Adventure & Campaign Building Archives

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Easier Campaigns With A Storyline Mad Lib

I tweaked my approach to Loopy Planning. I had three problems: I’m GMing three campaigns. I need to keep each plot clear in my mind and not get things mixed up. Because I like factions and side plots, even for dungeon crawls, I have about 12 plots running in each campaign. That’s 36 plots to […]

Back Pocket Encounter Idea: Planar Rifts

Here’s an idea for your fantasy campaign that’s a great back pocket encounter you can drop into a session for any reason. Open up planar rifts for the characters to encounter. Below is a table pasted straight out of my Demonplague Campaign book to get us started. As part of the hexcrawl portion of the […]

Add Spikes Of Danger To Get Deeper Campaigns

An RPT GM asks about a design technique from my Adventure Building Workshop: Hey Johnn, I was reviewing the links in your 2019 Compilation and saw reference to “Spikes of Danger”. What is that referencing? I googled around and couldn’t find anything. Thanks, Paul I replied to Paul directly, but thought I’d share with you […]

A Simple But Effective Adventure Template

Sometimes all you need is a skeleton. With a few guiding bullet points, you become unblocked and inspired to create next session’s adventure. I’ve featured a couple of adventure design templates in the past, including the Hook, Line & Sinkers Mad Lib (March 2017), the Mad Lib 5 Room Dungeon Idea Generator (July 2017), the […]

This Fantastic Keyword Puzzle

You stand before a door. Magic seals it tight. Runes begin to glow. They read: Door is closed Beneath this phrase, more runes appear: water – angry – open – window – soft I found this cool puzzle on Reddit. Here’s how it works. Characters can swap closed with a word in the list. For […]

The Secret Role Of NPCs

It occurred to me I’ve never explained my fascination with NPC story roles. In this article just for you, awesome Roleplaying Tips Patrons, I’ll share their secret function in my campaigns. But before I can dig into that, I need to back up a couple steps and talk about how I think and run my […]

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 […]

The Road to Plot Hook Recovery: Stale Plot Hook Tips and Tricks

Compelling plot hooks can launch an entire campaign, while stale ones can crash and burn leaving you to try to salvage your night of gaming. are several ways to rejuvenate a stale plot hook.

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 […]

Kill Boxed Text – Dynamic Descriptions Made Easy

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

What The Heck Is A Milieu?

What the heck is a milieu? I’ve been tossing out that term more often in recent Musings. And it’s how I think the game for two campaigns in development.

How To Get Players Pumped After A Break From Gaming

RPT GM Samuel Dil Curd asks:What’s a fun and exciting way to step back into an ongoing story after a hiatus?

Example GM Move With Threats Using Lord of the Rings

Last week I discussed the idea of combining cool boardgame mechanics with adventure design to create 1-3 specialGM Moves for your 5 Room Dungeons.

7 Great Mapping Apps You Might Not Have Heard Of Before

Mapping software is a personal thing. I know what I like. Within moments of opening software I know if I’m going to be in for a rough time.

A Nice Tip On Adventure Puzzles

When I first started GMing I used the kind of puzzles that seemed arbitrary and quirky. After a few years these began ruining the fun because they became too out-of-place and broke our sense of disbelief. Now don’t get me wrong. A chess board puzzle that zaps you for stepping on the wrong square is […]

Tag Archive

Easier Campaigns With A Storyline Mad Lib

Back Pocket Encounter Idea: Planar Rifts

Add Spikes Of Danger To Get Deeper Campaigns

A Simple But Effective Adventure Template

This Fantastic Keyword Puzzle

The Secret Role Of NPCs

Revealing More Information Is Like Making A Peanut Butter Sandwich

Crafting Intrigue Adventures — A Couple Of Quick Tips

The Road to Plot Hook Recovery: Stale Plot Hook Tips and Tricks

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

Kill Boxed Text – Dynamic Descriptions Made Easy

What The Heck Is A Milieu?

How To Get Players Pumped After A Break From Gaming

Example GM Move With Threats Using Lord of the Rings

7 Great Mapping Apps You Might Not Have Heard Of Before

A Nice Tip On Adventure Puzzles

Story Overlays – A Quick Storytelling Tip For Your Encounters

Get These Two Things Right For Stories To Make Sense

Rewarding Players With Signs Of Progress

When You Steal This Cheesy Idea You Won’t Believe What Happens Next

The Grand Puzzle Of The Runecarvers

Player Challenge #06 All Tied Up

An Example Sandbox Campaign With Tips To Avoid GM Burnout

GM Resource: 20 Master Plots

Challenge High Level PCs With A Quick Reskin