Isaac

I was intimidated by this game for a long time. I avoided it for years, thinking it to be too dark, too weighed down with lore, too difficult to learn. Turns out I was wrong about all that! It's a great system, gloriously now popularized by Dimension 20's online campaign, City Council of Darkness. The character creation is so fun, with a really interesting way of developing your vampire's background experiences and what they bring to the table of your "coterie" (as your group of vampires are called). I would love to play more, and plan on starting a campaign soon.

I played a one shot of Monster of the Week at a local convention, and it was a blast! I would love to run this game. It's so quick to learn, and it lends itself to very strong genre themes and tone. The strengths of the Powered by the Apocalypse ecosystem of games really shine in this one.

I've played a handful of other roleplaying games, and I keep coming back to D&D for a reason. It's very good. I like that there are so many fantasy worlds to choose from, with sourcebooks for all of them. I don't need to do the worldbuilding; it's already there. I just need to pick one and dive in. I like that there are so many spells and magic items, and more being made by third party creators every day. I like that there has been a turn in recent years away from straight white male representation to more diverse stories. I like that the game is big enough to create any kind of story. The game has its limitations, but I don't mind them so much now that I've seen enough to know that you can play D&D and have a very, very good time.

This is such a fun setting! I have run campaigns in it for two groups, and I love how it channels some of the touchstones. It's a surprisingly political, religious, and ecological story, given how cute the characters are! If you are into the wonder of Redwall, the mystery of The Secret of NIMH, and the gravity of a campaign like Burrow's End from Dropout, you'll absolutely love Humblewood.

This is the first D&D module where I wept while reading through it. It is written with so much love. I had a chance to talk with Matt Mercer (the author of the module) and ask him some questions about the module at GenCon 2025, and it only made me love this work of art even more. I would run this again in a heartbeat. Just a beautiful piece of craftsmanship that brings together the best parts of D&D into a very creative, very engaging story, with lots of opportunities for character development, uncovering epic lore, and high stakes roleplaying!