Search results

Eh... No? Starfinder is what people sometimes claim Star Wars is: space wizards. It's got lazer guns and power armor but it's also got magic and monsters. I tend to think of it as taking Star Wars and replacing the Force with D&D magic and sprinkling on elements from Halo, Mass Effect and other...

I have used both, and there are certain advantages and disadvantages to both. In general, I tend to alternate between a more kitchen sink setting (typically Eberron, which itself is kitchen sink with a twist) and Ravenloft (which is narrower, but not so narrow as to hem me in too tightly). In...

The "roll-play" vs "role-play" debate to me is just an older version of the "challenge the player/challenge the character" or "strategic play" arguments. I specifically recall roll vs role was used often regarding social encounters (rolling diplomacy vs actually speaking in character" but there...

One of the most Under Appreciated books in D&D history is the Dungeon Master's Guide II for 3.5. The first chapter, written mostly by Robin D. Laws is an absolutely amazing treatise on table management and adventure design that makes Gary himself look like a rank amateur. Allow me to share one...

Remember kids: the only bad restaurants are the ones who give you food poisoning. Everything else is just a matter of taste. Dig in:

Not at all. I'm saying a LOT of DMs overvalue their own greatness. Convinced they DON'T make mistakes, don't have anything new to learn, and are never the cause of problems in their own games. Frankly, the Dunning–Kruger effect is overrepresented amongst DMs. It's not the fact that they are just...

The road to greatness is littered with people who aren't as good as they think they are but nonetheless manage to keep doing what they do despite.

No, because they are kids and are supposed to be bad while they practice and learn. If your in college or pro and your fumbling catches more than completing them, you're a bad player. Well you defeated your own argument by saying they are good. If they are good, I wouldn't say they are bad just...

The Four classes I would not play 1-20 in 5.5 1. Fighter 2. Wizard 3. Cleric 4. Rogue.

I'd be curious* to know what you think the percentage of bad musicians are. Or bad artists. Or bad football players. Or bad authors. My wager is that whatever that number is, it's about the same as bad DMs and it's going to be significantly higher than 2.5%. * Actually, I'm not. its rhetorical.

I believe the Supreme Court's definition of indecency applies: "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it"

“If I had a clone, I’d make out with myself.” (SNL 10/12/02 - S28 E2)

Many, but not all. I believe there are a fair number of DMs who get married to the concept of their world or the NPCs they create or the plot they created or the setting details and forget that the game isn't (just) for their (the DM's) amusement. I tend to find the Original Sin of bad DMs is...

I cannot fathom hard locking most D&D worlds. Part of the enjoyment of the game is discovering new species and monsters. I would hate to shackle my world to "Only the stuff in the core rulebooks exist. Nothing else" for example. (And I realize most DMs have far less of a problem introducing new...

My rule of thumb when I DM is to ask myself "would I want to play under me if I was a player?" I find that focus guides me out of a lot of pitfalls and it steels my spine when it needs it. To me, a DM should always keep their players in mind when designing. To many DMs are married to the concept...

Yoink!

I have only run premade for a while now. I gave up on homebrew. It was a lot of extra work do develop a bunch of info no player ever remembered or used. The things that made my games special were characters and stories, and that is what I focus on. So my last few games have alternated between...

Except for when your DM says "I'm going to run Shadow of the Dragon Queen" and you have to have to sit at home for months or even years until the DM finishes and picks a game that "fits".