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Johnn Four

Author Archives: Johnn Four

The Achilles Heel of Many World Builders

How can players change your world?

Facts Versus Meaning

How do you create a great mid-adventure hook?

Top-Bottom-Up World Building

Today’s short tip is about taking a different approach to building your own world to host all your adventures in.

Tips On How To Build Your Homebrew World As You Play it

Your game world has serious stakes. If your homebrew setting fails to inspire and facilitate the kinds of stories and adventures you want to play, it’s dead in the water.

d6 Random Sources Of Navigation

This random source of navigation table from the new Monstro Manualis blog made me laugh out loud.

What The Heck Is A Milieu?

What the heck is a milieu? I’ve been tossing out that term more often in recent Musings. And it’s how I think the game for two campaigns in development.

When That Player Hogs The Game

What do you do if a domineering player hogs screen time?RPT Patron Andy Fundinger asks a question along these lines:

How To Get Players Pumped After A Break From Gaming

RPT GM Samuel Dil Curd asks:What’s a fun and exciting way to step back into an ongoing story after a hiatus?

A Quick Improv Trick

RPT GM Haukur asked how to improv better.It’s said that up to 60% of our brain processes vision. I am definitely a visual person. I understand and remember better what I see and read.

Problem Players Foiling Your Game? Two Tips For Handling Them

In a past article I talked about tech at the game table. In response, RPT GM Christopher G asks.

5 Story Hooks From A Dead Monster

A bunch of hooks instantly sprung to mind as I pored over this….A cult wants the skeleton brought to their secret laboratory for revival. Of course, outsiders who learn the lab’s location must also be revived.

Hobo Princes S3E04 – Choppy Waters

We picked up our monthly game again and it took an unexpected turn as I thought this would be the session when the Hobos would escape Groundhog Day Mansion of Madness and finally land in Duskfall

Two Quick & Easy Faction Play Tips

Need more ideas for using factions to help your campaigns? Here are a couple of tips sent in to me from your fellow RPT GMs.

Example GM Move With Threats Using Lord of the Rings

Last week I discussed the idea of combining cool boardgame mechanics with adventure design to create 1-3 specialGM Moves for your 5 Room Dungeons.

7 Great Mapping Apps You Might Not Have Heard Of Before

Mapping software is a personal thing. I know what I like. Within moments of opening software I know if I’m going to be in for a rough time.

Face Off – How To Get Your Group Emotionally Involved

Good GMs look for game elements players can relate to, such as when the PCs lose something and want to get it back.

A Nice Tip On Adventure Puzzles

When I first started GMing I used the kind of puzzles that seemed arbitrary and quirky. After a few years these began ruining the fun because they became too out-of-place and broke our sense of disbelief. Now don’t get me wrong. A chess board puzzle that zaps you for stepping on the wrong square is […]

The Achilles Heel of Many World Builders

Facts Versus Meaning

Top-Bottom-Up World Building

Tips On How To Build Your Homebrew World As You Play it

d6 Random Sources Of Navigation

What The Heck Is A Milieu?

When That Player Hogs The Game

How To Get Players Pumped After A Break From Gaming

A Quick Improv Trick

Problem Players Foiling Your Game? Two Tips For Handling Them

5 Story Hooks From A Dead Monster

Hobo Princes S3E04 – Choppy Waters

Two Quick & Easy Faction Play Tips

Example GM Move With Threats Using Lord of the Rings

7 Great Mapping Apps You Might Not Have Heard Of Before

Face Off – How To Get Your Group Emotionally Involved

A Nice Tip On Adventure Puzzles

How Much World Do You Build?

Two Fun Ways To Add Games To Your Sessions

Villain Tip: Do Evil For Good

Run The Villain Sequence

Story Overlays – A Quick Storytelling Tip For Your Encounters

Just Run With It

Get These Two Things Right For Stories To Make Sense

How To Bring A Diverse Party Of PCs Together?