Today I’ll share the top 10 most-played tabletop RPGs right now. There are some surprises in this list, at least to me. I’ll also begin my series of episodes exploring the new RPG, Daggerheart, by talking a bit about what I like about it and why I’m excited to run it. I’ll compare and contrast DH with D&D, Pathfinder, and Numenera. Some of the aspects of Daggerheart I’ll touch on in this episode include the basic mechanics, campaign frames, and how the game encourages collaborative storytelling by having the players contribute to detailing the setting, NPCs, etc. during play. I’ll also talk a bit about how Darrington Press has made every effort to reduce math in the game and cognitive load on the GM and the players.

Play Daggerheart with Me on Start Playing Games.

Subscribe via RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Follow me on Bluesky.

Join my Discord server.

Email me.

Check out my YouTube channel.

Join my Book Club, now on Discord.

Check Out my OTHER PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

The Top 10 Most Played Tabletop RPGs Right Now

In this episode I discuss running D&D and other RPGs at high level. It’s often not as fun as we think it’ll be, especially for the GM. A lot of the issues with high level play and advancement are baked into the games, but sometimes we as GMs make the situation even worse through our approach. I talk about some ways to handle powerful PCs as a GM—what to do and what not to do. I also share things I’ve learned running Blood of the Avatars and other high-level campaigns. Hopefully you can learn from some of my mistakes in your next high-level game.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with the end of the campaign, both as players and GM. We talk about our experience with having a character who goes evil within a good aligned party. There’s a lot that can go wrong there, but Manny played Lerissa’s descent very well, and all the players handled the situation perfectly. This is as much on the players as the GM, but if you want to know how it can work and come out awesome, our campaign is a great example of it done well. Finally, we talk about the end of the campaign and the final battle. The players give their perceptions on how it all turned out. We talk about what is needed to make the ending of such a long campaign truly satisfying. There are definitely things I could’ve done better, and we discuss that, so as I always say at the top of the show, you can learn from my mistakes, or at least things I could’ve done differently and/or better.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with D&D at high level, both as players and GM. If there’s a sweet spot for D&D level-wise, what is it? We also talk a bit about what we’d really like to see from game companies INSTEAD of big hardback adventures/campaigns that go on for 10+ levels. Finally, we talk about the end of the campaign and the final battle. The players give their perceptions on how it all turned out. There are definitely things I could’ve done better, and we discuss that, so as I always say at the top of the show, you can learn from my mistakes, or at least things I could’ve done differently and/or better.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

This week I have a roundtable discussion with players from my D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, that recently ended. Brett, Craig, and Sam join me to discuss our experiences with D&D at high level, both as players and GM. We also talk about what it was like to bring a new player into a campaign toward the end, when the PCs are all high level. Finally, I talk a bit about my thoughts and strategies going into the final leg of the campaign, and how I prepared and planned for it. The players give their perceptions on how it all turned out. There are definitely things I could’ve done better, and we discuss that, so as I always say at the top of the show, you can learn from my mistakes, or at least things I could’ve done differently and/or better.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

The final session of our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars. The final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. Together they will make a decision that changes Primordia forever. This is part 2 of the session.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

The final session of our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars. The final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. Together they will make a decision that changes Primordia forever.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.

Our D&D campaign, Blood of the Avatars, continues. This week the final battle at the World Axis continues. Aided by the many allies they’ve made throughout their adventures, the PCs fight for the survival of Primordia itself. They are now level 17. This is part 2 of the session.

Check out my sci-fi novel, Critical Balance.

Have you read Critical Balance? Please leave a review on Amazon.

Check Out my NEW PODCAST - Lex Out Loud

Call the Game Master's Journey voice mail: 951-GMJ-LEX1 (951-465-5391).

If you’re a new listener, and you’d like to go back to the beginning, here’s a link to Episode 1.

If you’re interested in worldbuilding and/or my D&D campaign setting of Primordia, check out the first worldbuilding episode. You can go to this page to see all the episodes that discuss worldbuilding.

Check out my latest D&D supplement, Adventurers of Primordia.