Stumbled across another youtuber. His This Question Made My D&D Chracter 10x Better feels like proactive roleplaying advice for a player stuck in a non-proactive game. This core question "What do I want from the other characters at this table, and what stands in the way of getting it?" along with the concept of making it portable if you are creating a character in isolation is a compelling idea that I think can move into a proactive structure as part of my background/bio template. https://youtu.be/k02rtl0SGOM?si=s4EYaPcz2ySkuSXE

Since I started running proactive games, and especially with some collaborative worldbuilding, my games tend to be very fast paced. There’s always something going on, and my players are always sprinting forward as fast as they can. I’ve had a few groups say they want to turn down the speed a bit and have some lower stakes sessions, which they always call beach episodes lol, some time to just chill, talk to people, shop, engage in some tomfoolery, downtime, etc. I highly recommend incorporating that, especially if your players mention it. At first, it really went against my instincts—as a GM, I tend to prep by adding as much tension, raised stakes, and drama as I can cram in my notes, and I prep by specific encounter using a PC v NPC goal structure. So the more free form, laidback stuff made me nervous that it would be boring for my players—I felt like I had so little prepared! But it’s always resulted in a great time. My players will have the opportunity to do stuff they never would otherwise, and the Freeform format makes it so they really steer the story themselves. I’ll do very little and relax, and they’ll talk amongst themselves, form more goals, make allies and enemies, etc. anyone else had some good seasons this way? How did you prep for it?

Something that I heard in a Matt Colville video I was watching again recently (I think it was the Running the Game on losing?) has been rattling in my mind. Essentially he implied that new players, at lower levels in TTRPGs are more willing to take risks than players with more time in the game, higher level characters etc. I think that's fairly accurate, but I've noticed a related feature. In my experience, both as a DM and a player observing fellow players, the behaviour persists into a new campaign. Even on their new level 3 characters people carry that risk aversion with them. My working theory is that they feel the new character is better- they've learned more about backstory, more complex/rewarding builds etc, so they feel more protective of the new character. I've noticed this so much so that I've seen a player go in to their first campaign complaining combat isn't deadly, and on the next campaign and character they're asking for character death to be impossible, the monsters to be unable to crit, and for fewer combats. Personally, I run 5e near enough RAW, so actual character death is pretty unlikely. You can still see it though, people will avoid fights, avoid going into dungeons and chase down items like adamantine armour or a periapt of wound closure to make them tankier. I floated the idea of using the lasting wounds optional rule table, and was met with a wave of people hating the idea. Is this something any of you have noticed/experienced? I'm not sure it's an outright problem per se, but it's a change that has to be navigated.

Are there players/GMs who would be interested in playing PF2E?

For GMs who regularly run games with people they didn’t already know. Bonus points if you’ve ever been paid for it. Hey everyone —I found this community after reading Proactive Roleplaying (which I love), and it got me thinking more deeply about why some tables hold together for months (or years) while others slowly fall apart. I’m especially curious about games with strangers or semi-strangers, where chemistry isn’t a given and commitment is harder to predict. Rather than asking for advice, I’m trying to understand patterns. So I’ll start with one question: When a campaign falls apart, what’s usually the first crack you notice? A few optional prompts if it helps you think it through (no need to answer all of them): - Is it something mechanical (scheduling, rules, pacing), or something social? - Does it usually show up early, or after a few sessions? - Did you see it coming, or did it blindside you? If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d also love context like: - Whether you run paid or unpaid games - Whether your players usually come from friends, marketplaces, Discord, etc. I’m mainly interested in how real tables behave — not how we wish they did. Thanks in advance. I’ll be reading and asking follow-ups if that’s okay.