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Five players + a GM. Almost exclusively. Two others have GMed for a meaningful during, at some point. One last ran "Return to Temple of Elemental Evil" when it was fresh. The other was running "Tomb of Annihilation", last I new. I played in the former, which was the last time I actually played...

My phone, which has a dice-rolling app and a bookmark to the Fate SRD. If I'm in a situation where it's "do or die", I'm running Fate Accelerated, though I'd use Fate Core for a campaign. If we want D&D, i've also got a bookmark to DND Beyond (as well as the app beta). Note: I don't love...

There's actually a pretty good case for removing "dwarf", as a term -- probably better than "race", IMO. I'm not sure which use of the term is the derivation, though. The term "race" doesn't bother me. Then again, I'm a white guy living in the northern midwest. Despite knowing a pretty sizable...

And, I'm totally good with that. Personally, I'd never even thought about skills being truly innate for the various genotypes, which is why I used it as an example. Now you've gone and really screwed up the deconstructing of race. ;) Almost like it was done on purpose.... Oh, I think we're...

This may be the source of some of the issue. Personally, if an elf isn't essentially alien -- at least in some way -- then don't include them in the game. Dwarves aren't just short Scotsmen -- they're a completely different species of being that, despite appearance, has less biology in common...

I started using milestone XP when we were going through PotA. My group is pretty darn good at guerrilla tactics and the "hit and run". We were all having fun, but it made things feel really empty if I didn't restock and strained suspension of disbelief, as well. If I did allow the cults to...

But it's not 'culture', any more than it's race. Culture implies the social heredity, rather than genetic heredity. Just because a human is raised among dwarves, he isn't going to get darkvision. 'Culture' could certainly include things like the elven knack with a bow, but it can't cover...

Definitely, which is why I've been trying very hard to not bash anyone else's preferences. It's a game and it's all good. Some tables I wouldn't play at, personally. Others, I'd play at, but not sure I'd be a good GM for. My understanding is that they actually used Pentagon (or CDC or something...

I can totally see where you're coming from. For me, it's a matter of prioritization. Given a set of rules that played fast; didn't require me to memorize a bushel of rules, tables, etc.; and had mechanics that worked with all those tiny "reality" bits, I'll take it. But, in the immortal words of...

And, this is where the conversation starts to make a lot of sense. I'm pretty much narrativist, with a enough gamism to keep it from becoming a writing circle and to indulge a few math fetishes, and just enough simulation to avoid blatant issues with suspension of disbelief. Note that I'm not a...

While I've had experiences more akin to Celebrim, it's generally been limited to one of three scenarios: 1) a player having a bad day and being uncharacteristically argumentative and rules-laywerish, 2) a short-term or guest player, or 3) a horror story from one of my players who also played in...

I think I get what you're saying, but I don't entirely agree. I think one advantage a lot of older games had is that they were created by folks who liked statistics and nerdly pursuits in the vein of military history. I'm not sure they did much more play testing than modern games, but the...

I'll agree with this, too. I'd say I'm better than average, but that doesn't mean I always get it right the first time. Even the pros play test stuff. I didn't have a 3" binder, but I did use one of those legal accordion folders and I'm pretty sure my stack of house/setting rules was thicker...

No. What I'm saying is that there is the potential for rulings that are just mechanically better than they should be. The +1/+2 for higher ground is a somewhat contrived example. I do think it's appropriate for tactically-minded players to look for things like higher ground to give them...

Either I wasn't clear or you're projecting from bad past experiences. I explicitly want players to be able to figure out whether something is a good idea or bad idea. I also want them to play tactically. I just don't want to stop game play to look up some piece of minutiae that really doesn't...

No. It's varied over the years. D&D has been the mainstay and old reliable, though.

Hahahahahaha.... No. In fact, I was just talking with my group about moving to Fate, from D&D. One thing I said was, "Since I'm going to ignore the rules, anyway, we may as well start with fewer pretenses." Without context, that sounds really bad. What I actually mean, though, is that my job...

Nope. Never heard of Geralt. In context, though, I'm assuming he's from the Witcher series, which is on my to-do list.... somewhere. I've read a couple Conan books. I'mm familiar with Elric, but haven't been able to find a copy of the earlier books to start reading (I look every now and then...

I was 10. Learned the game at summer camp. Came home and taught friends. Logical extension of that is that I was the GM. I'd definitely played less than a half dozen sessions, maybe as few as two, before turning into a nearly full-time GM. Over the last 45 years, I've probably GMed 80% of my...

As someone who has created several worlds from scratch -- with an attempt at following at least some natural laws -- there's a reason the East is generally in the east. Culture is shaped by climate and geography, and the Himalayas that help to isolate the East, as do the northern steppes, which...