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 [...]
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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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Logic Death Guide to Players
by Doug Lochery There are two breeds of RPG gamer – Players and Gamemasters. There are several subtypes of the Player breed that, when faced with our glorious hobby, try to ‘break it’ in some way or other. This is not always a conscious decision on the part of the poor player. Below is a [...]
Managing Intraparty Conflict
By Andrew McLaren Roleplaying is a group activity. One cannot enjoy roleplaying alone. Sometimes the GM’s job is made more complicated by conflict that takes place within the group, when arguments and fighting takes place between characters and players. Consider the following situation to get an idea of what I mean: Having defeated the evil [...]
Managing Player Expectations
In the GM Mastery Yahoo! group, Randal recently asked, “How do you deal with player expectations? And more importantly, how do you prevent the game from failing as a result of not meeting those expectations?” Some great discussion ensued that included numerous points of views and GMing styles. I thought you might find snippets of [...]
GM Interview: Frank Bartlett
This week we hear from Frank Bartlett, who GMs for his wife and two daughters. I love the idea of the whole family gaming together! Well done, Frank. Please introduce yourself Do you have a blog, website or campaign wiki? No, while I use my PC to create my campaigns, my group prefers old school [...]