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I have made up a table for generating spell books for NPC magic-users (or for PCs starting above 1st level). The factors -- availability of scrolls and books, frequency of copying rather than using scrolls, and sharing or trading of spells -- obviously can vary greatly from campaign to...

The time factor here -- just one or two sessions per month -- is something to keep in mind. If we got into something taking 12 sessions, it would probably be spread over 9 months of real time (as opposed to just 3 with weekly meetings).

Here is a more improvisational, episodic, player driven arrangement: Each PC desires vengeance upon one of the villains known collectively as the Lords of Despair. They have made a pact to finish this work together. It is up to the players how to go about this. A couple of meetings prior to...

I was thinking of two suitors of the Princess, her sister, and a companion of the King. That's a nifty idea. Many fantasy epics start with something like that, rather than jumping directly into the main action. The last few DMs have been a lot longer on "atmosphere" than on coherence.

What do you think of the outline I posted above (post #15)?

Thank you!

Here's an off the cuff example of the sort of thing I have in mind. 1) The King's Palace: There is an assassination attempt, to foil which is the players' immediate objective. Successful or not, they find that the Princess has been kidnapped. To rescue the Princess and bring the Villain to...

Thank you both for confirming my intuition that "character development" themes should figure, and for the advice about how to implement them.

Considering our experience over the past couple of years -- and my lack of experience at this style -- I think I ought to go for something more coherent from the start. The "episodic" focus, though, is something I will keep in mind.

Advancement is probably not a big issue, as I shall start the PCs with some levels (perhaps 7 or 8, although I will settle that after looking at what sort of foes I want to deploy). That aside, your example gives me food for thought. Thank you!

I see the tension, but I am not thinking of things that could derail the whole plan. "Character of the character" choices might make the players' way easier or harder, but they are more likely to form sub-plots than to make major branches in the main story (which should also be fine). Yes! This...

The titular realm of Abe Merritt's The Moon Pool is rather like a D&D dungeon, and the city in The Face in the Abyss has extensive tunnels wherein treasures are secreted and factions fight. "The People of the Pit" lair at the bottom of a long descent. Several stories of Clark Ashton Smith...

Pulp-era Tumithak of the Corridors (reprinted in Black Gate magazine some years ago, along with a sequel or two) fights his way up from the depths to confront the monsters who have taken over the surface world.

My first thought is that each session should be a well-rounded "episode" in itself. The long time between sessions makes it awkward to resume situations left off while in progress. My second thought is that I could set up a series of essentially "site based" scenarios with clear objectives. A...

The preferred rules set is 1970s-80s D&D with whatever house rules suit the GM. The players basically see it as the GM's job to relieve them of the burden of needing to deal much with game systems. I think they will go for making the PCs all warriors of one sort or another, relegating...

Sometime in the next few months, it will be my turn to GM. This is for a group currently of 5 other players, with typically 3 weeks between sessions. The current membership favors a largely GM-driven "extended story line" approach. I don't have much experience at running that style, and the...

Some years ago, Gygax seemed to think something like that might be good. I would be wary of elves unlimited as MUs, though; thief works because it's not such a hot class.

Depending on what you mean by the terms, The Fantasy Trip (with In the Labyrinth) might be worth a look. Unfortunately, it's long out of print.

All things are possible! A historical or science-fictional scenario easily fits in as a subset of the fantastic multiverse.

I think that "fracturing the player base" comes about because the 'editions' are effectively separate games. It surprised me -- considering how D&D was before -- that it should be so even 3.0 vs. 3.5, but that is apparently how the market tends these days. It's basically a non-issue for the...