The dark month continues as the days get shorter. There's a chill in the air and that means that winter is just around the corner. For the Age of Ashes group, this is the most difficult time of year to get together. Have no fear, however, I will be running games during the winter days for anyone who is around. I'll get to that later. Let's get some busy work out of the way first.

First off, we have two groups running now! We also have a page for Schedules with available days laid out in yellow. I want to know availability from people for November; first come, first serve! Don't miss out on your free day just because you forgot to let me know you were ready to play! November looks to be a more "free" month for everyone, as opposed to the craziness that October has brought. Who even pictured us all having to huddle in shelter while a massive typhoon flooded the streets outside? Well, most of us stayed in shelter. Some people under estimated the power of Mother Nature. Not naming names, but y'all know who you are!

Anyway, onto the real topic of this announcement: rarity. It's quite the hot topic on forums at the moment, but it may be something you haven't noticed. Currently some items, feats, or even races come with special "rarity tags" such as Uncommon, Rare, or Unique. These function as little signposts to the players and DM as to what sort of content makes it into the game. Since this question was asked of me (and because of the recent release of the Lost Omens Character Guide), I thought I'd make my stance clear on rarity.

The general rule is that anything of questionable rarity should be discussed with myself or your DM (if I'm not running the game).

As the DM, I like to know what sort of abilities and feats my players bring to the table anyway, so there really isn't a problem we've run into (nor one I expect to run into). However, the LOCG includes several new ancestry feats that include the Uncommon tag. I'm absolutely okay with players taking these options for their characters! In the case of ancestry feats, a large number of them are specific to ethnicities.

For example, Adroit Manipulation is an Uncommon ancestry feat for Mihrini halflings. I have no problem with a player taking that! If they later level up and then take Intuitive Cooperation (an Uncommon ancestry feat for Jaric halfings) then I'm going to say no. Many dedications are like this as well. If a wizard who never spent a day outside of Ustalav suddenly wanted to be a member of the Magaambya academy, they would need to justify that story-wise (likely by taking some downtime to actually go to the academy and study).

When it comes to Uncommon spells and items, they aren't typically available for research or purchase, but I - personally - use them as treasure or rewards in game. The Age of Ashes group has already gotten a few of these such rewards, like the protection spell for Inagra or the alchemical crossbow for Viggo. If there's something you're interested in gaining access to, speak with your DM and we'll see about making that happen.

Alright, that's my piece on rarity. Generally, Uncommon should be fairly easy to access. Rare and Unique are tales for another time, however. What I want to talk about now is the winter months and tabletop games. As always, we're planning on having some board game days (we still need to play Secret Hitler), but I also have a wealth of other games I'm looking to run. As well, if someone would like to try their hand at being a DM some time, I would be glad to roll up a character and join you for a game. Since we'll have some free time during December/January, here are a few games that I am interested in trying out with players.

• Paranoia: Welcome to Alpha Complex, an underground complex at war with... well, everyone! Just you and your family of identical clones trying to please The Computer. A game filled with traitors, secret societies, assassins, and... labyrinthine security clearances.
• Starfinder: Pathfinder... in space! Android soldiers clashing with bug-like shirren mystics while kasatha solarions take cover from a hail of laser fire from ysoki operatives. Did that sentence sound cool to you? Hell yeah, let's do this!
• Dallas The Television Role-Playing Game: Look. I'm not kidding. This is a real thing. I have never seen the show and I don't care for the rules. However, we can wear cowboy hats and drink while I make up rules for tearing off someone's face at a debutante's ball.

There are plenty more games that I would love to play, but some of them are beyond the scale of a one-shot game or just not interesting enough to organize a game day. However, if you have a game you would like to play, let me know! I'll learn the rules and we'll get a group!

Until then, stay warm and dry, everyone!

-Dungeon Master