I'm mostly in the same boat as you. I have tried several times to get into Critical Role since everyone raves about it, plus a few others. It's not for me. I suppose it's because I don't have any emotional connection with the actual play where I would have that investment with my own game. I will say that I did enjoy Dungeons & Daddies though, but that show is more like listening to a comedy podcast about fantasy rather than an actual play.

Thanks for taking the time to write that.

I bought the PDFs when they were on sale but have not yet played. This was helpful, thanks!

I haven't played in person seriously for many years. We're starting a new in-person group here soon, so I'm going to have to figure something out. I have a boatload of 3 ring binders so I will probably do the clear sleeve thing like you do, Mike. And then promptly pull them all out to spread around the table because I am a loose-leaf person at heart.

Dope.

Is that the system where characters can die during character creation?

Damn that's kinda great.

I go to try out different systems or to play systems my regular group doesn't play. Also, to remind myself why I have a regular group and how fortunate I am that they are mostly sane and adjusted people.

I have never played Shadowrun online. I wonder if a lot of the tedium of the dice would be eliminated by character sheet math?

I really enjoyed the D&D 3rd Edition days, with the popcorn of d20-based games. Star Wars d20, d20 Modern, and the Sword & Sorcery Ravenloft were all great fun. The best part is that it was super easy to get your group to try new things, because the mechanics were all similar, if not exactly the same. People like to hate on D&D, but it's consistently been a great base to start from and inspiration for a multitude of other games.

I have had the desire to play Mausritter for quite a while. Will definitely add this to the queue.

What would your recommendations be?

I think they look great but I would have a problem with the variable length. If my DM gives me magic item cards, I will for sure buy a binder with card sleeve pages to put those cards in (no matter if they are cards or just paper). Having the variable length would keep me from doing that. I would prefer the text be variable font size with the card sized fixed to the standard 3 1/2" x 2 1/2".

Edit: I thought more about this and, if the main feature of your design is the variable length, maybe make that more obvious in the title/description. While it might not be to my liking, others may love it. Also consider adding some example 11" x 8 1/2" pages showing the layout you're going for using these cards. Marketing is (almost) everything.

I had to look it up too. It's super annoying to have to do that.

Never seen the Dungeon Alphabet before. I'll add it to my wishlist. Thanks!

I read some of the preview and am now a different person.

I don't know how old it is, but it's certainly not new. The article linked is one I read several years ago before I ran my own West Marches game.

Edit: the post is dated 2007.

Everyone's situation will be different of course, but here is mine.

I have a long-standing gaming group with 2 buddies from high school and have been playing with them since the 90's. The 3 of us are the core of the group. Over the years, other players have come and gone. For those players, we invited them to our regular group after first playing with them in one shots or short campaigns ran for new players or similar. If we have a seat open (our group is usually 6-7 including whoever is GM), we will invite them if they are good people. In the 30 years we've been playing together, we've never had a problem. The only reason people tend to fall out of the group has been people moving or having kids.

The larger Lemmy world terrifies me. It's like a technological eldritch horror that I have somehow survived entering it's domain.

Is there a reason you suggest only making things up as a last resort? Is that advice aimed at new gm's or is it your standard advice? Aside from that, I think your advice is mostly very solid. You should be proud of these guides!

100%

Also, just read Mike's website: https://slyflourish.com/

Thanks for the clarification! Yes, this is very solid work. Excellent job.

This looks great! What are the clock things at the bottom?

Could you make the bases modular with different color choices? For example, snapping a yellow base on player characters and blue for monsters etc? I was thinking about how nice that would be a couple weeks ago. My players like to know when a monster is bloodied (half hit points) and we mark that by putting a red baby poker chip underneath the token. It's kind of annoying to move them around but would be easy if it was a modular base you could set on there or whatever. Just a thought.

If it moves, breathes, or bites, it's a creature.

Objects that convey cover or height would be what I would like. Assuming they are made to a 1" grid scale, I think that would be most useful to support immersion during combat. Boxes and barrels always seem to come up. Also, a chest, wagon, sarcophagus/coffin, stone table, and a generic macgiffin (however you choose to represent it) would be the most useful at my table.

Mike Shea @slyflourish has had a lot of good things to say about it. Based on that, I bought it to give it a try. The price is right for sure.

Edit: I guess I don't know how to @mention

I only get the thumbnail picture when I click the link but, I'm going to take a wild guess and say whatever they're talking about isn't even close to my worst fears.

Thanks for the clarification -- that makes more sense. It's interesting that your players police themselves on that. You must have a very respectful group!

I'm confused. Do you normally try to keep your players from talking and metagaming between sessions?

If you want to model it after an existing item with mechanics, you could create an undead version of the Orb of Dragonkind from Dragonlance. Here is it's Call Dragons ability:

While you control the orb, you can use an action to cause the artifact to issue a telepathic call that extends in all directions for 40 miles. Evil dragons in range feel compelled to come to the orb as soon as possible by the most direct route. Dragon deities such as Tiamat are unaffected by this call. Dragons drawn to the orb might be hostile toward you for compelling them against their will. Once you have used this property, it can't be used again for 1 hour.

Source: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Orb%20of%20Dragonkind#content