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The problem with Gygaxian Naturalism is that Gygax did not really understand naturalism. The concept broadly is fine, but we shouldn't expend too much effort in making it make sense. The best we can do is try and embrace fantasy verisimilitude to create challenges that make some sense.

You know it is a fantasy game, right?

Why correct? The players are the ones drawing the map, for their own purposes. If the the GM is going to correct the player maps, just show them the actual map. Which defeats the purpose entirely.

I think handwaving PCs being able to navigate back misses the point of dungeon exploration. If you are going to do that, dispense with fog of war entirely.

Maybe I just have terible sense of direction, but I don't think most people are actually good at remember routes in complex, largely similar environments. my examples of schools and hospitals are based on actual lived experiences. military bases and office buildings, too. At least for me, when...

Nothing is ever a puzzle for the characters in an RPG. It is impossible.

General Question: if you were to run a DB campaign for players new to the game, would you pick the Core Set campaign, or Path of Glory? Why?

I am a land surveyor by trade. I use maps a lot. It is easy to get turned around even when you have one on hand. But really this isn't about realism. it is about making the game fun, and making exploration and the effort the PCs put into it worthwhile. If (general) you don't think mapping is...

You are being pedantic. RPGs are a conversation about everything. Every element of gameplay depends on an "audio narrator." You are singling out mapping, pretending it is different than the rest of play, when it isn't.

Yes. Exactly. You suggested there was no verisimilitude reason to map,and have now proved there is.

Never got turned around in a school or hospital?

Last night I looked at the numbers and stuff, and in the end I don't think trying to break down the domains into a "classless" system will work. Liek you said above, the design is too tightly integrated. That leads to new class design. What classes would be necessary for a Gammaheart game, and...

I am planning on running a big dungeon thing (using Shadowdark, but I don't think that is relevant) and I am considering options for how to deal with mapping from the player side. My first impulse is to do "theater of the mind" exploration, letting the players map as they will (or won't; that's...

Every domain is shared by 2 classes in the core book. If we look at the details of those shared classes, we can probably glean something about the values of those domains.

Separate from creative work, there are a bunch of games I want to find the time to run for at least 6-12 sessions this coming year: Dragonbane, Alien, and Daggerheart. I am running a monthly DH campaign that is an extension of a con campaign, so that should be okay. I don't know if I can gather...

A thought I am having about classes -- or, more specifically, "classless" Daggerheart (for use with Gammaheart): If we analyze how the domains are shared among the classes, and the base functions of those classes, it should be reasonable to figure out what each Domain provides as a function of...

I intend to restart a blog or maybe do a newsletter -- either way as long as I can create and share fun game things. I don't really want to dive fully back into freelance or go through the trouble of publishing, but I like to make stuff and I like it when people see that stuff in some form or...

Specifically the tension of "oh crap don't move or you'll die" is not something I have ever seen work at a table outside of its gameplay implications. There is a degree of removal from the action, with the dice and character sheet etc... serving as a veil. Like I said, i don't think it is...

I know we have a bit over a month left, but sometimes these things take some thinking and planning. So, do you have any New year's Resolutions for your gaming life for 2026? A big project you want to embark on, or a new campaign, or a a character to play, or whatever?

Dungeon Master of None is a good podcast.