...and justify why you have it, if you dare haha. I moved recently and gave away or donated about 70% of my books, including the hard copies I had of the Game Master’s books. I kept only the essentials for games I'm actively running (from left to right) - Ideas notebook for all campaigns, mostly for plotting arcs and world building ideas - Core rules for 5e - I get asked to run this from time to time, usually in person, and I don't really know the rules very well so I keep my copies around. They're first printings and in really bad shape - Tomb of Annihilation for 5e - my next big published module campaign that I am running, probably next year - I am working on a 13th Age conversion for it - 13th Age core rules and some extras - my favorite fantasy game and the Bestiary in particular has some fantastic monster ideas in it - My collection of vintage and modern Conan comics, mostly used as bookends but occasionally for ideas - A few books on writing and storytelling generally - I STRONGLY recommend Lajos Egri's "The Art of Dramatic Writing" if you haven't read it yet Post a picture of your shelf! (PS. It is easy if you have the Skool app on your phone)

It's been a relatively quiet month in the lab, and we've had tons of great discussions, but Jonah and I have been working on some projects and changes we're really excited for! Here's a quick overview. We're retiring Prep Nights for now, but we'll be hosting weekly Q&As starting Tuesday, October 29th! If you want to chat with some community members, get advice for an idea you have, workshop concepts, or just hang out, this is the perfect place to do it. If you prefer to join and "lurk" as many of our members have out it, you're also welcome to just join without a camera or microphone on and use it as some background noise. We're excited to see you all there! Several folks have expressed interest in a potential GML Game Jam (thanks for the idea, @Briggs Schneider !) but we don't want to host one without enough interest. We'll send a poll in a day or two to gauge how much interest there would be in designing, reading, or playing games overall. This would be a super fun event where the community can design some simple games, take a look through them, play some, and give a prize to the community's favorite! Finally, we're working on a project we've had in our minds since before the first book came out: TTRPG adventures designed for proactive play. We've got a rough draft for a starter packet meant to introduce proactive play to a group (including new groups met at hobby stores!) and comes with everything you need to run a one-shot. Ever since the book launched, we've had tons of people ask for advice on how to introduce proactive play to new groups, how to introduce it at game stores, and how to use it with pre-published content---we're becoming more and more confident this will address at least some of those needs. The submission process for freelancers is almost concluded, but if anyone here is interested in freelance work, we're still currently considering who our layout designer will be, so feel free to submit here if you have any experience: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeHT7zjpzlPtqwYylR3ZxIHTs9rd4Qoa9yt7A8VXAqxgqlblw/viewform?usp=sf_link Please keep in mind that the artist positions have been filled, even though they're still on the form.

This comes dangerously close to non-TTRPG related material, but Jonah is a reformed board game buff so maybe he'll let it slide this time. Every once in awhile, a session gets cancelled but most of my players can still make it---maybe the missing player's character is extra important to the session, or maybe everyone just wants a quick break, or whatever. When this happens, my group likes to play a non-TTRPG to spread our wings a little---I'm curious what everyone's favorites are! Recently, my obsession has been Grimdark Future, a free and easier-to-understand wargame inspired by Warhammer. And I still play a lot of Magic the Gathering, even if their business practices are keeping me from playing any new sets (literally! getting new decks is a major financial decision these days). In the board game sphere, I'm a really big fan of Spirit Island, Quacks of Quedlenberg, and Sidereal Confluence, some very different games that all solved the "bored when it's not my turn" problem that bothers me in plenty of others. What about you? Does your group have a hobby outside of their hobby?

We've got a lot of folks here that have played tons of TTRPGs I'd never even heard of before, and we've had a few threads about everyone's favorite mechanics from different games. I'm curious about some examples of incorporating one game's system into another because of something they used that was just too good to pass up. I've started using Blades in the Dark's clocks in everything, especially with how easy they are to integrate, but not every mechanic is so simple. I've run a few games of 5e with 13th Age's Escalation Die, which requires a little mathematical shenanigans, and I spent a decent amount of time converting adventures from previous editions into 5e. What about all of you?

I am running something next week that is just ripped straight from the pages of Dune Messiah (pro GM tip literally no one will notice if you do this). It got me thinking: What are the books you've read (I'm thinking Sci-Fi/Fantasy but I guess anything) that you feel have had the biggest influence on the way your games run? For example: I wouldn't say they're my favorites, but the old REH Conan pulp stories have had an outsized impact on how I run games. I love the mystery of the wilderness and the idea that magic is ancient and dangerous, and I love that the action is usually driven forward because Conan is trying to steal something or kill someone, and not because the action finds him and he gets wrapped up in it. What comes to mind when you think about SF/F books and the way you play and run your games?