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That's funny. I see the exact opposite advice for the most part. And definitely in the real world, when I talk to other GMs (other than the ones I play with), they decry the build-first technique. For the record: Most of them are paid GMs or under 25 years old.

That's awesome. I am now confused. You do "little or no prep," but your players have "clear ways to complete their objectives." If they have clear ways, then how have you not prepped? And I get what you are saying about other DMs thinking they offer player-driven campaigns, yet it is just the...

I have moved a lot, and I have played in a lot of different groups. Most of those groups cannot do player driven campaigns. And these are good/great players. They are fun, excited, dig different lore, etc. But an open concept or having a dozen threads does nothing for them. In fact, they...

I second Numenera. Also, no one has mentioned Draw Steel yet. While it is getting some attention, it doesn't seem like enough considering how well their Kickstarter did. And as far as covering D&D (even as an April Fool's joke), why not cover it using the Level Up ruleset. Certainly that hasn't...

I really think of feel, and since all rulesets evolve in increments, and then often make larger jumps during edition changes, I think it is hard to say. But as far as feel, it seems when death became rarer and rarer, with rules that specifically prevented it, that seems like a modern take. I...

Have fun! I went several years in a row. It is such a blast.

Lore matters when the story makes it one of the characters. A dungeon isn't a group of pathways underground to be cleared out, explored, or destroyed. It is a character, and each step inside of it reveals more about the character. Then, once players see it as such, lore will matter greatly. The...

Or it can be both. The two are not mutually exclusive. If that was the case, I guess when people play Adventure Paths they aren't really playing in your eyes. Again, that was a hypothetical because people can't seem to answer a question. They have asked for nuance. They have asked for the why...

What are you talking about. I am giving a concession to your inability to answer the question, basically by saying I understand how people think of this question as nuanced. That was a purely hypothetical DM and situation, just like the one right after that - the one where the player bought a...

See the bold. This is my point. It doesn't matter. Neither does the DM reason. I get it, on some meta-level, we feel that there is nuance to be had. The DM has 200 pages of lore and has built the world for twenty years. Does that mean now we suddenly respect the reason, and in turn, allow him to...

The question is still the same. The DM set a list of books to use, and the player wants to use something outside of the books. Of course, if this were real life, they would probably have a regular-ho-hum-no drama conversation about it. But, the question still boils down to: should the DM allow...

Ok, let's say Bob, who has played with the group for fifteen years asks to play a tabaxi. The situation is the same: The DM says use these three books, for whatever reason, and Bob asks to use something outside the books. Should the DM allow the tabaxi? I also had the new player be the one...

We do not discover entire societies with a culture, language, etc. In a world where teleportation, flying (flying airships too), clairvoyance, etc. exists, I would be hard pressed to say, "Oh look, there are ten new species, each with a kingdom, language, and culture that just happened to be...

No offense, but if this was a world I had played in quite a bit, and the setting wasn't standard Forgotten Realms, I would say no to the ten extra species. It would be a very hard "no" too. If I had travelled the lands, experienced the cultures, gained an understanding of economy and kingdoms...

Yeah, I have always used game stores as a place meet other players. I have moved quite a bit in my life (Florida, Alaska, Texas, California, Illinois, Virginia), and that is the best place, in my opinion, to meet players. Work is also a good place. My present group is a mixture. Four of us were...

I uploaded my own ruleset and lore into Gemini and asked it to run a solo adventure using those rules and the provided lore/cultures/monsters. It did pretty well, although there were times it would take liberties with the lore. (It put in a sandspeeder from the Star Wars universe into my...

Just so you know, I keep hearing people say they have too many players or there is a waitlist. Where do those players come from? In my example, that is just one way they enter the game. You can reshape it however you want. Player #2 invites one of his friends to try out the game, or the group...

I left it open ended on purpose. There may or may not be a reason other than the DM only has those three books, and they want to run what they know. Or maybe there is a deep and elaborate reason. Does it matter?

The reason I stated the premise like this is because in my experience that is generally how new people are brought into a group. Basically an established player meets or knows someone that wants to play, there is an opening in the campaign (like starting a new campaign or a great spot to enter a...

All right, how about we try anew to see where everyone is at. Let's all close our eyes and pretend... You meet someone at a game store. Guy says: "Hey, I am new here. I play D&D." Girl says: "Oh, cool. You know, we are starting a new campaign and need a player." Guy says: "That's sounds...