Roleplaying Tip: Distinguish Players From Characters

Roleplaying is tough. And sometimes players don’t separate themselves from their characters. This causes problems. RPT Patron Richard Grilley asks: Johnn, How do you help a game table to distinguish players from characters? It is great when the brawny footballer can do a high pitch voice with a twist of Scottish accent for his female […]

67 Questions To Make Your Players Roleplay More

Here’s a great technique to get your players roleplaying more. Have NPCs ask them questions. But not just any questions. Yes/No questions, for example, don’t get players talking or thinking much. Good NPC questions provide another boon: they give you ideas to steal for later use. While the players answer the NPC, you log their […]

What Do I Do When My Players Try To Rob A House?

I’ve got a DM question for you. What do I do when my players try to rob a house?

Try A Sheet-Switch Event For Better Roleplay

Loooong-time Roleplaying Tips GM Lord Skudley replied to my recent musing of blank character sheet campaigns with this neat idea about PC swaps.

Science Fiction vs. Fantasy – What’s the Adventuring Difference?

RPT GM Sky Slayton asks, “Sci Fi adventure ideas — how are they different from traditional fantasy?”

Quick & Cool Magic Item Backgrounds In 60 Seconds

Today’s Musing is a longer piece about how to create great background stories for your magic items. It’s something I wrote for Strolen.com in 2011 and I thought you might find it useful now for romancing your treasure.

What Do You Wish Players Asked You?

You find a Ring of Gather Player Information. It makes each of your players ask you any question you want about your game. What questions would you want them to ask?

This Weapon Hurts High Level PCs

When characters are powerful you find it ever more difficult to challenge them.

What If A PC Was A Living Spell?

RPT GM Josh J. shared this cool idea.

What Props Do You Use?

Patron Andy Fundinger asks about what kind of props we all use:

When That Player Hogs The Game

What do you do if a domineering player hogs screen time?RPT Patron Andy Fundinger asks a question along these lines:

Face Off – How To Get Your Group Emotionally Involved

Good GMs look for game elements players can relate to, such as when the PCs lose something and want to get it back.

How To Bring A Diverse Party Of PCs Together?

D&D and other games create a tossed salad of characters. And the character creation process often neglects a party formation step.

The Box You Put Them In Is A Trap

I had an interesting email chat with a Roleplaying Tips GM about a cheating player.

Player Challenge #07: RPG Bingo

I played RPG Bingo at IntrigueCon.We were given bingo cards listing common convention and gaming clichés.

Challenge High Level PCs With A Quick Reskin

How do we challenge powerful player characters?Roleplaying Tips GM Scott has a tip for us on reskinning monsters and their context to give tough PCs a good run for their gold pieces.

Players: Opportunity Or Obstacle?

“I pull my trained hunting monkey out of my trench coat and it attacks the ghost.”

Roleplaying Tip: Create Ties That Bind

DM David has five quick tips for encouraging players to roleplay (the comments are good too).

Player Challenge #05 Cypher Texts

Remember those cipher games where all the letters are scrambled and you have to decode the message?

Touched By The Gods

Here’s some good stuff RPT GM Dan Barrow wrote me about powerful PCs.

Player Challenge #04 Think Sideways

Krug, Sala, Dunin, and Kailua all live in the same home. Krug and Sala head to the tavern. When they return, Dunin is lying dead on the floor in a puddle of water and glass.

Player Challenge #03 Detections

Grab all the character sheets.Scan each and note special sense and detection abilities.

Player Challenge #02 Hidden Objects

I love hidden object games. Challenge your players with them too. Here are some ideas.

Player Challenge #01 Keep ‘Em Separated

Here’s a fun way to challenge your players.Have one character perform the actions. Have another describe what actions to take.

What To Do When Your Players Aren’t Taking It Seriously

Players who don’t take your game seriously can kill a campaign. You’re struggling to create a vibe, atmosphere, and theme. But when the table ignores that and cracks jokes during horror adventures or breaks immersion with real world chatter, you get frustrated.

I asked RPT readers for advice on what to do when players don’t take your efforts and game seriously. Here’s their advice for you.