The most interesting thing about conspiracy theories is they could be true. Supporters will find evidence to support them, while the government will disprove them. The rest of the world doesn’t know or doesn’t care. That’s why many theorists keep ideas within sympathetic groups and only go public when they have enough proof. Create a [...]
Archive | July, 2011
Overused Standards of Fantasy Literature
by R.D. Throughout my life I have read many fantasy novels and played many fantasy role-playing games. I have read the stories of Elric of Melnibone, The Lord of the Rings, and the many works of Piers Anthony. Other books I have read include the Deathgate Cycle, Dragonlance, the Icewind Dale Trilogy, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Fire and Ice, The [...]
How to Create Blockbuster Box Office Hits with Your Players – Every Adventure
Applying the Hollywood Formula to RPG Storylines By Brad Allen I’ve been GMing for many years but only recently tried to enhance my pacing and story-writing skills. For a long time my games suffered from frequent lulls and anti-climaxes, but no longer. A year or so ago, I did some research on plot structure and [...]
GM Tip Request – How to Run Professional Conferences for PCs
Hi Johnn, Every Year, my campaign features a wizards’ colloquium, called The Studious Accord, with speakers on various topics. These speakers are NPCs familiar to the PCs, or their topics recall adventures that they’ve had. The Accord effectively serves tips, rumors and adventure hooks. I write up a list of speakers and the titles of [...]
Writing the Effective Villain
by Ruth D. Kerce A lot has been written about how to develop the hero and heroine in a story. An often overlooked, but equally important character, is the villain. He/She must also be developed properly to make the plot believable. Many of the techniques used to develop other characters will also work in developing [...]
Monster Features and Terrain Game Changers
By Ben Scerri Monster Features: The Premise Monsters in RPGs have had a long history of special abilities that add additional cool tidbits to encounters. For example, a dragon’s fiery breath and a rust monster’s corruption of metallic objects. However, seldom do they have attributes that cause players to think outside the box or that [...]
GM Delegation
by Bill Mahmet Below is some advice that ALL GMs can use, though “workaholic” GMs should especially benefit from the contents of this article. The problems the below listed tips are meant to solve often occur for GMs who are not as good at coordinating people as they are at writing and running adventures. Don’t [...]
Basic GMing Rules
From Garry Stahl 1: Garry’s First Rule of Fantasy Do not change reality more than necessary to make your universe work. Real world physics are your friend. You do not need to explain gravity, weather, or in general how the world functions. So don’t complicate things that do not need complication. Adding super science or [...]
GM Interview: Chris Rheinherren
This interview features our first GM who runs games over internet relay chat (IRC). If you have any questions about IRC, just leave Chris a comment below. Please introduce yourself Your name: Chris Rheinherren, online I use Bynw or Anlarye. My campaign’s website is located at www.teara-adan.com There is a link there to a [...]