@libraryogre @slyflourish

I listen to a lot of atmospheric music while doing my prep, and they're the same playlists I use during my games, but it helps me frame the scene in my mind of the emotion I'm trying to evoke.

@slyflourish Thanks for the tip, Mike!

Sometimes I have a hard time coming up with secrets because i'm thinking too specifically to stuff that is really directly related to the events of the next session.

This is a good reminder to just drop random bits of cool information about your world there, because you never know what your players will latch onto that could turn into an entire story arc.

@ourmagic #Dimension20 is fantastic, give it a shot.

Also check out #HighRollers, their current campaign, Aerois is just finishing up, but the episodes are shorter and IMO it tends to be easier to listen to and digest than CR. Plus Mark Hulmes is a master DM that stands at the same level as any other Actual Play DM out there.

They're starting up a new campaign as we speak, and it's set up to be a banger.

@EmpyClaw These moments of anticipation as your players are about to uncover bombshells that change the dynamic of your campaign or move it in a new direction are what we live for.

Have a blast with it.

@camckinney @chaosfae Another aspect is recognition. I'm an army veteran, but I guarantee you that the vast majority of people have zero idea what a recoiless rifle is, not to mention, recoiless rifles often require a mount affixed to a heavy plate or tripod on the ground.

If it were me, I would just dilineate them as Missile Launchers, or Rocket Launchers, the difference being that missile launchers can guide to a target, and rocket launchers are manually fired and fly in a fixed trajectory.

@slyflourish Every time I'm having a hard time coming up with a hook, a strong start, or just trying to mix up the pacing of the game I have started reverting to "What is the most interesting thing that could happen to this character right now?"

I hop onto my legendkeeper page for the character where i've got a checklist of interesting hooks I grabbed from the players backstory and inject it into the world.

It's been great for my new Starfinder campaign to evoke the space opera genre.