Ronin's D&D Ramblings

Backgrounds in 5E are a mixed bag for me. I like the extra level of customization, good in a game where there are few real choices at character creation beyond class, race, and subrace. At the same time I find the ideals, personality, and bonds parts of background kind of useless. I understand the intent is to help flesh out your character and provide framework to gain inspiration. I find that in reality they seem forgotten. I would rather we had something disconnected from background. Something like flaws characters could play up for inspiration. And maybe goals players could work towards for bonus experience points. A list players could add to and cross off as they accomplish over the life of the character. Something a bit more custom to the players vision than "loyal to my friends" and "you value knowledge".

One topic that comes up especially in D&D circles is the railroad v.s. Sandbox styles of DMing. Most any time these terms are used it's to point out the superiority of one or the other. I would like to propose that not just are they both totally valid, they should be thought of as being useful together. My average game is a mix of both elements. I would like to better define what I mean by these two terms. whenever most people say a game or adventure is a railroad style game thy mean the game is set on a path. The plot is linear and travels from point to point without deviation, like a train on it's rails. The players talk to an NPC who sends them to a location, the location has clues that send the players to another location. Everything is planned out and the game moves along the points to advance the story. Most premade adventures and campaigns are railroad style games. A sandbox adventure on the other hand is an open world. The players are set down in it and can fol...

I run games for large groups. For about three years now my smallest group size has been six, and this was just a few sessions. My largest has been thirteen. The average group size in usually eight to ten.  When I mention this to other groups or people online I get a range of reactions. From disbelief to shock. The most common sentiment is "I never run for more than 5 (average 4-6)" and "games break down with more than 6 players" Some of the recent reactions inspired this post. This post is in no way me claiming to know the best, or only way to run big games. This is simply what has, and is working for me and my group. First of all my group is full of adults, couples mostly. We don't have much free time to game. An average session for us is between 2 to 4 hours with the majority of sessions being 3 to 3.5 hours. This is relevant because big groups take a level of intensity and focus that gets harder to hold onto as time passes. Once game starts the...