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 [...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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 [...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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.[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
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[...]Read on >>
TPK Avoided . . . so why am I depressed?
So, we were playing Pathfinder last night and we got to the final battle, our four 5th level characters (barbarian, cleric, sorcerer and alchemist) against the Frost Rider -the big bad-, his ghoulish thug and four mephit[...]Read on >>
Favors and Compromise – Politics Part 3
Today I'm going to conclude my talking about Politics with this last bit. We talked on Tuesday about the NPCs and doing prep on it, with some great additional bits of advice in the comments. Yesterday we talked about gam[...]Read on >>
Role Playing 101 #10: How the Patron moves your Adventure
Last issue I touched upon story hooks – and player motivation. The simplest story hook you can think of is actually an employer, or as some call it – a patron. And if the patron is right, he or she can motivate all o[...]Read on >>
Sandbox games: A collection of links
When I had the idea of running a sandbox game I did some research first. Especially when you try a new game or a new style of GMing things can go terribly wrong when you’re unprepared. So in order to avoid that I got s[...]Read on >>
Court Games and Distractions – Politics Part 2
As I mentioned yesterday, this Friday one of my games is moving more heavily into the realm of politics. I am simultaneously scared and excited by this. Why? Well, I've got an awesome group and I want to do this right fo[...]Read on >>
Running Politics
This Friday my L5R game is taking a very rokugani turn into an area where I'm not super comfortable in my ability as a GM. Where is that you ask? Well, the PCs are taking a bit more of a court focus, which means that pol[...]Read on >>
How to write a free RPG – Chapter 6: Organisation
In this Chapter, you'll learn how to organise your free RPG. Organisation is very important because a poorly organised game can be confusing and will put people off playing it. An RPG is both read and referred to. It nee[...]Read on >>
Book Review: The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design by Mike Selinker and Others from Open Design
January 17, 2012 from Game Knight Reviews
Filed under: advice, design, Game Design, Inspiration, Reviews, RPG Hub, Tools
Games. We all play them. It’s what makes us “gamers,” right? Whether you enjoy the occasional card, board, or roleplaying game, the one constant for me has been the “fun factor.” If I’[...] Filed under: advice, design, Game Design, Inspiration, Reviews, RPG Hub, Tools
Read on >>
Get Adventure Ideas from the Dragon Age Wiki
One of the challenges I’ve had as a Dragon Age GM is coming up with adventures to run in the world of Thedas. I wasn’t fortunate enough to finish the video game, and I never played the second one, so my kno[...]Read on >>
[Friday Map] The Cinder Throne
Last week I was asked “How do you get your maps to look so “clean”? Are these maps scanned from …Continue reading »[...]Read on >>
Writer’s Block
Writer's Block is the name for the phenomenon that - traditionally writers - is used when no matter how hard one tries, they're unable to find inspiration for how to continue a story. It can be applied to almost any ende[...]Read on >>
If you don’t want to suck in older edition D&D then…
Start at 5th level.Why fifth level? Because from long years playing both older D&D and GURPS a 5th level character feels roughly as capable as a 150 pt GURPS Character (100 pts in 3rd edition GURPS). And starting GUR[...]Read on >>
Role Playing 101 #9: Use Story Hooks!
No matter how you structure your storyline, and no matter if it's linear or completely free, you have no game if your heroes do not participate. For some game masters I've met this may not seem a problem. In their advent[...]Read on >>
[D&D Next] Think Before You Rant, An Appeal For Constructive Feedback
January 12, 2012 from Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer
Filed under: advice, dungeons & dragons, RPG Hub
D&D Next has been on the top of everyone’s mind in the RPG community as of late, and already the fires are burning hot. Staunch advocates of any one of the four editions of the game have begun to air their o[...] Filed under: advice, dungeons & dragons, RPG Hub
Read on >>
Endings and Beginnings
When you're running a game with a strong narrative bend to it, there will come times when things need to come to an end or when things are just coming to a beginning. These moments can be very powerful moments in the gam[...]Read on >>
A tale of two RPGs
Last Saturday I got the chance to run Champions (Hero System) for the first time in ten years. I used Hero 5th Edition as that was the last version I got the books for. To me the Hero System is voluminous but not particu[...]Read on >>
How to write a free RPG – Chapter 5: System
The mechanics of your game provide the players with tactical and strategic choices. They will spend resources, take risks, win and lose. The mechanics must mesh with the concept of the game and support the setting. The f[...]Read on >>
The Architect DM: Winging It
Let me know if this situation sounds familiar to you: You're the DM/GM for your gaming group and you've just wrapped up an adventure, and you have at least a whole week until the next one. You sit down the next day, or e[...]Read on >>
Setting the scene and using my maps
January 5, 2012 from A Character for Every Game
Filed under: advice, dungeons & dragons, Labyrinth Lord, RPG, RPG Hub
Sorry if my prose is a bit terse or below par this post, I’m writing it while on painkillers from …Continue reading »[...] Filed under: advice, dungeons & dragons, Labyrinth Lord, RPG, RPG Hub
Read on >>
Refereeing Skills and Abilities
I had success doing the following while refereeing anything involving skills or abilities.Player(s) describe what they are doing as if they are there as the character.Think about how to use the mechanics to resolve it.Te[...]Read on >>
Virtual Table Tops and the Future.
