Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0087 The Trouble With Assassins Figure Out The Rules First How Will They Affect Your Game World? Use The Terms Of The Contract As A Roleplaying Opportunity How An Assassin Can Affect Your Stories Use A Disguised Character Sheet Assassin’s Defences A Good First Impression: My Only Personal Experience Of An Assassin […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0086 Traps Consist Of A Prepared Response To A Specific Condition Traps Are Costly A Tomb Is A Great Place For A Trap Not All Traps Respond Only To Touch Dungeons Do Not Consist Of Clean, Horizontal 10? X 10? Corridors Readers’ Tips Summarized General GMing Tips: 3 Laws of GMing & […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0085 Traps Are Encounters There Is At Least One Mind Behind Each Trap Most Traps Were Never Designed For Indiscriminate Slaughter Ancient Traps Are Different From Very Recent Ones Traps Are Not Independent Of Their Surroundings Readers’ Tips Summarized Award Good Roleplaying With Points What Do You Do When You Have Nothing […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0084 Choose Your Players Carefully And Keep The Group Small Choose Your Game Carefully Pick A Friendly Setting Do Your Research Avoid Over-planning Know When To Let It Ride…. Know When To End It Be Organized Learn From Your Mistakes (Aka Find Your Weaknesses) Summarize Readers’ Tips Summarized Great Resource For Campaign […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0083 Time And Distance Are Non-Issues Distribute Information Selectively Give Everyone Some Prime Time Let The Party Divide Into Subgroups – At Times Play with a Larger Group Pace The Story Right And Take The Reins When Needed Think In Terms Of Interactive Writing Readers’ Tips Summarized Use The Scrabble Game For […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0082 Pick A Compelling Name For Your City Knowing The Power Structure Can Help You Run The Background Create Compelling Locations Prepare Lots of NPCs Actions Have Consequences Compare Running A City Story With A Wilderness Or Dungeon Gaming Resource Suggestion: Flying Buffalo City Books Readers’ Tips Summarized Finding Pictures Of Unique […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0081 Questions For Yourself 1st Impressions Count “Here We Are Now, Entertain Us…” – Nirvana Splendour Always Makes An Impression Skipping Time – One Way To Avoid Street After Street Not Skipping Time… But Making It Memorable! Resist Habits Quizzes – God’s Gift To GMs City Adventures I – Setting Your Stage […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0080 Use TV & Movies For Inspiration Focus On The Physical Way You Say Words Use Language Tapes Use Letter Substitution Extend Letters NPC Voice Examples From Readers Readers’ Tips Summarized Create Opposite Personalities To Help You Roleplay Better Use Fonts To Get Players Roleplaying More Cheap Miniatures Homemade GM Screen Idea […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0079 Hold A Contest Make Them A Villain Quirk Use Them To Give Clues Limerick Key #1: Metre Limerick Key #2: Rhyme Limerick Key #3: The Opening Line Give Your Limericks A Twist At The End Read Your Limerick Out Loud Readers’ Tips Summarized Cheap Miniatures Tip More Cheap Miniatures An Absentee […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0078 Why Do It At All? Have A Point, Keep It Short Move Your Head From Side To Side Turn From The Waist Body Language Use Accents Use Different Voices Use Different Sentence Structures Point To A Fig Or Use Pictures Readers’ Tips Summarized Homemade Dungeon Tiles Track NPCs With An Address […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0077 Be Careful When Passing Notes & How They Affect Your Game Notes & Suspicion Notes & Paranoia Use Notes For Non-Essential Things Use Notes To Keep The Game Flowing Prepare & Organize For Note Passing Beforehand Let Notes Be Intercepted Use Post-it Notes Note Passing Methods Evil Tips (For Mature Groups […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0076 Use The Player’s Absence To Add Something Interesting To The Game Stall Or Sidetrack The Party Host A One-Shot Game Host An Alternate Campaign Dive Into Alternate Reality List Of 28 Lame Excuses To Exclude A PC Readers’ Tips Summarized Switching Genres Without Switching Games Encourage Roleplaying Through Planning Lamination Tips […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0075 Divide An Adventure Into Steps & Twist Each Step Twist On Three Different Levels: Encounter, Story, Campaign Look For Ways To Use Magic Or Technology