Been working on my campaigns and thinking a lot about villain plans. I like to craft a roadmap for how the villain can win their goal. I call this Villain Win-State. And that road map becomes my adventure outline for villain type adventures. So what are the first couple of steps for making an awesome […]
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RPT GM Joshua asks: “Do all encounters need to advance the plot?” My answer is yes. But with a twist I’ll explain in today’s article. A session is made up of encounters. Encounters make up adventures. Adventures make campaigns. To speak about encounters I first need to speak about adventures. That’s one level up. We […]
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Here’s an encounter tip for you today, pulled out of my Adventure Building Master Game Plan, which launches later this year. Once I get to the encounter building phase, I start digging into the details. I’ve got a Campaign Game Plan created, and an Adventure Game Plan built, by the time I reach this stage. […]
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What to do with NPCs in the background to make encounters more interesting? That thought came to me as I bumped into a random blog post on writing, and this snippet jumped out at me: One of the things to watch out for when choreographing a scene is the chorus line – any people who […]
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Do you know how the eyeball works? It’s fascinating. Think about a camera for a moment. You point your camera at what you want to photograph. The shutter opens and closes to control the amount of light. A slow shutter action lets in more light. Great for dim conditions but poor for motion. Fast shutter […]
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RPT GM and Adventure Building Workshop alumni Jesse Cohoon reached out and asked if he could help with the newsletter. Thanks Jesse! I asked him to come up with some adventure seeds, as game masters often get stuck for ideas. Here’s what he came up with for us: Fey Games A group of fey has […]
Continue readingFrom Mike Bourke Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #291 Continuing on from last week, here are the final categories for you to consider fleshing out as you craft a racial profile that differs from official sources for your rules system. The monster race customization processes described in the following tips and those in last week’s article rely […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #292 In July, Roleplaying Tips Weekly ran a contest for monster related tips of all kinds. Subscribers responded with nearly 100 entries, and many prizes were handed out. Below are a handful of entries from the contest. May your critters live long and prosper! Filling A Niche From Sparrow You might want […]
Continue readingFrom Leslie Holm Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #293 Online Roleplaying is a huge animal, encompassing MUSHs, MUDDs, SIMs, PBeMs, PBPs…the list goes on. In this article, I focus on PBeMs (Play By e-mail) and PBPs (Play By Post, or forum based games). Roleplaying online is no longer just for people who don’t live near a gaming […]
Continue readingFrom Mike Bourke Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #294 NB: The language used in this text has been rephrased from orcish original statements to remove incidental foulness of tongue. A Slice Of Orcish Myth Long Ago, the gods looked down upon the world they had made and some said, “It’s a bit of a mess. If something’s […]
Continue readingFrom Johnn Four Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #295 To Name Or Not? Does your group of players desire a name for their band of PCs? Do you want them to have one? The party name is a classic RPG element with roots in legends, fiction, and stories (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Knights of the […]
Continue readingFrom Mike Bourke Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #296 I often compile a checklist of questions to be answered when creating something new, be it a magic item, setting, or society. The more exhaustive and complete this checklist is, the better visualized and more complete the item in question will be. I recently had occasion to generate […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #297 These tips hail from a reader’s request in Issue #295: http://www.roleplayingtips.com/readissue.php?number=295#R2 Numerous folks generously wrote in with their tips and advice. In this week’s issue we feature 10 possible solutions for Diego’s problem. Thanks to everyone who responded! More tips coming in a future edition. Diego And The Narcoleptics From Telas […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #298 Face Off Loz Newman There are many ways to get a gaming group emotionally involved in a campaign. Good GMs look for elements players can relate to, such as when the PCs lose something and want to get it back. A straight “NPC X stole your whatsit” scenario lacks punch though, […]
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Readers asked for an example of a campaign reboot using my three step map. Rebooting My Murder Hobos Campaign (And Yours) in Three Easy Steps Here’s one using my current campaign, which needs new life injected into it as I prep Season 3. Step 1. Write a Story Summary The party tried helping the village […]
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You’re going to see me writing more about Five Room Dungeons. It’s because they are the best way I know how to master adventure building. Here’s why. As you might know, I’m creating a new product for you on the topic of 5RDs. In my upcoming 5RD Adventure Building System though, there’s three key concepts […]
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The other day I read a blog about the GM’s Top 10 mastermind monster villains. I love this idea! It’s great inspiration. So today for fun I’m sharing my favourite monster villains with you. The requirements for my list are I can only list monsters I have GM’d or made adventures for. In some cases […]
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It all starts with a flaw. The item does not work as expected. This creates surprise, which makes great gameplay. After the surprise, it makes the item distinct and valued because it’s not just another +1 dagger. Design cost-value into your flaws and find that sweet spot where the penalty of using the item is […]
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I had an interesting game on Wednesday. I made a couple big mistakes you can hopefully learn from. I’m playtesting the mystery portion of my Demonplague I: The Frozen Necromancer adventure, which releases in 2017. The PCs must find out who or what is behind disappearing villagers. During the session the PCs decided to knock […]
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I loves me my villains. I believe every great campaign is powered by a strong villain the PCs hate. But something is often missing from the villains I read in adventure modules. Add this missing ingredient, and your campaign instantly improves. Hobos Reboot Before I get into that though, a quick thanks to Eddy Morrow […]
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I had a great game on Friday. I’m a cleric for our Out of the Abyss campaign. A player complimented me for thinking outside the box. As I only had 9 hit points at the time, I assume he meant the box was a coffin. We all survived, fortunately, and found the stolen red dragon […]
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I needed some minor mundane and magical treasures for my next DemonPlague game. So I made some and am sharing a few with you today. The party has a wizard, warrior, cleric, druid, and rogue in it. The first thing I did was make a table and a column for each class. That way I […]
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Here’s a tip from Faster Combat: when you chose or design a monster, start with how you want the PCs to defeat it. I say “choose or design” because it doesn’t matter whether you’re picking the foe from the monster manual or homebrewing an original critter. The benefit is the same to your encounter. What […]
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Let’s talk about a campaign reboot. But before that, let me crack open the champagne and yell Happy Year +1! Alana and I had a great time visiting her parents in snowy Salmon Arm, B.C. We spent Christmas there, then flew back to ring in the changing of the calendar with dinner out and a […]
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Had a great game of Out of the Abyss on Friday. Lots of funny gameplay stories came out of it. Here’s two, plus a challenge for you. First story is about housekeeping. As a player, always confirm your XP! I’m playing a 4th level cleric who runs around saying “Praise Helm” in a French accent. […]
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