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I'll start with a little bit of context. As a DM and father of a toddler, scheduling a regular game can be tough, especially as my players start to enter a similar stage of domesticity. I thought a bi-weekly game would work but it's ended up becoming monthly. In an attempt to try and play more often, I've been working on a new project to make things easier to schedule as well as introduce more players to the game as the trend moves closer into the spotlight.

My idea was to get about a dozen players, have each make their own characters, or maybe even two. From there, I would set a specific time, twice a month, and I'd have whatever players could first RSVP (ideally a mix of friends that have played with me for years and some new or first time players), would play for that session. This would, in theory, allow a regularly scheduled game while also allowing a lower level of commitment to domestic adults.

My main question is if anybody would have ideas on how to dole out XP? I've had several ideas ranging from doing milestone leveling up a certain number of games played, attempting to level the group as a whole at intervals, to giving out a set amount of experience every game played (allowing a sort of controlled pace of leveling).

So, have any other DM's run a game like this in the past? What did you do? Or does anybody have ideas or input? Or is this just a horrible idea and should I give up now?

I’m working on building my first puzzle for an upcoming session and I was hoping to get some input from other DMs and some players.

The party will come upon the gates of an ancient dwarven fortress city. The front gates are part of an elaborate garden, in the garden are ten obelisks representing both the ten planets and the gods that share their names (homebrew and consequential), except for one, the planet they’re on which isn’t named after a god. In the middle of the garden is a statue of one of the city’s founding members with an inscription telling all who approach that the city is home to the godless and atheists (it was built during a war against the churches). The statue has a bowl with a handful of stones in it and each of the obelisks have a small bowl that would receive said stones.

The idea is for the players to put the stone in the bowl on the obelisk representing the planet that’s not named for a god. To throw them off the trail, one obelisk has the name of a false god and two or three others would have been damaged either in a previous battle or by time.

The example I have so far is they walk in, notice the statue, the poem/inscription, and the obelisks. They would notice (circumstantial) that one is a false god, two of the gods names inscribed on the obelisk is scratched off some how, and the one for their planet (the right answer) is halfway demolished, keeping them from seeing that this obelisk lacks an inscription.

My fear is that it’s too convoluted or even possibly too easy. Anybody have any advice?

It's been a recent project of mine to try and build either a class archetype or prestige class based off of the powers and stylings of the Silver Surfer. Now, I know it's wholly irresponsible to give a player the Power Cosmic, but it's the theme of cosmic awareness and heraldry that I'm looking for.

In my game's mythos, the sun god Radius is the god of justice, balance, and (clearly) fire. The plan was to make either a prestige class or an archetype that would worship him and gain powers that would help them maintain balance, peace, and the sanctity of life. The work I've done so far has lead me towards a monk-type outline. Perhaps someone who must take certain vows (i.e. Peace or Chastity) to gain an additional Ki pool. I was also drawing inspiration from the Qinggong build, but using strictly spells that would be inline with the Surfer himself as well as the Sun and Justice theme. Such spells as Scorching Ray, Burning Hands, Sanctuary, Strength of the Bull and so on. I also wanted to give certain Wisdom bonuses that would match up with Cosmic Awareness. Maybe things like Diplomacy, Sense Motive, perhaps even Attack and Damage or AC. It occurred to me that use the Investigator's Inspiration ability for this feature. While the character would use Ki to "cast" his spells, they could use "Inspiration" to add to certain Skills, AC, Attack, and Damage.

Another simple feature I had was to give the character the ability to cast Detect Life in a 30' radius, and allow the radius to increase either by leveling or pulling from the Ki pool.

Finally , there would be the matter of the Board. I wanted to, at a certain level, grant the character what would essentially be a Broom of Flying. Although, I have no idea when or how just yet.

So, my question to you guys is simply for guidance. I have a lot of ideas, but I need help in deciding whether or not such a thing should be an Archetype or a Prestige Class, given the amount of power in the theory. I would also like some help in laying out the described abilities in a way to avoid dead levels and make it fair and fun.