Inspiration Archives - Roleplaying Tips

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Know Of Any Good Mystery Resources?

Over on ze Discord, Al Dente wants to noodle on mystery resources: Hey! I’m trying to get better at designing mystery scenarios for investigative games like Call of Cthulhu. I was wondering if you guys could suggest any resources i should check out @Loz replied: GURPS Mysteries could be a good source. I remember their […]

The Writing On The Wall – Using Graffiti For Clues And Foreshadowing

I like graffiti. I got the idea of adding vandals to my dungeons from Barrowmaze Complete by Dr. Greg Gillespie. Buried under the several feet of tephra that surrounds Obsidian Invictus is a vast network of crypts built in a former age to service a Beast. And the characters have discovered the way in. It’s […]

D&D Player Rules For Survival

Game Master! I received this funny list of player directives from Roleplaying Tips GM Noel and thought it would be a great way to start the week. We begin first though with some GM screen talk. Noel, I’d love to see pics of your screens sometime! Hi Johnn, I know what you mean when you […]

Solo RPG Suggestions

Do you play solo RPGs? That’s you, a game system, some dice – maybe, and a quill and parchment. If you quest for some sci-fi solo evenings, here are several recommendations from Wizard of Adventure @ExileInParadise based in response to a recent newsletter about asking the right questions to oracle in solo games. Exile’s a mod […]

The Magic of ‘What If?’ (Johnn’s GM Bookshelf #04)

Dragon Magazine Collection A quick note to say I finally finished re-reading my print Dragon Magazine collection! But now, alas, I must part with it as I downsize. Postage is brutal. So I would like to first see if anyone near Beaumont, Alberta is interested and willing to pick them up. I am asking $500 […]

Join the Mapvember Challenge

I love maps. They’re my First Move when building an encounter or 5 Room Dungeon. It lets you think things through as you push the pixels or graphite around. I like to tell myself a story as I draw. Here’s the entrance and it leaves much to be desired, making them easy pickings for the […]

Am I Responsible For My Players’ Fun?

Am I responsible for my players’ fun? I think I run contrary to many game masters out there when I say, no. My job is to stage a great campaign, full of interesting challenges and choices. The story is something we all create together as we play. I’m a GM, not a parent. We’re playing […]

My 1,040 Page Brainstorming Tool (Johnn’s GM Bookshelf #03)

My 1,040 Page Brainstorming Tool (Johnn’s GM Bookshelf #03) One of the most useful books on my GM bookshelf is David Perry on Game Design. This tome’s so large it seems more weapon than spellbook. However, its massive size is one of its greatest strengths. Perry is a veteran video game designer, and while this […]

World Calendars & Campaign Timelines

Do you create a world calendar and campaign timeline? RPT GM Chris asks if this is common: Good day Johnn. I was working on my game world history a bit today, and found myself wondering if things I do are common among many other DMs? For instance, I always have a calendar for any world […]

A Book of Fantastic Dungeon Inspiration – Johnn’s Bookshelf

Over the last 50 years, I’ve amassed a collection of books useful for GMing that you probably won’t find in any game store. In this series, Johnn’s Bookshelf, I’ll be pulling these hidden gems off my shelves to share with you. The first book I want you to check out is small but packed with […]

A Quick Trick to Create Killer Ideas

This tip comes from Old Man Masha via the Roleplaying Tips Discord: Here’s a cool way to come up with interesting ideas for elements of your game. First, get a collection of 10 random words. I got: Then, randomly pair them up. I got: Now, each pair can be used as an inspiration! Check it […]

Golemageddon: Golem Ideas for Your Next Campaign

A couple of quick announcements. First, I was on the Roleplay Rescue podcast recently with Tiny Prep co-author, Che Webster. It starts off with a question: What would you do if you had a new player to add to your existing roleplaying group? And the convo evolves from there. Here’s the link to listen. Second, […]

