Remedies For GM Burn-Out
by The Roleplaying Tips Community Lots of great tips from subscribers in this Flash Back Friday submission,covering everything from being sick of gaming to having writer’s block. I hope the cure for you lies herein! Note on Navigation: To quickly move between readers’ emails, use your application’s Find or Search feature and look for @@@@@@. I have purposely […]
Continue readingPreparation of Material for a Roleplaying Adventure
by Heather Grove When you create your own campaign there’s so much you could spend your time on. Should you write up non-player characters (NPCs) with rich backgrounds? What about scenes you expect will take place in game, and speeches spoken by NPCs? Should you detail the background of a plot, or the things you think […]
Continue reading150 Benign Urban Fantasy Encounters
From Chris Buono Roleplaying Tips Newsletter #0299 Chris polled members of the GMMastery Yahoo group for benign urban encounter ideas and then added a few of his own to come up with this awesome list you might find useful for your own campaigns. Editor Isaac and I added a few more as well. Thanks Chris, […]
Continue readingHow to Create a Bureaucracy
By Gareth Hodges The Aaargh factor Technically, a bureaucracy is designed to help a government or large group deliver services in a timely, efficient and effective manner. Traditionally however, they are viewed as mockeries that frustrate, delay and ultimately fail to produce results. The first step in creating a bureaucratic system for your gaming world […]
Continue readingDrama Doubloons
by Lord Skudley Drama Doubloons {DD} will be awarded to any Character who commits a selfless act or brave deed that can only be called Heroic. Likewise Drama Doubloons can be offered to an evil aligned character that performs a particularly vile act. They can be used at the player’s discretion to perform amazing, often […]
Continue readingHierarchy of Evil
by Malcolm E. Hays Introduction Many GMs have a tough time working out some of the details in a campaign. To be honest, designing a campaign can be a lot of work, especially when you have other things that also occupy your time like school and work. GMs like to put as much detail into […]
Continue readingTips from the Trenches
by Rana Loreus How many times has Murphy visited your gaming session and hurls a few Missiles of Murphy or Power Word: Murphy’s Law at you? GMing is a mind-boggling task – there are NPC’s to keep track off, secret dice rolls to make, complex rules to remember and the power-hungry, partially-insane munchkin power-gamer to […]
Continue readingStarting and Running a Role-Playing Games Club
By Katrina Middelburg-Creswell Part One: The Birth Of A Club And Some Bumps Along The Way I’m a Middle School teacher who is a long-time gamer. So when some of my 7th grade students discovered my hobby “Hey – is that an R.A. Salvatore book on her desk? She plays D&D! No way! Cool!” it […]
Continue readingGaming Group Grind
by Jeff Pawlowsk I’m always amazed by the way some games last years when no one in the game is having any fun. There is something mystical about having a regular game that is comforting and the hassles of finding and integrating into a new gaming group is a daunting task. It is very similar to […]
Continue readingBright Lights, Big City
by Jeff Ibach How to keep your character busy in a large town or city. While in a small town or thorp, there might not be a lot of options when the Dungeon Master asks how you pass the time, but in a big city the possibilities are endless. Depending on how your games play out, […]
Continue readingWeapons Permits
By Ralf Kruytzer This article deals with the questions, Why are there weapon permits in my Fantasy Medieval World? Why are there restrictions on wearing weapons? How the heck did our DM got that goofy idea? (As some players might ask themselves). This article tries to help the DM (or GM) to sell such an […]
Continue readingBig Secrets and Big Plots in Roleplaying Games
By Heather Grove So many roleplaying game plots revolve around secrets. GMs try to make sure that there’s always another mystery in the game for the characters to run after and solve – lots of people love a good mystery. Secrets add spice and interest to a game. They make your players go nuts trying […]
Continue reading3 Ways To Make Your Life As GM Easier
By Darren Blair Let’s face it. No matter how hard we try there comes a point where reality bogs us down. Last-minute errands, phone tag, burn-out at work or school, and other issues make it harder for GMs to plan and run the game, and it saps player energy and brainpower. So, what’s a good […]
