Players & Characters Archives

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A Cool Twist For One Of Your Players

Was chatting with the paladin before a game the other day and he gave me an idea. A core theme of fantasy is discovering you are amazing. Bullied boy or girl in small community learns they have magical powers or are gifted with sword-fighting or some other skill. This resonates with readers because we all […]

Character Home Bases Part III: Example Village of Coldwater

On Monday we covered how to get players to care about home bases. Wednesday I showed you a simple three step village creation recipe that you can world-build from. And today I’ll walk you through a quick example that you can also drop right into your campaign this weekend. Note that I use my app […]

Character Home Bases Part II: How To Create Villages Fast

Last tip I rambled on about building character home bases and several ways you can invite players to care about them. While the Hobos of the Apocalypse will likely be creating a village community from ground up, I will want other villages to exist in the Good Faction held territory to flesh the region out […]

Character Home Bases Part I: 6 Tips

The Hobos of the Apocalypse (formerly The Murder Hobos now reborn as positive change agents) need and want a home base once they emerge from the bowels of the elemental dungeons they currently cleanse. The problem is, they’ve got few stakes in the place I’ll design. The campaign started as a pre-gen playtest of D&D […]

Resonance Part I: How Do You Get Players to Care About Their Characters and Your Plot?

How do you get players to care about their characters and your plot? This is in the top 10 questions I get asked all the time. It’s tough to do. Today I’ll share one approach to encounter building that’s part of the 5 Room Dungeon product I’m working on that helps you solve this tricky […]

The Pain of GMing a Perfectionist Player

An RPT Reader asked for tips on how to deal with a perfectionist player. Someone who “enjoys really thinking out moves and plays to make sure they picked the right one.” The player also has the “classic new player fear of doing it wrong.” “The new player part is not what I’m worried about. I […]

My Players Are Crazy! They’re Destroying Treasure

Last night I could only stand there and shake my head in disbelief. I saw them destroy not one, but two unique, custom treasures I had made for specific players. The first was a quartz horse. Chipped and scarred from abuse, the item does not look like much. But press a button on its base […]

My #1 Learning from Last Game

Last week I talked about listening to my players better. It turns out listening is HARD. I GM’d last Friday and here’s how it turned out. First, a recap of my GM Quests for the session: Hooks: Get at least one hook from each player from something they mention during the game Excitement: Note at […]

My Experiences With Milestone XP

A while ago I switched my campaigns to milestone XP. You can take this approach with non-D&D games too, if it’s not already baked in. And today I wanted to give you an update on how that’s going. Whether you realize it or not, the reward systems you use have heavy impact on player and […]

Drama People Versus Object People

Did you know I collect world views? Weird, I know. A world view is the lens through which a person sees. It’s how they interpret what they experience. For example, I found an article with accompanying infographic on how the wealthy view the world differently than people in poverty. One world view difference is food. […]

Thanks to My Players Because…

I live in Alberta Canada, so I had turkey day back in October (though my wife says I’m a turkey every day). However, any reason to be thankful is a good reason. So, taking advantage of the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend, I’d like to say thanks to my players because… Thanks to “Still the New Guy” […]

Good Campaign Design Should Not Hurt Your Players

A good friend asked me this the other day: “All players are starting out at level 1. Now, one player dislikes playing his character and wants to start another character. He is asking to carry over his XP to the new character. “I dislike this option (which might be due this player’s actions and way […]

Running Parallel Groups in the Same Campaign

RPT reader Scotty B. asked me for tips on how to run two parties in the same campaign. He wants two different groups of PCs to be in the same game world at the same time to set up an epic good & evil plot. With his permission, I’ve provided you with his campaign premise. […]

June – Looking For Game?

Hola %FIRSTNAME% How do you find players and GMs to game with nowadays? Years ago I wrote a book on the topic called How To Find Gamers: Filling The Empty Chair. I’ve decided to make it free now and ask for help in updating the links of places where you can recruit gamers. What’s In […]

Let Players Relive Their Finest Moments

Hola %FIRSTNAME% Nick V. wrote in with this great tip about session pacing and letting players revel in their own glory: Studying for TV writing taught me a lot about narrative structure. I learned that balancing fast-paced, action-packed scenes with more relaxed, role or plot-oriented ones is critical in maintaining a good flow. The rhythm […]

Making High Level PCs Fulfill Their Worst Enemy’s Plans

Here’s a quibble with high-level characters, and it runs contrary to advice I posted years ago. My recent Musing on how to challenge high-level PCs received a lot of excellent feedback. Thanks! A common response was to give the PCs more roleplaying challenges. “The PCs are so tough now they roll over their foes. So […]

Dealing With High Level Characters

My Demonplague campaign has been on hiatus over the summer. I’ve now resumed prepping Season III and am giving thought to how I’ll challenge the PCs, who are now at level 10. Here’s three ideas on how I can challenge the Hobos that might work in your campaign too. Add More NPCs High level is […]

3 Tips For GMing “Blank Sheet” Characters

Recent emails in my inbox share a common theme of characters unknown to their players. Example: the PCs have amnesia and players get blank character sheets. As facts emerge about the PCs through trial and error or memory recovery, the character sheets get filled out. Another example: zero level PCs. A compelling mythological device with […]

Coming Home Empty Handed After A Raid

RPT GM K. asked me a question about rewards in sandbox games: Hi Johnn, I’ve been running an (in my opinion) fairly successful West Marches/Open Table game for several months now. I’ve accumulated a dedicated set of players and run at least one game per week, and so far it’s good fun for all involved, […]

Screenshot of a mindmap showing RPG adventure design and conflict.

World Story Meets RPG Story For Designing Better Adventures

A tip for you today about making your world feel dynamic and amping up your stories at the same time.

Gesture, Voice & Salt — Helping Players Roleplay

Got this great question by email last week: Johnn, A lot of people at my table bring some pretty good game. I rarely roll with an accent unless there’s a good reason for it – but I have to admit it’s good for differentiating between when you’re in character vs out. Any ideas for how […]

Better Session Kick-Offs — The Warm-Up Trick

Here’s a quick tip about session warm-ups. I don’t know about you, but it takes a good 15 minutes or more for my players to say hi, shed the day’s energy, and get their head into their character. Sometimes it takes longer. I don’t mind because it gives me the chance to get my head […]

When A Friend Leaves Your Game

I received an email from RPT GM NK who received news from a friend: I DM a group of 8 players and the one who got the most people involved is leaving in two months across the country. The whole party is very emotional about this. Any ideas on or for the last two sessions? […]

What Are We Rewarding?

At a previous job my employer would take daily attendance. Yup. It was like being back in grade school, and I think that’s what the employer thought of its employees too — unruly things that must be controlled. When I see GMs award XP for attendance, it hearkens me back to that old gig. The […]

How To GM Knowledge (Local)

Today we talk about playing at a different level than your players to make your adventures more challenging. We begin with RPT Platinum Patron Mark Aston asking a great question about players using a local knowledge type skill: Hi Johnn, I have never really got to grips with how to run the skill Knowledge (Local), […]

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