From Mark of the Pixie How you GM a pursuit depends a little on what sort of pursuit it is. Hot pursuit The enemy is always within sight, and you need to try every trick you can to get away. This includes cinematic chases with shooting and dodging, but can also include the more subtle [...]
Archive | April, 2011
Dragon Age Tabletop: A Tale of Two Parties
by Hannah Lipsky If there existed one gaming system that worked for every gaming group, then every gaming group would play it. Since no such system has yet been found, it’s not surprising that two very different gaming groups had drastically different reactions to the Dragon Age tabletop game by Green Ronin. One group absolutely [...]
22 Terrain Hacks For the Low Budget Game Master
Last week featured minis tips on the cheap. This week, the series continues with ideas for doing terrain without breaking your budget. For scenery, keep some rocks, pebbles, lichen and large chips of bark in a shoebox. You can increase the atmosphere a lot with simple terrain. Junked tire. Cut an old tire from a [...]
I Smell Props
A discussion recently popped up in the GM Mastery Yahoo group when group member Randal asked about using smells in games: “Have you ever noticed that when you smell a familiar smell it brings back all these memories? Just curious if any of you have tried to set the mood by burning incense or doing [...]
Riddleport Session 19 – Power Struggle
This ended up being a tricky session to GM. Just four of six players were present. In addition, instead of continuing further into the cavern complex discovered last session, the PCs unexpectedly decided to return to town and take care of some business. Finally, the PCs triggered an investigation-pursuit mini-plot, and it was interesting playing [...]
Free Will in Roleplaying
by Heather Grove Free will may seem like an odd issue to bring up in relation to roleplaying, but it’s an important one. Some GMs like to run very scripted games. They plan everything out and push characters into following the script. Some groups enjoy this, and I can’t argue with that. But I don’t [...]