Continue readingGuide to PBP / PBEM
By Scott Sylvester With busy schedules these days there seems to be precious little time for the more mature and adult gamers to indulge in their teenage passions of gaming. Once upon a time, there were countless hours in the day that could be carelessly frittered away around the gaming table listening to your favorite […]
Continue readingFear in RPGs
by Delphine T. Lynx Fear. One of our strongest emotions, and yet one very difficult to conjure up unless it’s genuine. It can be fleeting or eternal, gentle or monstrous. But how does Fear apply to RPGs? It is important to note that not every roleplaying game would benefit from a sense of impending doom, […]
Continue readingOverused Standards of Fantasy Literature
by R.D. Throughout my life I have read many fantasy novels and played many fantasy role-playing games. I have read the stories of Elric of Melnibone, The Lord of the Rings, and the many works of Piers Anthony. Other books I have read include the Deathgate Cycle, Dragonlance, the Icewind Dale Trilogy, The Wheel of Time, A Song of Fire and Ice, The […]
Continue readingWriting the Effective Villain
by Ruth D. Kerce A lot has been written about how to develop the hero and heroine in a story. An often overlooked, but equally important character, is the villain. He/She must also be developed properly to make the plot believable. Many of the techniques used to develop other characters will also work in developing […]
Continue readingGM Delegation
by Bill Mahmet Below is some advice that ALL GMs can use, though “workaholic” GMs should especially benefit from the contents of this article. The problems the below listed tips are meant to solve often occur for GMs who are not as good at coordinating people as they are at writing and running adventures. Don’t […]
Continue readingThe Logic Death Guide to Players
by Doug Lochery There are two breeds of RPG gamer – Players and Gamemasters. There are several subtypes of the Player breed that, when faced with our glorious hobby, try to ‘break it’ in some way or other. This is not always a conscious decision on the part of the poor player. Below is a […]
Continue readingManaging Intraparty Conflict
By Andrew McLaren Roleplaying is a group activity. One cannot enjoy roleplaying alone. Sometimes the GM’s job is made more complicated by conflict that takes place within the group, when arguments and fighting takes place between characters and players. Consider the following situation to get an idea of what I mean: Having defeated the evil […]
Continue readingHow to Make Your Games More Cinematic
by Travis W. Herring Many role-players enjoy evenings with their friends, sitting around the table or living room, eating pizza and drinking soda. For most, this is enough. For others, however, a traditional evening about the table isn’t. They want MORE. For those people, this article is the answer you have been looking for. How many […]
Continue readingChoosing a Setting
by Delphine T. Lynx Please be aware that, while the article below is relevant to gaming in general, its initial target audience was those interested in MUDs, or Multi-User Domains – text games played via computer. Therefore certain aspects may not be applicable to classic roleplaying games, but the theory behind the essay is. Choosing a […]
Continue readingA Con, A Cave, a Troll
by Simon Woodside If you’re anything like the typical GM you have at one point or another asked yourself the following question: What do you do if the players don’t do what you wanted? The question underlines a classic GM problem. As the GM you are expected to be a storyteller for your players (some games […]
Continue readingHow To Fix Botched Encounters In Mid-Game
You often know right from the start when an encounter stinks. It’s boring, or cliché, or maybe confusing. And the reason could be it’s the last encounter of the night and you’re tired, or the players went in a new direction and you’ve got nothing planned, or perhaps it just looked better on paper. But […]
Continue readingRunning Adventures with Little Preparation
by Brennan O’Brien Johnn asked me to write on a topic dear to my own heart. Between career, family, and too many hobbies, I often find I don’t have a lot of time to come up with adventures for my characters. When game time comes, I tend to make it up as I go. The […]
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