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Johnn Four

Author Archives: Johnn Four

Why Do You Like Being A GM? Motivation and Inspiration for GMs

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #376 Why Do You Like Being A GM? Motivation and Inspiration for GMs From Johnn Four Here is an e-mail I received recently from a troubled GM: “I’ve been playing D&D for about a year now, DMing that group for 3/4 part of that period. Because we live a fair amount apart […]

Gaming Mobs Better Quick Tips For Making Mobs More Interesting

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #376 Gaming Mobs Better Quick Tips For Making Mobs More Interesting From Johnn Four One of the daunting things my group faces in the current part of our campaign, now that they’ve entered the villain’s lair, is the vast hordes of underlings, also known as minions, flunkies, rank and file, or mobs. […]

Tricks And Treats For A Festive Halloween Game

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #377 Tricks And Treats For A Festive Halloween Game From Michael Erb Halloween and role-playing are a natural match. Arguably, trick or treating was most gamers’ first taste of role-playing. A change of clothes, some makeup or a mask, and suddenly, for an evening, you were someone else. A favorite comic book, […]

Tech Tools – Using Today’s Technology To Enhance Your Games

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #378 Tech Tools – Using Today’s Technology To Enhance Your Games From Christopher “frpdm” Cho I’m what you would call an old school gamer. I started back in the day with nothing more than a pad of graph paper, pencils, erasers, dice, and the red Basic Dungeons and Dragons rulebook. Everything was […]

Playing With Fire: Dodging GM Burnout

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #379 Playing With Fire: Dodging GM Burnout From Mike Bourke In Roleplaying Tips issue #367, Johnn wrote: “…you’ve got to focus on having fun being creative while planning if you want to GM for long these days,” and solicited tips on how to do that. I started to jot a couple of […]

Preparing For Games Faster: 7 Tips

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #380 Preparing For Games Faster: 7 Tips Not feeling prepared for game sessions creates GM stress and is a top reason why game nights get cancelled. Some GMs dislike prep a lot, which causes procrastination and tension build-up as game day approaches. Other GMs spend too much time on the wrong things […]

PC Death And Your Campaign

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #381 PC Death And Your Campaign From Kate Manchester You’re running your campaign, and everything’s going great. At least it was, until one or more of the player characters dies. So, what now? Do you continue the campaign, or bring it to an end? If want to keep your campaign going despite […]

Part 2: What To Do If It’s Too Easy?

I received an interesting tip request from RPT GM Kristen: What do you think about things like adding 50 HP because the baddies go down too quickly? One of my players actually said I should have done that rather than letting the encounter flop. A tricky situation. I refrain from doing this. I feel it […]

Part 1: What To Do If You Made It Too Difficult

RPT GM Kristen emailed me this worry: Hi Johnn, I used to fudge dice rolls. I’ve definitely changed my perspective on that from stuff you’ve said and other DMs that talk about this. I think what made me want to fudge things is that I’m afraid what I’ve made is too difficult for my players […]

Don’t Beat Yourself Up

RPT Patron A. asked me this question last week: Tell me more about how you rate yourself fairly without demotivating yourself, I could use that. The context of this request is a Musing I published that talks about doing post-session assessments of your GMing. And A. wants to know how to do this without being […]

The Secret Role Of NPCs

It occurred to me I’ve never explained my fascination with NPC story roles. In this article just for you, awesome Roleplaying Tips Patrons, I’ll share their secret function in my campaigns. But before I can dig into that, I need to back up a couple steps and talk about how I think and run my […]

What Are We Rewarding?