To Create Twists Combine Two Different Stories Meta-Game twist: Switch Genres On The PCs Don’t Twist Too Much Twist In The PCs’ Favour Readers’ Tips Summarized […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0127 Using ‘Top 7 Lists’ To Help Assimilate Published Game Worlds Outside In I had a campaign area already established, so my goal was to learn about the major aspects of the game world and figure out how that would affect the daily life of the PCs and NPCs. With this knowledge, […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0074 Provide Great Descriptions Bring Back Loose Ends Create Interesting Maps As Player Hand-Outs Use Travel To Relieve Tension Use Travel Time For Roleplaying Use Travel For Character Development Chat With Your Group Before Using Random Encounters Readers’ Tips Summarized Use A Character Questionnaire To Develop NPCs Ask Why and How Character […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0073 Use A Naming Theme For Groups Of NPCs Re-Use Names Base Names On Interesting Attributes Use Names To Add Humour To Your Campaign Use Anagrams For Clues & Puzzles Sources Of Names Readers’ Tips Summarized A Newbie GM’s Story Re-Use Monsters Speed Up Combat With A Stopwatch Tip For Finding New […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0069 A Brief Word From Johnn Easter Break: Issue #70 Will Be April 17th Due to the upcoming Easter holiday, I’ll be sending off Issue #70 the Tuesday night after the long weekend. Character Questionnaire Ready The Character Questionnaire supplemental is now ready. It contains 384 questions for you to build or […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0068 Beware Of Asking Tough & Important Questions Too Early Give Players Enough Information To Work With Use Questions About Campaign Situations To Help You Plan Better Reward Players For Their Time & Effort Set A Deadline Sources For Questionnaires & Inspiration Readers’ Tips Summarized Two GM Conspiracy Note Passing Tip Using […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0072 Keep Names Consistent Use Foreign Languages For Names Consider Surnames Carefully Reveal Your Campaign World Through Names Honour Your Players’ Names Introduce The Name Before The NPC Readers’ Tips Summarized Use Binders With Clear Plastic Covers Thursday A Good Game Day? 5 Ways To Speed Up Combat Online Traps Resource Comments […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0067 Six Benefits Of Character Questionnaires Ten Methods & Options For Handling Questionnaires Avoid Overwhelming Your Players Custom Questions Vs. Generic Practical Questions Vs. Inspirational Readers’ Tips Summarized A Neat Home-Made Dungeon Tiles Recipe Use A CRPG World For Your Pen & Paper Campaign 6 Miscellaneous GMing Tips A Brief Word From […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0071 Provide A Background For The Encounter Get Into The Nitty Gritty Details Of Travel Consider Adding New Environmental Challenges Pre-Plan Some Basic Encounters For Use At Any Time Reveal Important Information Get Into The Travel Spirit Readers’ Tips Summarized Build Your Maps In Lego Use Prophecy For Tension Creation Find New […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0066 A Brief Word From Johnn Reader’s Tips As Main Tips I just wanted to get your feelings on the last two issues’ use of readers’ tips as the main tips article. Specifically, I’m thinking of issue length and tips brevity. The readers who submitted their excellent feedback haven’t had the opportunity […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0065 A Brief Word From Johnn Thanks For the Great Tips! I thought this would be a tricky issue to write because I was stumped for ideas on introducing new people to our favorite hobby. But, through last week’s Tip Request, we have enough great tips now to fill two issues! Thanks, […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0070 Get Some Perspective On The Problem Create House Rules And Agree On Consequences Have The Character Fade Into The Background Make The Character Vanish Another Player Takes Control Of The Character GM Controls The Missing Player’s PC PC Falls Under Group Control Readers’ Tips Summarized Introduce New Players Who Can’t Commit […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0064 Use Game Aids Where Possible Keep Yourself Fresh & In Top Shape Have Your Players Help You With The Work Load Don’t Work With Group Plans, Work With Individual Actions Use Time Efficiently Readers’ Tips Summarized Reduce Your Need To Multi-Task 3 Multi-Tasking Tips Establish A Chain Of Command GM Sources […]
Continue reading