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1) The three action economy is brilliant 2) Fights are dangerous, everyone gets hurt 3) Character creation options are fun 4) No need to do detailed 1-20 builds, all options are viable 5) Punching is good

70s and 80s Britain was nightmare fuel. I expect British sci-fi of the late 2020s/early 2030s will be similarly brilliant for the same reasons. Assuming we still have TV, of course. Early-mid 80s starter here. Fantasy and sci-fi was a magnet. It drew my attention like nothing else did. Same...

I imagine that OneD&D's trajectory will be the same as that of every online service provider, as discussed by Cory Doctorow in his recent Wired article: "The EN-badword-ification of Tik Tok". No link, because bad word in the title, but you should be able to find it if you want. It's a good read.

I feel you on this one. This sort of thing is why I have a strong preference for running [X]-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off settings. We all know what vibe we're going for, but retain the capacity for surprise and a sense of the new (i.e. nicking stuff from other IPs).

I used to think I could burn out on GMing, but that wasn't true. What was actually happening was I was burning out on the players I GMd for.

I can't remember which game it was that advised the GM to "prep situations, not scenarios", but cleaving to that advice has definitely improved my GMing. System matters, of course. I have the same "situation area" written up for D&D and for Burning Wheel. The optimum problem-solving solution for...

Just because we have won, comrade, it does not mean we have won. Victory is a passing phase, like cystitis or wearing bandanas. Only the glorious eternal struggle remains. And that is greater than any victory!

I like the spirit of this, but think the delivery might be too fine-grained. My last world-building project started using historical data and examples, and I soon discovered that real life is far too complex a model to be playably fun at a table. You don't need a smallish kingdom with 250 barons...

I was in a bookstore today and looked to see how many copies of the D&D starter set they had in (it usually numbers 1d6+1), but all they had was some ugly looking D&D board game with sub-heroquest production values. The board game was not a movie tie in board game. Maybe they're holding off for...

I said they had neither the capacity nor the talent to produce the amounts of high quality material that players expect.

Yes. Eventually my players will come across a hamlet or village or thorp where, for whatever RP reason, they decide they like the NPCs and the location and the view and that this hamlet or village is where they're going to put down roots. If they're low-level, they start nibbling away over time...

Untrained social combat? Bad choice.

And will continue to get wrong, again and again, over and over, until their competition is killed off and any remaining creators are producing content that fits a dangerously narrow definition of "moral".

This is one of a few tiny clues that a grown-up has at least one hand on the levers of power.

Magic, thank you, that's exactly what I'm looking for. And I'll run cover for you in home room if the teacher gets sus.

I am going to wait for greater minds than my own to formulate their responses, then copy their homework

Man, this is one of my favourite GMing tricks, so my players better not be getting tired of it! More seriously though, giving every PC things to do as they move through an adventure site works gangbusters, and often leads to shenanigans as the players don't realise what's going on so you get...

This is also my reading of it. But then, sometimes the irresistable force moves the immovable object. This is when bribing the DM comes into its own.

Preach it, Brother GuyBoy!

Like many of you, I also started playing D&D in the early 1800s. I remember raiding a stately home to steal the first table we played around, smuggling barrels of dice into shady coves to avoid paying the King's Tax and kidnapping a literate clerk to read out the rules for us. I remember when...