At a previous job my employer would take daily attendance. Yup. It was like being back in grade school, and I think that’s what the employer thought of its employees too — unruly things that must be controlled. When I see GMs award XP for attendance, it hearkens me back to that old gig. The […]

Jail Break Part I: Jail Design

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #382 Jail Break – Part I: Jail Design From Johnn Four Recently, I received this reader tip request: Hi Johnn, My PCs are about to land themselves in jail. I was wondering if anyone out there has run a good prison break, or similar. Could you put this out to all the […]

Jail Break Part II: Theme and Atmosphere

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #383 Jail Break Part II: Theme and Atmosphere From Johnn Four In part one, we crafted a prison’s design and general purpose, and fleshed out a few details. This week, in part two, we’ll add environmental details to help make your prison unique, fun to roleplay, and easy to GM. Create GM […]

Jail Break Part III: It’s All About The NPCs

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #384 Jail Break Part III: It’s All About The NPCs One element often overlooked in prison RPG game sessions is the NPCs. As with most adventures, NPCs are where the best gameplay lies, whether they are foes to defeat in combat, allies to make through diplomacy, or pawns to manoeuvre to achieve […]

Jail Break Part IV: Plotting and Encounter Tips

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #385 Jail Break Part IV: Plotting and Encounter Tips From Johnn Four Escape Or Quest – What Kind Of Plot Are You Running? Before playing any prison adventure or encounter, first decide what plot you’re running. It’s a quick decision to make, and helps focus design and GMing. It’s important to be […]

Top Movies For Game Masters

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #386 Top Movies For Game Masters Here is the first draft of the Top Game Master Movies List, based on reader submissions and my own picks. Movies are not listed in any particular order. A quick check on IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes will get you ratings and movie information. Thanks to the […]

17 Ways To Fall In Love With GMing Again

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #387 17 Ways To Fall In Love With GMing Again A whole new year lies before you. Will it be game-full or game-less? I say put your carpe diem pants on, my friend, take those old dice out of your pockets, and get rolling! Remember how it used to be? Wonderful days […]

10 Easy Ways To Think On Your Feet Better

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #388 10 Easy Ways To Think On Your Feet Better A reader recently told me this: “I never feel very proficient at running sessions – I am better at prepping them. I don’t think well on my feet – I tend to need time to consider things.” I don’t believe there is […]

The Art of Propaganda: 7 Tactics to Influence Character Behavior

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #389 The Art of Propaganda: 7 Tactics to Influence Character Behavior From Johnn Four A favourite marketing blog, Dosh Dosh, recently posted about how bloggers can use propaganda in their promotional campaigns to emotionally engage readers. Blog author Maki notes these methods aren’t for deceiving people with false or misleading information, but […]

Players, Meet Your Characters

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #390 Players, Meet Your Characters From Johnn Four A reader sent in the following request about new players getting to know each other and their characters: Hi Johnn, I hate introducing a new group of players (and more importantly, their characters). When they come out to game for the first time, it’s […]

Motivating Yourself As A GM

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #391 Motivating Yourself As A GM From Kit Reshawn This was written in response to the cry from help from the GM who is finding it hard to find motivation. Below is a list of tips that help keep me motivated and avoid GM Burnout. Keep A Designated GM Planning Time Get […]

Assembling The Party – Reconciling Diverse Backgrounds

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #392 Assembling The Party – Reconciling Diverse Backgrounds From Johnn Four There are a few challenges when assembling a new party for a campaign, and one of them is reconciling diverse backgrounds. How do you explain a group of strangers sticking together, especially if they are a bizarre zoo party, which some […]

Have Fun With Factions

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #393 Have Fun With Factions From Loz Newman Here’s a bit of help for GMs who get bogged down in campaign creation: don’t sweat the small stuff. Economise your creative energies to avoid nasty pitfalls. An example of this is factions. When I create a campaign world, I know a big part […]

Court Etiquette: Do’s and Don’ts

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #394 Court Etiquette: Do’s and Don’ts From Stephie How many plot lines or quests has a DM or player dealt with that were nobility-driven? When dealing with nobility and court settings, players sometimes skip the roleplay aspect and jump straight to behavior such as, “I bow, greet all in the court, and […]

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