Ideas in Retrospect: Two Good and One Bad

A very quick follow up on three ideas I've mooted on the blog, two of which have worked well, and one that has just fallen by the wayside.

Crucibles (good): The idead of building the campaign in phases with big, showpiece adventures to move between phases is a really solid idea. I highly recommend it.

XP for Magic Items (good): When the PCs exhaust a limited use magic item (potion, scroll, wand - but definitely not potions of healing, or scrolls that get added to a spellbook), they should get a small XP award (50 XP each feels good). Be sure to tell the players this - the major advantage of this approach is that it encourages them to actually use their items!

Removing Gods Entirely (bad): I've found that this just doesn't really work, and closes off more creative options than it opens. Some settings (Dark Sun) may work well that way, if built from the ground up, but I wouldn't recommend it as a default.