Adventure Building Archives - Roleplaying Tips

Revealing More Information Is Like Making A Peanut Butter Sandwich

I was lucky in school back in my day when we had to roll dice uphill. Both ways. At the bottom of a lake. In one class I learned about algorithms. Simple procedures or recipes for doing things. For example, how do you make a peanut butter sandwich? Two slices of bread and some peanut […]

Crafting Intrigue Adventures — A Couple Of Quick Tips

When I asked RPT GM Alex M. via email about what his biggest GMing struggle is he had an interesting reply: Right now we’re playing an evil campaign in a post apocalyptic setting. My biggest struggle is making smart enough, non-linear / classic intrigue cases . Like political rivalries, behind closed doors agreements and the […]

How To Run Several Plots At The Same Time Without Stress

Players love it when their characters get special side plots built just for them. Side plots hook your players and get them involved in your campaign. Side plots allow PC growth and development in ways character sheet upgrades cannot. And side plots make your campaigns feel deep and personal. Problem is, with one side plot […]

Character Stories — How To Keep Players Highly Engaged

RPT GM Sebastian has seven players and asked me for tips on how to handle large groups. My article Handling Large Groups: Keeping Players Busy has good advice. But I have a different tip for you today. One not shared before. And this tip applies to every party size — especially large groups. We’ve covered […]

You Can’t Touch Wet Paint Without Changing The Color Of Your Hand

Here’s an email exchange I had with RPT GM Edward Sawlaw about how he outlines and runs his campaigns. It’s a bit of a long convo, but I thought you might find bits of it interesting. Edward: Hi Johnn. I loved the “How to Get Your Players to Care” RP Tips email. I think a […]

Campaign’s Pillars: How to Pacing Your Game’s Exciting Moments

Manage pace during sessions instead of scripting it. This lets you react to your game as it unfolds and is one less strict plan you must track. But, leaving pace to encounter-level decisions burden you with yet another thing. Until you’ve made pacing a habit and can spot opportunities to switch energy up mid-session, it […]

A Great Staging Example from Blades In The Dark

I had a great time again at the spring edition of Intrigue Con. I was hoping to GM but did not get time to pull a game together. However, I enjoyed playing in D&D 5E, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Blades in the Dark games. The Blades game had a wonderful example of two GMing techniques […]

Storymastery: Don’t Make This Mistake with Your Reveals

Reveal something at the wrong time and it could backfire. But have a little patience, and your grand effects will dazzle. I was on an adventure consulting call last week with Adventure Building Workshop member Michael, and something we discussed was the timing of a prophecy in his campaign. In my experience, introduce a prophecy […]

Campaign’s Pillars: How To Pacing Your Game’s Exciting Moments

Manage pace during sessions instead of scripting it. This lets you react to your game as it unfolds and is one less strict plan you must track. But, leaving pace to encounter-level decisions burdens you with yet another thing. Until you’ve made pacing a habit and can spot opportunities to switch energy up mid-session, it […]

6 Examples Of Published Sandbox Campaigns You Might Run

What are some different configurations of sandbox campaigns you might run? Here are a half-dozen approaches based on what I’ve GM’d or have put on my bucket list to game master someday.

Unlockable Reward Items

Been getting many emails where frustrated game masters want roleplay and storybuilding but players just wanna hurt stuff.

Cut Away The Dross For Better Campaign Craft

How is your game going?I ask because many campaign problems seem complex, but you can often drill down to simplicity.

Add Worms To Your Next Sandbox

Stop what you’re doing and out giant worms on your wandering monster tables.

A Simple Trick For Encounter Inspiration

Roleplaying Tips GM Emmanuel from Lyon shares good advice on where to get encounter inspiration.

Kill Boxed Text – Dynamic Descriptions Made Easy

This framework does two things for you.First, it guides what you should include in your descriptions.

How To Use Plotto For Plot Conflicts

The core of Plotto, as far as I’m concerned, is the list of 1,462 plot conflicts. However, I don’t use Plotto as it was originally intended for constructing a plot. Instead, I use a stripped-down approach that I find easier to adapt for RPG adventure creation.

The Elvis Hook For PCs

A cool idea from a friend: the GM has prepared a music festival in a town the PCs will travel to. And the festival is a gathering of cover bands who perform the famous PC bard’s best songs….