#RPGaDay: Which RPGs are the easiest for you to run?

Before I get into this day, I'm going to lightning-round tackle the previous three:

• Day 19 (best writing): Unsure. Depends on what you mean. I've seen 400+ page books that fail to sufficiently explain the game, and I've seen 10ish page "games" that I either have no desire to play or are at best good for maybe one playthrough. I've also seen a lot of stuff in the middle that's just kind of meh. I'm going to default to Dungeons & Dragons (editions 2 through 4), because after trying other stuff for a few years I went back to it.
• Day 20 (best way to get out-of-print stuff): Ebay seems like a good place to get out-of-print RPGs, though I've had some luck getting decent prices on Amazon, and I've sold out of print stuff via social media and Craigslist: I'd at least trawl social media, but ultimately bank on the former.
• Day 21 (most with least words): See Day 19. Again I'll just default to Dungeons & Dragons.

Okay, now to day 22.

I started out with Dungeons & Dragons, and over 20+ years that's mostly what I've played (spread over various editions, of course). Not for lack of trying, mind you: early on in my gaming days we played a bunch of different stuff, though Dungeons & Dragons always won out in the end.

I kept playing Dungeons & Dragons up until 4th Edition, and when 5th Edition got into playtesting we did that for awhile, but didn't like it and decided to try out something else, which was when I got into Dungeon World (and published a bunch of stuff for it).

Dungeon World is very difficult: the book doesn't explain itself very well, and even contradicts itself, which is probably why there's an unofficial beginner's guide, and a bunch of threads asking how the hell you're supposed to play it/do certain things (like combat).

We stuck with it for years, and while I think I figured it out well enough for myself (I basically run it the way I ran 4th Edition) I still don't think I'm running it the "right" way. Or at least not the way people from the Dungeon World community-in-general would approve of.

Eventually I realized that Dungeon World demands a lot more work than Dungeons & Dragons for the same payoff. It also waters down the PCs' successes, and the results of doing certain things doesn't make any sense (like mess up a scouting roll and then all of a sudden the weather gets worse). Plus, the player can often choose what goes awry even if their character would have absolutely no control over it.

So that's why I've come back to d20 stuff, and will most likely stick with it: I can do all the things I did with Dungeon World, just faster and easier, and when the PCs succeed they know it's because of their luck, skill, and creativity. Melissa and I even made our own d20 game, and we've got a lot of stuff in store for it (we also did another game mostly intended for kids: not d20 but also not a storygame).

At least I can look back and say I tried something else, so I know what I like and don't like.

Announcements

It look a lot longer than expected, but we finally released The Jinni. As with our other monstrous classes, this one is more faithful to the mythology (so don't go in expecting elemental-themed jinn).

After putting it to a vote, the next couple of classes on the docket are the warden (think 4E D&D warden) and apothecary (gotta go see what they're all about).

Dwarven Vault is our sixth 10+ Treasures volume. If you're interested in thirty dwarven magic items (including an eye that lets you shoot lasers) and nearly a dozen new bits of dungeon gear, check it out!

Just released our second adventure for A Sundered World, The Golden Spiral. If a snail-themed dungeon crawl is your oddly-specific thing, check it out!

By fan demand, we've mashed all of our 10+ Treasure volumes into one big magic item book, making it cheaper and more convenient to buy in print (which you can now do).