Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0063 Learn To Multi-Task Understand What Things You Need To Track In-Game Learn To Divide Your Attention Acknowledge Players Quickly & Briefly In Mid-Stride Prioritize Your Attention Use Notes Readers’ Tips Summarized Money Tokens Tip & Request Subscriber Author Book Plug: Heather Grove Subscriber Author Book Plug: Martin J Dougherty Re-Use Old […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0062 Why Use Books As A GM Tool? Use The Book’s Cover As Inspiration Use The Book’s Maps The Setting Villains The Heroes Cast Of Minor Characters The Conflict Won’t The Players Recognize What I’m Doing? Readers’ Tips Summarized Combat Planning Tip Online Database Tool For Tracking Your Games Using A Costume […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0061 Assess Your Group’s Needs & Preferences First Pick Tokens That Suit Your Group’s Needs Choose A Mapping Method That Suits Your Group’s Style Give Your Figs Sturdy Bases Lay Your Large Maps Out Before The Session Begins Create House Rules On Mapping & Figures Etiquette Pre-Draw Maps & Create Templates To […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0060 Keep Your Maps Simple Make A List First Create An Outline And Copy It Map Materials Ideas Protect Your Maps Mapping Software Readers’ Tips Summarized Using Sixth Sense Clues To Drive A Story Use Symbolism For Clues Clue Tips & A Warning Creating A Classic Clue Driven Adventure A Brief Word […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0059 Understand What You Can Use Clues For Think Of Clues As Information Or Secrets Define What You Need Clues For & Why You Need Them Make A List Of All The Clues Ideas You Can Think Of Plant Clues Into Your Story, But Leave Some Free Make a List of Campaign […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0058 Get A Business Card Advertise In Stores Go To The Library Post-It Notes Friends, Family, Co-workers Talk With Strangers Host A Board Game Or Card Game Night Carry An RPG Book Around With You Post In Online Roleplaying Discussion Groups & Lists Contact Ex-Players Find Regional Clubs Enlist Your Fellow Players […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0057 Choose A Good Gaming Table Create Close Quarters Prevent Distractions Change Your Lighting Use Visual Aids Modify Player Positioning Readers’ Tips Summarized 27 Gaming Environment Tips Bureaucracy Comments The 12 Tasks of Asterix (Bureaucracy related) Bureaucracy Warning A Brief Word From Johnn Thanks To The News Sites I’d like to say […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0056 Bureaucracy Makes Good Roleplaying Use Bureaucracy As A Pacing Tool Be Creative Where You Install Bureaucracy Bureaucracy Is A Method For Villains Examples Of Bureaucracy’s Methods A Brief Word From Johnn Your Tips Submissions Always Welcome! Thanks to everyone for your tips emails! I’ve been receiving feedback on topics from recent […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0055 Split Your Goals Into 3 Categories Make A Wish List Prioritize Your Wish List A, B, C, D Pick Your Top 5 Goals Divide Your #1 Goal For Each Category Into Small Tasks Make Deadlines A Brief Word From Johnn Happy New Year! Since 1996 I’ve set personal roleplaying goals at […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0054 Plot vs. Story Design Your Plot In Iterations Starting From The First Session Outwards Obey Your Game’s Rules & Your Game World’s Rules Work Each PC Into The Story Create Loose Ends Create Moveable Scenes A Brief Word From Johnn Brief Game Master Survey Thank you to everyone who filled out […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0053 Understand How Deadly Combat Can Help Your Game Avoid Modifying Rules Turn Combat Into A Game Within A Game Use The Players’ Own Tactics Against Them Let Players Play The Bad Guys Purposefully Take Prisoners Have Multiple Foes Focus On The Weakest Characters Vs. Spreading One Foe Out Per Character Have […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0052 A Brief Word From Johnn Supplemental Issue #3 Released I’m pleased to announce that Roleplaying Tips Weekly Supplemental #3 is ready:“Helping Players Choose To Roleplay vs. Fight” It’s a long file (66k, 11,000 words) but each post in it has at least a nugget or two of excellent advice. Supplemental #3. Roleplay […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0051 A Brief Word From Johnn Supplemental Issue #2 Released I’m glad that so many of you requested the first supplemental issue of Roleplaying Tips Weekly about “What To Do When Your Players Aren’t Taking It Seriously”. In case you missed it, you can request it by sending a blank email to:[email protected] […]
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From Johnn Four, patreon.com/johnnfour Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1188 A Brief Word From Johnn Marcus, a good friend and an awesome roleplayer, recently taught me about a different kind of reward for roleplaying while we were planning a co-GM session. He explained to me that it’s rewarding for players to have the spotlight at the game […]
Continue readingFrom Kate Manchester Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0049 A Brief Word From Johnn Last week’s issue highlighted the problem of players wrecking the GM’s plans by not taking things seriously enough. There were so many great responses and stories from you that I could fill an entire issue with them alone! Thanks! Also, last Summer, I […]
Continue readingFrom Robin Matte Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0048 A Brief Word From Johnn I don’t know if this is a tip or a warning, but here goes. Last week I managed to kill off 4 out of 5 of the players’ characters. Despite the warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart (LOL), I can’t take credit […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0047 A Brief Word From Johnn Well, I GM’d my first D&D 3E session last week. It was a lot of fun. I achieved a long time goal of starting a campaign off on a special foot too. The first three words I said as GM, to the group, in this brand […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0046 A Brief Word From Johnn Terrific news: Roleplaying Tips Weekly is now being translated into Hungarian! Break out your Hungarian dictionaries and drop by http://rpg.rulez.org for a read. On a similar note, for trivia buffs, September saw visitors to the RoleplayingTips.com web site from 85 countries. That means your tips and […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0045 A Brief Word From Johnn This week we address another piece of the winging- it/freestyle puzzle: taking good notes during games. Notes are an excellent tool for keeping track of your campaign — probably the best tool because memory can be fickle over time. Taking notes while GMing at the same […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0044 Part I with tips 1-5 is available at: RPT#43 – How To Maintain Game Consistency, While Winging-It, For Left-Brain Game Masters, Part I A Brief Word From Johnn This issue is early as Sunday evening I’ll be sleeping on the couch with a stomach full of turkey: it’s Thanksgiving this weekend in […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0043 A Brief Word From Johnn Campaign consistency is a big deal for me because I’m on a quest to master the art of GMing on-the-fly. Also known as freestyle, ad-libbing, winging-it, and “flying by the seat of your pants”. I think it’s important for you and I to become good at […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0042 A Brief Word From Johnn Mark J. Young provides us with some great tips this week from his Valdron Inc. and Multiverser RPG web site. He has a neat Tip of the Week banner program, which other sites are welcome to participate in (RoleplayingTips.com happily being one of them). And our […]
Continue readingFrom Brennan O’Brien Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0041 A Brief Word From Johnn A couple of quick words about Brennan O’Brien’s excellent article “Law, Crime & Punishment in Fantasy Role Playing Games.” First, don’t let the title fool ya. I think the information is great for GMs of all systems & genres–not just FRPGs. Sci-fi, modern […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0040 A Brief Word From Johnn Last week I asked for feedback on the Tips Summary. Is it just a waste of space? Well, many of you wrote in (thank you very much!) and the results are as follows: That’s pretty close. The decision is, I’m going to keep the summary in […]
Continue readingRoleplaying Tips Newsletter #0039 A Brief Word From Johnn The votes are in and here are the results from issue #37’s question: What should I do with the readers’ tips that you are kindly sending me and are piling up in my Inbox? 16% Post the tips to a special web page on the RoleplayingTips.com […]
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