I was a bit bummed to see that Mike didn’t mention any of the Fediverse options but honestly Lemmy and kbin are still cooking as technologies so I don’t exactly fault him. I was surprised to hear him skeptical of Patreon—the same incentives are there, surely, but I wasn’t aware of any recent actions they had taken.

Replacing Discord will definitely be painful if/when it comes.

I’m a fan of the 3rd party campaign module Odyssey of the Dragonlords and it’s hilarious how much this is the consensus on the dedicated Discord community for that adventure. Everyone loves the bones of the module, but everyone also agrees it needs a lot of love and polish.

I’m playing in a Curse of Strahd game right now. I had actually bought the module some months ago and it’s sheer luck that I didn’t get around to reading it before my Sunday GM decided to run it. All I know is it has a big reputation as a celebrated module, so we’ll see 🤷

I’m also running a D&D 5e game set in my own homebrew setting & story. I’m basically trying to cram as much occult mystery, political intrigue, and high society manners and drama as I can into it, but I’m leaving myself open to the prospect D&D simply might not be cut out as a system for what I’m interested in. So I might be forced to transition to something else eventually, but so far so good for the most part. I’ve had more than a few sessions already without any combat, and I know I’m a bit over the skis of the rules at that point, but players seem to be enjoying it; and ChatGPT has been a godsend with helping me patch together loose plot threads and brainstorm explanations such as e.g. why there’s a dungeon full of gelatinous cubes beneath the count’s country estate.

Ah that’s fair. I mean, at the time you recorded the video I couldn’t have named any kbin or Lemmy groups that were even rpg focused (I didn’t know any either) so it would have been by far the most embryonic of the options you listed. We’re watching the plane get built mid-flight! Credit to the other shout outs you gave, though; I did notice them at the time and they do all present legit alternatives for controlling your life on the internet.

I mean I don’t want to give the impression I ran it with any great success myself. I gave it a shot but scheduling doomed that campaign. I was just sharing the impression that I got from the discord when I was lurking at the time. Plenty of gaps to compensate for, though, no doubt.

Flee, Mortals! is so excellent and makes me so sad that it’s likely to be the only monster book MCDM produces 😭

The two I would recommend are both centered around GM prep:

• The Lazy Dungeon Master by Mike Shea (@slyflourish@ttrpg.network , @slyflourish@chirp.enworld.org )
• Never Unprepared by Phil Vecchione (@dnaphil@dice.camp)

I don’t think either of these are perfect, but they both offer really good, actionable advice. The philosophies/systems described in these two don’t naturally mesh, and I think that’s a plus. Every GM needs to figure out for themselves how to prepare to run a game, because the things each GM needs are unique. I think having two books outline pretty drastically different approaches can help you triangulate your own needs and methods

I have no familiarity with Burning Wheel but everyone I know who’s ever played it seems to consider it one of their favorites. I always got the impression it’s quite mechanically sophisticated without being altogether combat focused, which is a bit unique among ttrpgs in my experience.

I found my two groups (both online, play vis VTT) through the /r/lfg community on Reddit. Not sure where I would look now.

I feel like Go then Roll is more typical in (at least modern) d&d, which is my primary experience with role-playing. I’m actually really drawn to giving players more creative control over the scenario but I’ve found it’s not uncommon for players to be reluctant to assume that kind of control. The one exception is when there is a critical success with an attack or an otherwise crazy high roll on some skill check; in those cases, they universally seem to appreciate narrating their over-the-top accomplishment.

But when you start handing over the reins of the larger narrative? Or inviting them to have some creative control of the setting and world? That seems to be challenging to some players’ suspension of disbelief, like they’re seeing the man behind the curtain (indeed, being invited behind it themelves) when they wanted the wizard. Obviously d&d doesn’t really have a ton of support for these kinds of interactions at the table, so it’s perhaps not too surprising that players feel like they’re in uncharted territory when I spring it on them.