...and justify why you have it, if you dare haha. I moved recently and gave away or donated about 70% of my books, including the hard copies I had of the Game Master’s books. I kept only the essentials for games I'm actively running (from left to right) - Ideas notebook for all campaigns, mostly for plotting arcs and world building ideas - Core rules for 5e - I get asked to run this from time to time, usually in person, and I don't really know the rules very well so I keep my copies around. They're first printings and in really bad shape - Tomb of Annihilation for 5e - my next big published module campaign that I am running, probably next year - I am working on a 13th Age conversion for it - 13th Age core rules and some extras - my favorite fantasy game and the Bestiary in particular has some fantastic monster ideas in it - My collection of vintage and modern Conan comics, mostly used as bookends but occasionally for ideas - A few books on writing and storytelling generally - I STRONGLY recommend Lajos Egri's "The Art of Dramatic Writing" if you haven't read it yet Post a picture of your shelf! (PS. It is easy if you have the Skool app on your phone)

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?

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?

Working on some projects, I'm becoming more and more interested in the formatting of games. The 5e, prose-heavy standard, especially in adventures they publish, was never a big hit for me. What games (not necessarily TTRPGs) do you find yourself really enjoying just reading and looking at because of how well it's formatted for ease of understanding? Shadowdark is a great example---it won an Ennie for it, after all---but I'm also a big fan of the layout of the 13th Age adventures like Eye of the Stone Thief (for the most part). It's relatively easy to find stuff, and everything you need is always right there on the page like monster stat blocks and treasure writeups, instead of stuffed away on a later page. They also group encounters in useful bundles, with big sections at the end for those pesky ones that don't fall under particular categories and might clutter it up otherwise

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?