by Travis W. Herring Many role-players enjoy evenings with their friends, sitting around the table or living room, eating pizza and drinking soda. For most, this is enough. For others, however, a traditional evening about the table isn’t. They want MORE. For those people, this article is the answer you have been looking for. How many [...]
Tag Archives: Flashback Fridays
Choosing a Setting
by Delphine T. Lynx Please be aware that, while the article below is relevant to gaming in general, its initial target audience was those interested in MUDs, or Multi-User Domains – text games played via computer. Therefore certain aspects may not be applicable to classic roleplaying games, but the theory behind the essay is. Choosing a [...]
A Con, A Cave, a Troll
by Simon Woodside If you’re anything like the typical GM you have at one point or another asked yourself the following question: What do you do if the players don’t do what you wanted? The question underlines a classic GM problem. As the GM you are expected to be a storyteller for your players (some games [...]
How To Fix Botched Encounters In Mid-Game
You often know right from the start when an encounter stinks. It’s boring, or cliché, or maybe confusing. And the reason could be it’s the last encounter of the night and you’re tired, or the players went in a new direction and you’ve got nothing planned, or perhaps it just looked better on paper. But [...]
Running Adventures with Little Preparation
by Brennan O’Brien Johnn asked me to write on a topic dear to my own heart. Between career, family, and too many hobbies, I often find I don’t have a lot of time to come up with adventures for my characters. When game time comes, I tend to make it up as I go. The [...]
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 [...]
Conversation Skills in an Action Game
by Christopher Magoun Conversation, persuasion, oratory and seduction can pose special problems to new and experienced GMs alike. These charisma-based skills are often treated differently than physical skills. When a PC tries to use a physical skill, the GM assigns a difficulty based on the situation at hand, and the player rolls against his skill. [...]
When It All Goes Wrong: DMing on the Fly
by Deacon Rayne Warning: This article represents a certain ruthless type of gameplay that, while still friendly between DM and Players, may be better suited for good friends who know not to take whatever cutthroat tactics their DM may use personally. In a perfect world, you, the DM, create an awesome story. Your awesome players [...]
Re-educating The Power Gamer
by Joesph Young We’ve all met this gamer. He knows how many hit points a dragon has by its color, age, and size, and how many rounds he must survive to defeat a storm giant, but can’t remember his character’s name. Sometimes he’s a munchkin, in it to kill monsters and get treasure and wondering [...]
Romance in RPGs
by Delphine T. Lynx In light of Valentines day here’s a romance themed article to add a touch of passion to your next session. As a brief disclaimer before we begin, this article is centered on the roleplaying of romance as an intellectual dance. I am of the opinion that roleplaying any sexual relations that [...]