Tavern Watch

The team of adventurers-turned-detectives in our playthrough of Starfinder's Murder in Metal City has the body of Tier-99-Professor on their hands and the assumed murderer hot in their trail for getting too close -- but does anyone think they're really going to stop before they get answers about what happened?

With a lead in their hot little hands freshly pried from the storage of a hijacked murder-drone, our crew of Starfinder adventurers -- brought together first to meet their friend Tier-99-Professor, then by happenstance to investigate his murder -- dive into the back alleys and data storage centers of Striving to see if they can pin down any clues as to why someone would want the good Professor dead.

A group of strangers gather in a dimly lit bar in the mechanical megalopolis of Striving at the behest of one Tier-99-Professor, who promised them some incredible news.

Keeping things tense and exciting in tabletop games without just resorting to throwing the players into a fight is a central part of our discussion today on Tavern Watch -- we're talking torches burning down in Shadowdark or Crows, using the spotlight like a TV show director to keep things tense in Monster of the Week, or the Chaos mechanic in Triangle Agency that makes every roll a balancing act.

Things are getting even weirder for our party of all Artificers as they wrap up their sojourn into the Mournlands in the name of...

There's an old chestnut about how if you confront an average D&D party with a door, they'll try anything except going through it.

Is there any D&D 5E class more flexible without a single multiclass level than the Artificer?

It's the beginning of one year and the end of the next here on Tavern Watch, and so we're both looking back with fond remembrance on the games we played this year (including the ones we played on Tavern Watch Plays, which you should check out!) and the ones due to come out next year.

It's a valid question for our group of little old lady detectives, who have learned more than they expected about the strange history of their little town on a casual visit to the Brindlewood Bay Whaling Museum...

A peaceful visit to the annual Brindlewood Bay Whaling Museum fundraiser has taken a turn for the worse when one of the volunteers turns up dead.