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Several hundred for rpgs, but including board games will push the number into four digits.

Veggie straws

A friend is fond of noting that 4th edition's biggest fault is being named D&D (he says the same thing about Solo being a Star Wars movie). I would note the rise of professional podcasting/actual play as a third reason for 5th edition's success.

If the time limits aren't affected by the PCs' actions, there's probably no harm in playing fast and loose with time. The reason things keep happening at dramatically interesting points is because the PCs are the central focus of the game. Most players should appreciate this on some level. I...

This one from Timewatch is my most recent favorite.

You punched my old card with this. I don't see why a sandbox can't have a timer, however. It can make the setting dynamic.

They don't hurt as sources of inspiration.

A core activity for the PCs to be doing, and mechanisms for character change.

Be willing to endure OOC discussions. Some is unavoidable: people need time to get into the groove, unless a group is very disciplined. Even more importantly, a sentence of two out of character will save a half hour of confused, unproductive play. People at the table can be unintentionally...

If you use the mechanic, noting its source in a dedication never hurts.

Ars Magica has three tiers of PCs: magi who are among the most powerful beings in the setting, companions who are slightly above average, and grogs who are normal scrubs. I never felt overshadowed playing non-magi.

This is like the mystery genre, in that players who read and watch a lot of heist stories will be "better" at coming up with elements in a session.

Ideally, we are playing to have fun. Balance lets you explore different builds while knowing your choice won't impact your character's effectiveness. If my starting character misses or does minimal damage regularly, sometimes that's an unlucky dice day. But if the rest of the party is killing...

In all but the most random of games, you have the ability to get better at playing it. For me this doesn't necessarily mean "winning" a game, just having the ability to derive more enjoyment from it. Also, games imply rules, and rules imply some predictive regularity that players can exploit to...

I've used pieces of all four adventures in The Zalozhniy Quartet without running the campaign itself. The first one is a series of mini encounters, the second is an investigation, the third a bank heist, and the fourth a large plot.

Gumshoe is my system of choice, and also has mechanics that simulate the effects of planning, rather than encourage planning itself. But that doesn't keep folks from planning, either.

Skill challenges is what I immediately thought of. Say you think up your route to sneak in during the plan, but if you don't roll well enough, you know where your problems will start, and you're able to address them. Or the GM gets one unknown complication for each failure, and you resolve...

I wonder if there is a way to do the lion's share of rolling during the planning? It would become a little more exciting, and players will be forewarned as to where problems might occur.

It would be more fun if players did it like movie scenes. But they don't/can't. They don't, because they are players and it's very hard to trust that a GM won't look to exploit a flaw in their plan. They can't, because movies are scripted, while players must learn about obstacles and come up...