16 Things Every Good D&D Adventure Must Have

A Brief Word From Johnn A quick note that Saturday is our monthly Q&A call on Zoom for Wizards of Adventure. Let me help you spruce up an encounter, tweak a plot, or solve a tricky campaign problem. Also, if you cannot make the call, hit reply with your question(s). We’ll address them on the […]

5 Excellent Sci-Fi Tips (Mail Bag)

Monday I explored some scifi stuff with Orbital Trouble: d12 Space Outpost Hooks. Got some great responses and tips from fellow Roleplaying Tips GMs: Outposts vs. Colonies From Wizard of Adventure ExileinParadise First, for my Salvage Space RPG, I am pushing both “colonies” and “outposts” What’s the difference? Colonies are “mostly” self-sufficient on food, air, […]

3 Design Tricks for Unique Races

Adding strange, wondrous, and interesting races to your homebrew world can get challenging, especially if you have a long list of races to brew up and you want to make each one unique. Here are three tips to ensure each race is distinct and thematically fitting to your setting. 1. Start With a Unique Anchor […]

Daily GM Inspiration Trick

Chat GPT recently launched a scheduled tasks feature. One task you can create will email you stuff. I’ve used followupthen.com and task features in my email app for years now to do this. For example, there a neat trick I learned from an HR consultant who did a presentation at the day job in the […]

Legacy Gems

Legacy Gems is a set of homebrew rules created by Wizard of Adventure Auke. In his world of Tem, certain gems can be incorporated into magic items to enhance their power. The strength of these Legacy Gems grows alongside the wielder, reflecting their mastery and dedication. Download Auke’s gem homebrew rules here (3 page PDF, […]

Instant Encounter Inspiration

Today’s tip is inspired by Wizard of Adventure ExileInParadise who used images in a clever way for his session two weeks ago. He described each encounter in his 5 Room Dungeon to GPT. Then he asked for a representational image. Then he shared each image with players as they triggered the encounters. From there, it […]

Ideas For Churches & Cults in Your Setting

A while ago, we chatted about how we can make Noble NPCs special because they receive special privileges and responsibilities most others in our worlds do not. RPT GM Anonymous +1 sent me this great response about potential privileges your priests and clerics might get. Some ideas posibly for your campaign… Hi Johnn, In a […]

A Surprise Bad Day in the Forest

So I’ve had this strange reading project for the last two years. I’ve mentioned it before. I have Dragon Magazines from Issue #55 to the final print issue. It’s time to part with them, so I decided to read each one, one more time. In so doing, I started piling up issues that I want […]

Another Fun Way to Get Passionate About GMing Again

I recently sent out my #1 tip on how to beat GM burnout. Many replies came back advising to play for awhile to get a fresh perspective on the game. This is excellent advice! In fact, I did just that. Twice. It’s been a tricky year for me with a broken foot, several bouts of […]

Death Straw

What if the way people in your setting mourn the dead could spawn new adventures? In response to this world-building detail about knocker-uppers, I received a nice tip from RPT GM Cheryl the Shadow: Hi Johnn, When someone died, it was considered respectful to keep it quiet around their home, so straw or hay was […]

Knocker-Up: The Forgotten Profession of Waking People

What if your alarm clock was a person with a 10 foot pole? Shared by @Exile in Paradise on the RPT Discord server: This could be an interesting world-building detail for towns to go along with town guards and town criers… A knocker-up or knocker-upper was a member of a profession in the Netherlands, Britain, […]

Inspire Your Campaigns with a Movie Exchange

A friend and I have started doing something that’s turning out to be a lot of fun. This could be something you do with your players for campaign inspiration. My friend and I each put together a Top 10 Movies list. Actually, I said when handing my list over, “These are 10 great movies. I […]

Crunchy Mechanics and Rich Lore: My Journey into The Dark Eye

(Success generally means the story goes in the direction the hero intends, while failure works against the hero’s efforts.) I played The Dark Eye a couple of weeks ago. It’s a crunchy, old-school game with a relatively recent new edition. I’m especially enjoying the game’s lore. Its European sources are fresh to me like The […]

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