I been using Fantasy Grounds, Virtual Tabletop software for several years now. In conjunction with Skype it been the perfect tool to use for running the weekly campaign that my friends and I have. There are other VTTs li[...]Read on >>
How to write a free RPG – Chapter 4: Setting
In this Chapter, you will learn how to write an unique setting; what to include and how to avoid common pitfalls. The setting is the imaginary world that will act upon the characters and that the characters will change w[...]Read on >>
Comments on LEGOS Heroica
Over the fall my youngest son, Gregory and I collected all four Heroica sets and had a lot of fun playing with them. Grognardia has a nice in depth review of the components and game.The only thing he missed emphasizing i[...]Read on >>
[GMing Advice] Run Your Game With Emotion
One of the things I’ve noticed in my years as a GM is that my best games come from campaigns that revolve around something that I feel strongly about. No matter what emotion was involved, these games were made mo[...]Read on >>
Year end crystal ball gazing
The end of a year brings with it reflections over the past and thoughts about the future. The Escapist has an interesting series of articles on the past, present, and future of D&D.I think that musing about D&D i[...]Read on >>
Role Playing 101 #8: NPC Interests Behind the Scenes
Last time we considered how you can use a framework, or a sandbox as a starting point for adventures. Such a framework outlines the most important non-player characters, locations, and possible enemies and stakes from wh[...]Read on >>
The Importance of ‘Normal’
When playing/running a RPG it can be very easy to get caught up in the dramatic and swept away with the tides of high adventure. However, there is also a need for the normal to exist. The normal grounds things in the wor[...]Read on >>
JiB on GM’ing: Pathfinder Variant Rules, Character Advancement
Our final exploration of the variant rules for Pathfinder found in the Ultimate Combat Guide discusses character advancement, the effect of magic and magic items, and takes a look at creatures and how to convert them to [...]Read on >>
How to write a free RPG – Chapter 3: Writing and style
In this Chapter, we will look at the act of writing itself. By the end you will know some habits to keep and pitfalls to avoid. The second part of this chapter focuses on style and details how writing in a particular way[...]Read on >>
The iPad
Thanks to Kelly Anne, and my family I got a iPad for Christmas. It was literally my only present but what a present it is. The two things I want to use the iPad is for entertainment (Netflix, etc) and to use to organize [...]Read on >>
Computers, Rolplaying, iPads and all that
I program for a living, creating interfaces for metal cutting machines, and at home I am a computer hobbyist in addition to my tabletop roleplaying. In the 25 odd years since my family got a Radio Shack Model I, my main [...]Read on >>
Protagonist Driven vs. Antagonist Driven
Wow, I'm doing really bad this week on these updates. I apologize. Not really sure what is going on, but between missing a post and setting the wrong time, this has probably been the worst week for the blog in a very lon[...]Read on >>
Taking everyman skills to the next level: The Absence of an Alibi
December 22, 2011 from Campaign Mastery
Filed under: Adventure Prep, advice, Advice/Tools, Encounter Design, Game Mastering, RPG Hub
Introduction to ‘Everyman Skills’ As GMs develop in experience, and begin to develop their campaign worlds more extensively, they generally arrive at the idea of everyman skills. Typically, this idea will fir[...] Filed under: Adventure Prep, advice, Advice/Tools, Encounter Design, Game Mastering, RPG Hub
Read on >>
Role Playing 101 #7: Game Mastering with The Framework
Many game masters start out running linear games. You start at a beginning scene, proceed scene after scene in a predetermined order, and end with the predetermined finale. Maybe the outcomes of each scene - or room, or [...]Read on >>
