Johnn Four, Author at Roleplaying Tips

Johnn Four

Author Archives: Johnn Four

Do This One Simple Thing to Create Compelling NPCs

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1027 Gar was a beloved NPC. He was rescued by the party. He was mentored by the fallen paladin PC. He was brought back to life at cost to the players when killed by Orcus’s foul minions. Best of all, he was a stalwart companion ready to dive into the breech to […]

How Do You Keep Things Fresh For Your Players?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1024 RPT GM Mark Ariesen asks this tricky question and my answer goes down a dark path. Here’s his question: How do you keep things fresh for your players year-in-year out, when they have seen it all and done it all? One easy way to do this is design your own stuff. […]

How Do You Pace Game Sessions Well?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1022 Long-time RPT Patron Eric Gosselin (thanks Eric!) asks about how to pace game sessions: Hi Johnn, I recently awoke to the concept of game session pacing, you know, how to put slow and fast scenes during a game session? I’m looking for advice on the topic. How do I plan my […]

Avoid This Nasty Description Trap GMs Often Trigger

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1019 I saw this writing tip from @ShawnMerwin and it applies to GMing, as well: Avoid “begin to” or “start to” unless those actions are interruptible. “You begin to hear a scream” is simpler as “You hear screaming.” Clearer and more concise is better. So it is for GM descriptions. And that […]

My Favourite NPC Move — Gain Leverage

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1011 My favourite NPC Move is Gain Leverage. I don’t know about your players, but mine will trust and be loyal to allies, be cautious around neutrals, and murder hobo enemy NPCs. It’s the enemy NPCs I worry about most. The neutrals too, if the barbarian is feeling frisky. What’s a poor […]

How To Do A Deeper Analysis Of Your GMing In 5 Easy Steps

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1010 In a past Musing I talked about pre-mortems. Anticipate problems before they occur and fix them in advance. Everyone wins. Players win by getting smoother gameplay and great sessions with fewer friction points. You get a double win. You not only have more fun at every game, but you create a […]

Your Campaign Agenda => Best Campaign Ever Part II

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1008 There’s a moment mid-campaign when my inner voice screams out: “I’ve lost the plot! What the #@$% is going on? What the #@$% do I do now?” (Sorry, in-skull Johnn has a potty mouth.) When I’m off the rails as a GM it’s panic time. …Everything feels like it’s crap. …The […]

What Would Be Your Best Campaign Ever? Part I

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1007 How do I make my Hobo Princes campaign my best one? There are a few campaigns it would need to top, including Riddleport, Temple of Elemental Evil, and the one I ran in Vancouver ’90-’92. Aiming to make each campaign better than the previous keeps your sabre sharp. On our quest […]

What’s Your World’s “Only Factor”?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1003 What facet of your world affects gameplay in a way no other setting does? Two key pieces here. First piece: your world needs at least one unique factor or you might as well save yourself the time and use a published setting. Why bother putting all that creation work in? What’s […]

How To Conjure Incredible Sandbox Campaign Climaxes

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1000 Adventure Workshop GM Jeff B asked me this thorny question about how to finish a great campaign: If the adventure is not linear and the PCs aren’t railroaded, how can I get all the roads to lead to the big finale and tie up the loose ends? I like to have […]

Run With The Impressions Technique

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0998 Here’s the thing with read-aloud scripts and boxed text you find in published modules…. It’s boring. And it kills the mood. Imagine an actor stopping mid-scene to grab the script and read it aloud to you. A terrible experience for both actor and audience. Likewise, stopping your natural way of describing […]

An NPC Improv Trick

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0988 RPT GM Haukur asked me for tips on how to improv better. Here’s one using NPCs in two specific ways to come up with great ideas while under pressure. Players do not understand how exhausting it is to GM a session. A friend at work was chatting with one of his […]

