d12 Forgery Adventure Hooks Let’s commit some forgery in our campaign. Here are d12 ideas. But before we get into that, why would we want forgery in our game? What benefits do we receive, and how can we wield forgery as storytellers? Easy Hooks Little Phingers goes to shake the noble’s hand. Almost too late […]
Continue reading
Create Extreme Environments In 3 Steps It’s pretty chilly here right now. But good news: it’s warmer than it was yesterday! Haha. So I took the screenshot above on my phone while thinking we should add extreme environmental conditions into our adventures more often to take gameplay to 11. Creating extreme conditions is not difficult […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1219 Brief Word From Johnn We played session #5 of Basilica yesterday. The old memory muscles for Basic D&D slowly return, as does the OSR mindset, which I’m really enjoying. It’s wonderful not turning to the rulebook every time to figure out what to do or how to adjudicate a player action. […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1218 How To Improvise When Players Do Combat Stunts in OSR RPGs Bonjour, Johnn! Last session a player went way outside the rules. He wanted his character to leap through the air onto a giant bird’s leg, climb up the tarsus, then release a magical belt attached to the beast’s limb. This […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1217 3 Alternatives to PC Drinking Contests Last weekend we played session #04 of my Basilica campaign. We’re using Old School Essentials and my homebrew world of Duskfall. And this session we did a new thing called Stars & Wishes. I got this technique from Jonathan, who wrote today’s ideas for fun […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1216 A Brief Word From Johnn Alas, the week got away from me, so this is a rare weekend edition of Roleplaying Tips. I’d like to give you one piece of advice and then move on to today’s villainous tips. The advice comes from a great Zoom consultation meeting I had last […]
Continue reading
From Johnn Four Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1215 Brief Word From Johnn Thank you to everyone who sent along birthday wishes. I had a great day and got to spend extra time working on my campaign, which is always a treat! In Wizard of Adventure news: Watch this video on YouTube where I walk through the […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1214 How To Keep Players of Unconscious & Dying Characters Engaged When a character drops in combat, the fun stops for that player. While they can cheer their friends on, they can no longer join the fun. Different systems have different rules around death and dying. Regardless of ruling, here are some […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1213 I mostly run sandboxes these days. That means I wrangle a lot of details. After a few sessions I’ll have dozens of Pages and Log Entries in Campaign Logger. After a year, they’ll be in the hundreds. Here’s an example from Wizard of Adventure ExileInParadise’s Sword Coast campaign: And here’s a […]
Continue readingI wanted to give you a heads-up that we are migrating your data to the new version in the latter part of September for you. The original Campaign Logger, which we call Legacy, is here: https://legacy.app.campaign-logger.com/ The new Campaign Logger, which we call vNext, is here: https://app.campaign-logger.com/ (You can see a growing list of new […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1211 Brief Word From Johnn Check out this cool session pic from Platinum Wizard of Adventure Nemsoli: I asked Nemsoli what I was seeing, and he replied: What you are looking at is a Dwarven Forge 3d model my GM bought and painted. The two minis are clockwork owlbears he printed and […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1212 Brief Word From Johnn Biggest Eruption In Over 100 Years Did you hear about the volcanic eruption that happened at Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai last January? It’s probably the biggest eruption that’ll happen in our lifetime – the biggest since Krakatoa in 1883 – but due to its remote location it […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1210 Brief Word From Johnn I just returned from a two week camping trip that was a great and relaxing time. I know I’m stressed when my notebook gathers dust and doesn’t get any new ideas. That was the story of my 2022 so far. But after a few days sitting around […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1209 I have a short tip for you today. Quick enough not to earn a newsletter number. And it’s about world building. One struggle we have when crafting settings is detail. It’s easy enough to generate a map, such as with Azgar’s. But we need more detail to make our stage interesting […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1208 A Brief Word From Johnn Ahoj Johnn! I read an interesting article last night that asked the question: What’s more important, the player or the character? In the real world, it’s the player, of course. Because the characters aren’t going to drive themselves home, right? Joking! But in the game, it’s […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1207 By Jonathan Hardin, sojournersawake.com [Comment from Johnn: this is part two of a series Jonathan started here with How to Hook Players Easily Into Your Adventures.] The Power of a Motive Begin your game by highlighting why the player characters choose to adventure. Is it for glory and fame? Wealth and […]
Continue reading
By Johnn Four Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1206 Doing something new is scary. Add in strangers, characters, someone called a game master, roleplaying, and weird dice, and stress levels rise. To help give you more confidence going into your first few games as a player, here are a few specific things you can do ahead of […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1205 Brief Word From Johnn Today Jonathan talks about silence during sessions. There are many kinds of silence, and he shares his thoughts about a couple of the trickiest ones. If you worry about conflict at the table, be sure to check out his advice. One Card Dungeon Changing topics for a […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1204 A Brief Word From Johnn Think too small and think too big. We’ve got a critter making a nest under our deck. We can’t see it because it’s found a good crack to inhabit. But we can hear it. It’s chewing something. Leaves maybe. Paper perhaps. The bones of some poor […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1203 Brief Word From Johnn Last night I found a great course on Udemy about video game design. In part, it dives into the tension between player agency versus game designer agenda. Open world games versus plotted story paths. This is old hat for us though. The first moments behind the screen […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1202 Brief Word From Johnn I played in a Pathfinder 2E one-shot on Saturday using Foundry run by my friend Mark. My guy was a big brute wielding a dwarven scattergun trying to save our town from a zombie horde. I played him like Dolph Lundgren meets vodka. And according to the […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1201 Brief Word From Johnn Today I have some tips for when players get distracted by your beautiful maps and don’t pay attention to your encounter details. But before getting into those, I wanted to mention there are additional some Reader Tips this issue at the end you might want to check […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1200 Brief Word From Johnn Today’s tips from Jonathan cover a problem I’ve experienced many times, especially at conventions. What do you do when one player goes off the rails? I especially like the example of the ranger who seemingly isn’t on the same page as the party and wants to ask […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1199 I recently wrote a few tips for running lunch games. Several RPT GMs sent me this link, which is a D&D 5E Practical Guide to One Hour DnD Sessions (you might want to turn on your ad blocker before viewing the site): https://rpgbot.net/dnd5/dungeonmasters/one-hour-sessions/ I’m away halfway through, and it has great […]
Continue reading
Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1198 Big news to share with you this week. I have embarked on a grand adventure. Two adventures, really. The Great Resignation First, I’m going fuller-time with Roleplaying Tips! I’m thrilled but nervous and can’t wait to begin this new journey. I gave notice at my day job last week and I’ve […]
Continue reading