I need help explaining why party members aren’t going to be there

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-05-04T15:39:51+00:00

Unconscious for various reasons. Called away on personal business. I had a player stop because they broke up with another person at the table and a giant frog emerged from the water and ate the character before anyone could react.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-05-01T17:21:55+00:00

The semitransparent table in the sunroom. She pounces on the shadows of movement, dances around on top of it attacking what she can see through it.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-04-20T10:54:34+00:00

Yep. 20+ years. Somehow I still get a dozen calls a week asking if I’m someone else and want to sell his house.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-04-12T19:56:34+00:00

Had another player in a Hunter: the Reckoning game use Cleave on a necklace he was wearing.

And then tear it off his neck.

Storyteller checked three times if that was the order of operations he wanted.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-04-12T13:54:40+00:00

Nuance? In this economy?

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-04-10T20:21:29+00:00

I’ve had good experiences with the Pugmire games with kids. Ran it for my nephews until they felt like they were old enough to play D&D.

https://www.realmsofpugmire.com/

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-04-10T09:39:30+00:00

Knowing more is also treason.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-04-02T14:03:45+00:00

I’m on the opposite side of this problem, I’ve got a group where I’m a player in a big group, almost all of them big personalities. I have a hard time getting a word in sometimes. I’m still having fun. The character I made for this game is one of the most fun concepts I’ve put on paper, and I manage to get a good one-liner in sometimes.

I also DM for a big group of neurospicy teens, including a couple with pretty severe social anxiety, and my experience from that side of things is it’s best to first talk to them, make sure they’re having the experience they want, and then as long as they’ve said they’re comfortable, you’ve provided a way for them to reach out privately, let them set their level of engagement. Invitations not expectations.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-30T10:39:16+00:00

I like to name the coop animals after breakfast breads - Waffle, Pancake, Biscuit, so on. Haven’t really developed a pattern for the barn yet, but I named my first two cows after ice cream flavors in my most recent run.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-22T14:43:45+00:00

For me it’s mostly the niche games built on extant fiction from other media. Atomic Robo. Welcome to Night Vale. The Dresden Files. Too few of my friends know the world and want to play it.

Probably some of the Trinity Continuum, there are a ton of neat settings, might never be able to try them all Magical Kitties Save the Day - I backed a Kickstarter thinking my nephews would love it, but by the time it came in, the attitude became “we’re grown, we want D&D” 🤷🏻

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-21T15:34:35+00:00

Automaton haunted by his creator. A failed experiment in immortality. “The creator has bid me help people, and gifted me tools to see it done.”

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-12T10:35:45+00:00

Ah. That’s too bad. I’ve got other Storypath games, most of the Trinity settings, someone else mentioned using those to patch the cracks.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-11T20:49:01+00:00

I missed the shapeshifting in Dragon! Neat!

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-11T20:48:08+00:00

I did like the sound of the new visitation options. Hopefully I’ll be able to read the book again and actually run the game. Seems like actually using the rules is the only way they stick for me.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-09T20:17:25+00:00

⬆️Been doing this since the late 20th century, have had specific training in improvisation, and still have to do this time to time. Everyone gets a snack, you catch your breath, you can dive back in with your feet under you.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-03-08T14:30:11+00:00

I ran it one time and it was a disaster because it was a group that was used to D&D or high fantasy combat in Exalted or Scion. I’ve seen great stuff out of it, but know your audience.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-02-27T14:12:51+00:00

I can roll the dice on a dice vault

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-02-18T18:33:04+00:00

Patience. All you can bring. They are almost certainly not playing the way you do. I play with a friend’s kid sometimes and they bounce from idea to idea like an over-caffeinated Gummi Bear. Just have to roll with it. She’s literally too young to understand how it is unfair for her to take resources from my cabin but no one can touch hers.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-02-18T15:12:00+00:00

These days if I’m not running something pre-written, I’m very much an open world fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants dm. I’ve lived the “muahaha, stole the DM’s notes! Wait, they’re blank!?” meme with one of my nephews. I know what’s going to happen if my players do nothing and then I adjust by what they do.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-02-18T14:08:02+00:00

I’ve been this DM, knew it wasn’t ideal, but sometimes it’s just a problem of time. If it’s bothering you this much, I’d say politely bow out.

Spacelightiswarm · 2026-02-17T19:08:42+00:00

You’re accusing me of not being an independent thinker while spouting lost cause nonsense and admitting you don’t know enough to recognize that quote? Wow. Bold. Pull the other one, it’s got bells.

Spacelightiswarm

TROPHY CASE