Samdell

Obsidian is a must have.

Since sessions are frequently run over Discord, I use HammerTime to make sure everyone is seeing the same time being displayed.

I've been running Lancer for over a year, so all my tools are very particular in their uses. Lancer Map Creation Tool has been extremely handy in, well, creating maps and RetrogradeMinis in making up PC and NPC tokens. I also use this Pixel Art Furniture Pack for human-sized encounters, as its the only one I know that's more focused on modern aesthetics instead of vaguely medieval fantasy.

Never heard of that Map Editor before, I'll give it a look, thanks for the rec.

Cool, but can your printer do this?

Cascades and unravel the fabric of space and time, its unclear what was supposed to happen

Alternative that one of my pilots shared the other day

They named the mech part "cockpit" and we're the freaks? What is it for, if not for filth

Also this is great after my lancer session today

Its a lot of work to deal with it, but in theory I'm a huge fan of Avatar Legends' Principles system. Basically, every playbook has an internal struggle between to extremes - compared to an Yin/Yang - and work to find their own Balance in that. The Center of this Balance starts on 0, but over the course of the game players will move towards one side or the other, to a max of +3/-3 (moving positively towards one side means you're moving negatively towards the other)

The Guardian, for example, struggles between Self-Reliance Vs. Trust; They want to protect others not just to keep them safe, but also because they don't believe they're capable of doing so. A Guardian shifting towards Self-Reliance is more cynical, while a Guardian shifting towards Trust will rely on their companions more often.

Aside from the narrative meaning, the Balance can be used for rolls; if a PC performs an action in accord to their Principles - say, the Guardian attempting to Comfort someone not out of sympathy, but because they believe they're the only ones capable of doing it - they would roll with that Principle instead of the Attribute that the Move requires. That way, if your Self-Reliance is higher than the Attribute, it might be a good idea to pitch the scene in that way.

Characters can also be called out on acting/not acting according to their Principles, or Lose their Balance (basically have a mental breakdown) if it goes past one of the extremes.

Unless Sensor Range is 5

To my knowledge, Burned Over is the PG-13 version that was made after 2e, but I might have gotten the order of release wrong

Which is very amusing, because a lot of PbtA games don't really follow Apocalypse World that closely! Its a game that has intricate mechanics for driving and combat, not to mention running gangs/cults and being fairly deadly.

2e also has sex moves, which not a lot of people are fond of (and Burned Over/3e made off with those)

Lancer memes :3

This core power can only be used if the Pilot keeps the chastity cage on until the end of the sequence

There's no easy way out of this, and the older your playerbase gets, the more often it'll happen.

Having more players can give you leeway - I prefer to get a minimum of 4 in possible campaigns to be able to both split tasks and coordinate in case of missing people.

But the key aspect, and the one that will be harder to manage, is to not have a main character; Its easier said than done, as in theory all your players should be main characters, but if you find that a plot point hinges too much on a single person - your example of the King demanding an Orb that's carried by a PC sounds like a key example - then it might be time to reevaluate how you're treating everyone else.

If all your players have spinning plates, someone missing a session will be a lesser deal - all you have to do is go balance another event of the story with the others. But, again, like I've said - easier in theory.

Most times I see "Great D&D ideas" posts are scenarios better suited for any game that's not D&D

This would be great in a more free-form, narrative TTRPG