I've been getting a lot of questions about prepublished adventures I've run, and what my favorite was, and I thought some people here might appreciate the answer. I won't spoil the plot or content, but here are the basics: My favorite adventure ever made is easily Eyes of the Stone Thief, written by Gareth Hanrahan for 13th Age. The premise is that a giant, sentient dungeon eats places and buildings to add them to itself, but was blinded long, long ago. It can only find things it's summoned to by a cult that worships it, but it's growing stronger and seeking its eyes... Not only is the concept amazing, it's got some of the most creative encounter design I've ever seen, a ton of interesting NPCs and factions, a dungeon that's different for everyone who plays through it, and built in hooks that connect the PCs straight into the action. I promise this isn't a pitch to buy it, I just really, really like Eyes of the Stone Thief, and have learned a lot from it for my own game design. I'm sure @Jonah Fishel has some thoughts on it as well. What are your favorite adventures (as a GM or player?) What did you learn from them?

I am running something next week that is just ripped straight from the pages of Dune Messiah (pro GM tip literally no one will notice if you do this). It got me thinking: What are the books you've read (I'm thinking Sci-Fi/Fantasy but I guess anything) that you feel have had the biggest influence on the way your games run? For example: I wouldn't say they're my favorites, but the old REH Conan pulp stories have had an outsized impact on how I run games. I love the mystery of the wilderness and the idea that magic is ancient and dangerous, and I love that the action is usually driven forward because Conan is trying to steal something or kill someone, and not because the action finds him and he gets wrapped up in it. What comes to mind when you think about SF/F books and the way you play and run your games?

This comes dangerously close to non-TTRPG related material, but Jonah is a reformed board game buff so maybe he'll let it slide this time. Every once in awhile, a session gets cancelled but most of my players can still make it---maybe the missing player's character is extra important to the session, or maybe everyone just wants a quick break, or whatever. When this happens, my group likes to play a non-TTRPG to spread our wings a little---I'm curious what everyone's favorites are! Recently, my obsession has been Grimdark Future, a free and easier-to-understand wargame inspired by Warhammer. And I still play a lot of Magic the Gathering, even if their business practices are keeping me from playing any new sets (literally! getting new decks is a major financial decision these days). In the board game sphere, I'm a really big fan of Spirit Island, Quacks of Quedlenberg, and Sidereal Confluence, some very different games that all solved the "bored when it's not my turn" problem that bothers me in plenty of others. What about you? Does your group have a hobby outside of their hobby?

That is, how many TTRPG campaigns that you were a part of reached a conclusion where you'd say the fiction of the game was finished? Story told, done, complete, etc? Instead of fizzling out (due to scheduling conflicts, loss of interest, moving on to a new game, etc). I'm trying to figure out if my experience is typical or not. I've played in or run 20+ campaigns since I got into TTRPGs about 20 years ago, but I've only ever "finished" 3 campaigns. One-shots don't count! I mean something that was meant to be episodic and take a long time to unfold. (I made this a post instead of a poll because I'm interested in specifics if you have them!)

Jonah and I have been talking a lot about strategies for wrapping up campaigns. Folks have talked about it once or twice here in the lab, but I'm curious about strategies people have used for ending a long-running campaign----how did you prep? Were there things you felt you needed to leave out? What was the highlight? Were there things you didn't cover in-game, but addressed in different ways?