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I recently noticed that the Player Core and GM Core for Starfinder 2 are $70 each. That's $140 for basically the same material that was $60 in 2018. Add the monster book and that's $210 to get into Starfinder 2. Yes, inflation. Yes, tariffs. I get it. Paizo can charge what they want. Maybe...

First, a little about me. I came into the hobby in 1989 with AD&D 2nd edition. It seems that I'm one of the few "old timers" without a basis in B/X or BECMI. But I really enjoyed 2E and played it for a decade until 3E was released. After a few years of 3E, I started getting nostalgic for the...

As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I’m a Forever GM who tends to be a “bad player” on the rare occasions I get to play. I don’t necessarily cause problems, but I have strong preferences, and it’s easy for me to get bored or judgemental. Recently, I decided to take a break from running games and...

For the last several years, I have been analyzing the successes and failures of each of my campaigns as they ended in a series of “Post-Mortem” threads. Doubtless, many of you have read my other threads about suffering from GM Burnout. Since I started my account here in 2006, I have spent many...

As is my tradition, each time a game ends, I try to learn from it. This time I'm looking at the disappointing demise of my A5E Eberron campaign, which lasted about 2 months. About the Group Player A: my wife, a power gamer who likes butt kicking and action-packed adventure. Her favorite...

I started my most recent campaign full of excitement about a month ago. I picked a new campaign setting (Eberron). I left confusing new systems to get back to something more familiar, but with new options (Level Up - A5e). I did research and created interesting NPCs. I designed an...

I'll admit it: I'm a bad player. Too many years of being a "Forever GM" has made me accustomed to playing multiple characters, controlling the pace of the game, shaping the story when necessary, adding complications, etc. As a player, I don't have enough to do, and my interest wanes. Also, we're...

This is a problem I've had over the past 30 years I've been GMing, especially when I'm running a homebrew adventure that has mystery elements. The party goes to interview someone or research a topic. You don't want to just say "no - they refuse to talk to you" or "no - you can't find any...

I normally write Post-Mortems at the end of a campaign, but I thought in this case it might be valuable to write about how the campaign and experience with the system began. We had a Session 0 on Sunday, 3/2, and our first session on Sunday, 3/9, so our experience hasn't been very deep at this...

As is my tradition, each time a game ends, I try to learn from it. This time I'm looking at the Deadlands: Lost Colony with Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE) and our 6-session campaign experience with it. About the Group Player A: my wife, a power gamer who likes butt kicking and...

Next week we're going to have Session 0 and character creation for our first Level Up campaign, which we want to do in Eberron. For the races that don't have corresponding heritages in LU (such as warforged), would it be best to just remove the stat increases? I'd probably need to come up with...

I'm fairly sure I saw a video from @SlyFlourish or maybe Teos Abadia (Alphastream) that had a guide of increasing monster HP to bring them more in line with the 2024/25 math. I think it was don't change low CR, double others, etc. Has anyone seen this video or know what the conversion rate is...

As I've recounted many times here, my group and I have struggled to bring our tastes together in a satisfying game experience. This time, I'm trying to get us started on the right foot and plan for the game, including them in a more major role. (In the past they've usually said "we trust you...

I bemoaned Eberron when it was first released in 3.5 ("no airships and robots in MY D&D!") and my 4E purchases were pretty light, so I never got the Eberron books for 4E. I picked up the Rising from the Last War when it was on deep, deep discount on Amazon several years ago. Only now am I...

AD&D 2nd edition is at my nostalgic core for TTRPGs. It was my first edition. It was the one game that I felt got "yanked out" from me when my players demanded we upgrade to a very different 3rd edition. It was the home of my longest and most "meaningful" campaign (in case you're wondering, it...

"....And start to dream of somewhere To relax their restless flight Somewhere out of a memory Of lighted streets on quiet nights..." "Subdivisions," Rush My group has been bouncing from system to system for over a year now, not finding anything that really suits us. A player suggested we go...

I was recently given Frosthaven by a friend who said it was "just taking up space." The guy knew my group loved tactical combat like in 4E D&D and suggested we'd enjoy it. This was a very generous gift. But I must admit, I'm completely overwhelmed. Even the "getting started" tutorial video on...

I have a player who mostly likes combat but also enjoys physically manipulative puzzles in the game. (Not riddles.) Things like "arrange these colored stones into a specific pattern to unlock the door." Does anyone have good resources for things like this? We're currently playing a sci-fi...

I attempted to run a session of Savage Worlds on Sunday (Deadlands: Lost Colony, if you're curious). It wasn't my first time with the system, but my god it was like trying to pick fly poop out of a pepper shaker while wearing boxing gloves. The first combat was terribly slow. People were...

As is my tradition, each time a game ends, I try to learn from it. This time I'm looking at the new Free League edition of Dragonbane and our 12-session campaign. (Note: many of my group's struggles have been noted in another thread: How Dragonbane Pointed out the Clashing Desires of My...