Spyke

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New "Talent" psionic class available from MCDM

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Glad to help! I'm somebody who wishes more videos were blog posts so I totally get it. I tend to enjoy Matt Colville's videos, though.

There's a short summary at https://shop.mcdmproductions.com/collections/the-talent-and-psionics/products/the-talent, with a few excerpts from the PDF (in images, unfortunately), but I felt like in this case the video covered it better.

And yeah, I feel like strain could be so much fun to roleplay, compared to spell slots.

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Equipment Suggestions

I didn't want to invest in figurines, as there's always some new monster I want to use and would be frustrated not to have a figurine for. So, what I picked tools that lean on everyone's imagination:

Hope this helps!

rpg

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Session Zero from Critical Role's Daggerheart campaign: Age of Umbra [video 2h]

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For what it's worth, there are definitely people using traditional initiative in Daggerheart. For one thing, the book has optional rules for an "action tracker" that limits how much an individual player can hog the spotlight. And I saw somebody on Mastodon who was borrowing a cool initiative system from Dragonbane.

Hope and Fear are more central, if that mechanic turns you off, it's probably not the game for you. Personally I love it, it gives us all improv cues when we need them, and it makes rolls more dynamic than just pass/fail.

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Kid player wants to get every item

If the problem is more the time-wasting and less about him doing anything unfair, perhaps the best way to handle this is the way some DMs handle shopping: do it offline.

First, explain to him that this is a collaborative/group game, and unfortunately we can't spend all of our game time on one character's individual adventure. If necessary, explain to him that he is not the main character, and that is not fair to everyone else who is trying to play if their game gets constantly stalled when they have things they want to do, too.

Next, tell him to keep notes of all the things he is hoping to gather and craft as the adventure goes on. He can then bring these to you at the end of the session, and you two can work it out retroactively. Or alternatively, you can set aside designated time in-game for him to negotiate this with you (maybe once an hour instead of every 3 minutes).

I'm impressed with how patient and understanding you've been about this. You recognize that he is embracing the free-form nature of the game, and you don't want to smother that. It's a hard thing to balance with the rest of the table, especially when his parents aren't present. Good luck!

rpg

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Session Zero from Critical Role's Daggerheart campaign: Age of Umbra [video 2h]

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The core systems seem strong but with lots of asterisks to keep them backseat to player agency.

I think it's more that the mechanics take a backseat to the fiction, and largely the GM is more responsible for that than the players. It's definitely not for everyone. I run a regular 5e game and I suspect half of my players would be into it and half would very clearly say "no thanks".

lots of pressure valves to reduce the impact of unlucky dice

That's an interesting interpretation, considering that success with fear is just as likely as failure with hope. I don't see this as primarily existing to make things easier for the players. Rather it's there to make each roll more interesting.

Fear seems like it only exists to give the GM permission to do normal GM things

The communication around Fear could be better in the book. GMs can do normal GM things whenever they want. Fear is used to up the stakes by using special adversary moves, taking more "turns" than they can naturally, or interrupting the players in ways that would likely seem unfair in 5e.

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[Imperor] Magic Items in TTRPGs (including DnD)

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Hi! Sorry if this came across as a specific complaint about you. It's a trend I've seen on YouTube that I don't understand, is all. By all means, express yourself however you want! But of course, don't be surprised if old fogies like me don't engage with that style of content.

And thanks for the blog post! I'm a DM trying to find the best way to distribute fun magic items to my party. I have one character who wants to craft a stronger shield but lacks the necessary skills. This could be a good approach to get him the effect he wants without losing the shield he's been spending time and effort on.