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This old post and this old post have a lot of resources for anyone looking to run a West Marches game.

I think superhero media is inherently more interesting than fantasy. The Silver Age of comics is the best age by far. It’s not even close. People who like superhero fantasy games would like actual superhero games far more. The best Marvel movies are the one that are more than just a superhero...

For me, a successful superheroes campaign requires the Chris Claremont formula all the way. Superhero action interspersed with soap opera drama. You need a good mix of one-off and reoccurring villains to fight, both super and mundane. Building a dislike then hatred then almost toxic friendship...

Yeah. The racism in H. P. Lovecraft isn’t even subtle. It’s the lowest of low hanging fruit to try to pretend it’s hard to see and offer an analysis of it. Far more interesting, I think, is the fear of nihilism and sci-fi horror elements of his work.

Realism has almost no place in the kinds of entertainment I like.

That example proves my point. The beta rest mechanic felt like a punishment, which it was, so players hated it. The release rest mechanic felt like a bonus, which is was, so players loved it. Now imagine you had the option to not get that bonus. To most gamers that would feel like a stupid...

I always thought it would be cool to do proper domain-level play with the players being the sorcerer-kings. Something like D&D would not work, though. Definitely a lighter system that’s flexible enough to handle high-level weirdness and centuries of preparations. Maybe something like Dune.

What math? There was a chart by level and terrain type.

Sure, but that’s antithetical to WotC’s design of 5E. Choosing to be weaker isn’t a thing they’d design. Preserving magic as baseline with defiling magic getting a bonus is a more viable design. You get the exact same visceral feel.

Yep. It’s all over the place. The novels disagree with the OG box. The novels are where the idea of preserving taking longer comes from. If I had to pick a source to follow it would be the novels more than any of the game products.

A few days ago I learned about this. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabo_(hygiene)

I ran a sandbox campaign that had a section labeled fantasy #%^*ing Vietnam that was dirty with Tucker’s kobolds. A group of PCs ventured there fairly early on. They came across a lone kobold, a decoy, that they wanted to torture for info. He ran into the bushes and they followed. There was a...

The vast majority of Call of Cthulhu scenarios will be investigative-horror. Very few, if any, will just be pure horror. I'd suggest grabbing one or more of the anthology books of scenarios, or at least reading up on them. Doors to Darkness, 5 scenarios. Mansions of Madness, 5 scenarios. These...

I really doubt that will broadly be the case, honestly. Daggerheart is designed for 5E refugees who want a bit more story and narrative than they're used to but keep roughly the same level of crunch and focus, i.e. fighting monsters. Legend is designed for players looking for a mostly...

I’m still reading it. This is wildly lighter in rules than Daggerheart. It’s a tag-based system and the more relevant tags you have for a task the bigger the bonus. It’s not a PbtA game per se but it uses 2d6 and the PbtA success ladder (6-, 7-9, 10+). It looks pretty slick and rules light.

I don’t think I know anything about that one. I’ll have to check it out.

I’d extend that to the bulk of the hobby. Monster books, adventures, etc. The imagination is like any other mental muscle. If you don’t use it, it will atrophy. Buying other people’s imagination means you use yours less. Make your own stuff. You know your table better than anyone else.

The whole bit about not being able to emulate the comics is a big sticking point for some people.

“The quirk in the game you like makes it unplayable trash. The quirk in the game I like gives it character and charm.” Sigh. Gamers are nothing if not predictable.

I think the last time I checked in with Iceman he was one of the most powerful mutants in the world because he could become ice, snow, or cold and teleport anywhere there was ice, snow, or cold and reform his body. Good to see him get such a glow up.