Combat & Action Archives - Page 2 of 2

How To Add Story To Any Combat

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1040 Smashing until one side runs out of hit points gets tired fast. In Faster Combat I teach you to add story to the fight. When melee gains greater meaning, players get more engaged. While adding story, be sure to make the stakes known before the battle starts. Now players will think […]

Should You Run Easy Combats?

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1026 I posted something on Reddit and got a great tangential comment from user/ChristopherDornan. He advocates for occasional easy combats, which I agree with. Here’s his excellent comment: Don’t underestimate the value of an easy combat. It does two things, both are incredibly important. It drives home that PCs are heroes, and […]

This GM Is Burned Out On The Grid

Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #1021 It is amazing how RPGs can flex to accommodate our GMing preferences and style. A game like Monopoly allows little difference each play. But our beloved RPGs are marvellous in how many ways we can tweak and adapt them to match our individual and changing notions of what’s fun. For example, […]

A Simple And Fun Way To Run Army Battles

Today, RPT game master Scott Brown shares with us a cool and simple system for running epic army battles as stories in your campaigns.

How Can I Switch To Gridless Combat?

Today I’m looking for your tips and advice and experiences.My next campaign I’m toying with theatre of the mind combat. No minis or battlemat or grid.

Easy Peasy Wound Tracking In Combat

RPT GM Scott Barrie asked me about how I use knitting row counters to finish fights faster

How To Create Your Own Combat Missions

Want to design your own combat missions, fully tailored to the people, places, and things of your campaign? Today you’ll learn how to do this, including what design questions to ask and answer along the way. Let total annihilation scenarios take a back seat while you light a fire under your combat creativity.

Combat Missions: Adding Glorious Stories to Gruesome Struggles

From Tony Medeiros and Johnn Four Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0631 A Brief Word From Johnn Dungeon Crawl Classics Is A Classic I had a blast this past weekend playing the DCC RPG for the first time. We adventured through the character funnel, 67: Sailors on the Starless Sea. The flavour of the game is great. […]

Mapless Combat + Making Class Matter

From John Large Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0651 A Brief Word From Johnn Murder Hobos Session 12 The plan was to go to Cragmaw Castle and finally deal with the villain, the Black Spider. Everyone agreed. It was how the session began. But then the past caught up with the wizard, and everything went sideways…. We […]

Get Rid Of The Grid (What I Learned From The Strategic Miniatures Player)

From Dr. Nik Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0282 Get Rid Of The Grid (What I Learned From The Strategic Miniatures Player) Sure, I started out with the boxed D&D game, but I really got into the original Battletech. We used to have battles that spanned the entire basement and took all night. I’ve never forgotten the […]

Battlefield Design Tips For D&D 3.5

From Jake Robins, Edmonton, Alberta Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0276 A Brief Word From Johnn Battlefield Design Is A Game Within The Game “Dread Pirate” Jake Robins’ article, while catering to D&D folks, is a good lesson for all GMs who run combats. The primary take-away tip is to pre-plan your battlefields and to design each […]

« Previous 1 2