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The campaign I'm running is less Deadwood and more The Crucible with religious dwarven ironworkers and human farmers. But my players joke that since they only just turned third level after five months they'll have aged years by the time they hit double digits in levels. This is a feature, not a...

Yes, although now PCs on my Discord channel are planning ahead for their "vacation". To your point, this may be more my concern than the players, but I think they're starting to see the benefits.

I'm discovering 5.5E is about as compatible with 5E as 3.5E was about as compatible with 3E. Which is to say DM can handwave the differences between monsters for the most part, spells work drastically different in subtle but important ways, and the classes between the two editions are different...

The opinion that perhaps matters the most for publishers is DriveThruRPG. If they create a new category that will be seismic, but show no signs of doing so. There's 5E-compatible or there isn't, not 5E-2014 vs. 5E-2024.

What's interesting is that I settled on 5.5E: RPG Evolution: Change is Coming And started branding all my products such. Near as I could tell? That was the wrong call. Everyone seems to be calling the edition 2024. "DnD 2024" (score of 78): Explore - Google Trends "DnD 5.5" (score of 45)...

The downtime rules (if you're familiar with them) help a lot. I sort of glossed over this but i think Tasha's has them and the 2014 DMG did (but not so much 2024? it gets muddled). Just as villains just sort of "hold off invading for a week" the PCs similarly seem to blip in and out, so giving...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. In traditional D&D campaigns, the world is often a frozen tableau that only springs to life when specific players sit down at the table. If a player misses a week, we hand-wave their absence or pretend they were a silent ghost in the background. However, my weekly...

I have one player who straddles the at-home and library game, so the continuity makes for some entertaining war stories when he catches up with either group. The danger on the NPC side is someone is gonna get killed who is important to the other group, but that's part of the risk of this style...

What's ironic is my understanding is this is how Gygax ran his campaigns originally, just one big sandbox. We've gotten away from this style of gaming for a variety of reasons, mostly due to online availability of players/games, and the fact that nobody can keep a schedule because there's so...

Picture courtesy of Pixabay. Lately, my Saturday afternoons at the local library have become the third pillar of a massive, interconnected experiment. Between my long-standing online group, my new 4- to 5-hour library marathons, and an experimental in-person home game, I’ve found myself...

I've actually never really gamed with alcohol as a DM. This was the first time. I'll say this: there's a limit. I actually think it worked to loosen up new players who were probably very anxious, so in that regard I think it worked fine. But beyond maybe one beer (and again, depends on your...

Officially no. Unofficially, as adults and we clean up after ourselves, yes. We play regularly from noon to 5 so eating is kind of a necessity (I snack on bars the entire time, but some folks do eat). I do make it a point of not having anything too smelly. We're blessed honestly. Our library...

Image courtesy of Pixabay. For years, my game room sat as a quiet monument to a dream: a dedicated space where I could play Dungeons & Dragons around a physical table. While I’ve spent countless hours there with my children or mixed groups of families, I had yet to host a session exclusively...

The story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 is a tragedy of American history: a cautionary tale of class bias, social anxiety, and religious fervor that resulted in the death of innocent people. In a fantasy setting, where a warlock's infernal pacts and a cleric's divine magic are tangible...

There's a shirt that reads "be kind to me, I'm from the 20th century" and I'm now crumbling to dust.

It is the most New Englandy thing ever. Also, the room is named after Annie Burr Jennings, a woman who threw elaborate costumes parties back in the 20s. I like to think she'd be quite pleased with us using her room: Annie Burr Jennings: Philanthropist 1855-1939 · Wonder Women of Fairfield ·...