Adding extra sensations to your game

There’s an important rule in GMing: show, don’t tell. Now, when you put a setting together, you of course tell the players various things, but once the game is in full swing, it’s obviously much more im[...]
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From the Attic: The Computation Book

The best cool tool for creating dungeons is a really big sheet of graph paper. The only problem is that it is too cool. You want to save it for the extra special dungeon that never seems to get done. But back in the 80s [...]
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News from Around the Net: 3-FEB-2012

February!?! Where’d January go? Geesh! Here in Colorado, the snow started to fly last night and we are in the first real winter storm in 2012. What does that mean for yours truly? Not much really… I work from[...]
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Consequence Case Study: Exalted

At the request of Lugh, we’re taking the discussion on consequences a little further today, and taking apart an actual game I’ve run and examined how consequences may have worked (or failed) in the context of[...]
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Social Media in Modern Settings

Not a full on discussion, but something I'm hoping to get folks' input on. How many of you have taken the time to consider what social media can mean for modern day games and events? the rate at which information can spr[...]
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A Twist in Time: Alternate Histories in RPGs

The latest iteration of my superhero campaign has just gotten underway. Being set (mostly) on an alternate-history Earth, it holds a number of elements that may be of interest to readers, especially if I explain the thin[...]
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Publisher Interview: Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games

The “Old School” gaming movement continues to impress me with the enthusiasm of the gamers and game companies supporting it. One of the games many gamers are excited about in 2012 is the Spring release of the[...]
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Keeping the Ball in the Air, or The Art of Consequences

Part of how I GM has always revolved around consequences.  My default assumption is simple: “The player characters are the protagonists, and they should be able to inflict significant and long-term changes to the [...]
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Privilege vs. Success/Failure

Did you have a good Wednesday? Mine was ok. Sorry about the late notice on no post. I completely forgot that I hadn't prepped something ahead of time until my head hit the pillow, and at that point I wasn't getting back [...]
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rolling for hit points in 4e

As you can tell, one of the things I miss in 4e is rolling your attributes. However, I have never missed rolling for hit points. Rolling your attributes helps throw some randomness into your character concept, and random[...]
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Game-Shepherding PCs

When I wrote about game shepherd NPCs on Monday, Lugh chimed in with several suggestions for keeping the game shepherd from taking up too much of the stage. The last of these was, instead of using an NPC to dispense the [...]
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Quick Hits: January 2012

After taking a brief, inadvertent break from blogging recently, I thought I’d jump back in with some quick-hit thoughts on D&D Next, my own D&D campaigns, some non-RPG games I’ve played, the Order o[...]
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Quick Hits: January 2012

After taking a brief, inadvertent break from blogging recently, I thought I’d jump back in with some quick-hit thoughts on D&D Next, my own D&D campaigns, some non-RPG games I’ve played, the Order o[...]
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Images as RPG Inspiration

  A picture is worth a thousand words. We have all heard that phrase many times over. Not only can they be worth a thousand words, pictures can sometimes be just the thing to get you over a hurdle when developing yo[...]
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 8: Publish

Finish your game. Finish your game. Finish your game. Stop procrastinating and finish it. The act of creation can be exciting and a struggle but if you don't finish it, you'll never know if it was any fun to play. Publis[...]
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Book Review: Unusual Suspects: Guide to an Interrogation Session by Robert Oglodzinski from Library of Ancient Scroll

When I started working with Robert Oglodzinski a few months ago, I reviewed Walls Can Talk, which collects a few “legends and adventure ideas” for fantasy and horror games. The layout, done by Michael Wolf (S[...]
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Learning from Video Games: Zelda and the Art of the Game Shepherd

Yesterday, I wrote about the game shepherd NPC. What got me thinking about that character type (or at least, what got me thinking this time) was that one feature that all of the 3D Zelda titles share—their local equiva[...]
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Beyond the Game III: Learning to Become a Better GM

Written by Michael Beck, with contributions and editing by Da’Vane. GM’s Toolbox, looks at tools, tips, and techniques you can use to improve your games. Toolbox offers you a skeleton for running a campaign, rather t[...]
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Doing The Impossible

It seems I have once again set this blog to update at the wrong time. Sorry for that.RPGs are funny things. Especially the campaigns that you run at your own table. Why? Well, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'd wage[...]
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Supplement Review: Caves & Caverns (PFRPG) by Creighton Broadhurst and David Posener from Raging Swan Press

Just about every fantasy campaign I’ve ever played in has involved a cave system or cavern at one time or another. And though I’m a fan of dungeons, I really like it when there’s more of a natural eleme[...]
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The Dangers of the Game Shepherd NPC

One of the things we’ve learned pretty quickly about introducing a player or group to a world they’ve never played in before is that they might not really know what the place is like. Not everyone reads the s[...]
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Concepts You Shouldn’t Allow

This is something of an odd topic because there is a lot of variance between different play groups, and so I'd imagine that there will be a lot of different opinions on just what you should and shouldn't allow a player t[...]
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Sunday Inspirational Image – Spell Books

Here are some classic spell book props all from the Propnomicon blog.I especially like the travelling spell book down at the bottom.From http://propnomicon.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-of-dni.htmlFrom http://propn[...]
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The Details of History

I get accused of focusing on the unimportant stuff a lot. You can go back and see my opinion of role-players vs. gold farmers for more on that. A huge part of why I do it is simple - It makes everything else easier!If [...]
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How to make combat interesting – two suggestions

Go read Zak's great post on the subject from a short while back, and check out Dan Bayn's series on actio scenes on big purple. Why don't I remember all that cool shit when behind the screen?[...]
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Ancient Scroll’s Secret Room: To Punish and Enslave (or “Being Lawful”)

Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. - Albert Einstein One who breaks an unjust law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who wi[...]
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Ladies & Gentlemen, Please Excuse The Sniffles…

Very much a good news/bad news week. The Tuesday Knights kicked off our new Tekralh campaign on Tuesday, which was great, but then I came down with the worst cold in six or seven years, which confined me to bed for sever[...]
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News from Around the Net: 27-JAN-12

Hope everyone has had a good week! Mine has been interesting… We’ve been dealing with getting some water damage assessed and fixed in our house after a small overflow in an upstairs bathroom resulted in a fam[...]
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A Neat Character Portrait Generator

Or at least that’s what I intend to use it for: Doll Divine [...]
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Review: The Game Master by Tobiah Panshin

  I thought I’d do something a little different and review something slightly more out of the ordinary. I’d originally planned to have this up and online in November when I first heard about it, but I[...]
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The Secret to Background Creation

Do you enjoy the Dragon Age RPG? Wish you could invent your own Backgrounds? Do you think this is a short introductory paragraph? WHO CARES!? Here is my official “How To” on creating your own Backgrounds. The Breakdo[...]
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Know Your Conflicts

Sometimes it’s easy for GMs and players to make the mistake of thinking that Combat is the only form of conflict that can harm characters. While combat is admittedly one of the easiest and most obvious means to inj[...]
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The Problem with Story Points

...and a possible house rule solution.In many of my latest role-playing endeavors, the games have used some kind of Story Points mechanic (I even imposed optional Cinematic Points to a high-octane, John Woo-ish GURPS ser[...]
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Overarching Plots: Why Aren’t We There Yet?

During my riff on overarching plots in general, I pointed out one question that is vital to the writer of the overarching plot at every event (and, for that matter, is one of the few that should be answered event by even[...]
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The Multi-Strand Game

I promised I'd talk about this at the beginning of the week and then got distracted by other things. That said, today I want to actually talk about it before I break my promise.Now, I don't know if this kind of game is a[...]
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Moldvay’s “Appendix N”

Since Christian Lindke asks “AD&D’s Appendix N? What About the Moldvay Appendix?” but doesn’t actually list or point to the Appendix anywhere, I thought it would be helpful to reproduce it. T[...]
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Selfishness Ruins Games, Or The Importance of Meeting Halfway

Dialog, negotiation and compromise.  These are important things for any social activity, and roleplaying games are not exempt from this.  I often get rants from people who either GM or play in a campaign that they̵[...]
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Feather boat

Raven Feather Boat: if a dead person is put at the helm and the boat is sent adrift down a river, it will, after several hours, take all inhabitants to the shadowfell. This feather boat's power is discovered only when th[...]
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Random random roll

I am reading World of Cynnibar review written by Darren McLennan (you find it here @ RPG.net) and there was this funny thing in Cynnibar example adventure.First roll D100 to determine a change then roll D100 again to det[...]
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The Gassy Gnoll: What Makes a Location Fantastic (RPG Blog Carnival)

Once in a while a question crops up via a RPG Blog Carnival topic that makes me scratch my head and ponder for a bit. And yes, before you ask, most Gassy Gnolls are predominantly pondering people. We like to ponder just [...]
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Overarching Plots: The Major Conflict

In general, if you’ve got an overarching plot, you should have—one might even say there has to be—a major conflict. Something has to tie all those little plot threads together, after all! But how much do you ac[...]
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Make Or Break Time (What Would You Do?)

As I write this, I'm fresh out of a game where going in the GM was not sure if he had just killed us all with what he was planning for the session. The good news - for the PCs anyhow - is that everyone made it out alive.[...]
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Players: Take Some Time To Read Up On The Setting

There’s something deeply rewarding about being able to play in a game that has a complex and elaborate setting.  Legend of the Five Rings, Exalted, World of Darkness, Fading Suns, Shadowrun, Eclipse Phase… t[...]
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How to write a free RPG – Chapter 7: Testing

Your game needs to be tested before it’s devoured by the general public. Testing ranges from simple mechanics tests all the way through to a full blow campaign play test. If you do not have a group to test with and can[...]
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Ask The Stargazer: “Would you be willing to provide some insight into your thoughts on layout for free RPG PDFs?”

A couple of days ago Stargazer Games fan and fellow amateur game designer Michael M. contacted me via email and asked me to share a few tricks on doing the layout for free RPGs. Here’s what I came up with: Get a desk[...]
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Adventure Review: Frozen Wind (PFRPG) by Jonathan McAnulty from Rite Publishing

When I read the first couple of adventures of the Curse of the Golden Spear adventure trilogy set in Kaidan from Jonathan McAnulty and Rite Publishing, I was blown away. I remember the first time I saw the Oriental Adven[...]
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Overarching Plots: Calibrating Scope

Yesterday, I talked about landmarks and steps that a plotter who isn’t interested in full-on outlines could use to guide herself through an overarching plot. Today, I’m going to go into more detail on one of [...]
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Small Obstacles are Sometimes The Best

So, my Friday game has come and gone. Over all it was a successful game, though I did learn a few things about the weaknesses and strengths of the format I've been using for the game - more on that later in the week. How[...]
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An Overdue Introduction

Hello everyone. I think it’s about time I introduced myself, since it’s been three months since my last post here on Troll. My name’s Benedict, used in full to be less confusing with Mr. Troll himself, [...]
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Beyond the Game II: Roleplaying and Reality

Written by Michael Beck, with contributions and editing by Da’Vane. GM’s Toolbox, looks at tools, tips, and techniques you can use to improve your games. Toolbox offers you a skeleton for running a campaign, rather t[...]
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