I've been enjoying reading "So You Want To Be A Gamemaster" for the last month or so. Even though his discussion of Rumor Tables focused on hexcrawls, I am excited for its potential in my new city-based proactive game. The basic concept for hexcrawls is that the rumor table is populated with nuggets of information PCs can pick up that will direct them to hexes (get the story moving). Characters might pick them up chatting with a merchant or tavern keep, as 'treasure' in a foe's things, a mysterious note passed to them, as the result of some divination magic, or just shared between sessions as stuff characters heard going around town. Fundamentally, the Rumor Table is a mechanism to get enough world information to players that they can make meaningful (informed) choices. And it solves a problem I often struggle with and was anxious about for the proactive game. In my city campaign they will be a mechanism to share faction goals, progress on those goals, and introduce NPCs they might look for to connect with those goals. I can probably work in some city crawl type clues as well, particularly if getting to the location can start them on one of their goals. Alexandrian Article: Hexcrawl Tool: Rumor Tables

I thought long and hard about this. And played a lot of systems. And I have to say I like it better to gain XP with bother my completing micro task to keep myself engaged in the story we are trying to tell. But at the same way I am torn by getting XP by failures. The idea getting XP by learning from your mistakes. Speaks to me. And then again I like what as a group we all level up with milestones. I know how bad it felt when one class would level up and you did not.

Hey everyone, we had a great chat today at the coffee hour. People shared a lot of great resources, and I wanted to collate them here for everyone interested. * Game Recs* - Goblin Quest: rowanrookanddecard.com/product/goblin-quest/?v=0b3b97fa6688 - Goblins with a Fat Asshttps://tombloom.itch.io/gwafa - The Ultimate Micro-Rpg Book has 40 tear out games. All kinds of themes and ways to playing: https://worldbuildersmarket.com/products/ultimate-micro-rpg-book - The Quiet Year: buriedwithoutceremony.com/the-quiet-year *Adventure Recs* - Granny's Apple Pie: https://media.wizards.com/2018/dnd/dragon/21/DRA21_GrammysCountryApplePie.pdf *GM Resources* - Inspiration for characters - whothefuckismydndcharacter.com - A great ai tool for transcribing notes: GMassistant.ai - An example of the previous tool in action: gmassistant.app/sessions/0839a366-f4d0-4a80-a830-e819f1454974/public/d98c7c5b-1e0c-4c66-857f-bd7f0f7e5207 @Richard Mills , @Eric Person , @Phil Hollecker , @Chris Lock , @Sara Gly , @Mark Petersen , @Chuck Theobald

Hey GMs, this SUNDAY evening at 7 pm (Eastern) Tristan and I will be running a live workshop event. We'll choose 2-3 interested members to hop on a call with us and tell us about their game/players/system and we'll talk through how to: - Make it proactive, if it isn't already - Refine the goals at the table to make proactive design easier - Come up with some fun encounter ideas based on the table's goals We'll be streaming that call live in Skool, so come by and watch if you're interested. We'll also be posting the recording later, so you can catch it if you can't join us live. If you're interested in talking about your game with us, just comment below and we'll DM you about it. If we have too much interest, we'll draw names to decide which games to discuss.

Damn. You have completely ruined conventional AP/module games for me. I know you wrote about it in the book, but the difference between a GM discovering the story at the table and revealing the story at the table really set in for me this week. It has been very hard not to write plot and outlines of what might happen. It is habit. But as I think about what to do when the current 3-year campaign finishes and what kinds of players I hope to get at the table, it has really settled in. **The reason I enjoy my tuesday game and finish refreshed instead of tired is that a story I don't know is unfolding in front of me.** Not just the flavor of what happens to the characters, but how the world changes. I am no longer thinking of whether something at the table messes up other plans. I thought I got it before, but nope, I was just scratching the surface of the potential. One such moment at a scene change: Mara is being guided out of the guardhouse with two guards and her boss Ehron (she is his bodyguard), with whom she is angry and disillusioned. "Sierra (player), I am going to ask you a question and I need you to respond immediately. As you step out of the guardhouse out into the square you spot two crossbow bolts flying at your group. Do you step in front of Ehron?" "No, I step in front of my new friend Rowan." Everything changes in the campaign and I can enjoy it becuase there is nothing written or prepared for me to rewrite or deal with. I don't need to modify any future maps or chapters in a book. The RP between Mara and the healer after he barely saved Ehron's life and learned who he was, I just got to listen and participate. Well, I might need to update a few faction goals before next session, but ...