In addition to watching the video below, scroll beyond the video to see some of the questions/answers I’ve gotten on reddit and YouTube as well as some recommended extra videos to watch.

Topics in the video:

• My background as a GM
• The players we had at the table
• Scheduling
• My thoughts on the story aspects of Stonewalkers
• A small section about how “on rails” I ran the campaign
• My thoughts on the game mechanics of the Cosmere TTRPG
• What my players thought about the lore drops and artwork
• How well Metalworks did with the FoundryVTT port

The story section obviously has spoilers that players might not want to hear. If you pay attention to the video (rather than have it on in the background) there will be some spoilers as I have various combat encounters as run in FoundryVTT while I’m talking over those visuals.

While this book is not structured in the best possible way to teach a newbie how to play Starfinder Second Edition, the fact of the matter is that this is a reference book. One might use it one time to learn how to play or, perhaps more likely, one will learn from YouTube videos, a Beginner’s Box product or being taught by friends around the table.

As a reference book, the Player Core is very well organized. It has the most likely stuff that the player would look up (character creation) up front. Based on how I’ve consulted the Player books for Tales of the Valiant and D&D, this is the most likely use for the book.

I recently got the Pathfinder 2e Beginner Box: Secrets of the Unlit Star. I did an unboxing and first impressions video. I will come back and do a proper review after I play it.

As you know, I’ve been running a Cosmere TTRPG playthrough of Stonewalkers, the published Stormlight Archives adventure. I plan on writing a blog post (and maybe making a video) retrospective once we finish the game, but, partially prompted by my players, I wanted to write about some of the ways my players have surprised me over the last 2 sessions.

My favorite thing, both as a game master and as a consumer of actual plays, is when the players throw off the GM with their creativity. I don’t mean in the way that people talk about on Reddit (sometimes positively and sometimes negatively) in which the players go completely off the rails or in a direction that negates the prep work of the GM. My players are on board to tell the story we’re telling together, they just have some really unique ways of solving the problems they are confronted with. (Some amazing examples of the type of player creativity that bolsters the story can be found in the first 6 episodes of Mage Hand High Five’s The Badlands) A couple players have had to drop out, but everyone who remains has chosen a radiant path. As they have tried to make use of their powers we’ve definitely had our share of “yes and” and “no, but” moments. The last two battles have had some of my favorite examples.