Recently I have heard it referred to as "human guide" because even a totally blind person can be the guide if they are a better traveler or know the area better.

If you are guiding and using your cane, have your partner hold your off hand elbow while he helps his cane in a close, diagonal position just for security while you sweep to locate obstacles and find stairs etc.

Another option is to use a guide loop which goes around your arm and he holds the other end. This will put a little more space between you so his cane has more space.

I hope this helps. You sound like you are adjusting to your vision loss very well. I hope you find this a welcoming community to share questions or concerns.

My personal policy is that if I'm guiding a blind friend, they need to be actively using their cane because I can't see well enough to be responsible for their safety. Physical contact is being used to make it easier for us to stay together, not so I can look out for them.

Absolutely use your cane as well. Otherwise you're risking personal injury as well as potentially your friend, and people will assume (because you're guiding your friend) that you are actually sighted.

If you're hitting canes when walking together, can one of you switch to using your non-dominant hand (and switch sides) for the duration? The person being "guided" might want to choke up their cane, but not to the extent that they're not actually using the cane in the intended manner. If you haven't tried it, you might discover that it really isn't an issue between the two of you and that you don't have to make conscious modifications after a few tries.

Alternately, are you able to get by without any physical contact by maintaining an active conversation with each other?

"Look after your B1s and they'll look after you" is something our (cricket) team's coach says often. Typically he'll assign, or we'll assign ourselves (the partials), a B1 (that's totally blind) teammate to look after. Helping them get from point A to point B at nationals, setting them up to bowl at training: that's our job, and if they get left behind then that's our problem. We'll also help them going to and from regular games and training - meeting them at a designated location, guiding them there etc. We might even form B1 trains at times to: B1s holding on to each other in a line with the lead person being a partial.

How do you do it? Exactly as someone would guide you! More or less anyway.

First things first: you should be using your cane. Have your friend hold onto your arm or shoulder on your non-cane hand side (so if you're a right hander this means he'll have his right hand on your left shoulder or elbow). It's a good idea if he has his cane out in his left hand too, but you're more the active user. From there you get around just as you would normally, but remembering you've got someone in tow. If you'd usually ask for some help at that busy train station, ask for help. If you'd usually find your way to a particular wall to guide yourself along, find your way to that wall. There's nothing strange about it at all, and if you're frequenting a place regularly the staff there will recognise you and know what they need to do to help.

Edit: I forgot to add, it also pays to add a bit of commentary about where you're leading your B1. If there is a pole coming up on their side, warn them. If you're approaching steps, give them the heads up. Or if you're having troubling telling what the lay of the land is ahead or where you should be going, let them know. Things like that - just like if someone who was fully sighted was guiding you.

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First of all- its awesome that D+D is keeping you connected with other blind/vi folks, D+D is awesome.

(I hate to derail but if you have a minute and want to tell me about any accommodations you use for D+D- I'm trying to get my low vision daughter into it and like, do you use braille dice? Are there high contrast/larger dice that you prefer? Do you use a modified/enlarged character sheet? Do you use digital sheets on like D+DBeyond or something?)

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I don't have a TON of experience with this but when I was chaperoning at camp for Blind/VI teens last summer, there were a lot of visually impaired leading the blind lol. The kid leading was using their cane usually, and the blind friend was usually holding theirs straight, but sometimes they used their cane too. I'm not familiar with human guide technique that has the person you're leading touching your shoulder. Is that easier for you? Have you tried using the arm grip? With your friend holding your arm (non-cane hand), just above your elbow, from behind, with a grip like they were holding a cup (hand in a C shape)? I feel like this might give your friend more feedback, and a little more room to use their cane with their outside hand.