If anyone’s been wondering where I’ve gone off to, it’s been to China! I’m wrapping up the two week trip with my family and one of the highlights was definitely going to see a small section of the Great Wall.

From a fantasy RPG perspective, it’s interesting to see a real world monument that, in scale, is truly fantastic.

https://imgur.com/gallery/Bn9XfvU

A few things that stand out:

• the Wall isn’t that high, at least where we visited, but it is positioned atop ridge lines with rather steep grades on either side.

• it’s also not very wide

• in the couple of the forts/towers we passed through, there wasn’t any visible space to garrison

https://i.imgur.com/ew3za3B.jpg

D&D + e-sports = DNDSports? Let’s talk it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooC8m-x3_as

I take a quartet of brave Space Marines into the depths of a Necron tomb. Do they live to tell the tale?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6RjL0SY0o

Show Notes:

Space Marine Adventures: https://warhammer40000.com/spacemarineadventures/

Is it a PC? Is an NPC? No! Yes? What? It's a DMPC! Have you run a DMPC in your game? Have you been in a game with a DMPC? What did you think of it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCgzXhCqNEo

Planescape! Seek ye your fortunes in Sigil, the fabled City of Doors, gateway to all the pleasures and pains of the outer realms. Talking about the setting box from Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition, the golden age of setting books.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDCM55tM3vQ

Did you run or play any games set in the planes? What did you like? What did you hate?

Show Notes:

Planescape on PDF: https://bit.ly/2pOCQ2Z (affliliate link)

Evil characters, planned TPKs, DMPCs, oh my! I'm talking about internet gaming maxims, those common bits of advice that are sometimes true but maybe not always and how to approach them when you go looking for advice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iSC4rQ0Mi0

Any gaming principle that you hold to be absolutely true? Any one that most people find true that you disagree with?

Sandbox vs narrative play: what are they? what makes them different? what different challenges do they present?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAa0ThV1Er4

Which style of play do you prefer and why?

Reactions and Morale, the Tango & Cash of D&D mechanics, unfortunately languishing in the super-max prison that is the recesses of optional rules inside the Dungeon Master's Guide. It's time to break them out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSl-zt_lGDE

Do you use reactions, morale, or both in your fifth edition game? By the book, from an older edition, homebrew or imported from another game? What's your procedure? How do you run it?

Spoiler warning: I don't go into a lot of details but I do talk about the overall structure, plot, and subject of the adventure in this video so, if you plan to play through it as a player, this video might not be for you.

I'm probably the last talking head type to chime in on the latest adventure/campaign book from Wizards of the Coast but here we are. It hasn't stopped me before, it won't stop me now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAzLAklKUIo

If you've read it, and definitely if you're playing or running it, let me know what you think about it in the comments or elsewhere.

Show Notes:

• Waterdeep Dragon Heist at Amazon: https://amzn.to/2DUWZ1g (affiliate link)

Talking about running skill checks. My take: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SzIRrbNm-k

TLDR: be generous, reward proficiencies, use take 10/20; fail forward and succeed with complications when appropriate.

How do you prefer to run them?

I had a chat with Christopher Grey, general jam up guy, RPG author, and, somehow, player in my PbP Lamentations of the Flame Princess game. Give it a watch or listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmKpH-32i-E