the players. THere's no plot hooks, no NPCs dropping quests to new areas, no DM reshaping the world...

Hm? Same thing - “you’re making your way down the forest trails the wizard said to look for when you see a ring of standing stones up ahead - just like the map shows.”

It’s pretty well established that creativity thrives on constraints. Especially from the design/innovation side of things, there’s a lot of literature and advice out there of taking something you know and adding a constraint or two and seeing where that gets you. Likewise, I find the...

It’s also a pretty common recommendation in the OSR space to do what @pemerton was citing back from ole Gary with “drop them at the dungeon.” Let’s you see who survives, so you can start adding to those characters; gets some gold and renown building; avoids lots of back and forth around tavern...

Quite honestly, even as a primary DM for a while I hesitated to raise concerns I had about where the DM of the dungeons of drakkenheim game was going with table time and emphasis because I was playing in somebody else’s house that he was friends with; and everybody else seemed happy. I don’t...

7-10, ish. Sometimes 715, usually end 1015-1030 depending on how long End of Session goes. Lets PST with flexibility show up.

It is! It’s more an entire game, but the Steading as its own entity + tons of improvements to set as goals and drive play/expeditions out is very cool.

Oh, "Broken Weave," another "build your community" I went looking for, with a pretty cool post-magic-apocalypse setting: https://cubicle7games.com/broken-weave?srsltid=AfmBOor2R3ssK8XG_wOCiKArJs90EwyMkqNcDHzkL2StWMJwe0oWmsAW