Create Plots Easily With This Simple Method

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0986 Patrons have access to a cool plot-building PDF called the But Reversal Method. Today, I have a companion plotting technique for all RPT GMs called the Because Twice method, or B2. Sometimes my plans get convoluted and I literally lose the plot. Too many forks to detail and track, and not […]

Smarter Villains To Challenge Tough Characters

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0984 We wax a bit philosophical today. Last email I shared a session account of my Murder Hobos campaign. A few RPT GMs asked about the quasit incident. An invisible creature snuck out of a room to report to the stage boss that the PCs had arrived. One GM asked if this […]

How To Battle Dungeon Design Fatigue

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0978 RPT GM Tom G asks: I would like to know how my fellow GMs battle dungeon fatigue. I have no difficulties making the entry, the story of the dungeon and the first couple of rooms interesting. But after a while it all bogs down to left, right, or straight ahead. Any […]

Monday Inspiration: Character Perks – Several Interesting PC Development Ideas

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0977 Today I have a few interesting character development ideas for you as a follow-up to the A Cool Twist For One Of Your Players Musing I published in February, 2017. The idea is to make each character special in some way to not only create great player engagement but to give […]

The Four Levers That Inevitably Pull Players Through Your Adventures

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0974 I’m writing right now in my Guide to 5 Room Dungeons about Push versus Pull. Push GMing means forcing players in a certain direction. But players are their own beings. They think and act independent of your wishes. You cannot control another person. Therefore, you cannot control your players. If you […]

What Surprises Lurk in Our Fog of War?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0972 Let’s talk about the unknown for a minute. We instinctively fear the dark. Yet, we can’t help but wonder what’s there. Use this tension between darkness and light to fuel curiosity, wonder, and excitement for your games. We Sit in The Middle What might not be obvious is there are different […]

The Subtle Gap You Should Close for Better Storytelling

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0970 When A Door Is Not Just a Door — The Technique of Transitions How your players go from one Room to the next will make or break your 5 Room Dungeon designs. If players have no choice, then that gets frustrating fast. If you give players choice, then what if they […]

What Roles To Build For A Grand Cast Of NPCs

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0966 It’s fine to have a big Cast of Non-Player Characters whipped up, but that does not get us all the way to a campaign filled with intrigue, roleplaying, and twisty-crazy developments. You want some specific story roles filled to make that happen. Use my quick 3 Line NPC creation method and […]

Create Your Special GM Moves

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0960 Adventures get repetitive and boring. “Bring me another 10 scorpion tales!” Even megadungeons and campaign paths can grind you down. I received an email from a subscriber who asked how to keep players engaged. He caught one player even playing video games on their phone during sessions. The best way I […]

When Do I Peel Back The Cosmic Curtain In My Campaigns?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0958 Sveiki %FIRSTNAME%, Grand campaigns take characters from weaklings to near demi-gods. Intrigue campaigns have shadowy layers with a central truth hidden deep in the core. Mega-plot campaigns have a pyramid of villains and factions piled atop each other like an Ikea storage unit. How do we know what truths to reveal? When do we […]

Evil GM Tactic: Make PCs The Villains

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0951 Imagine you have a party of PCs who insult nice people with their insensitivity, who take actions without care for the consequences and effects it has on others, who murder hobo without remorse. I know. It’s a stretch. But just try imagining characters who are like that. Here’s how to turn […]

Monsters Are NPCs Too – A Short Monster Personality Stat Block

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0944 When monsters become meat bags you lose a big opportunity for roleplay and storytelling. I’m guilty of queuing up encounters with 2d6 orcs in a 10′ x 10′ room. Big time wasters. Pointless. And boring. I know players love to use their characters’ powers. And crushing a foe is fun. But […]

A Confidence Hack For Better GMing

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0936 Great GMing means making great decisions. In the heat of gameplay we have a lot going on in our foggy noggins. (Say foggy noggins ten times fast.) We’re doing some math, picking NPC words, choosing foe tactics, observing players, drawing maps, conjuring details, thinking three seconds into the future, and on […]

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